16 Best Free Graphic Design Software You Have to Try in 2024

Does the idea of branching out into a graphic design career excite you? Do you have a talent for marketing and logo creation? Do you love to edit photos into works of art? Are you a person who simply loves to create? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you're in the right place.

This article reviews the best free graphic design software in 2024, including ratings, a comparison chart, pros and cons, and key features. We’ll also show you what to look for when choosing the best free graphic design software for your needs.

• Snapshot of Our Top 3 Free Graphic Design Software
• 16 Best Free Graphic Design Software
• How to Choose the Best Free Graphic Design Software
• How We Test the Best Free Graphic Design Software
• Best Free Graphic Design Software Comparison Chart
• What is the Best Free Graphic Design Software?
• Best Free Graphic Design Software FAQ

Snapshot of Our Top 3 Free Graphic Design Software

16 Best Free Graphic Design Software

1. PhotoDirector
2. Promeo
3. Lunacy
4. Figma
5. Linearity
6. Canva
7. Vectr
8. Krita
9. Corel Vector
10. Sketch
11. Inkscape
12. Mega Creator
13. Genially
14. Paint3D
15. GIMP
16. LibreOffice

1. PhotoDirector - Best for designers, photographers, and influencers of any skill level

Key Features

• Millions of royalty-free images and music selections from world renowned stock libraries
• Adjustment layers for color changes and tonal adjustments
• Express Layer Templates to speed up the editing process
• Edit photos with AI tools for one-click solutions to complicated edits

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

Shotkit Rating: 5/5

Graphic Design Tools: 5/5

Price: Free
*Premium features available for free for 30 days, then $3.75/month

PhotoDirector has the tools to accomplish your creative vision, whether it’s a breathtaking composition for Instagram, a professional product shot for your online store, or an eye-catching flyer for your latest gig! It's our top overall pick for the best free graphic design software and is perfect for artists of all skill levels, from the novice to the seasoned.

With PhotoDirector, you have a world of tools at your disposal. Choose a professionally-designed text template to use as-is, or tweak down to the finest detail. Pick a beautiful gradient or solid color for your text and adjust opacity, font, size, border, or add shadow and glow effects. There are advanced color adjustment tools and one-click filters. Our favorite color features include Color Splash, which creates a black-and-white image with only one color remaining, and Color Replace, where you can change any color in your photo to another. This free design software comes with thousands of themed design assets like stickers, frames, and overlays. Advanced users can use layer masks to place photos on top of one another with varying transparencies, while beginners will enjoy the premade Express Layer Templates for their ease of use.

There’s a huge selection of AI-powered tools to edit photos and generate content that keep PowerDirector a head above other free design software. Change skies and remove backgrounds, objects, people, and animals all with one click. PowerDirector comes with generative AI tools, so you can get the image, sticker, or background you could only imagine in seconds. Blending AI-generated images and backgrounds with PowerDirector’s millions of royalty-free stock photos means the design possibilities are endless.

PhotoDirector saves you both time and money by providing free design software, an AI image generator, and tools to edit photos all in one easy-to-use package. Edit photos before using them in your design projects with a wide array of portrait retouch tools, including body reshaping, skin smoothing, wrinkle removing, and many more. You can even add animated elements to posts such as dispersion effects and animated light hits. Whether you focus on typography, branding, marketing, animation, or any other graphic design genre, this free design software has you covered. Its user interface is smooth and offers intuitive editing with guided tools and express mode editing, making PhotoDirector the best free graphic design software on this list.

Download the best free graphic design software by clicking the link below and get started with all the tools you need for advanced graphic design.

