Best Graphic Design Apps

The right graphic design app depends less on how many features it has and more on the job you are doing. Illustrator is still the professional choice for vector art. Figma is the choice for app and website design. Canva is the fastest way to make marketing graphics. BrandCrowd and Design.com are built for founders who want a logo and brand kit fast. And the biggest change in 2026: Affinity, which used to be a paid one-time purchase, is now free for individuals.

This guide compares 17 graphic design apps and graphic design software tools by the job each one does, plus free options, phone and tablet apps and Canva alternatives. Free and cheap picks come first in the tables, and every price is from the company’s own website. If you only want free tools, jump to the free apps section. If you are looking for apps for graphic design on a phone or tablet, they have their own table. If you want the AI tools, jump to the AI section.

Quick Picks at a Glance

App	Best for	What it costs	Platforms
Canva	Beginners and marketing teams	Free; Pro $18 a month	Web, Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android
Figma	App and website design, teamwork	Free (3 design files); Full seat $16 a month billed yearly	Web, desktop; phone app views and comments only
Adobe Illustrator	Professional vector art and logos	From $22.99 a month	Windows, Mac, iPad, web (beta)
Affinity	Pro vector, photo and layout, free	Free for individuals	Windows, Mac (iPad coming)
Adobe Photoshop	Photo editing and composites	From $22.99 a month; free mobile app	Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, web
Procreate	Illustration on iPad or iPhone	$12.99 once (iPad); $5.99 once (iPhone)	iPad, iPhone
Adobe Express	Quick social posts and flyers	Free; Premium $9.99 a month	Web, iPhone, Android
BrandCrowd	Fast logo and brand kit	Subscription (see section)	Web
Design.com	Logo plus a small brand bundle	Subscription (see section)	Web

How to Choose the Right Graphic Design App

Choose Adobe Illustrator, Affinity or Inkscape if your main job is vector design, logo work or illustration.

Choose Adobe Photoshop, Affinity or GIMP if your work is mainly photo editing, composites or raster-based marketing design.

Choose Figma, Penpot or Sketch if you design interfaces, wireframes or product flows with a team.

Choose Procreate if you want the best illustration app for an iPad or iPhone. If you work on a Mac, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Affinity, GIMP, Inkscape, Canva and Figma all run on macOS, and Sketch runs only on Mac, so that is the shortlist for graphic design software for Mac.

Choose Canva or Adobe Express if you need quick social content, presentations, flyers and marketing assets more than traditional design depth. They are also the easiest graphic design software for beginners.

Choose BrandCrowd or Design.com if you are not trying to become a designer and mainly want a logo plus matching brand assets quickly. Compare our BrandCrowd review and Design.com review before you commit to a larger design stack.

Which graphic design apps are free?

Several strong free graphic design apps cost nothing. The limits are different for each, so check the right-hand column before you commit. If you want free apps for graphic design on a computer, start with Affinity, GIMP and Inkscape. For graphic design software online, in your browser, try Canva, Adobe Express, Figma, Penpot or Photopea.

App	What is free	The catch
Affinity	The whole app: vector, photo and layout tools, for individuals	Needs a free Canva account. AI tools need a paid Canva plan. Windows and Mac only for now.
GIMP	Everything (open source)	Steeper to learn. No full CMYK mode. Community support only.
Inkscape	Everything (open source)	Vector drawing only, not photos or page layout. Community support only.
Canva	Free plan: 1.6M+ templates, 5GB storage, 1 brand kit with 3 colours	Up to 20 AI uses a month. Premium templates and assets need Pro.
Adobe Express	Free plan: 100,000+ templates, 4,000+ fonts, 5GB storage	Limited AI generations. Premium features and 4K export need Premium.
Penpot	Free for up to 8 team members, 10GB, 7 days of version history	Runs in the browser. No phone or desktop app.
Figma	Starter plan with Design, FigJam and Slides	Only 3 design files. No Dev Mode. 30 days of version history.
Photopea	A Photoshop-style editor that runs in your browser, with ads	Ads on the free version. Opens PSD, AI, SVG and more.
VistaCreate	Starter plan: 100K templates, 10GB storage, 1 brand kit	Premium videos, scheduling and more assets need Pro.
Microsoft Designer	Free with a Microsoft account (monthly AI credits)	Personal, non-commercial use only, per Microsoft’s own FAQ.
Adobe Firefly	Limited free daily AI generations	Credits are limited and do not roll over.

