11 Best Graphic Design Software in 2023 (With Pros & Cons)

Design refers to creative problem-solving, and designers are the torchbearers of the new world. As the world gets increasingly inclined towards simple and fast communication, the job of graphic designers is growing more than ever. Graphic designing is at the top of the list of upcoming careers of the new generation. Best Graphic Design Software holds great importance when it comes to graphics designing.

Communication is evolving as the world gets more digitalized, and graphic designers must keep up with the pace. Demand for fast and quality content is high, and designers must adapt their skills to fit the demand. For professionals, of course, there is no alternative to the Adobe creative cloud package. Those who don’t want to spend money can use any of the below software.

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Best Graphic Design Software for Professionals

Below is a comprehensive list of the best graphic design software hand-picked for you.

Crello

Crello is the best simple, free, and fast graphic design software. It lets you choose templates and customize text, lines, borders, icons, etc. It contains templates grouped according to size to let you design images specifically for different purposes like social media, blogs, posters, flyers, etc.

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Crello contains 30 different formats and over 10,000 different templates for all purposes. Its interface is quite similar to Canva, therefore, if you are familiar with Canva, you will find Crello extremely easy to use.

• Beautiful templates
• Easy-to-use interface
• Simple to use for non-professionals too.

• It could be more versatile
• It does not include templates for making presentations
• Limited animation design.

Vectr

Vectr is the newest entry to graphic design software and has easily surpassed any other software as a designing tool. It’s very easy to use, with a beautiful UI and a host of editing and designing tools. It has a web application as well as a downloadable version. It is a cross-platform desktop tool available for Windows, Linux, and Chromebook.

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The Vectr community is extremely helpful and provides easy-to-understand tutorials on the website to prevent going down the YouTube rabbit hole. They even ask users to submit requests for any topic not covered in the tutorials.

With Vectr, you can create beautiful vector graphics with perfect scalability and resolution. Vectr supports real-time collaboration via easy URL sharing and has autosave and sync options. Overall, Vectr is a very wholesome graphic designing software with a bright future and no serious drawbacks.

• Easy to use
• Tutorials provided
• Web application, as well as downloadable

• Since it is a new application, it hasn’t been used enough to have any cons to speak of.

Inkscape

Inkscape was at the top of the list before Vectr came along, and like Vectr, they hold to the designers’ philosophy that design is for the masses. Thus, it is no wonder that Inkscape is the best open-source graphic design software. It’s free and supports Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The flexible drawing and editing tools make it attractive to illustrators, graphic designers, and web designers alike.

Its primary file format is Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), but it supports a broad file format compatibility which is another plus for this software. The Inkscape community provides tutorials, resources, and examples for beginners, The best part about being open-source is that everyone can contribute what they like to enhance it, thus making it extremely user-friendly. Installation can be confusing, but the website provides a good guide to overcome that.

• Supports all major platforms
• Good for beginners
• Very flexible
• Open-source

• Can lag sometimes
• Can crash at times
• Confusing during installation
• I should have had a better way to control contrast.

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Krita

Krita is another wonderful free and open-source graphic design software that focuses on providing free and professional art tools for everyone. It is created by the artists, for the artists with an exceptional focus on concept art, texture and matte painters, and illustrations and comics. Krita used to be a generic image manipulation and painting tool like Photoshop, but now it is much better. It is supported on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.

InKrita’s open-source software is a dream come true for artists who like personalization.  2009, Krita started shifting its focus from image manipulation to painting and took a huge step in development through development aid provided by the Google Summer of Code. The Krita interface is highly configurable and contains various tools, including PSD support and HDR support. If you ever face any error like Application Blocked from Accessing Graphics Hardware, don’t wry. It can be solved in a minute.

• Open-Source
• Highly customizable
• Has PSD support
• Has cross-platform support

• Poor touch control
• Lacks proper documentation
• New features are not properly tested.