2. Promeo - Best for creating product shots with AI for online selling

Key Features

• Edit photos with one-click AI background and object removal
• Motion titles and animated stickers to add movement to posts
• Millions of royalty-free stock images and music
• Generative AI tools for templates, backgrounds, and images

Compatibility: Windows

App Store Rating: 5/5

Graphic Design Tools: 5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $2.50/month

If you need a beginner-friendly background creator for ads and product shots, Promeo is the best free graphic design software for you. Users can choose from thousands of professionally-designed templates for products and any type of social media post. You can also showcase merchandise with a custom AI-generated background. Choose from a long list of styles and generate unique backgrounds you won’t see in other free design software. Or type in a prompt and generate exactly what you want, perfectly matching your brand. Use these backgrounds with photos of your products, AI-generated images, or choose from millions of stock images to find the perfect fit. You can apply your custom backgrounds to multiple products at once to ensure continuity without wasting valuable time.

Promeo is also the best free graphic design software for ads. Create advertisements for your business with drag-and-drop video templates, complete with background music and animated titles. You can even generate templates from a text prompt. There are currently over 26,000 templates with new ones added daily. You can also showcase your design skills with animated stickers, titles, and color LUTs, and edit photos with AI tools including an image enhancer and object remover.

Promeo is the best free graphic design software for creating scroll-stopping ads, posts, and product shots. It’s incredibly easy to use, and includes generative AI for custom content you won’t see anywhere else. By mixing templates, stock, AI-generated content, and your own images, the design options are endless, yet also quick and easy to accomplish.

Click the link below to get Promeo and open your online store today!

3. Lunacy - Best for layer editing

Key Features

• Edit photos with an image upscaler to enlarge images and enhance resolution
• Make the background transparent in any image
• Automatically create placeholder texts with a text generator

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

Capterra Rating: 4.7/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free

Lunacy is one of the best free graphic design software for layering. It comes with thousands of icons, illustrations, and photos you can layer onto a template. Like our top choice, PhotoDirector, Lunacy makes layer editing incredibly easy. Lunacy automatically layers your elements based on size, cutting out the step of moving assets from back to front. You even have the option to draw directly onto your design. Designers on a budget will love that you have complete creative control to design from scratch, but with incredible speed.

This is completely free design software with excellent team collaboration tools and generative AI tools for text and avatars. You can also edit photos with an image upscaler and background remover. Lunacy is one of the best free graphic design software for vector manipulation and web design, making it easy to edit live web pages without a coder.

Lunacy offers a variety of functions and features not usually found in free design software. In our research, most users compared it to our #4 option, Figma, saying Lunacy offered the same tools for free (Figma has a limited free version). Although it has recently added more automatic tools, Lunacy still lacks social-media-friendly templates for quick posting. It leans more towards UI/UX design, so if you are looking for the best free graphic design software with AI tools for creating posts, try PhotoDirector.

4. Figma - Best for web design

Key Features

• Advanced font features with OpenType support
• Items instantly stretch to fill or resize when moved with Auto Layout
• Design circle shapes and arches easily with Instant Arc

Compatibility: Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.7/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free *Premium subscriptions available for $12/month for Professional, $45/month for Organization, and $75/month for Enterprise

Figma is used by many major brands to design their websites. We agree that Figma is one of the best free graphic design software for web design due to its collaborative design platform. Features such as live chat and comments make it easy to design a site with your whole team. Before launching the site, you can test it out with live prototypes. Test drive every feature and even send it to shareholders before the site is live. It’s packed with advanced features, but easy to use, making it a win for anyone with some experience using design software. 

This free design software has vector networks that allow you to draw in any direction, without connecting to the path’s original point. You can build plugins and widgets to help improve workflow, and accessible libraries grant access to thousands of design elements that are easily dragged and dropped into place.   

We highly recommend Figma to design your company’s website, but only if the company is paying for a subscription. It has a free version, granting it a spot on our “best free graphic design software” list, however, it is very limited, and you have to pay big bucks for the best collaboration features. This is why we’ve placed it behind Lunacy, which offers web design and collaboration tools for no charge. 