What are the best graphic design apps for Android, iPhone and iPad?

If you want to design on a phone or tablet, the choice is smaller than on a computer. This table shows which apps have a real app for which device. “Not listed” means the company’s own site does not list one.

App	iPhone	iPad	Android	What you can do
Canva	Yes	Yes	Yes	Full design and editing
Adobe Express	Yes (iOS 18 or newer)	Browser	Yes (Android 10 or newer)	Full design and editing
Adobe Photoshop	Yes (free, with paid extras)	Yes (free, with paid extras)	Yes (free, with paid extras)	Photo editing and AI tools
Procreate	Procreate Pocket, $5.99	Procreate, $12.99	Not listed	Drawing and painting
Adobe Illustrator	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Vector drawing
Figma	Yes	Yes	Yes	View and comment only. You cannot edit Design files in the app.
Affinity	Not listed	Coming soon	Not listed	Windows and Mac only today
VistaCreate	Yes	Yes	Yes	Social posts and videos
PosterMyWall	Yes	Yes	Yes	Posters and flyers
Microsoft Designer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Quick posts and photo fixes (personal use)

What are the best Canva alternatives?

What replaces Canva? People look for a Canva alternative because the free plan limits AI and premium assets, because Canva Teams was closed to new sign-ups and replaced by Business, or because they want something more specialised. Here is how the options compare.

App	Free plan	Paid price	Best for
Adobe Express	Yes	Premium $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year	Quick social posts and flyers, if you already use Adobe
VistaCreate	Yes (Starter)	Pro $13 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly	The closest cheap match for Canva
Visme	Yes (limited downloads)	Starter $12.25 a month billed yearly ($29 monthly)	Presentations, infographics and reports
Kittl	Yes (personal use only)	Pro $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly	Text-led designs, merch and logos
PosterMyWall	Yes (watermarks)	Premium $13 a month, or $109 a year	Flyers, posters and event promos
Piktochart	Yes (2 PNG downloads)	Pro $15 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly	Infographics and reports
Snappa	Yes (3 downloads a month)	Pro $15 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly	Quick single images
Affinity	Yes, fully free for individuals	Free; AI needs a paid Canva plan	Pro design on a computer, with no templates focus
Microsoft Designer	Yes (personal use only)	Part of Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 a month	Quick personal posts; Microsoft’s own answer to Canva

Does Microsoft have a graphic design app? Yes. Microsoft Designer makes posts, cards and banners from a text prompt and fixes photos. It is free with a Microsoft account, but Microsoft’s own FAQ says it is licensed for personal, non-commercial use. It is not a replacement for Photoshop or Illustrator.

Is Canva free, and can you sell designs made in Canva?

Is Canva free? Yes, there is a free plan. It includes 1.6 million templates, 5GB of storage, one brand kit with three colours and up to 20 AI uses a month. Canva Pro is $18 a month or $144 a year for one person. Canva Business is $25 a month or $250 a year per person, with no seat minimum. Canva Teams is no longer sold to new customers. Enterprise is priced by sales. K-12 schools and non-profits can get most premium features free.

Can you sell designs made in Canva? Yes, with limits. Canva’s own help pages say you can sell original designs, such as posters, mugs, t-shirts, stickers, e-books and templates. You cannot sell Canva’s own content on its own (for example a template that only changes a colour or crops a photo). Templates that use Pro content can only be sold as Canva template links, not as PDFs. If a print-on-demand service asks you to confirm you own the copyright, you cannot use Canva content, because you only have a licence to it.

