If you are considering CorelDRAW, you may also want to investigate similar alternatives or competitors to find the best solution. Other important factors to consider when researching alternatives to CorelDRAW include user interface and files. We have compiled a list of solutions that reviewers voted as the best overall alternatives and competitors to CorelDRAW, including Adobe Illustrator, GIMP, Sketch, and Inkscape. Adobe After Effects CC 2020 Free Download

CorelDRAW is a popular vector graphics software for every graphic designer who needs to create top-notch graphics. You must be wondering why most creatives prefer CorelDRAW.

Why Go For a CorelDRAW Alternative?

CorelDRAW is an industry leader known for robust graphic designs, vector illustrations, logo creation, page layouts, and so much more.

It offers enhanced vector editing tools, high precision colour management, tracing, and plenty of other benefits to users.

However, CorelDRAW has its own drawbacks.

So what’s my point?

• CorelDRAW can be a bit challenging for beginners because of its slight learning curve. It requires web design skills and experience, especially if you need to create realistic images.
• Navigation may not be easy for some users. The navigation board is invisible, and the freehand brush is not so easy to use.
• Compared to some of its competitors, CorelDRAW is a bit high on the pocket. So if you are tight on your budget, you might want to look the other way.
• If CorelDRAW doesn’t meet all your requirements, you have a good reason to find another option that will serve you better.

Best Free CorelDRAW Alternatives

The programs listed here can help you create different illustrations, layouts, and logos. They have exceptional features and toolsets, vibrant colour palettes, and can support multiple file formats.

They may have different approaches to graphic design but are equipped with more simplicity and efficacy.

And they will deliver excellent graphics precisely the way you expect.

You’re about to discover the best FREE alternatives to CorelDRAW. So stay put for this most exciting part.

1. Adobe Illustrator CC

With Adobe Illustrator, you can design complex vector imaging easily. It has excellent colour management capabilities and standard drawing tools for the job.

Its user interface is intuitive, with easily accessible features. This platform allows users complete control over their graphic creation process. Adobe After Effects CC 2020 Free Download

To work with an illustrator, you have to use the AI file format.

Since the software has tight integration with the rest of the free Adobe software, users have the freedom to import objects in Illustrator to Adobe Flash Professional.

Key Features of Adobe Illustrator CC 

• Pre-built design templates
• It has a free transform tool
• Colour syncing
• Pixel snapping options
• File packaging
• Pixel-perfect designs
• Freeform gradients
• Puppet warm enhancements

What We Like

• Multiple custom plugins
• Excellent zooming
• Adobe software integration
• Adjustable gradients
• Small size source files
• Simplified path feature
• Visual font browsing

What We Don’t Like

• Not easy for beginners
• Monthly subscription needed after the free trial
• Files are challenging to share

This new version of Adobe Illustrator is an excellent alternative to CorelDRAW and contains advanced features to use with your vector graphics.

2. Inkscape

Compatible platforms/devices: Linux, macOS, Windows

If you’re looking for a feature-rich vector graphics editor that can give Adobe Illustrator a run for its’ money, you can count on Inkscape.

Inkscape is open-source software that provides professional-quality tools to help you create logos, web graphics, illustrations, maps, icons, diagrams, and more. In addition to basic drawing tools, it boasts advanced manipulation functions, clone arrangement, templates, pattern creation, mesh gradients, clever fill settings, and various filters.

The software is built to be extendible so you can increase its functionality with plugins and add-ons. It also allows you to import and export files in multiple formats including PDF, SVG, EPS, AI, and EPS.

It has an interface that’s easy to get a hang of and tons of helpful learning materials that can help you fire up and improve your design operations.

As with most things, the program is not without flaws. Depending on the operating system and device you’re using, you might experience slow performance when running Inkscape.

6. Gimp

Compatible platforms/devices: Windows, OS X, Linux

The GNU Image Manipulation Program or GIMP is an advanced image editor that lets you manipulate images, create designs, and edit creative composites using its impressive range of tools.

The software can be used for creating icons, symbols, illustrations, and a wide array of user interface elements. Gimp allows you to bring your imagination to life and turn ordinary images into stunning creations.

Many graphic designers and illustrators from all across the globe love Gimp because it offers lots of editing functions for SVG file format. It allows you to produce icons, symbols, logos, and other designs just as quickly and easily as you can with Illustrator.