5. Linearity - Best for converting raster images into vector graphics

Key Features

• Touch-sensitive brush and pen tools
• Shape Builder tool merges and subtracts overlapping areas of multiple shapes
• Edit photos with AI background removal and replacement

Compatibility: Mac

App Store Rating: 4.7/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $11.99/month or $96/year

Linearity (formerly Vectornator) is the best free graphic design software if you want to edit photos and sketches by turning them into editable graphics. The Auto Trace tool has 3 modes: Sketch, Photography, and Illustration. Linearity’s Machine Learning model will analyze every tiny pixel and transform your drawings, artworks, and photos into vector graphics you can edit and re-scale.

The platform is divided into 2 modes - one for designing (Linearity Curve) and one for animating (Linearity Move). You can seamlessly toggle between the two, or import graphics from Figma or other popular vector platforms and animate your vector files in seconds. This free design software has thousands of design assets available, including icons, fonts, images, and customizable templates.

Linearity has a bit of a learning curve for new users, but once you know your way around, you’ll be designing animated vector graphics quickly. At first glance, Linearity comes highly rated, however, most reviews we found were referring to Vectornator - the beloved free design software that was recently bought by Linearity. Newer reviewers are disappointed in the change to a tiered pricing structure (Vectornator was completely free design software), but mostly they are concerned about the switch from local storage to Linearity Cloud storage, where they assume the platform is using their graphics to train its AI model.

6. Canva - Best for free stock content

Key Features

• Transform words and titles into different textures with a text prompt
• Video editing tools for TikTok, ads, and Reels
• Draw directly onto templates with customizable brushes

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Web Browser

CreativeBloq Rating: 4/5

Graphic Design Tools: 5/5

Price: Free
Pro version available for $119.99/year

Canva is one of the best free graphic design software because it offers over 1 million stock images and graphics, and 250,000 professionally-designed templates at no cost. Springing for the Pro version will give you access to over 100 million animated graphics and images, and over 600,000 templates. It’s a great free design software for those with zero design expertise because you can customize as much or as little of the designs as you wish. Beginners can also scroll through Canva’s extensive examples to help spark ideas for their own projects. 

This is one of the best free graphic design software because it is so versatile. Besides graphic design assets and templates, it has tools to edit photos and videos, website design, analytics, and thousands of mockups for a variety of products. Canva has recently added some generative AI features for text, images, templates, and videos, as well as AI-powered tools like Magic Animate and Magic Resize. Our favorite feature is Magic Grab, allowing you to click on any part of an image and make it editable.

Canva has the most free stock of any platform and paired with customizable templates, it is an easy choice for design novices. However, this free design software offers few tools for to edit photos, and the much-needed background remover and Magic Resize tools are only available with a subscription. If you need a one-stop shop to edit photos and design, try the best free graphic design software on our list, PhotoDirector.

7. Vectr - Best for quick, web-based designing

Key Features

• Draw vector paths one point at a time, or try freehand with Pen/Pencil tools
• Create scalable watermarks for print or online
• Hundreds of design elements arranged by category

Compatibility: Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free

*Premium subscriptions available for $3.99/month for Premium 1 and $5.99/month for Premium 2; credits purchases are also available for $2.99 (50), $4.99 (100), and $9.99 (300).

Vectr is a free design software for making vector graphic designs and is ideal for people who want to work directly within their web browser. We think Vectr is one of the best free graphic design software because it features a live collaboration tool, which lets anyone view a project in real-time through their browser while someone else is designing. There’s also a chat feature, so collaborators can chime in while you are designing, and you don’t have to deal with tons of notes after-the-fact. 

Beginners will appreciate the welcome tutorial and walkthrough when they first open this free design software and the customizable editing interface. This is one of the best free graphic design software for quick, web-based designing and supports SVG, PNG, and JPEG file formats. In addition, Vectr's layer editing is user-friendly, and the software doesn't take up hard drive space.

Since our last review, Vectr has gone from a completely free design software to moving its best tools and design assets behind a paywall. It’s also added 3 AI tools which require credits to use, including Background Removal, Image Generator, and Vectorizing Pixels, which turns raster art into vector graphics. The free version has ads which cause the site to be quite slow and glitchy. For instance, we were excited to learn we could use the AI Image Generator for free by agreeing to watch an ad, however, when the ad finished the screen froze and we had to start all over again. 

