Cloud Web Design Software

Introducing Cloud Web Design Software

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new cloud-based web design software. It’s been a lot of work, but we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it!

Our software was designed with the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in mind. We wanted to make a product that was easy enough for anyone to use, but also powerful enough to provide all the features you need to build a great website—regardless of your technical background or abilities.

Cloud Web Design Software

ant to get right to it? My top web design software right now are Wix and Web.com.

Web design software has evolved a lot over the last 29+ years. What started as text-based pages with hyperlinks in 1991 came the rise of HTML 5, Bootstrap, mobile-first websites, and full-fledged content experiences.

If you’re looking to create a website today, there are a lot of different routes you can take. Ultimately, it comes down to your coding knowledge and the features your website needs.

For example, if you’re a small business in need of a quick website, a simple website builder like Wix is your best option.
If you’re a web designer building a more complex website for a client, Webflow is a great option if you have experience with HTML5 and JavaScript.
Ecommerce platforms make building ecommerce websites easy.
And using your own web hosting with WordPress is your best choice if you’re planning to start a blog.
The choice is up to you.

Let’s get started.

What is the Best Web Design Software?
Here are my top picks for the best web design software:

1. Wix.
   Best Website Builder For Small Businesses ($8.50 per month).

Wix – cloud-based web development platform
Wix is a SaaS website builder that helps you design your website with attractive templates and web design tools for beginners.

It provides a simple drag-and-drop editor that can help you create stunning web designs without any coding. You can also add plenty of effects like video backgrounds, animations, and scroll effects.

It also comes equipped with over 500 designer-made templates.

Wix Templates
You’ll never have trouble finding a suitable template for your site. Wix also offers plenty of filters to narrow down your search.

For example, you can choose from different industry types like Health & Wellness, Beauty & Hair, Fashion & Style, and more.

Wix Types of Templates
To make things even easier, you can just answer a few business-related questions, and Wix will design your site tailored for you.

Apart from the templates, Wix has over 30 built-in media galleries. You can showcase your images, autoplay videos, and text in these galleries.

Wix also lets you design your site just the way you want with elements like:

A blog to share ideas and grow your community.
Logo Maker to design a professional logo for your site.
Professional custom-domains for your site’s branding.
Mobile-friendly themes & templates.
Wix can also help you with starting your own eCommerce store. You can also edit your website in the mobile view to optimize your website for smartphone users – both if you have an online or offline store.

It also offers a personalized SEO plan based on your location, business, keywords, and location.

Key Features:
Wix features
Wix ADI – The Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) can build a highly personalized website with tailored content based on your few answers. You can also edit its features or add/remove any elements you want.
Wix Corvid – It offers hassle-free coding with serverless computing. Achieve total design freedom by managing your web pages from integrated databases and adding your code in the built-in IDE. You can also work in your own environment and connect with 100s of APIs.
Overlay Effects – Easily add multiple cool visual effects like shadows, flares, and reflections with Wix Photo Studio.
User Experience:
Wix user experience
The ability to structure your site in a drag-and-drop interface makes Wix one of the easiest site builders to use.

You can add and rearrange elements on your pages with just a few clicks, and there’s no need to worry about coding or other technical aspects of web design.

The platform also makes it easy to set up a chat function on your site, which means that your site visitors will be able to get in touch with you directly – and you can respond quickly to any queries or concerns they may have.

Pricing:
wix pricing
Wix provides four paid plans:

Combo: $8.50 per month for personal use.
Unlimited: $14.50 per month for entrepreneurs & freelancers.
VIP: $26 per month for priority support.
You can also connect your domain only for $4.50 per month.

All the premium plans come with a 14-day free trial.

What I Like/Dislike About Wix:
Like:

Easily add alt text to background images for better SEO.
You can collaborate with other designers by assigning multiple roles.
Add scroll effects, video backgrounds, and animation to deliver an engaging experience.
It also offers a professional logo maker to help you build your brand easily.
It offers free images from Unsplash and its own media library.
Dislike:

No inbuilt reviews app can natively handle customer reviews, testimonials, and ratings. This can be a turn-off for businesses in the eCommerce or lead generation space as user reviews are crucial for boosting conversions.
Cannot add java codes means that certain dynamic website features may not be possible to implement.
Very few animations compared to other site builders
Product Updates:
Professional proposals make it easy to close deals with clients
Advanced SMS automations help you stay in touch with customers even better than before
You can get started with Wix for free, and upgrade to get a custom domain.

Try Wix

2. Web.com.
   Best for providing you with a complete web design services in one location
   web.com homepage
   Web.com is a great solution if you’re after a web design software that gets the job done – and then some.

With its DIY website builder, you can create a website in minutes, even if you have no prior knowledge of web design. Web.com has a nice list of templates to choose from which should make getting your website up and running even faster.

If you prefer to leave it all in the hands of the experts, you can also get a web design expert to build your site for you

Their support is excellent and the amount of features you get with this software is impressive.

Apart from all that, they can also take care of your marketing, hosting, and security for you which means that, with Web.com, you can really have it all!

Key Features:
web.com features
Web.com provides a very comprehensive package that is definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for the right web design software to set up your custom-looking website
Get started by choosing your domain, picking a packaging, and then dragging and dropping your website design. That’s all there is to it.
Get listed in the top pro-business directories allowing you to get more of the right customers to your fresh looking website.
User Experience:
web.com user experience
If you’ve ever used WordPress to set up your site, then you will find Web.com’s interface quite similar.

Web.com uses a drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easy to add and rearrange elements on your pages.

With a left-hand side menu that has all the blocks you need for your website, it is easy to find what you are looking for and add it to your page.

Pricing:
web.com pricing
When it comes to pricing, you can be up and running with your website for just $5.95 per month and then $10 per month after that.

You can also get in touch with them to provide you with a custom quote for a professional design website that fits your exact needs.

What I Like/Dislike About Web.com:
Like:

Get a well-design site that ranks well in search engine results pages
Build your website exactly the way you want it with their easy to use drag and drop builder
Get all the tools you need to support your business in one, easy to understand interface
Get their professional help when and as soon as you need it.
Dislike:

Backend features sometimes have a few problems and glitches.
Product Updates:
Customizable templates give you the freedom to design your site exactly the way you want it.
Creative and promotional tools help you attract more visitors and convert them into customers.
Get started with Web.com.

Try Web.com

3. Squarespace.
   Best Website Builder for Design Templates ($12 per month).

squarespace homepage
Squarespace is an all-in-one solution for web designers to design professional websites. It provides best-in-class web templates that you can easily customize to meet your creative and professional requirements.

Browse the templates according to numerous categories (online stores, photography, consulting, etc.) to find the most suitable option for you.

Squarespace templates
And if this doesn’t help you find a template best suited for your business, you can answer a couple of automated questions. After that, Squarespace will automatically handpick some templates tailored to your requirements.

Here are some of those questions:

Squarespace Template Question
Squarespace Template Question options
What’s more, it enables you to create intuitive portfolio designs through customizable galleries and password-protected pages. Squarespace also gives total control over image editing, including cropping and resizing of images.

You also get powerful blogging tools to share your ideas, post company news, or product releases. The blog dashboard lets you schedule, categorize, and share your posts whichever way you want.

Not just the web design features, Squarespace also provides built-in SEO and analytics tools. These tools help you rank higher on search engines and track your site’s performance.

Key Features:
Squarespace features
Chart Blocks – Display data in stunning formats using fully interactive and responsive pie charts and line/bar graphs.
Free Typekit Fonts – Squarespace collaborates with Typekit to provide high-quality fonts without paying any additional charges.
Audio Collections – This music-specific feature enables artists to upload their soundtracks and albums with an art display and an integrated audio player.
User Experience:
Squarespace user experience
With the ability to move slides around to get the exact order and look you want, as well as being able to see a live preview of what your site will look like as you make changes, Squarespace is one of the easiest site builders to use.

You can also control various layers including backgrounds, foregrounds, and the position of block items.

Pricing:
squarespace pricing
Squarespace offers four pricing plans:

Personal: $12 per month paid annually
Business: $18 per month paid annually
Basic Commerce: $26 per month paid annually
Advanced Commerce: $40 per month paid annually
You can save up to 30% on annual plans and every plan comes with 24/7 customer support.