The program’s colour management feature guarantees high-quality colour reproduction in all your designs regardless of whether it’s intended for use in print or digital media. With the blur tool, you can rectify image noise to make your designs more compelling.

Gimp is designed to be extensible so it can be easily integrated with other technical platforms, plug-ins, and languages such as Perl, Scgema.org, Python, and more.

The software’s interface takes some getting used to, so you’ll have to spend a little time learning to navigate it before you can fully dive into your executing design and image editing projects.

3. Affinity Designer

What is Affinity Designer?

Affinity Designer is the fastest, smoothest, most precise vector graphic design software available. Built from the ground up over a five-year period, every feature, tool, panel and function has been developed with the needs of creative professionals at its core. With continuous innovation and development, the result is a ground-breaking application that will revolutionize how you work.

Used by professionals the world over as their go-to tool for vector illustration, Affinity Designer continues to raise the bar for creative software. Precise control over curves, eye-popping colours and blistering performance ensure stunning results every time.

Dazzling colours

Colour is at the heart of your design, and Affinity Designer delivers in droves. With support for all major formats, ICC profiles and the latest wide gamut displays you know your designs will pop. And with silky smooth gradients which always update live on your page, the control you have is limitless.

The design revolution

Optimised for the latest tech on Mac, Windows and iPad, Affinity Designer is setting the new industry standard in the world of design. Best in class for creating concept art, print projects, logos, icons, UI designs, mock-ups and more, it’s already the top choice of thousands of professional illustrators, web designers, game developers and other creatives who love its silky-smooth combination of vector and raster design tools.

Precise curves

The fundamentals of crafting curves are covered expertly with the precision-engineered pen tool – and in combination with intuitive modifiers, it’s the workhorse of everything you create. Swapping to the node or live corner tool allows you to re-sculpt, hone and adjust to perfection.

Flawless geometry

It’s hard to describe the joy you will feel in using the fully customizable live shapes in Affinity Designer. Not only are they incredibly fluid to adapt, but we’ve also added automatic snapping points to ensure spot-on geometry with everything you do.

Brush stabilization

An amazing addition, the rope and window stabilizers allow you to produce the smoothest, most accurate curves you ever thought possible – all using freehand pencil and brush tools.

Non-destructive operations

Naturally, you can combine shapes using Boolean operations, but do it non-destructively so you can still move and edit the component parts? That gives you some serious power not found in other apps.

Hardware

• Windows-based PC (64 bit) with mouse or equivalent input device
• Hardware GPU acceleration^*
• DirectX 10-compatible Graphics Cards and above
• 2GB RAM minimum (4GB RAM recommended)
• 934MB of available hard drive space; more during installation
• 1280×768 display size or better

^* Requires:

• -Windows 10 April 2020 update (or later)
• -Direct3D level 12.0-capable card

What is Photopea?

Online photo editor, made with HTML5. Open, edit and save PSD and CXF – Photoshop and Gimp files. Convert between PSD, XCF, JPG, PNG and WebP. this is a Good, easy, Free, online, Alternative to Adobe Photoshop.

4. Vectornator

Vectornator is an intuitive graphics design platform with an impressive interface. It helps deliver awe-inspiring designs, illustrations, and layouts.

Its user-friendliness makes things easier. The welcome screen gives a sneak peek of what your final product will look like.

Vectornator supports layers. The features make the process smooth, even for a ten-year-old.

Designed with touch capabilities, this software is the product of 19-year-old Vladimir Danila from Germany.

It currently tops the charts as the best intuitive vector graphic software for the iPad. The new upgrade version, Vectornator X, is powered by auto trace technology.

It also supports multiple artboards. The experience is just unique!

Key Features of Vectornator

• Auto tracing
• Artboards
• Card-based design, intuitive interface
• Rendering engine
• Predesigned templates
• 2D drawing
• Pen and Pencil tools
• Object grouping and masking
• Isometric grid
• Boolean operations

What We Like

• The floating toolbar
• Infinite layers
• Free icons
• Innovative colour picker
• Live blend modes
• CMYK colour space

What We Don’t Like

• Only compatible with iOS and Mac OS
• Limited functionality

Vectornator has replaced manual tracing with an automatic tool to make vectorization bliss. With multiple artboards in one document, you will handle complex designs with minimal effort. What a sensible alternative to CorelDRAW this is!