8. Krita - Best concept art, illustrations, comics, matte paintings, and 2D animations

Key Features

• 3 different ways to smooth and stabilize your brush strokes
• Repeat images and update them simultaneously with Wrap-Around Mode
• Create comic panels with built-in vector tools and bubble templates

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free

Krita is a free, open-source, cross-platform graphic design software ideal for artists who love to create from scratch. It's the best free graphic design software if you want to create concept art, illustrations, comics, matte paintings, and 2D animations. Krita has numerous tools for digital painting and graphic illustrations, and a massive selection of brushes for fine detail work. You can also create your own brushes and share them with other Krita users.

We liked using the eraser tool, which allows you to choose an eraser that matches a specific brush, keeping the texture intact as you erase. This free design software has a resource center with various texture packs, vector libraries, and beginner-friendly templates.  

This free design software just released a new version with many improvements and new features, including a completely re-coded brush editor, improved color selection, and better audio support for animations. Krita is the best free graphic design software for graphic illustrators who want to do free-hand digital painting, but it is not a quick and easy way to layer graphics and elements. If you need to quickly create designs with pre-made elements and templates, try PhotoDirector, which also has a full suite of tools to edit photos that Krita lacks. 

9. Corel Vector - Best for finding specific colors to match your brand

Key Features

• Tools to edit photos including crop, noise removal, and filters 
• Supports custom TrueType and OpenType fonts and the full Google Fonts library
• Create complex compound shapes with Live Boolean Operations

Compatibility: Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: 15-day free trial, then $69.99/year

Corel Vector (formerly Gravit Designer) is web-based vector graphics software for users of any skill level. Our pick for best free graphic design software for colors has an intuitive color picker with HEX color input and output, RGB, HSB, and CMYK modes, and a live color palette that updates as you design. With Corel Vector, you can grab the 8 most dominant colors in any design and create a palette to use in future designs. It’s perfect for creating and storing design assets for your brand. 

Powerful vector manipulation gives you complete control over every design aspect. This free design software offers non-destructive object styling with adjustable transparency and blending modes, and various types of borders, fills, and effects. There are also powerful controls for paragraphs, fonts, and characters, and tools to edit photos such as beautiful filters and noise removal. 

Corel Vector offers tons of precise adjustments and multiple tools to edit photos and create beautiful illustrations, typography, geometric shapes, and much more. However, it is not up to par with professional software and the UI is outdated. It also lacks a dedicated free version, moving it behind the completely free and feature-rich Krita on our list. 

10. Sketch - Best for advanced designers with a Mac

Image from Sketch.

Key Features

• Customize text layers and tighten, loosen, or disable kerning for complete typographic control
• Insert, replace, reduce, and edit photos
• Apply a fill, border, drop shadow, inner shadow or bitmap layer to any shape

Compatibility: Mac

G2 Rating: 4.5/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4/5

Price: 30-day free trial, then $10/month for Standard and $20/month for Business

Sketch is the best free graphic design software for Mac users, with incredible speed and performance on Apple Silicon. Sketch has done its best to look and feel like a natural extension of macOS, so long time Mac users will have no trouble navigating the software. Sketch offers full support for Retina and non-Retina displays, dark and light UI, Touch Bar support, built-in spell check, and native fonts and emojis. It lacks the drag-and-drop templates found in similar programs, so we recommend it for professional designers who want full creative control over designs.

This free design software also comes with over 700 extensions to cover any possible graphic design need. It also has excellent organizational tools to keep your styles, presets, and templates in one place. A notable feature is the Smart Layout tool, which automatically resizes your design elements, keeping spacing and padding intact. It works with stacks, and allows you to space layers unevenly or overlap them at will. Smart Layout ensures you keep full creative freedom, while eliminating hours of manual adjustments. This is one of the best free graphic design software for drawing vector paths and shapes. Use a pen tool to create a path, and the Scissors tool to remove parts of the path. There are multiple vector point types, including Straight, Mirrored, Disconnected, and Asymmetric.