What I Like/Dislike About Squarespace:
Like:

The basic and advanced commerce plans offer free payment transactions.
Add unlimited sections to web pages through their page builders.
It offers designer color palettes for higher and unique customization.
Change content layouts with a simple click.
Easily set multiple roles for your team members to collaborate efficiently.
Get prioritized support on Enterprise plans.
Dislike:

Images will sometimes not drag and drop where you want them to go, which can be frustrating.
Migration to the latest version is not always smooth and can cause some issues with your site.
Product Updates:
AI-powered voiceover features help site owners to create content easily and quickly.
Different templates give users more choice in the design of their site.
The video studio app for content creators helps users to create and edit videos for their websites.
Get started with Squarespace for free and upgrade to a paid plan for the best features.

Try Squarespace

4. Webflow.
   Best For Experienced Web Designers and Developers ($12 per month).

webflow homepage
Webflow is a new, popular web-building platform that provides an online visual editor platform to design, build, and launch websites. It enables you to design custom and modern websites like a visual canvas.

Webflow’s visual canvas lets you control CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript and translate semantic code into customized websites. It also allows you to use unstyled HTML elements to gain total control.

Additionally, you can use pre-built pieces to design complex elements like sliders, background videos, tabs, and more. Webflow also enables you to build reusable elements, including nav bars, footers, and signup forms.

Webflow features
You can easily reorganize and view your web page element structure through Navigator to access all the pages at once. Also, directly work with eCommerce products and CMS data to easily create a website with real content.

Key Features:
webflow features
Scroll-Based Animation – You can add scroll-based effects like a progress bar, parallax, precise reveal animations, and more. You can also transform styling, element sizes, and positions linked to scroll progress on a specific element or to the complete page.
Multi-Step Animation – Easily build rich, timeline-based animations without need a code editor. You can also customize the layout of the home and product pages.
SEO Controls – Leverage Webflow Editor to update SEO like page titles, URLs, meta descriptions, open graph settings, etc.
User Experience:
webflow user experience
Want to get up and running with designing your site quickly? Webflow makes it easy to get started quickly.

Whether it’s a two or three-column page, or a more complex layout, you can get started quickly and easily.

You can also add all the elements you need with just a few clicks, and there’s no need to worry about coding or other technical aspects of web design.

Pricing:
webflow pricing
First, Webflow offers a forever-free plan with all the essential web design features. However, you won’t get a custom domain with the free plan.

For your personal branding, there are several paid plans.

Here are the four site plans:

Basic: $12 per month. For a simple site without an in-built CMS.
CMS: $16 per month. For content-driven sites.
Business: $36 per month. For high traffic marketing sites or blogs.
Enterprise: Quote-based plan.
Then there are account plans based on the maximum number of designers allowed on a single project. Account plans start from $16 per month.

What I Like/Dislike About Webflow:
Like:

Link movement and animation to the cursor position to grab user attention.
Collaborate with other professionals by inviting multiple editors to work on the same website while keeping track of the work.
Make your website more interactive by displaying panels, modals, and more hidden elements.
Use 20 prebuilt animations and interactions to add a new feature instantly.
Instantly control the playback of ‘Lottie animations’ and ‘After Effects’ through interaction triggers without writing any code.
You can study the Interactions and Animations Course on Webflow University.
Dislike:

You have to compress images manually which can be time-consuming.
The CMS limit is still quite low on some of the plans
There can be a bit of a learning curve when getting started with Webflow.
Product Updates:
Live phone support so you can get help when you need it
Apply superscript or subscript formatting to your text with just a few clicks
Adjust gap space between elements in Flexbox layouts for more control over your design
Get started with Webflow for free.

Try Webflow

5. Weebly.
   Best for Beginners in Need of a Simple Website ($5 per month).

weebly homepage
Weebly is a website builder that makes it easy to design and create websites, blogs, or online stores. It provides access to tons of customizable web page designs to build a website – without writing a single code.

Weebly themes
It also offers planning tools and expert starter guides to help build pages without any hassle. All its themes are fully customizable to ensure you never compromise on design requirements.

With responsive themes and an intuitive drag-and-drop builder, website design becomes super easy with Weebly. What’s more, it lets you design websites that will look good on any device or screen size.

You can leverage custom fond, reveal, and parallax features to make the web design more interactive. You also get a photo editor and extensive photo library to create professional-quality images.

Its dynamic design elements like video background and custom HTML/CSS or JavaScript ensure that you are always in total control of your creativity.

Key Features:
Weebly features
Marketing Campaigns – You can design beautiful newsletters and customers’ action-based emails to boost your marketing efforts.
HTML/CSS Control – It offers total control over HTML and CSS to help you achieve unlimited customization with ease.
Design Management – Easily save your designs and edits by marking them as templates for future use. You can also use older designs in other projects multiple times.
User Experience:
Weebly user experience
Another great user experience is found when using Weebly.

Weebly has a drag and drop interface that makes it easy to add and rearrange elements on your pages.

You simply click on an element in the left-hand side menu and then drag it to where you want it on your page.

You can also preview your pages in real-time, so you can see exactly what your visitors will see.

Pricing:
Weebly provides four plans:

Free: $0 for basic use.
Connect: $5 per month (for connecting a custom domain).
Pro: $12 per month (for groups & organizations).
Business: $25 per month (for small businesses & stores).
What I Like/Dislike About Weebly:
Like:

Its intuitive mobile app helps you track the performance of your website easily.
It provides web hosting, along with SSL certificates and DDoS Mitigation.
24/7 chat and email support.
Add a website search bar to find anything on the website easily.
Reply to comments and interact with visitors through the mobile app.
It also offers a free plan with all the necessary features.
Dislike:

Time to get customizations exactly right can be challenging
More theme options would be great
Can be challenging to learn how to use
Product Updates:
Professional product shots allow you to take high-quality photos of your products to show on your website.
Announcement banners let you display important messages to your visitors, such as announcements about sales or new products.
Curbside pickup allows customers to pick up their orders from your store without having to enter the premises.
Get started with Weebly for free.

Try Weebly

6. Adobe Dreamweaver.
   Best for Custom Web Design Jobs for Clients ($20.99 per month).

adobe dreamweaver homepage
Adobe Dreamweaver is a web design platform that works as a fully-featured HTML web and programming editor. It offers a simplified and smart coding engine to help you manage dynamic websites easily.

Its access code hints help you edit and learn CSS, HTML, and other web standards. You can also use its visual aids to expedite the development and reduce the scope of errors.

Adobe Dreamweaver Features
To help you go live faster, it offers a host of customizable templates that you can use to build:

Highly customized mailers
eCommerce pages
About pages
Portfolios
Blog pages
Newsletters
And more
You can also quickly import assets from Adobe Stock or your own libraries. There’s a preview feature that helps you edit your site in real-time by showcasing the look and feel.

Key Features:
Live View Editing – Easily edit image and text properties. You can add classes directly in the Live View and instantly preview your changes without switching to separate editing mode.
Git Support – Easily collaborate with Git support while managing your source code. You can also execute all common tasks directly from the Git dashboard.
Intelligent Coding Assistance – You can leverage HTML, JavaScript, and Ajax code hints through Spry, Prototype, and jQuery. It also offers PHP code hints to help you learn more about coding while working on your web designs.
Pros:
It designs websites in such a way that they fit any screen size.
Multi-monitor support for Windows machines.
Leverage on edit linting to catch the errors while editing.
Integration with OpenSSL, LibCURL, Xerces, Ruby, among others.
You get a 7-days free trial.
Leverage preemptive code suggestions for faster development.
Easily insert colors, hyperlinks, fonts, headings, and more through the properties menu.
Pricing:
adobe dreamweaver pricing
Adobe Dreamweaver provides two pricing plans:

Adobe Dreamweaver Single App: $20.99 per month. Get Adobe Dreamweaver as part of Creative Cloud.
Creative Cloud All Apps: $52.99 per month. Get Adobe Dreamweaver along with the entire collection of Adobe creative apps.
Students and teachers get a discount of up to 60 percent on the entire collection of Creative Cloud apps. You also get a 7-days free trial.

7. GIMP.
   Best Free, Open-Source Image Editor That Can Design Websites (Free).

gimp homepage
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free web design software and open-source graphics editor for web design, image editing, free-form drawing, etc.