Can you use Canva for a logo? Canva says its logo templates can be used by anyone, so you cannot register a Canva logo template as a trademark. A logo drawn from your own simple shapes and fonts, or an uploaded original, is fine. For a logo you need to own and protect, see the logo section below.

AI capabilities are now the differentiator in 2026

The biggest change in design tools this year is not which app has the most features. It is which app has built useful AI into the work you already do. Three suites lead, and each works differently. All of them limit AI use with monthly credits, so check the allowance on your plan.

Adobe Firefly and the Firefly AI Assistant

Adobe Firefly generates images, video, audio and vectors from text, and it also runs inside Photoshop, Illustrator and Express. Firefly uses Adobe’s own models and partner models from Google, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Luma, Runway and others. The Firefly AI Assistant went into public beta on 27 April 2026. It runs multi-step jobs across Adobe apps from one chat, and it needs Creative Cloud Pro or a paid Firefly plan.

Firefly has a free plan with limited daily generations. Paid Firefly plans are Standard $9.99 a month (2,000 credits), Pro $19.99 (4,000 credits), Pro Plus $49.99 (10,000 credits) and Premium $199.99 (50,000 credits). Credits do not roll over from one month to the next. Creative Cloud Pro includes 4,000 credits plus unlimited standard image and vector generations.

Canva AI (Magic Studio)

Canva added Canva AI 2.0 on 16 April 2026 as a research preview. It lets you design by chatting with Canva AI and connects to tools such as scheduling and web research. AI use is capped by plan: Free gets up to 20 uses a month, Pro up to 200 premium uses or 20 Ultra uses, and Business up to 400 premium or 40 Ultra uses. An AI Pass add-on is sold for heavier use. Canva says images made with its AI can be used for any lawful purpose, including selling them, but many countries, including the US, do not give copyright protection to AI-made works.

Figma AI

Figma’s AI tools cover image editing, search, layout drafts and Figma Make, which builds apps from a prompt. The Figma agent became generally available on 6 October 2026 and uses AI credits. Credits per month per full seat are 500 on Starter, 3,000 on Professional, 3,500 on Organization and 4,250 on Enterprise. Credits do not roll over, and extra credits are sold as an add-on.

Can ChatGPT do graphic design? ChatGPT can make images and rough layouts, but it does not give you editable, layered files with precise type and colour. What has changed is that OpenAI’s image model is now built into Adobe’s own apps. Adobe’s release notes list GPT Image models in Photoshop and Illustrator, and Google’s Gemini models in Photoshop’s Generative Fill. So you get AI generation and a real design tool together.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Vector Editing

Adobe Illustrator

Platform: Windows, macOS and iPad, plus a beta web version. An iPhone version is not listed.

Illustrator makes vector art, which stays sharp at any size. It is the standard tool for logos, icons, packaging and brand graphics.

What you get

• Precise drawing, type, shapes and paths for logos and icons.
• AI tools added through 2026: Generative Shape Fill, Concept to Vector (compares 8 preset variations), Text to Vector Graphic, Generative Expand and Remove Background.
• An AI Assistant in public beta since June 2026.
• Illustrator on iPad, and Illustrator on the web (beta).

What it costs. Illustrator alone is $22.99 a month on the annual plan billed monthly, $34.49 a month month-to-month, or $263.88 for a year paid upfront. That plan includes 25 AI credits a month. Creative Cloud Pro (all apps, 4,000 AI credits) is $69.99 a month, or $34.99 a month for the first 3 months for new subscribers. Students and teachers pay $19.99 a month for the first year on Creative Cloud Pro. There is a 7-day free trial.

Good to know. It is subscription only. If you leave the annual plan billed monthly after the first 14 days, Adobe charges 50% of the remaining contract. Month to month has no cancellation fee. Adobe lists phone and chat support for individual plans (phone: 1-800-833-6687, Monday to Friday, in English).