At one time, Sketch was roundly considered the best free graphic design software for UI design, but most users agree that distinction goes to Figma. We also noticed that almost every review mentioned disappointment that Sketch is only available on Mac. While it comes with a web app for any browser, and iOS app for iPad and iPhone, these are only for viewing, testing, and commenting - not for designing. The new apps make it easier to share with teammates and clients who don’t own Macs, but a full iPad version with Apple Pencil support would be a game-changer. Despite these drawbacks, an upswing in positive user reviews has moved Sketch above Mega Creator and Genially on our updated list. 

11. Inkscape - Best for creating and editing vector graphics

Key Features

• Move, align, and distribute nodes and Bezier handles
• Bitmap Tracing for color and monochrome paths
• Export designs in PNG, OpenDocument Drawing, DXF, sk1, PDF, EPS, PostScript and more

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

G2 Rating: 4/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4/5

Price: Free

Inkscape is the best free graphic design software for creating scalable vector graphics, or SVG. It features a large selection of tools for object creation and manipulation. Use the pencil tool to draw simple paths freehand, the pen tool to draw straight lines and Bezier curves, and a calligraphy tool for freehand drawing with filled paths. Add rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and spirals to designs and move, scale, rotate, or skew your shapes. You can group objects and lock or hide individual layers. There are limitless ways to create and alter SVG for truly unique designs.

This free design software also comes with excellent text tools including multi-line text, kerning, letter spacing, and line spacing adjustments. Color features include a gradient editor (capable of multi-stop gradients), pattern fills, and a color selector for RGB, HSL, CMYK, color wheel, and CMS. Inkscape is one of the best free graphic design software because it supports a wide range of formats, and works well with other open-source free design software, such as GIMP.

Inkscape is a tool for advanced or professional designers, illustrators, and animators and is not recommended for anyone looking for a quick and easy way to design content for social media. Inkscape has a complex interface and the docked layer editing menus are clunky and confusing. That being said, it is still the best free graphic design software for freehand drawing, and has high ratings across the board from users who have put in the time to learn the program. For these reasons, and the fact Inkscape is entirely free, we have moved it above both Mega Creator and Genially, which have limited free versions.

12. Mega Creator - Best for building designs from pre-made elements for beginners

Key Features

• Generative AI tools such as Face Generator, Human Generator, and Face Swapper
• Thousands of stock cutouts of people, animals, and objects with transparent backgrounds for easy layering
• Direct sharing to most social media platforms

Compatibility: Web Browser

App Sumo Rating: 4.3/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $21/month

Mega Creator is an online DIY graphic editor for building designs from pre-made elements. We think it is the best free graphic design software for non-designers because it offers millions of design elements such as icons, illustrations, photos, backgrounds, and text that you can easily drag and drop onto pre-made templates. 

If you like a little more creative control, you can create a design from scratch instead of using a template. You are also free to upload your own images and edit photos as backdrops for your designs. This free design software has templates for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, and more.

Mega Creator is one of the best free graphic design software for non-designers to make stunning designs in minutes. The issues arise when you want to export your project - free exports are low resolution with a watermark. You can pay $3 per design or fork out for the costly subscription. PhotoDirector is a more affordable pick for the best free graphic design software for non-designers.

13. Genially - Best for interactive content

Key Features

• 1001 customizable templates with ready-made animations and interactions included
• Monitor views and content engagement with analytics
• 100s of click-trigger and timed animations

Compatibility: Web Browser

PCMag Rating: 3.5/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $7.49/month for Pro, $20.82/month for Master, and $70.79/month for Team

Genially is for anyone looking to create interactive designs without programming or design knowledge. From big businesses to individual influencers, Genially is one of the best free graphic design software for building a brand. It works by engaging viewers with interactive content, such as links, audio, pop-up text, and buttons. The site has interactive templates for everything from resumes to presentations. 