It provides several tools for high-quality photo manipulation and color management features for high-fidelity colors. GIMP’s high-quality framework also helps you handle scripted image manipulation efficiently. What’s more, it supports multiple languages like C, C++, Python, Perl, Scheme, and more.

Plus, GIMP lets you customize your working environment the way you want. For instance, you can change colors, widget spacing, and icon sizes to customize toolsets.

Then there are impressive photo enhancement features that let you:

Fix perspective distortion in images caused by the camera lens.
Make your photos stand out with numerous filters.
Digitally touch up minor details with the healing tool.
Eliminate lens’ barrel distortion and vignetting.
GIMP barrel distortion
All these features help you create high-quality images for your websites.

GIMP also supports multiple platforms, including GNU/Linux, Windows, and OS X. Other than this, it offers several third-party plugins and several customization options for enhanced web design experience.

Key Features:
Photo Manipulation – Easily execute top-notch photo manipulation through retouching and restoring to creative composites.
Graphic Design Elements – Produce icons, graphical design elements, and stunning art for user interface components, mockups, and more.
Hardware Support – GIMP supports unique hardware devices like pressure and tilt sensitive tablets and a wide range of MIDI or USB controllers.
Pros:
GIMP lets you change its source code and share the changes.
Convert images to multiple graphical file types like bmp, jpeg, pdf, pcx, mng, gif, ps, png, psd, svg, tga, tiff, and xpm.
Easily add text and graphics-rich interactive banners.
Scale images precisely through the menu bar.
Use the Paintbrush tool to draw pictures easily.
Efficiently customize the view and behavior of your work environment.
Leverage the clone tool to clone elements with perspective instantly.
Pricing:
GIMP is 100% free to use.

8. Google Web Designer.
   Best Free Option For HTML5 Interactive Websites (Free).

Google Web Designer
Google Web Designer helps you create engaging HTML-5 based web pages. It enables you to use interactive elements and animation to create engaging web pages. Google Web Designer also integrates with Google Drive, Google Ads, and Display & Video 360.

It lets you:

Set up event pages with physical gestures like touch, rotation, or shaking on mobile devices.
Drag and drop elements like maps, image galleries, and video players to your web page.
Create multiple pages with several scenes to give an immersive user experience to your audience.
You can also build all of these components using your own JavaScript. It also provides a ‘Quick Mode’ to string together simple scenes for better animation. Characteristics like custom easing and motion paths also help you add attractive animations to your web pages.

What’s more, it designs and develops your site simultaneously with a full design suite and ability to edit CSS, Javascript, and HTML. You can even switch between the Design view and the Technical Code view to preview the design in real-time.

Key Features:
3D Graphics – Manipulate and create 3D content by using CSS3. You can also rotate 2D designs and objects across the axis, visualize translations, and 3D transformations.
Content Creation Tools – Use Pen or Shape tools to instantly create your own design and add or import text/assets.
Ad Formats – It supports a large range of Ad formats for display and video ads like Static Panorama, Static Cue Cards, Video Lightbox, among others.
Pros:
Directly edit CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
Monitor your changes by switching between code view and design view.
It supports Google Fonts.
You get access to loads of learning resources.
Easily create multiple pages for a single product.
Pre-programmed web components, including iFrame, tap areas, maps, images, and YouTube.
Pricing:
Google Web Designer is 100% free to use.

9. Bootstrap Studio.
   Best For Advanced, Mobile-Responsive Websites ($29 one-time payment).

Bootstrap Studio – web design and development app
Bootstrap Studio is a web design and development application that provides drag-and-drop options and customizable templates to build mobile-responsive web pages.

It provides a simple and powerful user interface that makes web design and prototyping decidedly easy, without a huge learning curve involved.

Bootstrap Studio user interface
It comes with numerous beautiful and mobile-responsive templates that you can customize to create a tailored website.

If the drag-and-drop interface isn’t enough for you, Bootstrap Studio offers full control over CSS, SASS, JavaScript, and HTML.

Here’s everything you get for technical web design:

Advanced CSS and SASS Editors
Import codes directly from your existing sites
HTML editing
Collaborate with external editors
Javascript editing
The open-source front-end toolkit also comes equipped with extensive prebuilt components, a responsive grid system, and powerful JavaScript plugins. You also get pre-designed components like headers, footers, galleries, slideshows, spans, and divs, serving as a tutorial if needed.

Key Features:
Realtime Preview – It lets you preview your changes in multiple web browsers and devices right away.
Bootstrap Themes & Icons – It has numerous Bootstrap themes and icons that you can use to create beautiful designs.
Blog – Easily launch your own blog in a few minutes through a magazine-like template that includes navigation, header, and featured content.
Pros:
Create appealing and engaging home pages with its single page themes instantly.
Its dashboard comes equipped with a fixed sidebar and navigation bar.
Leverage cards to build a custom pricing page easily.
Include a drop-down component menu in pages within minutes.
It supports HTML, Less (version 3), Sass (version 4), CSS, and JavaScript Extensions.
Pricing:
bootstrap studio pricing
Bootstrap Studio offers two paid plans:

Standard: $29
Lifetime: $59 with free updates forever.
You can buy the entire toolkit at a one-time payment.

10. Figma.
    Best For Teams and Agencies ($12 per editor/month).

figma homepage
Figma is a vector graphics editor that provides UX and UI design features to create professional websites.

It provides all types of powerful design features like:

Intuitive, vector-based interface
A modern pen tool
Arc tool
Vector networks
Figma – Design Features
Its collaborative and cloud-based approach enables large teams to work together efficiently. Different stakeholders can leave comments, and developers can copy code snippets to simplify collaboration.

You can also leverage its animated prototypes that feel like real elements. You can also study insights from users and easily test design concepts. Figma also provides plenty of beautifully designed, ready to use templates. Apart from this, you get plugins for everything like stock imagery, colors, flow diagrams, etc.

Key Features:
Observation Mode – Shadow the moves of presenters to efficiently track all the changes and edits.
Inspect Design Files – You can quickly view and grab snippets of code for CSS, iOS, and Android.
Tag Your Team Members – Easily tag people through @Mention to notify them about tasks, comments, or completion of the project.
Pros:
Use vector networks to draw in all directions without connecting or merging original paths.
It offers advanced font features to create distinct and immersive designs.
Instantly create and distribute plugins within the organization.
Leverage multiple plugins like stock imagery, color accessibility, flow diagrams, charts, and icons.
Offers accessible libraries from where you can drag and drop assets in your files.
Pricing:
figma pricing
Figma offers three plans:

Starter: Free for up to 2 editors and 3 projects.
Professional: $12 per editor/month billed annually.
Organization: $45 per editor/month billed annually.

11. Sketch.
    Best For Remote Teams and Mac Users ($9 per month).

sketch homepage
Sketch is a digital design toolkit for macOS primarily used for UX and UI designs of websites and mobile apps.

It provides powerful vector-editing tools and boolean operations to help you create non-destructive and pixel-perfect designs. You can zoom in to pixel-level to align things with Smart and Snapping guides – or simply adjust layers to perfection.

Sketch also provides plenty of advanced, design-focused features like:

Grids & layout to customize width, columns, colors, etc.
Resizing constraints to set things for different screen sizes.
Math operators for simplified functions like resizing, adjusting the width, etc.
Variable and OpenType fonts.
Sketch – Design Focused Features
It also offers multiple export options to export elements individually. You can also set up export presets to expedite the entire process. Use quick shortcuts to instantly toggle layout views and grids while customizing column widths, colors, and more.

Key Features:
Reusable Components – Leverage Symbols to reuse a single component multiple times. Easily update the element in one place, and it automatically gets updated throughout the whole website.
Smart Layout – Ensure automatic resizing of components while considering padding and proportions.
Shared Libraries – Create libraries of your Text Styles, Layer Styles, and Symbols for better collaboration. All team members can track the updates as your design evolves.
Pros:
Create prototypes by linking different design elements and easily share them through a URL.
Use the Mirror app to test your designs on iOS without writing codes.
It provides integrations with Pexels, Clues, Chart, Overflow, and more.
Sketch is native to macOS.
It comes equipped with Variable Font support.
Easily scale up by setting resizing rules and pinning multiple elements of the design.
Pricing:
sketch pricing
Sketch offers two plans:

Standard: $9 monthly
Business: Get in touch with their sales team
It also provides a fully-featured 30-day free trial for the standard edition.

