Want to learn how to use Illustrator but don’t want to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud? Or need to access its features on the go while using someone else’s computer? With Gravit you get a lot of the key features offered in expensive standards like Illustrator or Fireworks.
Best of all, Gravit is completely free. You just have to sign up for an account to use it. Gravit includes basic vector tools: a pen tool, line tool, and a Bezigon tool, as well as shapes including a rectangle, ellipse, triangle, polygon, and star.
Beyond creating shapes, Gravit also has tools similar to Illustrator’s pathfinder and alignment tools, as well as layers, and you can add text and images to your design.
When compared to Adobe Illustrator, iDraw is the Mac-exclusive beautiful-but-bargain-bin competition — especially compared to the often-despised steep subscription fee for Creative Cloud. Read on to find out if iDraw wows me in the same way Pixelmator and Pages do. The Best Illustrator Alternatives for Windows, Mac and Linux. Adobe Illustrator, now in it's 21st version with CC 2017, is the daddy when it comes to the creating and editing of Scalable Vector Graphics. Corel is one of the first companies to offer alternative software to Adobe products and they are known for its successful Illustrator alternative, CorelDraw. The software is available as a Home edition for $129 with limited features and a full graphic suite for $669 for professionals. Home › Illustrator Classes › Adobe Illustrator alternatives for Mac Published on May 15, 2015 The team at American Graphics Institute has a long and wonderful relationship with Adobe Illustrator.
When creating a new document, you can choose the size (including handy presets like Facebook and Twitter covers, standard print sizes, and more) or you can select from some pre-existing templates. These templates, together with Gravit’s showcase, give a great idea of how much you can get out of this web app.
Once you’re done creating your image, you can export it to your computer as JPG, PNG, or SVG. You can also save it online in your Gravit account with the layers in tact and come back to it at a later time.
For an introduction to Gravit’s features, check out the video below:
Have you tried out Gravit? How do you think it compares to Adobe Illustrator? Let us know in the comments.
Explore more about: Adobe Illustrator, Image Editor.
- Hi There & thanks for this article very helpful! I was in a rush to find a good alternative to Illustrator as I needed to draw few logos and I have to say that, after few trials on Vectr and Youidraw, some tears of joy nearly came up when I read this article and once I tried Gravit!
This is an excellent free alternative to Illustrator using the same commands so easy to very quickly handy, used online without any bug, very friendly environment and I can't believe this is bloody free - so it's not even a 30 days trial!
Of course, depending on which version you use of Illustrator, Gravit will provide the essentials - but professional essentials for free are hard to find - so for me this is amazing!
Thanks for sharing this article Nancy, and thanks Gravit for your great work on this! Cheers, Ced - People are getting frustrated since adobe started to rent out their product, but there are no possible replacement yet. I don't mind paying for a great product with a reasonable price.
- Give Inkscape a try. Many research and reviews say it is an alternative to Illustrator (these research and reviews are done by professionals who switched from Illustrator to Inkscape.) I also find it great.
- I have not tried it yet but will soon thanks for the tip though Ill be back with a review!Chalres
- This article is incredibly misleading and shows an incredible lack of knowledge. If you want to learn to use Illustrator for free, how about using the free version of Illustrator that Adobe gives out? You can download any of the Adobe CS2 products for free. They have been free for years. You will not learn how to use Illustrator by using a free alternative, that notion is preposterous and incredibly misleading. That's like saying learn to use Photoshop or Illustrator with Corel Draw. Doesn't work.
- They don't exactly give that out. The serials were released by mistake and by the point Adobe found out it was already all over the web.
- Granted it asks, but it's more than obvious selling the point of 'Free'. Though some of the key features this is offering, very similar to Adobe's, it is selling an alternative without having to subscribe. Nothing misleading about this article. Key Point in this article is 'Free Alternative'. Not Adobe Illustrator guide.
- To say that Gravit is an 'alternative' to Illustrator, is like saying that a skateboard is an alternative to a car.If you used AI for any length of time, you probably know that it has features and toolsets that were developed for nearly over three decades (first release being in 1988)! You can't simply say that a browser based app that can draw a few boxes and ellipses is an 'alternative' to such a robust program.You might say that Gravit is an alternative to Method Draw (http://editor.method.ac) or Janvas (http://www.janvas.com/site/home_en.php) - which are both browser based vector tools, but they are not even the same league as Adobe Illustrator just because they have a Pen Tool.
- For anyone asking, Gravit supports EPS and SVG import along with standard image formats. We are working on adding PDF export to our already existing SVG, PNG and JPG export.
- Can Gravit open all files created with Illustrator and vice versa?