Affinity Designer (now part of Affinity)

Platform: Windows and macOS. iPad is “coming soon” with no date. No iPhone, Android or web version is listed.

File compatibility: Opens PSD, AI, PDF, SVG, IDML, DWG and, since September 2026, INDD. Exports PDF, SVG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF and EPUB. It cannot export AI, INDD or IDML files.

Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher have become one free app called Affinity. It has Vector, Pixel and Layout studios in one document, so you can draw, edit photos and lay out pages without switching apps. Canva owns it, and it has been free for individuals since 30 October 2025.

What you get

• The Vector studio does the work Affinity Designer used to do: logos, icons, illustration and web graphics.
• One document format, .af, that holds vector, pixel and layout work together.
• Works offline after you sign in once. You can install it on as many devices as you like.
• AI tools such as Generative Fill, Remove Background and Super Resolve, if you have a paid Canva plan.

What it costs. Free for individuals. You need a free Canva account. Organisations that need single sign-on should contact Canva Enterprise or Education. The old one-time-purchase Affinity V2 apps are no longer sold on Serif’s site. If you already own them they keep working, but they get no new updates.

Good to know. Files saved in the new Affinity cannot be opened in Affinity V1 or V2. The AI tools are not free: they need a paid Canva plan. There is no phone or web version yet.

Inkscape

Platform: Windows, macOS and Linux. No phone or web app.

File compatibility: SVG is its native format. It opens and saves AI, EPS, PDF, PS and PNG too.

Inkscape is a free, open-source vector editor for logos, icons, cartoons, clip art and diagrams.

What you get

• Live Path Effects, bitmap tracing, variable fonts and more than 150 extensions.
• The current stable version is 1.4.4, released 6 May 2026.

What it costs. Free, under the GPL licence.

Good to know. Support comes from the community, not a company. It is a vector drawing tool, so it is not the right choice for photo editing or page layout.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Raster Editing

Adobe Photoshop

Platform: Windows, macOS, web, iPad, iPhone and Android. The iPhone app arrived in February 2025 and the Android app in June 2025.

Photoshop is the standard for photo editing, retouching and combining images.

What you get

• Layers, masks and retouching tools for photos and composites.
• Generative Fill with Adobe’s Firefly Image 5 and partner models, and in 2026 the Remove tool, Prompt to Edit and an AI Assisted Editor (beta).
• Photoshop on the web and a free mobile app, with paid extras for a subscription.

What it costs. Photoshop alone is $22.99 a month on the annual plan billed monthly, $34.49 a month month-to-month, or $263.88 prepaid. It includes 25 AI credits a month and 100GB of storage. The Photography plan is $19.99 a month and adds Lightroom and 1TB of storage. Creative Cloud Pro is $69.99 a month. There is a 7-day free trial.

Good to know. There is no free version of Photoshop on the web. AI use is limited by credits. It is subscription only. If you leave the annual plan billed monthly after the first 14 days, Adobe charges 50% of the remaining contract. Month to month has no cancellation fee.

Affinity Photo (now part of Affinity)

Platform: Windows and macOS (see the Affinity section above).

Affinity Photo is now the Pixel studio inside the single, free Affinity app. It handles photo editing, retouching, and layered pixel work, and it opens PSD files.

What you get

• The September 2026 update added a bigger photo toolset, including a RAW workflow and presets.
• AI tools such as Generative Fill, Colourise and Super Resolve need a paid Canva plan.

What it costs. Free for individuals, as part of Affinity.

Good to know. It cannot export to Adobe’s AI or INDD formats. See the Affinity Designer section above for the full list of limits.

GIMP

Platform: Windows, macOS (11 or newer) and Linux.

File compatibility: Saves XCF. Opens and saves PSD (and PSB large files since version 3.2), plus SVG, PDF, JPEG XL and more.