12. Adobe XD.
    Best For Mobile Apps, Games, and Complex Jobs ($9.99 per month/user).

adobe xd homepage
Adobe XD is a UI/UX design and collaboration tool to design websites, mobile apps, games, and more. Its latest Coediting feature lets you collaborate with large teams in real-time. This feature runs seamlessly in the background to enable multiple designers to design in the same cloud doc simultaneously.

The good news is Adobe XD is a single powerful tool to enable your whole UI/UX design process – you won’t need any other third-party tool. It lets you create everything, including user flows, high-fidelity designs, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and animations. You don’t have to worry about design sync or combining multiple applications.

It also provides numerous unique features to speed up common tasks so you can focus on more creative tasks.

These features include:

Repeat Grid
Responsive Resize
And Auto-Animate
Key Features:
Design Systems – Use design systems in XD to create and share character styles, colors, and components for collaboration. You can also use them for multiple projects.
Extensive Integration – It offers hundreds of plugins and integration with Adobe Creative Cloud and other third-party apps.
Content-Aware Layout – Avoid manual work to edit or create layouts. It will automatically make the changes as per design adjustments.
Pros:
Easily edit images in Adobe Photoshop or sync your favorite fonts from Adobe Fonts.
Instantly share your designs with other third-party apps like Slack, Jira, and Zeplin.
Directly edit images from XD in Photoshop.
Use the ‘Repeat Grid’ feature to replicate a design element multiple times.
Work with blend modes, boolean operators, and other vector editing features to create icons, wireframes, and other components.
Resize groups of elements to fit multiple screen sizes while maintaining scale and relative placement between objects.
Pricing:
Adobe XD can be either on its own or as part of a bundle:

adobe xd pricing
XD: $9.99 per month per user
All Apps: $52.99 per month

13. InVision Studio.
    Best For Frontend Design ($7.95 per month).

InVision Studio – screen-design tool
InVision Studio is a screen-design tool that enables prototyping, animation, collaboration, and design systems – built in a single place. With InVision Studio, you get the best-in-class layout engine.

It helps you quickly design, adjust, and scale your designs to fit any screen or layout perfectly. You can use features like advanced pinning, relative positioning with containers, and percentage-based geometry to create responsive designs at scale.

Some of InVision Studio’s most prominent features include:

Vector-drawing tool for lighting fast speed.
Adaptive layout to create pages compatible with every type of device.
Interactive design for rapid prototyping.
Built-in animations that provide advanced motions with more emotions.
Shared design libraries for seamless collaboration.
Completely synced workflow.
It also helps you create prototypes rapidly with fluid interactions, mobile device mirroring, and instant playback. You can also create intuitive, frictionless animations using features like smart-swipe transitions, auto-layer linking, and timeline editing.

Invision Studio Features
InVision Studio also offers real-time updates, global syncing, and seamless component swapping to ensure less teamwork.

Key Features:
Iteration Versions – Instantly switch to the last version or roll back changes. You can do everything with just a single click.
One-Click Updates – Easily pull and push library changes with Sketch and Studio plugin.
Sync Code – Leverage APIs to export Atomic properties in multiple styling formats, including Jason.
Pros:
Control edit access of your designs by assigning permissions and roles to different users.
Share auto-generated customizable web-views.
It comes with private cloud options, SSO, and 2FA.
Store an unlimited number of projects, assets, and designs.
Manage multiple brands and UX components from an intuitive dashboard.
Instantly turn static screens into functional prototypes by adding micro-interactions and transitions.
Pricing:
invision pricing
InVision comes with three pricing plans:

Free: $0 For individuals & small teams.
Pro: $7.95 per month billed annually. For cross-collaborative teams.
Enterprise: Quote-based plan. For organizations with advanced needs.
You can also request a free demo to check out the product before purchasing it.

14. WordPress.
    Best For Content Sites and Blogs (WordPress.com is free/WordPress.org needs web hosting).

wordpress homepage
WordPress is a free and open-source web development platform that provides everything you need to build a dynamic website. From customizable themes to web hosting – WordPress is a full web design and development suite.

It offers thousands of highly customizable themes. And the library gets updated every week.

WordPress Themes
You can either choose responsive themes or make your website mobile-friendly through a simple click. You can also drag and drop images into pages and posts to create stunning picture galleries. WordPress also allows you to embed video, audio, and more in your web pages.

You can also update your websites on the go from its apps designed for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. It also offers powerful multi-tier user management to ensure all the users are only making changes that they are allowed to make.

Key Features:
Media Management – Drag and drop images to upload them. You can also edit images directly on WordPress or add text and captions to make your website more accessible.
Import Themes – WordPress offers thousands of themes to choose from, including premium and mobile-ready themes. However, you can still import your own custom or third-party theme to build a unique website design.
Multiple Languages – WordPress supports over 70 global languages. If you can’t find your language, you can even request customer support to include it in the next release.
Pros:
WordPress also works as a content management system.
Use custom web designers to implement menus and custom widgets instantly.
Easily customize the website header and add/edit elements like services, products, and more.
It also allows you to customize the page background with colors, images, designs, and videos.
Ensure unique branding by uploading your own fonts and colors.
It offers fully responsive designs for mobile devices.
It provides custom API, HTML, and more for higher customization.
Pricing:
wordpress pricing
On its own, WordPress is 100% free. And there are plenty of free as well as paid themes. However, you might need paid plans for a custom domain name, personal branding, and more.

Here are all the paid plans by WordPress:

Free Version: $0
Personal: $4 per month
Premium: $8 per month
Business: $25 per month
eCommerce: $45 per month

15. Constant Contact.
    New Website Builder with Built-In Email Marketing ($20 per month).

constant contact homepage
Constant Contact is an email marketing software company that recently launched their own site builder. Now they’re a website building platform that lets you build mobile-responsive and professional websites in just a few minutes.

There’s no need for any technical skills or guesswork. What’s more, you don’t even need to enter your details. Just link Constant Contact with your Facebook business page – and its AI-powered website builder will automatically pull in all the relevant information to create your own website.

It also offers integration with Unsplash to help you access over 550,000 free and professional-quality images.

Key Features:
CDN – It offers CDN for all the websites to ensure faster loading of webpages and to prevent site crashes.
eCommerce Platform – It comes equipped with a powerful eCommerce platform where you can list thousands of products on your online platform.
Multiple Layouts – Use multiple layouts to create web pages for a blog, product listing, corporate website, or more.
Pros:
It offers an AI-powered logo maker to help you meet your branding needs.
Easily edit an image or embed a link in it. You can also change or remove the image from the same place.
It also enables you to restore any saved version of the design.
Easily turn on or off your page elements from a sidebar.
Instantly add sections to your pages to add elements, designs, and more.
Embed videos on web pages through YouTube URL.
Pricing:
contact contact pricing
It costs $20 per month and is suitable for small businesses looking to build their brand and sell online.

There’s also a $45 per month plan for those that want more.

16. Framer.
    Best For Design Prototyping ($20 per month).

framer homepage
Framer is a design and prototyping tool that lets you design prototypes with complex animations. It also generates codes for React (a JavaScript library). Framer introduced React and JavaScript/TypeScript to program loading data, micro-interactions, and animations.

It provides all the features you need – multi-player editing, inline commenting, easy sharing, reusable components, developer handoff, and more. You can even import static elements from any UI design tool and replace them with interactive components in Framer.

Framer also provides incredible ease-of-use with its drag-and-drop function. What’s more, you can use ‘connectors’ to draw a link between components on the canvas for easy prototyping.

Framer X – Prototyping Features
It also offers four tabs in the sidebar, including Tools, Layers, Components, and Store to help you edit designs efficiently. You can instantly click on ‘Preview’ and ‘Live Preview’ buttons to take a sneak peek into your designs.

Key Features:
Publish Your Creations – Publish your creations, including icons, illustrations, or interactive code components to the store for other users. That means you can also install components from the store quickly.
Scroll Tool – Use the interactive ‘Scroll Tool’ to create proportionate designs with minimal efforts.
Easy Prototype – Validate product designs at an early stage without depending on the development resources. You can also easily collaborate with development teams with a prototype.
Pros:
Use a personal dashboard to connect with new team members while maintaining consistent quality across the project.
All the component packages are easily accessible by team members.
Framer provides SSO authentication and global access controls for powerful security.
Use near-native prototypes to test on real users in real-world environments.
Share designs through simple URLs and get feedback.
Automate communication between designers and developers to kill the communication gap.
Pricing:
framer pricing
Framer provides four pricing plans:

Free: $0.
Pro: $20 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing plan
All the plans let you invite as many editors as you want to collaborate and comment on a Framer project.