- The problem with Gravit vs. Illustrator is the same as GIMP vs. Photoshop. The free products may suffice for the casual user but the pros need Adobe products.
- Inkscape is great, and I use it all the time, but as a technology instructor for an elementary school that is equipped with Chromebooks, this is a very welcome app. Inkscape cannot be used on Chromebooks due to the fact that it needs to be installed on a local hard drive. Previously, Vector Paint was the only option I could find. Will be trying this one out today!
- I just tried inkscape and it SUCKS! Click on a tool in the toolbox and nothing happens. I got stuck in the node tool and no matter how many times I clicked on the select arrow tool, nothing happened, I was still in the node tool. only reason I got into node tool was I used F2--clicking on it did NOTHING. After a few hours of going thru the tutorials only to have option boxes ignore being clicked on to change everything from stroke width to whatever, I gave up and uninstalled it. what an enormous piece of crap and I used Illustrator for years before it became a rent instead of buy cash cow. 50 a month to RENT it?!?!? puh-leez. still trying to find a decent replacement and inkscape is not it.
- If you are on a Mac, you could give Affinity Designer a try.
40 €, no rent, many features and professionally developed.- Or PC now :-)
- Affinity is also on PC now :-)
- I already use Inkscape, but this does sound like a great entry level way into illustrator. I will give it a shot to try it. Thanks Nancy
- For those interested, also check out Inkscape. Very capable piece of cross platform software.
There’s no question about it: the Adobe suite of graphic design and illustration software isn’t going anywhere anytime soon as the industry champion. Despite its quirks and teething problems that come with nearly every version update, it’s also arguably the best suite that money can buy.
The problem is, it takes a lot of money to buy it. Purchasing any of the CS titles outright can cost anywhere between $300 to $2,000 depending on which version you plump for, and Adobe’s attempts to convince people to pay on its new subscription model can cost anything between $50 to $200 every single month.
Obviously, that’s not an issue for those at NYFA’s illustration school who have got full access to the CS suite as part of their tuition program, but these are prohibitive price tags for everyone else. As such, today we’ll be exploring:
SVG-Edit
Platform: Any modern web browser
What It Is: An editing suite that deals solely in SVG (scalable vector graphics), which may sound like a restriction but is actually quite useful given the versatility of the format. If you’re scared of getting into SVG editing, you’re missing out, and this will break you in gently. Being a web browser platform also sounds limiting, but again, the speed at which it operates as a result is often superior to desktop counterparts.
Inkscape
Platform: Windows/Linux
What It Is: As with SVG-Edit, Inkscape is also geared towards those who want to work primarily in the SVG file format. Featuring both a clean and intuitive user interface, but packed with advanced features (such as alpha blending, object cloning and very accurate bitmap tracing), Inkscape comes as a highly recommended free alternative to Adobe Illustrator.
Affinity Designer
Platform: Mac
What It Is: Full rasterizing controls, layer management, multiple file format support, infinite zooming and every vector drawing tool you could ever hope for… Affinity Designer could quite possible become a true Illustrator killer. At the moment it’s only available to Mac users and the full version comes with a small price tag of $49.99 with free upgrades for two years, but the trial version is still remarkably functional and worth a shot if you’re looking for a free editor. It’s even worth it just to play with the infinite zoom function (yes, infinite.)
GIMP
Platform: All of them
What It Is: The one you’ve probably heard of. GIMP, an acronym for (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is more of an alternative to Photoshop rather than Illustrator since it its vector functions are limited, but what it can do in terms of image manipulation is second to none. Entirely free, open source, and loved by thousands (which have formed a very active online community since its release.)
OpenOffice Draw
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac
What It Is: While Apache’s flagship vector illustrator looks a little outdated these days, that’s purely a cosmetic concern. It’s still packed with features and is especially geared towards diagram and object manipulation. It also comes with the very handy feature of being able to create Flash (.swf) files from your document.
Adobe Illustrator Cs6
Serif DrawPlus (starter edition)
Alternative Gratuite Adobe Illustrator Mac
Platform: Windows
What It Is: The starter edition of Serif’s DrawPlus is aimed towards the amateur illustrator given that A) it’s free software, and B) it’s very much a scaled-down version of the fuller release, but don’t let that put you off. It’s not limited in any way, there’s no pressure to shell out for the professional edition DrawPlus X6, and it does a good job of emulating its heavy weight cousins.
Illustrator Software For Mac
You might find you need to use a combination of the above free alternatives to Adobe Illustrator to get the job done, but for many people it’ll be worth the cash it saves and you may even find a new favorite. Got any others we need to check out? Drop a suggestion in the comments below!
Are you interested in the visual arts industry? Check out NYFA’s graphic design and 3D animation programs!