Adobe Illustrator vs Inkscape: Pros, Cons, Features, Pricing

Adobe Illustrator vs Inkscape. What is best for vector graphics program? We explore this below.

These are two of the most popular programs out there for vector graphics. Professionals use both apps depending on their needs. But if you want to decide which one is right for you, it can be difficult for you. However, our in-depth comparison will assist you with this.

sponsored message

The main difference between these two apps is that Inkscape is available for free, while Adobe Illustrator in monthly subscriptions. Apart from that, Illustrator is immensely popular in the design field as a professional graphic design tool.

On the other hand, Inkscape is getting the attention of users because it is free. By using Inkscape, one can create nice-looking vector graphics. This is the reason why this software is considered an alternative to Adobe Illustrator.

Although both apps do similar tasks, they have their own pros and cons. Also, they have some uniqueness which makes them suitable for specific users. Otherwise, Inkscape would have been the best tool for vector illustrations over Adobe Illustrator because it is free.

Well, before you decide which software is ideal for your needs, you need to know about Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator in detail. This article is going to discuss the different aspects of Inkscape and Illustrator, including their features, user interfaces, compatibility, price, etc.

What is Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator?

Both Inkscape and Illustrator deal with vector graphics, and professional designers use both depending on their design needs. Also, both design programs have some unique qualities that make them stand out. So, let’s now understand both apps in depth.

sponsored message

What is Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is an industry-standard vector design app launched in 1987. It is a feature-rich design program that lets you create stunning illustrations, vector graphics, typography, posters, infographics, and other items.

Overall, Adobe Illustrator is a powerful app for creating anything for digital and print media. Many professional designers prefer Adobe Illustrator for graphic design and illustration work because of its features and tools.

Learn More

What is Inkscape?

sponsored message

Inkscape is a vector-based graphic design program that is free to use. It was launched in 2003, and currently, it has shape tools and drawing tools to let you create illustrations and icons easily.

This app performs similarly to Adobe Illustrator as a valuable alternative to Illustrator. With a simple interface and easy learning curve, Inkscape is perfect for beginner graphic designers who need a free app for illustrations.

One disadvantage of Inkscape is that it is not ideal for printing and publishing projects. It doesn’t have an option to select the color mode, which results in color differences in print results. However, you can use this free, open-source program for digital designs.

How Do Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator Differ?

The first difference is Inkscape is simple and free to use. But you need to choose a subscription plan in order to download Adobe Illustrator.

Inkscape is a primary graphic designing tool that uses node editing and is suitable for hobbyists. People who need a simple graphic design program can use Inkscape.

But Adobe Illustrator is a professional graphic design app that handles vector projects in a sophisticated way. It has more features and tools than Inkscape and is preferred for professional graphic design work.

Adobe Illustrator vs Inkscape: A Deep Dive Comparison

Till now, we know the basics and unique qualities of Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape. Let’s now compare these two programs in detail.

Ease Of Use

Inkscape comprises intuitive tools and a simple user interface that make it easier to use. It is a beginner-friendly program and allows new graphic designers to learn illustration in a few steps. You can simply download this app, take a tour through the app, and start your work.

On the other hand, Adobe Illustrator has more features and tools than Inkscape making the learning process longer. So, if you are a new user, you have to spend more time learning the app. However, you can find tutorials for Inkscape and Illustrator online.

Pricing

sponsored message

The pricing of these two apps is very simple. Inkscape is available for free and provides similar features to Illustrator. Hobbyists and people who simply need an app for their designs usually don’t want to pay for it. In this case, Inkscape is the best option to opt for.

But people who want to pursue a career in graphic design and need a professional design app for their use can consider Adobe Illustrator. It comes with a 7-day free trial, and during this period, you can determine if Illustrator is for you or not.

Illustrator is available in subscription plans, and you can choose one plan out of three options. For individuals, the subscription plan starts at $20.99 per month. Students and teachers can get Illustrator at $19.99 per month.

Apart from that, Illustrator is also available under the Creative Cloud All Apps plan which costs $54.99 per month. This plan gives access to 20+ desktop and mobile apps and is suitable for businesses.

User Interface

The user interface is essential to take into consideration because it determines how the workflow will be. If you can’t connect with the app, you will feel difficult to use it for your design needs.

When both apps have an easy-to-use interface, Inkscape’s interface is straightforward because it has all the necessary tools on the right-hand side of the main working area. It also lets you choose which panel you want to show.

Adobe Illustrator shows panels in an unorganized manner, so you need to organize them. But the good thing is that both Inkscape and Illustrator allow customizing what you want to see in the workspace. This allows you to keep the essential tools in the working area.