What is Web Design Software?
Web design is the process of creating a website that looks attractive, has user-friendly elements, and efficient flow of content. It includes several aspects like graphic design, webpage layout, and content.

A capable website design software helps in building required elements for the website. It also lets you design your website just the way you want – without writing a single line of code. Some standard features include drag and drop editor, templates, WordPress themes, and plugins to make web design faster and more efficient.

At the same time, these tools provide website development features like image hosting, form builder, and content delivery networks.

What Features Should You Look For in Web Design Software?
A massive number of web design software features and USPs might appear overwhelming. That’s why I collated a few benchmark features to look for in a web design tool.

Drag-and-Drop Editor – It lets you add various elements like layout, text, images, videos, and widgets instantly – without writing a single code. A drag-and-drop text editor is a handy feature to make any last-minute changes.
Responsive Themes – A large directory of themes can help you select the right design for your business. Using a theme can help you design a website at a faster pace. You can simply put your content, images, and branding in a theme to make it align with your business.
Integration With Third-Party Apps – Extensive integration with third-party apps like image libraries, widgets, social media, fonts, videos, and more will help you design websites seamlessly from a single source.
Mobile Responsive – Today, it’s crucial to have a mobile-friendly website. Look for a tool that can help you build mobile responsive web designs with preview features.
Mobile Editing – The ability to edit urgent tasks on the mobile can help you edit or make changes on the go. Thus, you might want to choose a tool that offers powerful mobile apps.
eCommerce – Many businesses create websites to sell their product and services online. If you are one of them, select a tool that offers eCommerce functions to list your product landing pages in multiple layouts.
CDN – CDN or content delivery network can help your website load faster globally. Thus, choose a web design platform that comes with this feature.
WYSIWGY – A ‘what you see if what you get editor’ helps you get things exactly the way you want them by giving you control over the fine details.
The Process Of Designing A Website
Here’s how you can create a professional website from scratch with a web design program.

1. Choose a template

Picking the right template is half the battle won. With an easy-to-use template selector, you can create great websites in minutes.

2. Customize your website

A web design tool will allow you to change colors, fonts, layouts and add content to make it unique for your business or projects – all without writing any code!

3. Add images & videos

Once you have designed a layout that’s right for you – use drag-and-drop image uploaders to add photos and relevant graphics to complete your site quickly and easily.

4. Publish!

Once everything is just how you want it – publish! The program will be live for everyone to browse.

A website can serve as a foundation for your digital marketing campaign.

In fact, a website might become the most important window to your business as it can help you establish credibility and offer several ways of contact to potential customers.

Thus, with a little bit of research – you can create a stunning website in no time with web design software!

Summary.
That ends my list of the 15 best web design software. All of these tools can help you build a nice-looking website in their own unique way.

However, not all of them can achieve the exact design requirements. Therefore, it’s crucial to review their features and USPs to identify which tool can meet your business requirements.

For instance, Bootstrap Studio is a great option to design mobile-first designs. GIMP can come in handy if you are looking for a free and open-source option.

Wix is great for creating simple small business websites. And if you’re looking to create a content site or highly-customized blog, WordPress is an excellent option.

best software for web graphic design

Choosing the right graphic design software is vitally important when creating high-quality images and designs. From creating logos and illustrations, to photo editing and web design, the best graphic design software can help you meet your goals. In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the 13 best graphic design software, along with my top 5 choices, so that you can pick the best one for you.

Stunning design that speaks to an audience is paramount for brands of all sizes.

Whether you need this software to help you start a blog like this one or edit product photos for your ecommerce business, selecting the best graphic design software can take your brand identity to the next level.

Considering this trend, Adobe Photoshop has become the reference point of image editing and graphic design software.

However, over the years, several other visual design software tools have emerged to cater to different needs and preferences of designers.

A capable graphic design tool not only enhances efficiency, but it also helps in putting stunning creativity into real-world design.

This article will cover the top options ranked in order of quality.

Let’s get started.

What is the Best Graphic Design Software?
The following are the best graphic design software on the market right now.

1. Adobe Photoshop.
   adobe photoshop logo
   Adam’s Take

If you’re looking for the best graphic design software for your needs, I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop. Used by professionals, this software will get you the results you want.

9.2out of 10
Best For

Overall Graphics

Price

$20.99+/mo

Annual Discount

No

Promotion

7-Day Trial

Try Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is synonymous with photo editing for graphic designers. It is one of the most popular photo editing software tools in the market in a robust package that offers excellent graphic design capabilities.

Key Features:
Adobe Photoshop features
Design Tools: Offers a lot of design tools for both mobile apps and web
Creative Cloud: Its active synchronization with Adobe Creative Cloud offers a lot of unique features, including Content-Aware Crop, Face-Aware Liquify, Artboards, the Design Space view, synced libraries, a glyph panel, Cloud Documents, touch, and stylus input support, among others.
User Interface: The Adobe graphic design software interface is continuously updated to provide a more customizable user interface. It offers several targeted workspace layouts, including Graphic and Web, Motion, 3D, Painting, and Photography, Designer can also create your own custom layout of panels and windows.
Open-Source GIMP Software: If you don’t want to pay a dime, then you can download and install this software for free. Consider installing it on a powerful machine to avoid lag and other performance issues.
User Experience:
Adobe Photoshop user experience
With the ability to work in offline mode through your browser, you can use Adobe Photoshop to quickly edit photos with a few clicks.

The software provides an intuitive user interface that is easy to use, making it a great choice for those who are new to photo editing.

At the same time, advanced features allow those that are experienced to get the most out of the software.

Pricing Plans:
Adobe offers Photoshop at a subscription price of US$20.99 per month per license.

What I Like/Dislike About Adobe Photoshop:
Like:

It offers a complimentary mobile application
Its slick user interface offers a lot of assistance for easy use
Got a rich set of typography and drawing tools
Comes loaded with 3D design capabilities
Offers a library and photo management with Adobe Creative Cloud
Efficient file transfer between different programs
Multiple design tools come with responsive graphics
Ability to edit animation and video layers
Users can define the size of the canvas, create custom brushes, work in 3D, isolate elements from backgrounds, among others.
Dislike:

Adobe now offers Photoshop along with the subscription of Creative Cloud. The recurring payment turns out to be more costly, and people who want to buy software forever don’t have the option to buy a perpetual license
A plethora of features might overwhelm a new user
Offers lessor support for raster and vector images like SVG files
Product Updates:
Improvements to cloud documents means you can now work on your Adobe Photoshop projects even when you’re not connected to the internet.
Edge enhancement in your skies means that you can get better definition and detail in your photos, making them look more realistic.
Get started with Adobe Photoshop today.

Try Adobe Photoshop

2. Adobe InDesign.
   adobe indesign logo
   Adam’s Take

For publishers that want to create stunning outputs that are also functional, I suggest you check out Adobe InDesign. With a lower learning curve than Photoshop, InDesign is an excellent software for those who want to create beautiful layouts for published works quickly.

8.8out of 10
Best For

Publishers

Price

$20.99/mo

Annual Discount

No

Promotion

30-Day Free Trial

Try Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a must-have software tool if you are in the business of publishing. It offers excellent capabilities to design stunning magazines, info sheets, and brochures while easily exporting them to PDF or HTML.

Key Features:
Adobe InDesign features
Easy To Use: Unlike PhotShop, InDesign requires a low learning curve. That means new users can quickly learn how to combine text and graphics to achieve the best results.
Adjust Layout: The ‘Adjust Layout’ feature empowers the designer just to change the text of the template, and design gets adjusted automatically, which is great for infographics.
Sensei Technology: Adobe’s AI-powered Sensei technology ensures automatic resizing and arrangement of images.
Adobe InCopy: Designers can leverage InCopy to work with other members of the team by sharing text, colors, and graphics.
User Experience:
Adobe InDesign user experience
With an interface similar to Photoshop and Illustrator, Adobe InDesign provides a familiar experience for those who are used to using Adobe products.

If you work with text, images and/or vector artwork, then InDesign will give you the professional results that you’re looking for.

