Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks

• Adobe Photoshop

  Best for Raster and Layer Editing

  5.0 Outstanding

  Why We Picked It

  A graphic designer who works with raster images and need compositing layers will have a hard time doing their jobs without Photoshop. It's the industry standard, so any clients or vendors you deal with will accept files from Adobe's class-leading image software. There are other options that support its formats, but sometimes you don't get 100% compatibility, and those tools lack Photoshop's slick interface and cutting-edge image-manipulation tools.

  Who's It For

  Photoshop is for professional designers, as well as photographers who want to make detailed pixel-level edits and apply advanced features to their work. Serious amateurs can greatly benefit from learning to use Photoshop, too, and the program includes multifarious help and tutorial resources. It's not, however, for anyone unwilling to pay a recurring subscription.

  • Pros

    • Vast set of photo correction and manipulation tools
    • Cutting-edge generative AI features
    • Slick user interface with a lot of guidance
    • Mobile and web design capabilities
    • Rich drawing and typography options
    • Excellent raw camera file support
    • Synced Libraries, Cloud Documents, and collaboration features

  • Cons

    • No perpetual license option
    • Runs many processes in the background
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• Adobe Fresco

  Best for Drawing and Painting on the iPad

  4.5 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Adobe's painting, sketching, and watercolor app makes creating art on the iPad feel more natural than ever. Adobe Fresco is a stunningly polished app that replicates the feeling of drawing and painting in a digital environment. The app is free, though you get significant benefits, such as additional brushes and shapes, with a subscription, starting at $9.99 per year.

  Who's It For

  To use Adobe Fresco, you must have an iPad, iPhone, or Microsoft Surface. You also need a stylus, such as an Apple Pencil. If you meet those two requirements, download the free version and give it a try—it's worth it.

  • Pros

    • Free
    • Lifelike brush, pen, and pencil physics
    • Available for iPad, iPhone, and Windows
    • Highly editable raster, vector, and live brushes
    • Simple and effective animation, now with presets
    • Excellent support

  • Cons

    • Can’t access Illustrator brushes
    • No Android or ChromeOS version
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• Adobe Illustrator CC

  Best for Vector Editing and Illustration

  4.5 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Illustrator is the premier vector editing and drawing application bar none. Yes, you can edit vector graphics in some other products included here, particularly CorelDraw, and that app can even pull off some effects that are harder to do in Illustrator. But most graphics designers are best served by the industry-standard Adobe Illustrator. With it you also get impressive type support and companion tablet apps for creating digital drawings.

  Who's It For

  Illustrator is undeniably for any professional illustrator or graphics editor, but hobbyists who like to create visual art also can benefit from it, too. Those who are unwilling to pay a recurring subscription fee, however, should look to one of the other products included here, like Affinity Designer or CorelDraw.

  • Pros

    • Unparalleled typography tools and features
    • Advanced features for vector brush making
    • Superb tracing
    • Powerful Puppet Warp feature
    • Complete integration with Creative Cloud ecosystem and Adobe Capture

  • Cons

    • No perpetual license option
    • Inconsistent key commands and processes between Illustrator and InDesign
    • Illustrator on the web not supported on Safari
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• Adobe InDesign

  Best for Publication Layout and Design

  4.5 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  InDesign is another Adobe product that has become the industry standard, in this case for publication layout software. It pushed QuarkXpress out of that spot years ago. As with its other Creative Cloud stablemates, Adobe continues to enhance InDesign with tools for the ever-changing publishing landscape, as well as adding creativity and ease-of-use features. You also get unmatched typography tools with Adobe Fonts and stock media from Adobe Stock.

  Who's It For

  InDesign is squarely aimed at publishing layout design professionals. Marketers and those who need to produce publications can also benefit from it. As with all the professional design software from Adobe, it requires a recurring subscription fee, so it's not for you if you balk at that prospect.

  • Pros

    • Superbly balanced contextual interface
    • Easy, smart automatic global page adjustment
    • Interactive export for PDFs and HTML5
    • Can export to ebook formats

  • Cons

    • Requires subscription
    • No iPadOS version (yet)
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• Adobe XD

  Best for Web and Mobile Interface Design

  4.5 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Adobe XD is one case of a product from Adobe that's not actually the industry standard. In the field it inhabits (interface design and prototyping) the product to reckon with is Sketch, which now faces competition from Figma, which Adobe acquired in 2022 for $20 billion. Despite coming a little later to the field, though, XD offers great responsive-design tools, strong team features, and the familiarity of Adobe tools.

  Who It's For

  Designers of app and website interfaces need to take a look at XD. With it, you get Adobe's top-notch technology innovations that just keep coming, along with strong collaboration options. Unlike Sketch, Adobe XD is cross-platform, running happily on both macOS and Windows. It does require a subscription fee, however.

  • Pros

    • Intuitive workspace and familiar key commands for Creative Cloud users
    • Excellent and easy team collaboration
    • Leading responsive design support
    • Robust tutorials and user community
    • Compatible with macOS and Windows

  • Cons

    • Not as many plug-ins as there are for Sketch
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• Canva

  Best for Professional-Looking Branded Content

  4.5 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Appealing modern design templates for social media, presentations, and printing are standouts in Canva. The web, mobile, and desktop app can be had for free, although for an annual fee, you get access to a wealth of extra templates and stock content. The Canvas for Teams subscription adds strong collaboration features.