Features

Before you come to a decision on whether to use Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator, you need to compare the features of both programs. Although Inkscape is free, it includes many useful features and tools that help beginners make stunning designs. Here is an in-depth analysis of the features of these two programs.

Adobe Illustrator vs Inkscape: Features, Compatibility, Community, Support

Inkscape Features

sponsored message

Inkscape comes with many features and tools for designing vector graphics. First of all, it includes different object-creation tools such as Pen Tools, Pencil Tools, Text Tools, Calligraphy Tools, Clones, Embedded Bitmaps, and Shape Tools. Inkscape’s brush tools are highly realistic and pressure sensitive.

The app uses a node editing feature and supports SVG files for creation and editing. It has quite similar shape tools to Adobe Illustrator. But the text tool of Inkscape is not as powerful as Illustrator’s text tool because it doesn’t allow you to preview the text after changing its size.

Moreover, the image handling tool in Inkscape is not so convenient and flexible, so it requires more time to edit an image. There is no option to choose CMYK as document color mode in Inkscape, which makes the design unsuitable for print. It uses RGB color mode, which doesn’t provide better print quality.

Adobe Illustrator Features

As Adobe Illustrator is a sophisticated vector design program, it is filled with many tools and features. Talking about tools, it has multiple tools to help you in object creation. It also allows you to create a custom brush. By the way, this feature is also available in Inkscape.

It has a shape builder and pathfinder tools to help you create different shapes. Unlike the text tool of Inkscape, Illustrator’s text tool is more convenient. It allows you to see the preview of the font directly on the artboard as you hover over the font style. Then you only need to click it if you want to use it. The same thing you have to do manually in Inkscape.

You can integrate Photoshop with Illustrator and import images for editing. One advantage of Adobe is that it lets you work between Illustrator and Photoshop. It has a well-developed image trace tool with preset options to let you edit and recolor your work with ease. Overall, Adobe Illustrator comes with more advanced features and tools for editing vector graphics.

Compatibility And File Formats

Compatibility is an important factor to look at when you are deciding to use one app out of Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape. Both design apps are compatible with windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Further, Adobe Illustrator is a step ahead of Inkscape because it is available for iPad as well.

SVG is the common file format between Inkscape and Illustrator. These files can be edited and scaled without affecting the quality of the design. SVG is the default file format in Inkscape, but it also supports EPS, FXG, GPL, TIFF, PNG, JPG, and WEBP.

Inkscape allows you to open EPS, AI, SVG, PDF, SVGZ, VSD, and CDR file formats. However, you can’t get all features for AI files when opened in Inkscape. Like Inkscape, Illustrator supports all these file formats. In addition to this, Illustrator supports CorelDRAW, Photoshop, Pixar, and AutoCAD drawing file formats.

Community

Inkscape is an open-source design app, and it has a vast community of users and developers. They continuously improve the program to enhance user experience. There is an active user forum where users can ask questions and get answers from other users.

Inkscape also has a set of tutorials and other educational resources so that new users can easily learn about the program and use it effectively.

Adobe Illustrator also offers many educational resources and tutorials on the website for learning. But it doesn’t have a strong community like Inkscape.

Customer Support

When using a design app, you may need support if you face some issues. As Inkscape has a vast community and active forums, users can get free support there. The community of Inkscape is a good option for finding answers to any question.

Adobe Illustrator is a step ahead of Inkscape as it lets you talk to a support representative and resolve your issue. On the website, there is a chat option that you can use to get answers to your questions.

Who Should Use Inkscape?

Because Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics program and is available for free, it is suitable for users who simply need an app for vector designs. People who don’t want to spend on premium apps like Illustrator can consider Illustrator can use Inkscape as an alternative.

Moreover, it doesn’t support CMYK color mode, so the designs made through this app won’t have good print quality. However, you can use those designs for digital purposes. People who don’t need any designs for printing can consider Inkscape. Professionals also use this tool sometimes, depending on their needs.

Who Should Use Adobe Illustrator?

People who need a sophisticated design program for business cards, brochures, and other print materials should use Adobe Illustrator. As it is an industry-standard design program, people who want to pursue a career in the graphic design field need to use this app.

It is also convenient for sharing your designs with other professionals who use Illustrator. Furthermore, it has advanced features and tools to help you create mind-blowing designs.

Related Posts

What is The Best Vector Graphics Program in 2022?

So who wins when it comes to Adobe Illustrator vs Inkscape? It’s true, both Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape are excellent for vector graphics.

This is the reason why many people get confused and can’t decide which one to use. Inkscape is a free program, while Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard vector design program that comes with advanced features.