5. Clip Studio Paint

What is Clip Studio Paint?
Clip Studio Paint, previously Manga Studio or ComicStudio in Japan, is a family of software applications for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows used for the digital creation of comics and manga.
It delivers powerful cutting-edge drawing and colouring tools, making it essential for professional comic and manga artists.
Although it has features in common with general-purpose graphics software such as Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint’s tool set is focused and optimized for use in creating comics and manga. It has tools for creating panel layouts, perspective rulers, sketching, inking, applying tones and textures, colouring, and creating word balloons and captions. It supports the creation of bitmap and vector art and importing 3D models. It supports input by a mouse or a graphics tablet.

6. Vectr

Vectr is a free vector graphics software that delivers incredible outcomes. It doesn’t need a learning curve to get professional icons, logos, business cards, posters, and other products.

Its precision and complete functionality say it all.

Vectr is cross-platform and most suitable for project heads, social media influencers, software engineers, and bloggers.

This software has terrific collaboration tools. Some of its basic features include shape tools, pathfinders, gradients, pen tools, and more.

Key Features of Vectr

• Arrange and align elements
• Shape tools
• Fills and strokes
• Pathfinders
• Pen tool
• Gradients
• Collaboration transparency tool
• Calendar icons
• Lightning bolts and stars
• Assorted clipart designs
• Arrows
• WordPress plugin

What We Like

• Its versatility
• Image customization tools
• Collaboration options
• Synchronization
• Supports image import
• Low learning curve
• It’s free and cross-platform

What We Don’t Like

• It can only work online

Vectr is professionally designed. The shallow learning curve paves the way for beginners to produce captivating vector graphics with many conveniences.

It is an excellent alternative for creators who want to design simple but powerful vector graphics without much fuss.

7. Vecteezy

Vecteezy Editor is an online vector graphics editing platform. You can use it for SVG files when you need to edit or add design components such as shapes.

This freemium software does a great job of editing vectors fast. It has a simple interface with plenty of image customization tools.

Inexperienced users can use Vecteezy without any difficulty. It has basic features with a lot of ads and limitations but will not disappoint.

If you need additional features, you may have to part with some cash.

Key Features of Vecteezy

• Basic vector imaging tools
• Simple interface
• SVG recording options

What We Like

• No hidden paid tools
• User-oriented
• Offers broad functionality
• Plenty of vector design objects
• Works well with text

What We Don’t Like

• You have to register
• It does not have advanced features
• Not a chance to add complex elements to your projects
• Can’t save project progress on Vecteezy

8. Sumo Paint

Sumo Paint is a fully-fledged browser-based image editor engineered using a studio-grade OpenGL-based painting engine for faster and more precise performance.

It comes with an exceptional user interface with retina solution support and loads of other tools and brushes. You’re going to have the most fantastic image editing experience with this one.

The free version offers quick pencil sketches, brushes, and basic web graphic designs. You access image manipulation tools, including smudge, gradient fill, clone, line tools, and blur.

Its online art community helps users, especially beginners, explore, learn, share, and remix their art projects as they monitor their ratings.

Sumo’s got enough clout to consider it the best free CorelDRAW alternative. It runs on all browsers, and you can use it on a desktop and iPad.

It has developed several other tools, including a 3D editor and photo editor.

The floating toolbar contains all the standard features and adjustments. They include pencils, brushes, shapes, gradients, cloning, text, and more.

A great editing and re-editing tool this is. It lets you open documents from a folder on your hard drive.

Key Features of Sumo Paint

• Cloning
• Gradient fills
• Blur
• Line tools
• Text
• Brushes, styles, and brush effects
• Smudge
• Image filters and adjustments
• Pixel editing
• Layering tools

What We Like

• Ease of use
• Free software
• Studio-grade tools
• Great for beginners
• High-level photo editing

What We Don’t Like

• Uses Flash
• Imperfect text management
• Some of its tools lag

In Conclusion

There you have it. These 13 CorelDRAW alternatives are the best. All you have to do is sift through and find one that fits your needs.

What are you looking for in a vector graphics editor? Are you a professional graphics designer or a beginner? Some tools work well with beginners, while others are hard to grasp.

If you are out for a feature-packed platform and have experience, you’ll be comfortable working with tools like Sumo Paint.