GIMP is a free, open-source photo editor for retouching, composites, digital art and UI mock-ups.

What you get

• Layers, masks, brushes and filters, plus non-destructive vector and link layers in version 3.2.
• The current stable version is 3.2.6, released 10 September 2026.

What it costs. Free, under the GPL licence.

Good to know. There is no full CMYK editing mode yet; CMYK is only handled on import and export. It takes longer to learn than Canva or Photoshop. Support comes from the community.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Animations

Procreate

Platform: Procreate runs on iPad (iPadOS 16.3 or newer). Procreate Pocket runs on iPhone. Procreate Dreams, for animation, runs on iPad. No Mac, Android or Windows version is listed.

Procreate is a drawing and painting app built for the Apple Pencil. Procreate Dreams adds frame-by-frame animation.

What you get

• More than 300 brushes, time-lapse recording, QuickShape and painting on 3D models.
• No generative AI, by design. Procreate’s own statement on AI says “Creativity is made, not generated.”

What it costs. Procreate for iPad is $12.99 once. Procreate Pocket for iPhone is $5.99 once. Procreate Dreams is $12.99 once. There are no subscriptions, and the apps are sold only on the App Store. (Prices are the App Store listings, because Procreate’s own site does not show them.)

Good to know. It is for drawing and painting, not page layout or vector logos. It only works on Apple devices. Procreate says its apps collect no user data.

Adobe Animate

Platform: Windows and macOS.

Animate makes 2D vector animation, cartoons, web banners and interactive content.

What you get

• Frame-by-frame and rigged animation, with output for HTML5 Canvas, WebGL and AIR.

What it costs. Animate alone is $22.99 a month on the annual plan billed monthly, $34.49 month-to-month, or $263.88 prepaid. Creative Cloud Pro is $69.99 a month. There is a 7-day free trial.

Good to know. Adobe says Animate is in maintenance mode: it fixes bugs and security problems but is not adding new features. The last feature release on Adobe’s page is October 2023. Adobe also says it has no plans to discontinue Animate and has set no end date. It is subscription only. If you leave the annual plan billed monthly after the first 14 days, Adobe charges 50% of the remaining contract. Month to month has no cancellation fee.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Publishing

Affinity Publisher (now part of Affinity)

Platform: Windows and macOS (see the Affinity section above).

File compatibility: Opens IDML and, since September 2026, INDD files from InDesign. Exports PDF (with bleed and crop marks), EPUB and image files.

Affinity Publisher is now the Layout studio inside Affinity. It makes brochures, magazines, books and PDFs with master pages, styles and print-ready export.

What it costs. Free for individuals, as part of Affinity.

Good to know. Affinity says some advanced InDesign formatting, such as GREP styles, anchored objects and tables, may need manual fixing after import. It cannot export InDesign files.

Adobe InDesign

Platform: Windows and macOS.

InDesign is the standard page-layout app for magazines, books, brochures, catalogues and PDFs, for print and screen.

What you get

• Flex Layout, which adapts a layout to different page sizes.
• 2026 additions: Rewrite (generate and refine text), AI alt text for images, and editing images with Adobe Express from inside InDesign.
• An AI Assistant in public beta.

What it costs. InDesign alone is $22.99 a month on the annual plan billed monthly, $34.49 month-to-month, or $263.88 prepaid. Creative Cloud Pro is $69.99 a month. There is a 7-day free trial that turns into a paid plan after seven days unless you cancel.

Good to know. It runs on desktop only. No InDesign app for iPad or iPhone is listed. It is subscription only. If you leave the annual plan billed monthly after the first 14 days, Adobe charges 50% of the remaining contract. Month to month has no cancellation fee.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Wireframing and Prototyping

Figma

Platform: Browser and desktop app. The phone app (iOS and Android) can view and comment, but you cannot edit Design files in it.