If you are willing to make professional graphic designs, you should consider Adobe Illustrator.

If you do graphic design once in a while, you can consider Inkscape because it is free.

You can even try both and decide which is ideal for your needs. Adobe Illustrator has a free trial, and Inkscape is completely free.

Happy designing!

How to download Adobe Illustrator for free and as part of Creative Cloud

Want to download Adobe Illustrator? In this guide, we'll show you how to find the right deal and Adobe Illustrator subscription that fits your needs. The guide will also explain everything you need to know abou the drawing and design tool, including how to get started if you've never worked with vectors before.

Want to try Adobe Illustrator for free? We'll show you how to download Illustrator for free as a trial version (don't forget to check out Creative Cloud Express if you're in the market for another free Adobe experience).

If it's the full Adobe suite you're after, see our guide to the best Adobe Creative cloud discount available now. And if you prefer pixels to vectors and want to work with the top package, here's how to download Photoshop.

What is Adobe Illustrator?

Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard when it comes to creating vector artwork. It's used by artists, illustrators, designers and many more creatives, and enables you to create crisp and scalable artwork, graphics and illustrations on Mac, PC and iPad. And now, you can even use it directly in a web browser.

Download Adobe Illustrator: everything you need to know

Can I download Adobe Illustrator for free?

(opens in new tab) Download a free trial of Illustrator for PC or Mac now (opens in new tab)

You can try the latest release of Adobe Illustrator for free, including access to all the newest features and updates, with a seven-day trial. There’s no obligation to buy afterwards, but if you like it, you can convert to a paid Creative Cloud subscription either during the trial or after.

You may want to try out Adobe Illustrator CC before you commit to a subscription, and thankfully Adobe has you covered with a free trial. With this you'll get your hands on the latest full version of Illustrator that you can put through its paces for seven days and find out how you get on with it.

That's the only legitimate way you can download Illustrator for free. Of course if you were to look in the darker corners of the internet you'd find pirated versions available, but we seriously wouldn't recommend them; you'd be breaking the law and putting your device at risk from malware, so we advise that you only download Illustrator via Adobe's site.

All you need to download Adobe Illustrator CC for a free trial is an Adobe ID – it's that simple. It's super quick, easy and free to set up an Adobe account, and once you've signed up, you're good to go. You'll need to enter your credit card details for the free trial, but don't worry, as long as you cancel your account with time to spare, you won't be charged for the whole package. But if you decide that Illustrator is working for you, then the payment will be taken out of your account monthly/annually depending on the subscription you choose.

How do I buy Illustrator CC?

(opens in new tab) Buy Illustrator CC from $20.99 / £19.97 / AU$29.99 per month (opens in new tab)

If you only need Illustrator, you can subscribe to Adobe's industry-leading vector graphics editor alone from $20.99 / £19.97 per month. Click the link above or the View Deal button.

(opens in new tab) Buy an Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps subscription for $52.99 / £49.94 / AU$76.99 per month (opens in new tab)

Another way to access Illustrator is through an All Apps subscription, which, gives you all of Adobe's Creative Cloud apps. That includes such widely used apps as Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Adobe Rush.

Beyond the free seven-day trial, the only way to use Adobe Illustrator is with a Creative Cloud membership, and by paying either a monthly or yearly subscription (pro tip: it usually works out cheapest to opt for a yearly subscription and pay upfront).

There are two main options if you need Illustrator. The first and cheapest option is to subscribe just to Illustrator, while the second is to go for an All Apps subscription. This is more expensive but includes access to all of Adobe's Creative Cloud apps, along with a range of other benefits. (If you’re not sure whether other CC apps might be useful for you, see our Adobe software list for the full breakdown).

If an All Apps subscription seems too expensive, don’t despair: Adobe often runs promotions that bring the cost down. There are also discounts for students and teachers, and separate pricing for businesses, schools and universities. It’s always worth checking what deals are available.

How much does Illustrator CC cost?

(Image credit: Adobe)

As I've mentioned, the cheapest way to get your hands on Illustrator CC is by subscribing to that alone; right now it'll cost you £19.97 / $20.99 / AU$29.99 per month if you go for an annual plan (with a teeny-tiny saving if you pay the whole lot upfront). For this you'll get access to Illustrator CC as well as Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark, plus a handy 100GB of cloud storage.

The alternative is to buy Illustrator CC through the Creative Cloud All Apps package, which gives you access to Illustrator as well as Adobe’s entire collection of creative desktop and mobile apps. This costs £49.94 / $52.99 / AU$76.99 on an annual plan, but look out for deals because Adobe often runs promotions, for example during Black Friday.