Vectr has a low learning curve and plenty of features, making it suitable for beginners and pros.

9. Canva

Canva has a very clean and easy-to-use interface. It is easy to navigate and easy to figure out how to create what you want to create. 

For example, if you want to create a video, you can click on “Video” in the slideshow menu at the top, which will bring up four additional options: Video, Animated Social Media, Facebook Video, and YouTube Intro. 

Templates and free images, as well as features such as embedded apps, can all be accessed from the top menu. The top menu also allows you to view educational resources and tutorials on how to create designs with Canva. 

In the left-side menu, you can find all of your previous designs and add team members. You can also scroll down the homepage to see the top templates in different categories (such as Instagram posts). 

10. Krita

Krita is a wise, free CorelDRAW alternative considering its features and abilities. It’s free, it’s open-source, and has all the basic digital design and drawing tools.

Combine these qualities with an intuitive interface and unmatched photo editing capabilities, and you are good to go.

Krita was developed by designers who needed to give artists a common ground for creativity. It has tools for concept art, texture and matte painting, comics, and illustrations.

At Krita, you have full access to configurable options, brush presets, and much more. The toolbar controls can help you change brush settings, including size, blending mode, opacity, or colour.

Key Features of Krita

• Flexible interface
• Supports various file types, including open PSD support
• Brush engines and stabilizers
• Plenty of vector photo editing tools
• OpenGL enhancement
• Layer types
• Colour profiles
• Python scripting

What We Like

• Stylish interface
• Plenty of training resources
• Drawing assistants
• Layer management
• Full-colour management
• HDR painting support
• Wrap-around mode
• Resource manager

What We Don’t Like

• It often lags after an update
• No photo retouching capabilities
• The text tool is inconvenient

What gives Krita an edge is its powerful brush engine. It has numerous settings for customizing brushes with shape, colour, and density. It also accepts third-party textures and brushes.

11. Corel Vector

Gravit Designer Replaced with Corel Vector

Powerful vector editing

• Smart shape primitives with magic control points for fast and flexible geometric shape creation.
• Live Boolean operations allow you to create complex compound shapes and edit them later non-destructively.
• Non-destructive object styling includes multiple types of layered fills, borders, adjustments and effects, as well as complete control of transparency and blending mode.
• Sophisticated vector path manipulation with pen, bezier, knife, and lasso tools.
• Live corners, freehand vector tools, and other powerful vector manipulation features give you complete control over your designs.

Text and typography

• Support for custom TrueType and OpenType fonts and font collections.
• Full Google Fonts library.
• Advanced character and paragraph controls.
• Word processor grade editing including standard keyboard shortcuts, support for text transforms, kerning, and more.
• OpenType ligatures, fractions, and small caps.
• Omni-directional writing directions, including Right-to-Left (RTL), Left-to-Right (LTR), and Top-to-Bottom (TTB).

12. Figma

Compatible platforms/devices: ChromeOS, Windows, macOS, Linux

Figma is an all-in-one Illustrator-style tool that lets you design interfaces, create custom shapes, build animated prototypes, and collaborate with other team members on a project.

Other handy features that Figma has to offer include Vector Networks, Mask support, and the Arc tool. You can import your favourite fonts or make use of Google Fonts within Figma.

With Figma’s cloud software, you don’t have to worry about constantly saving your work. It’s going to be automatically stored on the cloud where you can access it anytime.

There are a host of plugins that can be added to Figma, which makes it a very flexible tool capable of optimizing your workflow.

Figma works online, so it doesn’t need to be downloaded, but it’ll require a graphics card and decent RAM for a problem-free user experience. Your finished project can be exported in SVG, PNG, and JPEG file formats or as CSS code.

Like its competitor, Adobe Illustrator, Figma is packed full of features and it can take time, patience, and learning resources to fully master the software. Another challenge of using Figma is the difficulty of zooming in and out of files.

13. Creatopy

Design custom ads effortlessly

Start from a blank canvas or get inspired by the wide industry-specific collection of templates. Customize motion, creative elements, HTML5 animation, workflows, and everything else you can think of.

Use our ad creator to build ad designs across an extensive variety of sizes.

“Creatopy helps us save time in production and project management. It saves us time exchanging and providing assets to third-party providers and helps us present and gather feedback from clients.”