With this free design software, you can create from scratch or a ready-made template. The uses for the templates are endless, including games, quizzes, infographics, maps, training materials, and social media posts. You can pull from the site’s design libraries, or upload your illustrations, images, and videos. With a subscription, you can also incorporate your brand’s logo, fonts, and colors.

Genially is appropriate for pro designers and beginners alike and covers a wide range of design needs. The free design software has no limit on the number of projects you can create, however, you can’t export anything without a subscription. For analytics, brand kits, and team features, you’ll have to spring for the expensive Master plan. 

14. Paint 3D - Best for beginners interested in 3D design

Key Features

• Choose realistic textures such as hardwood and grass, then adjust the colors and lighting
• Instantly create cutouts from your images with Magic Select
• Eyedropper Tool for easy color selection

Compatibility: Windows

Capterra Rating: 4.3/5

Graphic Design Tools: 3.5/5

Price: Free

Paint 3D is Microsoft’s replacement for its old Paint program. Anyone can use this free design software - including children - because it is so simple. It’s one of the best free graphic design software for making 3D designs. You can watch your drawing instantly turn into a 3D creation when you use the 3D doodle tool. Create 3D models with stickers, textures, and shapes, then debut them on Remix3D through the app. 

This free design software also comes with plenty of tools for 2D design. Art tools include an oil brush, watercolor brush, marker, calligraphy pen, pencil, crayon, spray can, etc. You can customize these tools by changing opacity, thickness, and color. You can create cutouts from images with Magic Select, then use them as stickers on our 3D designs.

Paint 3D is the best free graphic design software for kids or design novices to practice graphic design and 3D modeling. It’s also completely free and built-in on Windows 11, so there’s no reason not to give it a try. Of course, it’s not the best free graphic design software for anyone with a design background. It’s also recently had issues with stability; we noticed most reviews written in the last several months have mentioned constant crashing. We recommend PhotoDirector as a great Windows alternative for beginners.  

15. GIMP - Best for aspiring professionals

Key Features

• Edit photos with high-quality retouching and restoring
• Create icons and graphic design elements from scratch 
• Edit the pre-made brush selection or create your own 

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

PCMag Rating: 3.5/5

Graphic Design Tools: 4/5

Price: Free

GIMP is a free, open-source software you can use to edit photos or create graphics. It is one of the best free graphic design software for beginners who want to become professional designers. The free price will help beginners get their feet wet with no monetary commitment. Anyone who puts in the effort to learn GIMP will be rewarded with high-quality, professional output. 

This free design software is one of the oldest open-source platforms you can use to edit photos, with a dedicated community of developers who keep it bug-free. GIMP has excellent brush-based tools for free-hand illustration and an entire library of plugins for customizing your interface. GIMP also allows you to edit photos with RAW support and CMYK colors for printing, both valuable features for graphic designers.

While GIMP is an impressive free design software with a massive library of free plugins, it's not without its faults. For example, we noticed that some users find the interface a bit cluttered, and it lacks tutorials and a "Welcome" screen to introduce new users to the basics. Our top pick for best free graphic design software, PhotoDirector, offers guided edits and tutorials to help beginners find their footing. 

16. LibreOffice - Best for designing presentations and documents for businesses

Key Features

• Have access to your data forever, on any device with OpenDocument
• Add movement and effects to your slideshows with animation tools 
• Hundreds of customizable document templates

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

PCMag Rating: 3/5

Graphic Design Tools: 3/5

Price: Free

LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite for creating spreadsheets, presentations, and vector graphics. It’s one of the best free graphic design software for businesses because it comes with databases and formula editing so your graphs and spreadsheets will be 100% accurate. 

This free design software also has a variety of slide presentation tools, such as a Presenter Console, which gives you control over every aspect of a presentation and supports multiple monitors. 