While there is a learning curve to using the software, there are tons of tutorials that can help you get up to speed quickly.

Pricing Plans:
adobe indesign pricing
Adobe offers InDesign at a monthly subscription of $20.99. The full Creative Cloud costs $52.99 per month.

What I Like/Dislike About Adobe InDesign:
Like:

Graphic designers can efficiently combine graphics and texts for easier streamlining and optimizations of files.
It allows users to add tags to indexes, keywords, anchor text frames, footnotes, table of contents, and captions with hyperlinks.
It supports HTML exporting that enables web developers to export clean and simple codes during the implementation of the website’s layout designs. This works great for WordPress sites.
It can help you eliminate redundant div tags in HTML files along with insignificant content grouping.
Has the capability of resizing multiple objects and changing the width and height at the same time.
Designers can leverage its Eyedropper tool to apply position or size instantly to another object within the document.
It is an industry standard for desktop publishing.
Dislike:

The less intuitive user interface can make things overwhelming for new users.
Not positioned for general users. Suitable for enterprise use only.
Relatively expensive than other similar software available in the market.
PDF comment integration needs perfection
Product Updates:
Adobe has updated the InDesign UI to better match the scaling of other Adobe Creative Cloud products on high-resolution displays. This makes it easier to use InDesign on devices with high pixel density, such as Retina displays.
The Adobe Capture extension for InDesign lets you quickly turn photos into design elements that you can use in your InDesign layouts. With the extension, you can capture colors, shapes, and textures from photos and apply them to your designs.
Get started with Adobe InDesign today.

Try Adobe InDesign

3. CorelDraw Graphics Suite.
   coreldraw logo
   Adam’s Take

CorelDraw gives you all the professional-level features you need to create illustrations, logos, and marketing materials. It’s a great program for anyone who wants to create vector-based graphics. If graphic design is part of your professional life, CorelDraw is a must-have software.

8.6out of 10
Best For

Pro-level Features

Price

$20.75/mo-$499/once

Annual Discount

No

Promotion

Free 15-Day Trial

Try CorelDraw
CorelDraw Graphics Suite packs some pro-level features and offers a highly accessible interface that is easy to use. It is a bundle of multiple applications that deliver powerful editing features.

Key Features:
CorelDraw Graphics Suite features
Content Exchange: It is Corel’s online digital library through which registered users can get access to thousands of high-resolution photographs and digital images. It also offers over 2000 vehicle templates, 1000 fonts, 350 professionally designed templates, more than 500 interactive frames, over 600 gradients, vector, and bitmap fills.
Flexible Payment: Corel offers three payment programs through which users can buy the software along with nominal charges for regular upgrades. It also offers an upgrade program for existing users.
Customizable UI: You get a customizable UI environment for the desktop, icon sizing, toolboxes, options for how your documents open, and window border color scheme. Users can also visit Corel’s developer community website to design macros that suit their workflow.
New Pointilizer: Corel’s new pointilizer offers a lot of variable parameters that are not just limited to regular dots.
User Experience:
CorelDraw Graphics Suite user experience
CorelDraw takes concepts from other vector software and combines them into an intuitive interface that is easy to use.

The software is packed with features but still manages to be user-friendly.

If you’re involved in print-based media, chances are that the features will already be familiar as the software is designed to be used with professional printing equipment.

Pricing:
coreldraw homepage
CorelDraw is available for a 15-day free trial. Its full version is available for $499 with a 30-days money-back guarantee. You can also pay for an annual subscription for $249 or just $20.75/month.

What I Like/Dislike About CorelDraw Graphics Suite:
Like:

It offers app-wide workflow and under-the-hood innovation and performance enhancements to boost productivity
Works perfectly without any lag with Surface Pen
Users get the option to choose GPU acceleration over the default CPU while working with system-intensive sophisticated vector graphics
Smooth transition from desktop to tablet mode to leverage touch features
It offers better EPS and third-party PDF importing capabilities and leverages with their GPL Ghostscript feature
It is capable of exporting files in up to 48 file types, including AutoCAD, JPG, PNG, SVG, AutoCAD, JPG, and TIFF. It can also open 35 file types, including EPS, HTML, AutoCAD, PDF, PowerPoint, SVG, and even old FreeHand files
Dislike:

Unlike Adobe, there are no complimentary mobile applications offered by Corel
Two many payment options might confuse the user
Not easy to operate for beginners
Product Updates:
Direct access to online fonts so you can easily add fonts to your designs from a variety of sources.
A streamlined collaboration workflow that allows you to work on design projects with others in real-time.
Asset management capabilities that let you easily find, organize, and share the assets you need for your designs.
Get started with CorelDraw Graphics Suite.

Try CorelDRAW

4. Adobe Illustrator.
   adobe illustrator logo
   Adam’s Take

I advise you to go for Adobe Illustrator illustrative if you work with artwork, page layouts, logos, and typography regularly. It’s the industry standard for vector illustrations, providing you with all the tools you need to create beautiful designs.

8.2out of 10
Best For

Graphic Illustrators

Price

$20.99/mo

Annual Discount

No

Promotion

30-Day Free Trial

Try Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is more than just a graphic design tool that is perfect for illustrative artwork, page layouts, corporate logos, website mockups, and almost anything else as per the requirement. Moreover, it’s an industry benchmark in vector creation tools.

Key Features:
Adobe Illustrator features
High-customizability: Adobe Illustrator is highly customizable through multiple preset layouts along with other customizability options. Users can leverage the drag and drop feature to move panels anywhere on the screen.
In-Panel Editing: Its in-panel editing feature allows designers to edit multiple artboards simultaneously to help designers work with more efficiency.
Highly Compatible: It is highly compatible with numerous devices that have different configurations from Mac and Windows.
User Interface: Its user interface is highly accessible and customizable. It offers custom viewing and space-saving features to help you work on any machine.
User Experience:
Adobe Illustrator user experience
Creating logos, designs, illustrations, and graphics can be done with ease using Adobe Illustrator.

The software is easy to use and the tools are self-explanatory which makes it user-friendly.

There are also all the features you would expect from a vector drawing app, such as the ability to create custom shapes, apply gradients and strokes, and add text to your designs.

Pricing Plans:
adobe illustrator pricing
Adobe Illustrator offers a monthly subscription of US$20.99.

What I Like/Dislike About Adobe Illustrator:
Like:

Instead of stored pixels, it generates graphics based on mathematical equations to ensure crisp and sharp lines that you can print in any dimension
It creates graphics files in relatively small sizes so that designers can share them easily through a simple email attachment
You get access to over 90 million images, graphics, templates, and videos from Adobe Stock
Use Adobe font integration to select thousands of fonts and implement the most suitable font for the project
Tight integration with other Adobe products
Dislike:

It is costlier in comparison to other vector-based graphic design tools
So many features can look a bit overwhelming for new users. It requires a steep learning curve to use it efficiently
It could eat up a lot of space on your machine
Product Updates:
Blend objects in your design for a more natural look.
Map artwork onto 3D objects and then edit and paint them to create unique graphics.
Get started with Adobe Illustrator today.

Try Adobe Illustrator

5. Inkscape.
   inkscape
   Adam’s Take

Inkscape is my pick for scalable graphics. It’s an open-source graphics editor, making it a great option if you’re on a budget. With images that can be as big as you need them to be, Inkscape is perfect for creating professional-quality designs at virtually no cost.

7.8out of 10
Best For

Scalable Graphics

Price

Free

Annual Discount

No

Promotion

Use For Free

Try Inkscape
Inkscape is a capable free graphic design software that can help designers create scalable graphic designs that won’t stretch or blur during resizing. It’s a user-friendly option for hobbyists or beginners interested in vector drawing.

Key Features:
Inkscape features
User Experience: For free vector software, the user experience is quite impressive. Designers who are familiar with Adobe tools can efficiently operate Inkscape.
Regular Updates: Inscape has a robust community of developers that enables it to provide updates and new features regularly. Its latest update has got mesh gradients, a checkerboard background to view transparency more comfortably, improved spray, and measurement tools.
Free of Cost: It is one of the most robust and capable alternatives to Adobe Illustrator that is available as a free tool.
Manual Improvement: Users can leverage the open-source code to change the lines of code and enhance or personalize the software as per the requirement.
User Experience:
Inkscape user experience
If you’ve used other vector drawing software before, you’ll find Inkscape easy to use.