GIMP

GIMP, standing for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is free, open-source graphic design software for designers, photographers, and illustrators alike. It has a simple interface but with sophisticated tools for easy usage. It is on par with Photoshop with several features reminiscent of Photoshop like.

The community is responsive and adaptable to changes, and its being open-source only furthers its interactivity. It can be enhanced with several plugins and be fully customized. It is cross-platform and is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

• Simple interface reminiscent of Photoshop
• Compatible with PSD files

• It has a poor text tool
• It does not have an adjustment layer

Blender

Blender is for anyone who wants to do 3D designing. It is incomparably and unquestionably the best tool for 3D graphic design software with a 3D creation suite that supports the entire 3D pipeline, modeling rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, and even video game editing and game creation.

Although, you should always consider outsourcing 3D art services if you need them for professional use.

Blender supports professional editing, and advanced users can use Blender’s API for Python scripting to customize it and write specialized tools. Its GPL license further encourages the public to be a part of it. Blender recently developed a new beta version and is also participating in GSoC to gain further support for their enhancement and public project.

• Open-source
• Can be customized
• It contains the entire 3D design suite

• It can be overwhelming with so many features
• It can be cluttered and have a learning curve

Easel.ly

Design should be attractive and invisible, and that philosophy is what Easel.ly employs. It is a simple infographic software to convert boring Word documents into exciting and eye-catching reports with enhanced understandability and interest. Easel.ly is free and contains over 1000 templates for infographics of your choice.

Easel.ly is an ideal tool for educators, students, business owners, and executives who need to convey a thought, lesson plan, or concept in an easy-to-follow visual form. It also has a community of responsive developers and designers who provide in-depth tutorials and resources for guidance. It’s free, but you need to register to use it.

• Free templates
• Very easy to use and convenient

• Only for infographics, so not very convenient for everyday design

SumoPaint

SumoPaint is a free web-based image editing and graphic design software similar to Photoshop, with Flash support. You can download or use it online. But for optimal usage, it’s best to download the product. SumoPaint contains over 300 predefined brushes and also has the option for the user to create their own. It has a large variety of shape tools which may even be greater than Photoshop.

The Sumopaint community is extremely helpful and even gives your publicly shared image feedback. They also provide useful guidance to beginners. All work can be saved offline in editable mode, similar to Photoshop, with Sumo’s file format. Its fun and easy-to-use interface adds to its popularity.

• Customizable
• Web-based as well as downloadable
• Easy and fun interface

• Has advertisements
• Requires a lot of internets to work in the web-based application.
• Quality can differ according to connectivity.

Xara Xtreme

Xara Xtreme is a powerful graphics editing tool for Windows and Linux, though it is majorly used in Linux, which is free and open-source. It is very simple and easy to learn, and optimal for beginners.

It has a clean, uncluttered, uninterrupted interface and some of the most powerful graphic design software ever. It’s fast and has a growing community of developers and public users who contribute to the software to improve it. It also has detailed tutorials and guidelines for you, which makes it very beginner-friendly.

• Open-source
• Clean UI
• It provides all you need and extra

• It does not allow the local organization of files
• It does not allow directly share on social media

Canva

Canva is a graphic design software that that started in 2012 and was a huge hit. It uses an easy drag-and-drop feature to create designs. It has templates for almost everything, from flyers and and brochures to logos and websites.

During registration, Canva asks you to provide information about what exactly you you will be using it for and customizes it accordingly. Both non-designers and designers use it and is a very user-friendly tool.

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• Very customizable
• Many free templates for a wide range of topics

• Subscription is paid

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DesignEvo

DesignEvo is the best free graphic design software with over 9000 templates, containing 100+ templates for logos and fonts. It is fully customizable with a host of different templates. It is free, but you can purchase it for optimum usage.

DesignEvo uses an SVG and PSD file format and has cloud storage to save your files so they never get lost. You can use it for the web, desktop, and mobile. No registration is required, and very easy to use.

• Lots of free templates
• Supports cloud storage
• You can use it across devices

• You need to pay for some features
• Not very customizable

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