Adobe Illustrator discounts for teachers and students

(opens in new tab) Get Adobe CC All Apps plan for students/teachers for $19.99 / £16.24 / AU$21.99 per month (opens in new tab)

If you study or work in education, Adobe offers a discounted all-apps Creative Cloud subscription, including Illustrator. Click View Deal then choose the 'Students and Teachers' tab.

For students and teachers there's a fantastic deal that enables you to get pretty much the whole Adobe suite for less than the price of an Illustrator subscription; for a year, at least. You can get a discounted All Apps plan, which also includes 100GB cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark, for just $15.99 / £13.15 / AU$21.99 per month for the first year. The price rises to $29.99 / £25.28 / AU$43.99 the following year.

How to get started with Illustrator

Typography by Lidia Lukianova (Image credit: Adobe/Lidia Lukianova)

After you download Adobe Illustrator, check out our roundup of the best Illustrator tutorials to help you get started. These can be a life-saver, especially if you're new to working with vectors, which can be a lot trickier to manipulate than pixels when you're not entirely sure what you're doing. Luckily I've found a broad selection of how-to guides that'll point you in the right direction, and even if you're already experienced with Illustrator you're bound to discover new tips that could help you to be more productive and creative.

If you're looking to save time and effort with Illustrator, make sure you check out our roundup of the best illustrator plugins. Finally, if you’re looking for Illustrator brushes, we've sought out the best the internet has to offer, both free and premium options.

Illustrator CC: Key details you need to know

Adobe Illustrator is a powerful and sophisticated drawing program that enables you to create detailed artwork using vector graphics. The big benefit of this is that any work you create is infinitely scalable, without any of the jaggies you'd get from trying to scale up bitmap art, so it can easily be scaled down for mobile screens or blown right up to billboard size, or indeed anything in-between, without any loss of detail.

Illustrator was first released in 1987, and it remains one of the most used tools among professional illustrators, visual artists, graphic designers and web designers. It's widely used to create quality artwork, from simple shapes and backgrounds to icons, logos and emojis, social media graphics, infographics, cartoons, charts, diagrams and graphs, and of course full-blown illustrations and digital art.

As part of a CC subscription plan, you receive all Illustrator updates at no extra cost, so you can guarantee you'll always be using the latest software. You can read more about the latest updates to Illustrator on Adobe's blog (opens in new tab).

Download Adobe Illustrator for Android and iOS

Since the most recent Illustrator update, it's finally available to use on the iPad, which is a welcome move from Adobe. Sadly there's no sign of a full version of Illustrator for Android (the best you can get right now is the more limited Adobe Illustrator Draw (opens in new tab)), and similarly there doesn't appear to be any plan to bring Illustrator to the iPhone.

Illustrator alternatives

If you want the best Illustrator alternative, we can confidently point you in the direction of Affinity Designer (opens in new tab). Launched by Serif in 2014 and followed by Affinity Photo and Publisher, it's a full-powered vector drawing package that's available for Mac, PC and iPad for a one-off payment rather than a subscription. Affinity's three low-cost apps are interoperable, in a similar way to Creative Cloud apps, although there’s no equivalent to services like Adobe Fonts and Adobe Stock.

For digital design, our favourite Illustrator alternative is Sketch (opens in new tab), which has become one of the most used vector editors for UI and icon design since its release in 2010. However, Sketch is only available for Macs. If you're looking for more options, see our full list of Illustrator alternatives.

Read more:

The History of Adobe Illustrator

The History of Adobe Illustrator

*UPDATED May 2017* It has been almost 7 years since we originally posted this, and according to Google, we are still the most relevant article on the history of adobe Illustrator. (I’m serious…check it out by typing in “history of adobe illustrator” and you’ll see). Since it’s been a while, Adobe decided to move their updates to the cloud (like everyone else was doing). They changed it to a subscription model where you have to pay every month/year. We’ve updated this post with the last 7 years worth of AI details. Enjoy!

A long time ago, in a studio far, far away… Adobe Illustrator 1 was born. Twenty-one new versions and a quick THIRTY years later, Adobe Illustrator is the most popular vector graphic editor on the market. To all those out there who spend more time working in Illustrator than any other software program, then sit back and relax. Go grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up as we take a stroll down memory lane to reminisce the evolution of Adobe Illustrator.

The Birth of Venus

Adobe Illustrator began back in 1986, as a graphic design, font, and logo development application. The original platform and purpose for Adobe Illustrator was to integrate the use of mathematical equations for smooth and curved lines and shapes by a system known as Bezier curves. To emphasize this notion of being able to produce and edit and save curved and flowing lines, Adobe chose Botticelli’s Venus from “The Birth of Venus” to become their marketing image. Over the years and versions, she changed to highlight the new features and improvements Adobe had made, and we were able to gaze on her beauty until the creation of the Creative Suite in 2003.