  Who It's For

  Canva targets nondesigners who need to create promotional, marketing, and social media content. But professionals will certainly appreciate the ease it brings to creating compelling designs.

  • Pros

    • Excellent value for both free and paid versions
    • Friendly, intuitive interface with helpful pop-ups
    • Robust-yet-uncomplicated introduction to AI
    • No design background needed by users

  • Cons

    • Drop shadows for text only, not for shapes
    • Technical growing pains with AI web app accessibility
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• Procreate (for iPad)

  Best for Subscription-Free Painting, Sketching, and Drawing

  4.5 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Procreate is a premium quality yet low-cost iPad app for artists of every kind, from professionals to hobbyists. With abundant customizable features, expandability, and an attractive and intuitive user experience, anyone can create 2D and 3D paintings, drawings, hand lettering, and animations.

  Who It's For

  Procreate is for artists of any level who work on an iPad and who specifically sketch, paint, or illustrate. The app's low cost makes it friendly to practically everyone with an artistic inclination.

  • Pros

    • Affordable
    • No subscription needed
    • Bursting with features
    • Minuscule learning curve to get started
    • Adjustment FX and Finishing Filters

  • Cons

    • Only works on iPads (and iPhones)
    • No tear-off windows
    • No cloud storage
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• CorelDraw Graphics Suite

  Best for All-in-One Illustration and Page Design

  4.0 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Like Adobe Illustrator, Corel is for drawing and editing vector illustrations, but it brings along some capabilities that would require add-ins in the Adobe app, and it's both easier to use and less expensive.

  Who It's For

  If you want an easy, more affordable entrée into the world of vector graphics design, CorelDraw is worth a look. It also can serve professionals who want some of its special effects tools. And if you don't want to pay a subscription, Corel lets you buy to own for a one-time price.

  • Pros

    • Professional-level features, some of which are unique
    • Fun, easy, instant-gratification effects
    • Cloud-based collaboration and asset management (subscription only)
    • Easier to learn than Illustrator for a pro-level tool

  • Cons

    • Fewer new razzle-dazzle rollouts than the competition
    • Still requires a workaround to access onboard fonts managed by Extensis Connect Fonts
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• Corel PaintShop Pro

  Best for Budget-Conscious Image Editors

  4.0 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  PaintShop Pro is a longtime Photoshop competitor, and while it offers a great many of the tools found in Adobe's market-leading application, it costs a lot less. As a plus, you can work with vector images as well as raster.

  Who It's For

  For those who don't need to collaborate with other Adobe Creative Cloud users and don't want to pay the high ongoing subscription fees, PaintShop Pro is a good choice. It gets you most of the effects, layer tools and image manipulation found in Photoshop, but without the super-slick interface and whizbang new AI tools.

  • Pros

    • Photoshop-like features at a lower price
    • Powerful effects and editing tools
    • Extensive help and tutorials
    • Good assortment of vector drawing tools
    • Automatic noise removal

  • Cons

    • Inconsistent interface
    • No macOS version
    • Some slow operations
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• Serif Affinity Designer 2

  Best for Low-Cost, Full-Featured Vector and Raster Editing

  4.0 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  "No subscription" sums up the main reason to go with Affinity Designer. More than that, though, for its low one-time price, you do get a good helping of vector drawing tools, as well as generous font support and its unique Contour tool for joining shapes organically.

  Who It's For

  As alluded to above, Affinity Designer is primarily for those who don't want to pay the Adobe monthly tribute. So it's a good option for design amateurs, but pros will appreciate some of its capabilities as well.

  • Pros

    • Professional-level capabilities, yet accessible to beginners
    • Competitive pricing and no subscriptions
    • Available for iOS
    • Several unique capabilities

  • Cons

    • No vector symmetry or pattern-making tools
    • iPad version takes time to get used to (unless you have a keyboard attached)
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• Adobe Express

  Best for Template-Driven Social Posts

  4.0 Excellent

  Why We Picked It

  Creative Cloud Express is a relatively new offering from Adobe that goes directly against the highly successful Canva. That is, it's a template-based graphic design tool for nonprofessionals who need to create marketing materials or social media posts. The software brings with it Adobe's vast depth of imaging smarts and lets you create something good-looking without a lot of fussing and tinkering with details. A free version will suit many, but the paid version gets you more stock content and lets you store, manage, and share multiple brands’ basic assets, like logos, color palettes, and typefaces. It works with both video and still images and lets you output in formats suited to all the popular social networks or to PDF.

  Who It's For

  Express is for those who don't want to invest hundreds of hours learning how to use Adobe's professional design applications, yet need to quickly create compelling materials for marketing or social network posts. The free version will appeal to hobbyists, while the paid Premium subscription costs less than Creative Cloud but adds features useful for professionals.

  • Pros

    • Fluid templates and many stock assets
    • Powerful and useful image and video editing features
    • File conversion capabilities
    • TikTok Creative Assistant integration

  • Cons

    • Files created in older versions are not available in the new Express
    • Charts and graphs are not editable numerically
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