Four Reasons to Explore Alternative Design Apps to Adobe

Why branching out to alternative design apps can boost your skills, save you money, and give you more control over your creative work.

I’ve been posting a lot about alternative design apps (Affinity Suite, GIMP, Inkscape, Penpot) on social media (mainly Bluesky) and thought I’d dive deeper here! There are some really cool alternatives to the Adobe Suite - some free & open-source, some paid & closed-source.

I don’t think the app makes the design, but it helps when the app is good. 😅

As I start writing these drafts, I realize they’re getting a bit long, so I’ll break it into a series. Feel free to jump to the post that interests you most!

Some Intro

Why not simply stick to the Adobe Suite? It’s the best, and all “free” apps suck!
Open-source, closed-source? What are you talking about? (Coming Jan 26)

Alternative Apps (Coming Soon)

Raster style apps: Affinity Photo, Photopea, GIMP (alternatives to Photoshop)
Vector style apps: Affinity Designer, Inkscape (alternatives to Illustrator)
Desktop publishing apps: Affinity Publisher, Scribus (alternatives to InDesign)
Interface & prototyping: Penpot (alternative to Figma & Sketch)
Video editors: DaVinci Resolve, Blender (alternatives to Premiere Pro & After Effects)
Roundup of other cool apps: Krita (digital painting), Canva (in-browser design app), Converseen (batch image processor), darktable (Lightroom alternative)

My Projects Made in Alternative Design Apps (Coming Soon)

Made in Affinity Photo or GIMP
Made in Affinity Designer or Inkscape
Made in Affinity Publisher
Made in Penpot
Made in DaVinci Resolve or Blender
Made in Krita
Made in Canva

Why not simply stick to the Adobe Suite? It’s the best, and all “free” apps suck!

Honestly, there are plenty of reasons to explore other apps.

The most important one for me is that nowadays, it’s crucial to have a wide skillset, which includes knowing various programs. As a graphic designer, I don’t need to know how to draw or do 3D (for me, it’s just the basics), but it helps! I don’t need to know code or marketing, but it makes me a better team player. The more apps you learn, the better you get.

The second reason? Adobe’s subscription price is a major barrier, especially for beginners.

When I was 14, I wanted to build websites. Coding (HTML & CSS) was easy to get into, but digital design? Not so much. In the 2010s, design apps cost thousands, so I turned to alternatives or “creative” ways to get software (which often meant reinstalling Windows 😭). Subscriptions have helped, but Adobe’s pricing still isn’t ideal, CAD $78.99/mo for the full suite is too much for many. We need better-known alternatives to push Adobe to rethink its prices.

Other design apps don’t suck, and you can use them professionally. There’s been lots of development in the space while Adobe stagnated (before the AI push).

When I started graphic design, I felt like an amateur for not using Photoshop, but after learning the Adobe suite in college, I was underwhelmed. The skills transferred easily. Selection is selection, layers are layers.

And some apps have cool features Adobe lacks or perform better. I’ve yet to crash an Affinity app, and they’re fast. I’m not waiting forever for fonts to load or worrying about corrupted files. Many closed-software apps are fixing common issues with Adobe apps.

Lastly, AI. Adobe’s latest policy changes hint that everything you create could be used to feed a machine. I’m not fully against AI, but I believe it should learn from non-copyrighted material, not scouring the internet for anything. For those working with NDAs, that’s a huge risk of leaked information. Free & open-source apps are the only ones you can truly trust in this aspect.

To sum up, branching out helps you:

1. Build a wide skillset
2. Overcome financial barriers
3. Realize other apps don’t suck
4. Address privacy and copyright concerns

Hope this sparked your curiosity! In the next post, I’ll talk about terminology: open-source vs. closed-source, the true meaning of “free,” and what owning software really means. Then, we’ll dive into the good stuff 👍

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please let me know. If not, also let me know (and maybe why). Are you an Adobe die-hard? How offended am I making you today? Share your thoughts below!