With the praise of Adobe Illustrator 1, and the ever-growing interest in computers and computer generated images, came a slew of upgrades as well as support for other platforms, beginning in 1988 with Illustrator 88 (not 2… 88, because of the year).

The first version designed for Windows was Illustrator 2.0, which was released a year later and did not fare too well, but Windows would not be outdone by its arch-nemesis. Illustrator came out with a couple alright versions for NeXT, Sun Solaris, and a couple of other platforms, but time would show that versions for Macintosh and Windows would begin to dominate the market. Versions 3.0 and 4.0 came out in succeeding years, with improvements made upon each, and the ever wonderful development of possible editing in a preview mode, popped its head up first in the 4.0 version for Windows but did not appear on the Macintosh until 5.0.

The Playing Field is Equaled

The Adobe team made some major changes to Illustrator’s user interface with the release of Illustrator 6 in 1996. This is when Illustrator started supporting TrueType fonts, making the “font wars” between PostScript Type 1 and TrueType pretty much obsolete. This is also when Illustrator also began supporting plug-ins, quickly extending its abilities to make it that much more awesome.

It wasn’t until the mid 90s with version 7.0 when users started to finally see some standardization between the Macintosh and Windows versions, and really kind of ended the competition to beat each other out. Because of this designers were really finally given the opportunity to firmly choose Illustrator as the creative application of choice, instead of going back and forth between Illustrator and CorelDRAW and FreeHand. This of course was also the age of the ‘world wide web’, which even further pushed Illustrator into the spotlight, because developers quickly sought out a way to support publishing for web purposes and internet plug-ins, which really was one of the biggest avenues for change and improvement in Illustrator’s life so far.

Some crazy things started happening as time and versions went by, some things that we now take for granted and kind of use them like they have always been there – things that have now become ol’ reliables. For example, the paint bucket tool – how many times have you used that? It’s only been around since 1996 with version 6.0. Or, the smart guides? Can’t imagine working without them, but they weren’t around until 1998 – version 8.0. This was a great time for changes and improvements in tools for Adobe. Year after year they came out with more awesome tools that were for sure groundbreaking then, and have become as common and used as a pencil and eraser now.

Ahem… Introducing the Creative Suite!!

By the time Y2K was over (remember that? weird…), Adobe Illustrator had firmly placed itself as the choice vector graphics editor. By 2003, Adobe decided to bundle all it’s successful products together into one super package called the Adobe Creative Suite. With this, for the first time user were able to create simple 3D effects and objects, a huge milestone in the designer world, and more milestones just kept coming – Live Paint and Live Trace were created a few years after that. With the integration of so many Adobe programs into this ‘Suite’, we finally said goodbye to Venus.. she lived long and served well, but with the redesigning of the product and its brand, came a new theme revolving around nature. We began to see stylized Vector Flowers and leaves on the product boxes and opening windows.

With the release of CS3 the team at Adobe decided to rework the branding yet again to simplify the packaging and unify the entire suite. Each program within the creative suit was associated with a color and our beloved Illustrator was given the color orange.

CS4 was released in October 2008. This version improved many of the old tools as well as introducing new ones such as the ability to create multiple artboards. This tool allows you to create different versions of one piece of art in the same document. In 2010, CS5 was released. The most notable features and updates included the “Perspective Grid tool,” a bristle brush, and an overhaul to strokes. Version CS6, the 16th generation, was released in 2012. Adobe fixed several bugs in CS6 such as, a new user interface, layer panels, and RGB codes.

Creative Cloud

Adobe released their Creative Cloud in 2013 – and is now known as a “software rental.” Creative Cloud replaced the Creative Suite. Now, with Creative Cloud, you’ll pay monthly/annually for the most up-to-date digital software.

Having a Creative Cloud membership for Illustrator (or any other Adobe product, really) gives you the latest version of your selected application as well as your own portfolio page and access to premium fonts. With a membership to Illustrator on the Creative Cloud, you’ll have 20GB of cloud storage for keeping your work if you don’t have space to save it on your own hard drive.

Today

Twenty-one generations and thirty years later, Adobe released CC 2017 at the end of 2016. But, whatever version you use and whichever you have decided is your favorite, be it Illustrator 6 or CC 2017, it surely has been an interesting and exciting ride for one of the most beloved of the graphic designer’s tools.

If you’re interested in purchasing a Creative Cloud membership for Illustrator, click here to see all of the plans available.

Resources: Deuchler | Travelogue