The interface is straightforward and the tools are self-explanatory.

Using this software is intuitive and you can quickly create designs, illustrations, logos, and graphics with ease.

There’s also a status bar that shows you information about the currently selected object, such as its size, position, and color.

Pricing:
Inkscape is an open-source platform that is available for free.

What I Like/Dislike About Inkscape:
Like:

Users can easily make individual text lines without frames along with the paragraph type.
It supports multiple gradients and comes with a separate tool to create complex combinations.
It comes equipped with Bezier handles to ensure more effortless movement of nodes.
Inkscape offers several well-designed and full-featured tools to create, edit, and convert vectors.
It is also capable of downloading or creating ready-made plugins.
Users can leverage different preset categories of filters to save time and effort.
Dislike:

Inkscapes’ streaming text needs to be converted into plain text, for instance, before export.
The Mac version is not error-free.
Processing is a bit slower than other graphics software.
Compatibility with Illustrator is not bulletproof.
Product Updates:
Improves translations for 15 languages to make the software more accessible to a wider audience.
The bugfix version solves nearly 60 issues, including some that could cause crashes

6. Sketch.
   sketch homepage
   Sketch is a vector-based graphic design tool that is best suited for app, web, and interface design. It is best suited for creating interactive prototypes for UI/UX purposes.

Key Features:
Low Cost: Sketch offers a yearly subscription that is significantly lower than other subscriptions
Great For Mobile and Web: It leverages grids, snap to grid functionality, and snap to pixel functionality to avoid half-pixel renders or imperfect alignment. These perfections are critical to ensure perfect responsive design/multiple screen sizes and resolutions.
Screen Templates: It offers a library of artboard templates for iOS devices and responsive web design layouts. Designers just need to select an artboard and the device.
Custom Plugins: Designers can easily find custom plugins for specific tasks through robust community support
Pros:
It allows easy sharing and collaboration through the cloud. Designers can share the entire interface in the cloud through a simple file sharing process
Users can mirror designs on larger devices for team viewing to identify how the design would exactly look in a particular device
Users can export any layer or group as a PNG file
Sketch autosaves all the changes in the design step by step to avoid any loss of design. Significant relief for designers, indeed!
Users can leverage libraries with standard Android icons, iOS icons, and Mac icons
It requires a low learning curve
Cons:
Being a new design tool, it is not entirely polished and requires a lot of enhancement
It offers limited illustration capabilities that can hamper intricate illustration work
Screens don’t render in high resolution while accessing from the cloud
Available only for Mac users
Absence of automatic layout flowing option
Pricing Plans:
sketch pricing
The yearly subscription costs $9 per month.

7. Affinity Designer.
   affinity designer homepage
   Affinity Designer is a clean, capable, and cheaper alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It offers an excellent budget proposition that is also easier to use and faster than Illustrator.

Key Features:
Grid Systems: Its versatile grid system enables designers to set up grids while creating isometric video game graphics and icons. This feature helps users in acquiring total control over angles, gutters, spacing, subdivisions to create accurate layouts.
Snapping Option: It allows designers to lock and position objects and elements depending on multiple things, including grids, alignment guides, shapes, and nodes of other objects.
Dual Environment: Through Affinity Designer, users can work in both pixel art environments and vector art environment without opening any other application.
Zoom Feature: Its zoom feature can go as far as 1,000,000 percent enabling designers to design with utmost precision and accuracy.
Pros:
Designers can leverage dynamic on-screen guides to ensure objects and designs are laid out with accurate measurement and alignment
Users can create smooth and accurate curves through rope and window stabilizers to create beautiful vector illustrations
Boolean operation is not only capable of combining shapes, but it is also capable of efficiently moving and editing some parts
It offers a wide selection of colors to enhance designs.
Users are also allowed to apply for their work on one project to multiple numbers of artboards
Its Apple iPad app is as powerful as its desktop application
Cons:
Doesn’t export files in AI
Absence of natural perspective grid
Absence of vector eraser in Designer Persona
Some tools are missing that are available on Illustrator
Pricing Plan:
affinity designer pricing
Designers can buy Affinity Designer software for a one time cost of $54.99 on desktop, or $9.99 on an iPad.

8. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program).
   gimp homepage
   GIMP is much more than just a photo editor that offers a lot of incredible Photoshop features for free. It provides multiple professional-quality functions to fine-tune snaps and create artworks from scratch.

Some would even consider it to be one of the best free graphic design software on the market.

Key Features:
Flexibility: The photo editing tool’s user interface is highly customizable, and the GIMP community has developed several incredible plugins for added features free of cost. People who know coding can customize it to higher levels as per the requirement.
Regular Updates: Its active community of developers means that it keeps getting regular updates and the addition of new features.
GEGL Scripts: It is one of the best features of GIMP that makes it an open platform for image processing.
Compatibility: It is compatible with a plethora of operating systems including macOS, Linux, Windows, Solaris, and BDS
Pros:
It enables users to sketch the drawing by leveraging tools, including cloning, pencil, and airbrush
GIMP offers tutorials for every feature to help out the users
Its Layers feature allows designers to design an image under an existing image
Clean and easy to use user interface for users who are new to the world of image editing
It offers the option of working on a modular and single-window interface
It is very lightweight and uses the computing resources optimally, leading to ensure speedy performance
Cons:
The user interface is not perfect for Mac users
Adjustment layers come with a non-destructive way of combining multiple photo manipulations
The developer community is not significant. As a result, it gets updated at a much slower pace
Pricing Plans:
Since it’s an open-source platform, it’s an entirely free version of design software.

9. Xara Designer Pro X.
   xara designer homepage
   Xara offers advanced features and tools while that provide advanced design elements. The software is used extensively for web and print design solutions to create illustrations, edit photos, and design web pages.

Key Features:
Direct Action Tools: The ‘direct action’ tools offer robust features and stable functionalities for general use.
Drag and Drop Feature: This time saving and intuitive feature allows designers to zoom up to 25,000 percent and leverage direct action tools easily for faster execution of the job. It also allows placing any item on the page through a simple drag and drop.
Performance: It offers faster performance and gives users an easy way to implement creativity. It also allows users to make numerous modifications through unlimited redo and undo options.
Super Fast: Xara boasts of one of the fastest and most sophisticated vector rendering engines. This gives it the capability to deliver more complex and professional graphic designs efficiently.
Pros:
Xara Designer Pro offers substantial editing options, including solid dragging, scaling, and rotating of objects to achieve the best in editing results
It offers anti-aliasing that helps in improving the quality of on-screen images by softening the edges of objects through blending the edges with the background
It comes with cloud capabilities to view, edit, and update documents through a web browser on any computer or tablet
The zoom tool is capable of zooming up to 25,601% to enable designers to take a closer look
Designer Pro is capable of syncing files with Dropbox and Google Drive
It offers support to an extensive range of file formats, including bitmap types like JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF, PSD, and allows import of photos such as RAW or JPEG XR
It also supports importing and exporting Adobe PSD files, including layer support, alpha channel, and 16-bit color and CMYK layer conversion
Cons:
It is available only on Windows
Requires a steep learning curve to use all the features efficiently
The masking feature is cumbersome and difficult to understand
Pricing Plans:
xara designer pricing
The Xara Designer Pro+ is available at a monthly subscription of $16.95 per month. The Team+ plan is available at $9.98 per month.

10. Gravit Designer.
    gravit designer homepage
    Gravit Designer is an HTML-based graphic design application to deliver high-quality vector graphics. It is one of the most suitable tools for graphic, product, or web designer professionals.

Key Features:
Gravit Designer Dashboard: The dashboard is easy to navigate and allows to switch between the tabs or switch dark themes instantly easily. Users can also easily set the width and height of the document through the dashboard.
Pages: Its pages feature a perfect blend of artboards and pages that comes with its canvas settings.
Tools and Effects: It offers several tools, including the Bezigon tool, Lasso tools, and Pen tool, among others. It also allows adding multiple fills to an element.
Portability: It offers absolute cross-platform portability for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS to enable the designer to work from any machine efficiently.
Pros:
It offers a modern user interface that is entirely customizable, engaging, and easy to use
Gravit Designer offers an implicit way to design social media posts for various platforms, including Instagram and Facebook
It offers natural flexibility through web and desktop versions of the software
It supports multiple file formats for export as well as import
It allows editing of scalable vector graphics
Users get knife and tool support for non-destructive Boolean that makes it a potent tool for user interface design
Designers can easily open multiple documents and go to the papers on the tab
Its Pro version offers unlimited cloud storage
Cons:
There is not a lot of information present about the software from official resources
A real-time collaboration feature is absent
Designers can’t run prototypes on smartphones to find out how would they look
Fonts need an active internet connection to work
Pricing Plans:
gravit designer pricing
Gravit Designer comes entirely free of cost with limited features. Gravit Designer Pro is available for $49.99 yearly.

