7 Best Adobe Creative Cloud Alternatives in 2025
Last updated: February 2026 • 24 min read
Adobe Creative Cloud is a popular tool for professional designers and creatives. With pricing starting at $22.99/mo (single app), it can be expensive for many teams. Whether you're looking for a cheaper option, better features, or an open-source solution, we've compiled the 7 best Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives to help you find the right fit.
📋 Quick Summary
- Total alternatives: 7
- Free alternatives: 6 (Canva, Figma, GIMP)
- Open-source options: GIMP, Inkscape
- Best overall: Canva
- Best free: Canva
Why Look for Adobe Creative Cloud Alternatives?
People commonly look for Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives for several reasons:
- Cost: At $22.99/mo (single app), Adobe Creative Cloud isn't cheap, especially for small teams and startups.
- Feature gaps: Very expensive and subscription-only are common complaints.
- Simplicity: Some users find Adobe Creative Cloud overly complex for their needs and prefer simpler solutions.
- Data ownership: Organizations wanting data sovereignty prefer open-source, self-hosted alternatives.
- Better fit: Different tools excel at different use cases — you may find a tool that's specifically built for your workflow.
📊 Quick Comparison Table
| Tool | Free Tier | Starting Price | Rating | Open Source | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Creative Cloud | ✗ No | $22.99/mo (single app) | ⭐ 4.3 | No | Professional designers and creatives |
| Canva | ✓ Free with basic features | $12.99/mo | ⭐ 4.6 | No | Non-designers and marketing teams |
| Figma | ✓ 3 projects, unlimited editors | $15/editor/mo | ⭐ 4.7 | No | UI/UX design teams |
| Affinity Suite | ✗ No | $69.99 one-time | ⭐ 4.4 | No | Professionals wanting to avoid Adobe subscriptions |
| GIMP | ✓ Completely free | Free | ⭐ 3.9 | ✓ Yes | Users wanting free professional image editing |
| Inkscape | ✓ Completely free | Free | ⭐ 4 | ✓ Yes | Users wanting free vector graphics editing |
| DaVinci Resolve | ✓ Free with most features | Free | ⭐ 4.5 | No | Professional video editors and colorists |
| Photopea | ✓ Free with ads | $5/mo (ad-free) | ⭐ 4.4 | No | Users wanting free Photoshop-like editing |
Detailed Reviews of Each Alternative
Canva
Online design platform that makes graphic design accessible to everyone.
Canva has democratized design by making it possible for anyone to create professional-looking graphics, presentations, social media posts, and more. With millions of templates, stock photos, and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, Canva has become the go-to design tool for non-designers and professionals alike.
Pros
- ✓ Very easy to use
- ✓ Massive template library
- ✓ Free tier is generous
- ✓ Constantly adding features
Cons
- ✗ Limited for professional design
- ✗ Can feel generic
- ✗ Export limitations on free
- ✗ Not for complex design work
Figma
Collaborative interface design tool for teams.
Figma is the leading collaborative design tool for interface design, prototyping, and design systems. Running entirely in the browser, Figma enables real-time collaboration that revolutionized how design teams work. Now owned by Adobe (pending regulatory review), Figma is the standard for UI/UX design.
Pros
- ✓ Real-time collaboration
- ✓ Browser-based
- ✓ Powerful features
- ✓ Great plugin ecosystem
Cons
- ✗ Expensive for teams
- ✗ Needs internet
- ✗ Can be slow with large files
- ✗ Limited offline
Affinity Suite
Professional creative software with one-time purchase pricing.
Affinity offers a suite of professional creative applications — Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher — as alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. The key differentiator is their one-time purchase model (no subscriptions), making them a cost-effective choice for professional creatives.
Pros
- ✓ One-time purchase
- ✓ Professional quality
- ✓ No subscription
- ✓ Good performance
Cons
- ✗ Smaller ecosystem
- ✗ Fewer tutorials
- ✗ No cloud features
- ✗ Less industry adoption
GIMP
Free, open-source image editor for photo retouching and manipulation.
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free, open-source raster graphics editor used for image retouching, free-form drawing, and converting between different image formats. While it has a steeper learning curve than commercial alternatives, GIMP offers professional-grade features at no cost.
Pros
- ✓ Completely free
- ✓ Open source
- ✓ Very powerful
- ✓ Cross-platform
Cons
- ✗ Steep learning curve
- ✗ Dated interface
- ✗ Not intuitive
- ✗ Performance issues
Inkscape
Free, open-source vector graphics editor.
Inkscape is a professional-quality vector graphics editor that serves as a free alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It supports SVG as its native format and offers powerful features for creating and editing vector graphics including logos, illustrations, and technical drawings.
Pros
- ✓ Completely free
- ✓ Open source
- ✓ Professional features
- ✓ SVG native
Cons
- ✗ Steep learning curve
- ✗ Performance issues
- ✗ Dated UI
- ✗ Fewer tutorials
DaVinci Resolve
Professional video editing, color correction, and VFX software.
DaVinci Resolve by Blackmagic Design is a professional-grade video editing suite that combines editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio post-production in one application. The free version includes nearly all features, making it the most powerful free video editor available.
Pros
- ✓ Free professional editor
- ✓ Industry-standard color
- ✓ Comprehensive suite
- ✓ One-time purchase for Studio
Cons
- ✗ Steep learning curve
- ✗ Resource intensive
- ✗ Complex interface
- ✗ Requires powerful hardware
Photopea
Free online photo editor that works like Photoshop.
Photopea is a free, browser-based image editor that's remarkably similar to Adobe Photoshop. It supports PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD, and CDR formats, making it a powerful alternative for photo editing and graphic design without any installation or subscription.
Pros
- ✓ Free to use
- ✓ Browser-based
- ✓ Photoshop-compatible
- ✓ No installation
Cons
- ✗ Ads on free
- ✗ No offline
- ✗ Less powerful than Photoshop
- ✗ Limited AI features
🏆 Our Recommendations
❓ FAQ
What is the best free alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud?
The best free alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud is Canva, which offers Free with basic features.
Is there an open-source alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud?
Yes! GIMP, Inkscape are open-source alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud that you can self-host for free.
What is the cheapest alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud?
The cheapest alternatives are the free options: Canva, Figma, GIMP. For paid alternatives, prices start from as low as $5/mo.
💰 Stop Overpaying for SaaS
Join smart professionals who receive our weekly roundup of the best SaaS deals, free alternatives, and money-saving tips.
Free forever. Unsubscribe anytime. No spam.