Figma is the standard collaborative design tool for apps and websites. Teams design together in the browser and hand off to developers.

What you get

• Design, FigJam whiteboards, Slides, and Dev Mode for developer handoff.
• Figma Make (builds apps from a prompt) and the Figma agent, which uses AI credits.
• Free viewing: people can view and comment on files without paying for a seat.

What it costs. Starter is free but limited to 3 design files, with no Dev Mode and 30 days of version history. Professional is $16 per Full seat a month billed yearly ($20 monthly). A Dev seat is $12 yearly ($15 monthly) and a Collab seat is $3 yearly ($5 monthly). Organization is $55 per Full seat and Enterprise is $90, both billed yearly. Figma raised prices for Figma Design from 11 March 2025.

Good to know. The free plan is tight. AI uses a monthly credit allowance. The mobile app is for viewing, not editing.

Sketch

Platform: The editor runs only on Mac (macOS Sequoia 15 or newer for the latest version). A web app lets anyone view, comment and inspect, and an iPhone and iPad app views designs and plays prototypes.

Sketch is a Mac app for designing apps and websites, with a web viewer for sharing.

What you get

• Native Mac app, plus web previews, a Slack integration and a command bar on the web.
• You can also connect AI tools such as Claude or Cursor to your designs.

What it costs. Standard is $12 per editor a month on a yearly plan, or $14 billed monthly. Professional is $24 per editor a month billed yearly and Enterprise is $44. A Mac-only license is $120 per seat and includes one year of updates; after that you can keep using the last version you updated to. There is a 30-day free trial with no card.

Good to know. There is no free plan, only viewers are free. Students and teachers get a free workspace. You cannot edit on Windows or Android.

Adobe XD (maintenance mode)

Platform: Windows and macOS, with a mobile preview app for iOS and Android.

Adobe XD was Adobe’s app for interface design and prototypes. Adobe’s own help pages say XD “continues to be in maintenance mode”: it fixes bugs and security problems and is not adding new features. Adobe has not announced an end date.

What it costs. Adobe’s XD product page now redirects to its help centre, and the US plans page shows no XD plan card. XD still appears in the app list at Creative Cloud Pro checkout.

Good to know. We do not recommend XD for new projects. If you are starting out, look at Figma, Penpot or Sketch instead.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Social Media Content

Canva

Platform: Web, Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad, Android and Chromebook.

Canva is an all-round design tool for social posts, presentations, flyers and simple video, with a very large template library. It suits non-designers and small businesses.

What you get

• 1.6 million+ templates on the free plan and 3.6 million+ on Pro.
• Canva AI and Magic tools such as Magic Layers, Magic Edit and image generation (see the AI section).
• Brand kits: 1 on Free, 5 on Pro and 100 on Business.
• Affinity is included with every Canva account.

What it costs. Free is $0. Pro is $18 a month or $144 a year for one person, with 100GB of storage. Business is $25 a month or $250 a year per person, with 500GB of storage and no seat minimum. Teams is no longer sold to new customers. Enterprise is priced by sales. K-12 schools and non-profits get most premium features free.

Good to know. AI use is capped by plan, and only 20 uses a month are free. Selling Canva designs has rules (see the section above). Canva’s Business price was $20 when it launched in October 2025 and is $25 now.

Adobe Express

Platform: Web, iPhone (iOS 18 or newer) and Android (Android 10 or newer).

Adobe Express is Adobe’s quick design tool for social posts, flyers and short videos. It is easier than Photoshop and works well if you already use Adobe.

What you get

• On the free plan: 100,000+ templates, 4,000+ fonts, 5GB of storage and limited free AI generations.
• On Premium: all premium templates, 30,000+ Adobe Fonts, 100GB of storage, 250 AI credits a month and one-click Resize.
• PDF Quick Actions and an AI Assistant (beta) on desktop.