11. Photoscape.
    photoscape homepage
    Photoscape offers indispensable features for editing and managing photo archive. It positions itself as a tremendous free graphic design tool for beginners and professionals who don’t want to buy expensive subscriptions.

Key Features:
Editing Tools: Photoscape offers numerous types of image editors, including page, batch editor, editor, viewer, print, combine, print, screen capture, animated GIF, print, combine, and so forth. Its editing toolkit offers a set of distinct and well-labeled features for beginners.
Multi-lingual: It comes loaded with English and Korean. However, designers can gain access to more than 30 languages through downloadable modules.
User Interface: It offers a simple and easy to use interface that helps beginners to use the software efficiently.
Design Module: Its design module and image editing capabilities pack a lot of features, including color adjustments, size, gamma, backlight, resolution, brightness, and so forth. It also comes loaded with text, design, and drawing tools, including effects brush, filters, paintbrush, clone stamp, among others.
Pros:
The batch editor feature is a boon for designers who edit images regularly. It allows the user to resize, convert, or rename multiple pictures with a single mouse click
It is capable of opening RAW photos and comes equipped with a converter that allows converting RAW images to JPEG images easily
It is a cross-platform design app compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux machines
It comes with a PhotoScapeX edition for Windows 10 machines that is available free of cost.
Offers integrated editing and graphic solutions
It is highly responsive and lightweight that leverages computer hardware smartly
Cons:
Doesn’t provide advanced image editing capabilities like in Photoshop
Not available on Linux
Pricing Plans:
Photoscape is available free of cost.

12. Genially.
    genially homepage
    Genially allows you to take your content and turn it into graphics that look professional on a website, blog, Pinterest, or Facebook in just a few minutes.

You can share your creations across all social media channels without using additional plugins for each page.

Key Features:
Choose from many templates, and your content is pushed into that template. If you want to, you can customize the color and design further.
The graphics it produces are simple, yet effective. It’s easy to use and makes good quality graphics for business, social media posts, and more
Create presentations, infographics and interactive images and turn content into an effective and powerful marketing tool.
If you want to create gamification, visual and interactive quizzes, then Genially can help you do that.
Video Presentations are also catered for by this app.
Pros:
You can create presentations to upload.
You have the power to choose from a number of templates or design one yourself.
You can also customize it further with your content, videos, images and other media formats if you want to.
Training Material is available so you can learn how to use the app.
Cons:
With so many features, it sometimes tries to do too much and the interface is a bit confusing.
The free version doesn’t allow you to import PowerPoint files from your computer
Pricing:
genially pricing
The pricing plans are as follows:

Pro: $7.49 per month (billed annually)
Master: $20.82 per month (billed annually)
Team: $79.15 per month (billed annually)

13. Vectr.
    vectr homepage
    Step into the realm of Vectr, a wonderful yet simple Free graphics program that lets you create stunning vector art and designs, edit images and customize projects for web and print.

They also offer a free Chrome plugin to enhance your experience while designing your graphics.

Key Features:
If you’re a beginner, it’s not an issue since the user interface is simple and easy to navigate.

In addition, if you have no experience in designing graphics software, you will find it effortless when setting up the various tools used for drawing your vector artworks or modifying images or photos.

Real time sharing allows you to invite anyone and work on a document that is accessible by the public.

The design tools are intuitive and user-friendly, with an array of popular fonts, graphics, effects and shapes available for you to use in your documents.

Resize without losing the clarity and quality of your graphics.

Pros:
Make vector images that are scalable without losing quality
Share projects online with your team or clients to work on together.
Free forever plan that gives you access to all the features
AI powered image resizing will ensure you always get an image that is the right size
Laid back and easy to use user interface
Cons:
There is no desktop version so you have to use their online interface.

Pricing:
Vectr is free forever.

Note: other design apps not yet reviewed for this list include Vectr, Microsoft DrawPad, and Pixlr.

What Are the Benefits of Graphic Design Software?
A capable graphic design software tool enables designers to create visually stunning graphics and images.

Here are a few crucial benefits that a capable graphic design software brings to the table:

1. Flexibility and Scalability.
   It provides you with the flexibility to create visually stunning images and graphics without actually shooting them. Aside from this, the user can get the file exported into multiple file-formats instantly for easy distribution to other marketing platforms.
2. Cost Efficient.
   Apart from paid tools that offer great value for money, there are also free open source graphic design software that designers can leverage to create beautiful designs. It helps in saving a lot of expenses on shooting real objects.
3. Branding.
   Graphic design tools help organizations in maintaining their brand positioning by embedding logos and watermarks on marketing collaterals. Users can save templates in the software that can be used every time to maintain consistency of image size and design.
4. Increased Engagement.
   High-quality visuals created through graphic design software helps in enhancing brand engagement. It helps in sending the message to the audience more clearly.
5. Time-Saving.
   Using graphic design software helps in saving a lot of time that would have otherwise been spent on shooting photos and videos. It also allows users to create bulk images in just minutes, which are ready for immediate upload and distribution.
6. Minimum Human Intervention.
   It helps in getting the required visuals by leveraging artificial intelligence algorithms to edit photos and videos instantly without any human intervention. Furthermore, it enables marketers to get high-quality graphics edited within seconds and seconds itself that can be shared across multiple platforms like social media, websites, etc., at once.
7. Custom Branding.
   Graphic design software allows users to create custom branding for marketing collaterals like images, infographics, videos, etc., according to the brand’s requirements. This helps in promoting brands that are unique and differentiated from the competition.

How Does Graphic Design Software Work?
There are several graphic design software tools available in the market with their unique set of capabilities. However, they all are built with a single goal of creating stunning artworks. Hence, their basic functionalities are the same.

Here are some of the steps that will help you get the hang of some of the basic functions of a graphic design software work.

1. Create a New Document.
   For instance, you are using Adobe Photoshop to create graphics.

You have to launch Photoshop first and click on the “File” option and then “New Document.”

Adobe Photoshop create new document
The designer can either select a template or customize the size of the document manually.

2. Enter The Camera Raw-Panel.
   Next, you can see what the camera raw-panel actually looks like in Photoshop. Here, you can select the crop tool available in the sidebar to resize your design.
3. Workspace Overview.
   This window will display the project you are working on. It may have multiple tabs depending on the number of projects you are working on simultaneously.

Have a look at the workspace from Adobe Photoshop.Adobe Photoshop Workshop

4. Learn The Meaning of Basic Tool Icons.
   Before you move further, you should know the meaning of the vital tools you’ll be using for graphic design.

Here is the list of tool icons that you must know by heart to use any graphic design platform efficiently.

Graphic designing tools overview

5. Layers, Groups, and Guide.
   Playing with layers at the right spot will help in creating visually appealing designs. To create a new layer, just click ‘Layer > New > Layer’ or tick the box with the folded corner at the bottom right of the window. You can also lock the layers to avoid editing them accidentally.
6. Create a Wallpaper.
   Users can leverage a lot of tools to create simple images into stunning visuals that can be used as high-resolution wallpapers.

Executive Summary.
Finding the best graphic design software that meets all your requirements can be overwhelming.

If you want to make the right decision, then it’s crucial to ponder over a few essential points, including:

Budget – Analyze whether you can afford a paid tool or not, or paying the subscription for graphic design software is feasible or not. Decide by weighing the features that you can get from open source tools and what USPs paid tools are offering.
Features – Go for a quality tool like Adobe Photoshop only if you require intricate vector designs regularly. Otherwise, free software tools like Inkscape are more than enough when it comes to managing basic editing work.
Collaboration – If your work methodology includes frequent collaboration, then look for a graphic design platform that comes equipped with cloud capabilities for seamless collaboration and sharing of files.

Conclusion

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