The Draw function will let you produce brochures, posters, or complex technical drawings. You can create and manipulate graphic elements, and even use them in 3D. It’s one of the best free graphic design software for creating charts and diagrams from scratch, with Smart Connectors that help you create precise, easily repeatable lines. 

LibreOffice gives you a full office suite akin to Microsoft 365 free of charge. It also opens any document, even those made with old or defunct software. And while this is one of the best free graphic design software for slide presentations, charts, graphs, official documents, and spreadsheets, it is not the tool to use for anything besides office work. It also lacks collaboration features, which many businesses need. If you need free design software for social media, UX/UI design, or photo manipulation, try one of the other platforms on our list. 

How to Choose the Best Free Graphic Design Software

We’ve chosen the best free graphic design software available, but they all come with different features to cover a range of design projects. Find out how to choose the best free graphic design software for your individual needs by considering these three factors: 

Skill Level- The most important thing to consider when choosing the best free graphic design software is your current skill level. If you are brand new to graphic design, you should choose free design software with easy-to-use drag-and-drop templates. If you are a more seasoned user, you might want the option to create designs from scratch. 

Features - The next thing to consider is whether your designs will be photos/images or mostly vector art/illustrations. Some of the best free graphic design software on our list have amazing drawing tools and brushes for illustrators but won’t allow you to edit photos and lack stock image libraries. 

Compatibility - And finally, you need to decide if you prefer using downloadable free design software, or web-based free design software. If you live in a spotty internet area or do a lot of your work while traveling, the best free graphic design software for you would be downloadable and not require Wi-Fi. In this case, check that your computer has enough room available to download the software and that it is compatible with your OS. 

How We Test the Best Free Graphic Design Software

Here’s a look at how we find, test, and rank the best free graphic design software available today.

Compile a List of Candidates - We can only bring you the best free graphic design software by first eliminating the software that doesn’t fit our remit. We only include software in our list that offers a significant number of graphic design tools, has an average review rating of 3 or above, and that allows you to create a few design projects for free. This means the software is either free, has a free version, or a free trial, so users can test the software before making a monetary commitment.

Design Test Projects - We want to test the free design software in a number of categories, so we come up with a few projects that cover every area of graphic design (i.e. typography, vector graphics, web design, illustrations, and tools to edit photos). We try to create the same designs with each software so we can conduct a direct comparison.

Compare/Rank Results - When it comes to finding the best free graphic design software, we not only compare the look of our finished products, but also the overall workflow and user experience. We focus on these key areas during testing to help us rank the free design software:

• Interface/usability
• Feature set
• Customization options
• Performance
• Compatibility/format support
• Export options
• Learning resources
• Customer service

Conduct Additional Research - We understand there can be a certain amount of user error, bias, or good ole internet connectivity issues when testing the best free graphic design software. We do online research to make sure our findings don’t seem wildly off base. We read reviews from top technology critics and real users. If there are issues that we didn’t come across in our limited testing, but that seem to come up quite a bit with users, we mention those in our reviews.

Best Free Graphic Design Software Comparison Chart

What is the Best Free Graphic Design Software?

Now that we've given you all the information you need about the best free graphic design software, it's time to put your knowledge to use.

Our pick for the best free graphic design software is PhotoDirector, which offers a streamlined way to edit photos and design posts. With thousands of effects, tools, design packs, and millions of stock photos, PhotoDirector makes it easy to learn the fundamentals of graphic design. We also love its intuitive user interface and powerful AI-driven editing tools.

WWhether you have no experience or you're a seasoned graphic designer, PhotoDirector is the best free graphic design software you need to accomplish all your artistic aspirations. It's not just ideal for graphic designing, either. You can also use it to edit photos with the latest RAW format support and utilize generative AI tools for creating and editing content.

If you want an affordable alternative to Adobe or any other expensive graphic design software that offers comparable features, PhotoDirector is the best. Try it for yourself today by clicking the link below.