What it costs. Free is $0. Premium is $9.99 a month, or $99.99 a year paid upfront, and there is a 30-day free trial of Premium. Firefly Pro at $19.99 a month includes Express Premium. Teams is $7.99 per licence a month, with a 2-seat minimum.

Good to know. The free plan caps AI, storage and some features. Your phone must be new enough for the app: iOS 18 or newer, or Android 10 or newer.

Best Graphic Design Apps for Logo Design and Branding

If you are designing logos professionally or you need full control over vector files, Adobe Illustrator is the safest answer. Affinity is a free alternative, and Inkscape is a free pick for vector logo work.

But that is only half the story. If you are a founder, freelancer or small business owner who mainly wants a logo and matching brand assets quickly, a full vector suite is not always the best starting point. In that case, BrandCrowd and Design.com are often more practical than Illustrator because they are built for speed, templates and brand kits rather than blank-canvas design.

Tool	Best for	Choose it if…
Adobe Illustrator	Professional logo design	You need full vector control, print-ready files and a pro workflow.
Affinity	Free pro vector tool	You want strong vector tools with no subscription and are happy on Windows or Mac.
Inkscape	Free vector logo design	You need a capable free vector editor and can live with a rougher experience.
BrandCrowd	Fastest logo-first brand kit	You want a logo, cards and brand assets fast without learning a pro design tool.
Design.com	Logo plus a wider small-business bundle	You want a logo plus business cards, social posts and a small website under one subscription.

In short: use Illustrator if logo design is your craft. Use Affinity if you want a free Illustrator-style tool. Use Inkscape if free and open source matters most. Use BrandCrowd for the cleanest logo-first buying path. Use Design.com for a broader logo-plus-branding bundle.

BrandCrowd

Platform: Web. BrandCrowd says its editor works on desktop and mobile browsers. We found no native app.

File compatibility: PNG, JPG, SVG, EPS and PDF.

BrandCrowd is a logo and brand-kit service for founders, small business owners and side projects. You describe your business, pick a logo from its library of more than 458,000 designs, edit colours and fonts, and get a coordinated set of brand templates. It is not for full vector control, but it is built to get a launch-ready logo quickly.

What it costs. BrandCrowd sells subscriptions, not one-time logo packs. Its own site shows no public price list, and you see plan prices at checkout, so check the price there before you buy. Delivered logos are not refundable. Logos come with a commercial licence for global use. The standard licence is non-exclusive, and exclusive and buyout licences cost extra. A selection of free logo templates can be downloaded. See our full BrandCrowd review for plan details.

Design.com

Platform: Web only. We found no native app.

File compatibility: PNG, JPG, and vector files (EPS, SVG, PDF).

Design.com is the sister site of BrandCrowd. It is an AI logo maker plus matching business cards, social posts and a basic website, in one subscription. It suits first-time founders who want branding in one place and do not need design depth.

What it costs. It is a monthly or yearly subscription, not a one-time purchase. Each package gives you access to one logo, with unlimited edits and 50+ design tools. Every plan includes a basic website builder, and higher plans add a premium builder, link-in-bio pages and digital business cards. Printing, domains and designer support are bought separately. Design.com’s own pages show different figures for the plans, so check the price at checkout. You keep the licence to your logo if you cancel. See our full Design.com review for current plan details.

Start with our BrandCrowd review if speed and a simpler logo-first path matter more than breadth. Start with our Design.com review if you want a wider all-in-one branding platform for a small business launch.

Conclusion

The best graphic design app is not one tool for every person. The right choice depends on whether you need professional vector work, photo editing, app and website design, iPad illustration, marketing graphics, or a fast way to get a brand live.

If you work in professional design, your shortlist usually starts with Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma, Affinity, Canva and Procreate, depending on the job. If you want to spend nothing, start with Affinity, GIMP, Inkscape and Canva’s free plan. If your real goal is launching a logo and brand assets quickly without becoming a designer, BrandCrowd and Design.com deserve a place on your shortlist too.

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