What is the best free graphic design app for Mac? A high-quality graphic design application should offer a seamless experience for new users as well as professionals. Plus, it should have the ability to bring your ideas to life. We are here with some of the best options that work smoothly on your Macbook and suit all expertise levels.
Best Free Graphic Design App for Mac
Canva
Canva is the best free graphic design app for Mac because it assists you in creating almost all business-related graphics, including posters, flyers, business cards, social media posts, logos, presentations, and more. Moreover, this platform is easy to navigate and hence, perfect if you are a new user. In addition, it has thousands of templates for your assistance. What’s more? There are endless images, fonts, and elements for your use.
The color suggestion is an impressive feature of Canva. It shows you the possible colors when you pick a template. This function is perfect for non-designers.
Pros
- Helps you to create almost anything
- User-friendly drag & drop editor
- Option to upload images, fonts, and videos
- Online storage
- Team collaboration
Cons
- Not suitable for complex designs
Vectornator
Vectornator is an all-in-one graphic design application for Mac. It helps you to create an intuitive user interface with the help of vector tools and multiple advanced functions. Hence, this software is a one-stop solution for all your graphic needs. It creates impressive visuals for your websites, social media pages, and digital marketing campaigns.
Vectornator creates detailed vectors using Shape, Brush, Node, and Pen tools. Plus, it can easily duplicate, rotate, scale, order, mask, group, and align objects. This app can also turn bitmap images into vectors.
Vectornator lets you use advanced vector operations including Boolean, Corner Radius, outlining paths, separating, combining, and more. Apart from them, it has a Typography tool with complete control over font impact, tracking, kerning, and overline height. Furthermore, this application works with multiple Artboards in a single document for an optimal Web design and UI experience.
Pros
- More than 80 thousand icons are available
- Excellent Color Picker
- Community support
Cons
- Unsuitable for beginners
Krita
If you want to start and finish professional projects without accessing multiple graphic designing applications, try Krita. This software licensed under GNU Public License helps you to create VFX, texture paints, concept arts, illustrations, and comic books. The features available on this platform are unique because you might not find similar functions on any other free app for creative designing.
Krita has almost all the tools to help you make impressive visuals. It comes with 100 professional-grade brushes to make excellent effects on your designs. Then, there is a brush stabilizer if your hands are shaky. What’s more? This platform has built-in vector tools to produce comic panels.
Resource Manager is another unique feature of Krita, which allows you to import texture packs and brushes from other artists. Above all, it has a user-friendly interface. You can move the panels and dockers as per your workflow.
Pros
- Open-source application, with endless possibilities for customization
- User manuals and tutorials for your help
- Dedicated dynamic brush tool
Cons
- You need to learn the functions before operating Krita
Figma
Are you a UI designer? Then, you might already know about Figma. This application is perfect for graphic design teams and agencies because it allows you to collaborate. Hence, you can connect with all the team members, get feedback, and finalize professional designs.
Figma and an online whiteboard, FIGJAM work side-by-side, which allows you to bring all your thoughts and ideas to life. Plus, you can create interactive prototypes with dynamic overlays and smart animation. Everything is shared with your team, so you stay in the loop even if you are working remotely.
Figma is a web-based designing tool. You can also download its Mac version. This application has both free and premium versions. Try the former and upgrade if you enjoy the features.
Pros
- Stable and reliable designing application
- Zeplin integration
- User-friendly interface
Cons
- The downloadable version is vast and consumes a lot of memory when under use
Inkscape
Inkscape is an open-source free design application, which has almost all the drawing functions. So, you can create groups, texts, paths, gradients, shapes, and more. Moreover, it produces vectors and supports SVG. Therefore, you don’t notice blurs after resizing the vectors.
Inkscape allows you to save the designs in several different formats including BMP, PNG, JPG, EPS, SVG, PostScript, and others. Therefore, this application is perfect for designers.
Pros
- Fully featured design application
- A robust community for your help
- Excellent path and placement tools
Cons
- Steep learning
- Interface visuals need some improvements
Daz 3D
Daz is an incredible graphic design application, which helps you create high-quality visuals including book covers, character designs, illustrations, and 3D animation. This software has a lot of reputable clients because of its versatility.
Daz is one of the few creativity applications, which allows you to create a 3D world. It also has multiple inspirations for your assistance. Moreover, the Daz Studio allows you to make custom characters and scenes within a few seconds.
Pros
- Library of free and paid 3D content
- Collection of a hyper-versatile figure content
- Allows you to monetize your creations
- Tutorial and help center for assistance
Cons
- Steep learning curve
Vecteezy
You might know about Vecteezy because it offers stock vectors, which are useful for a wide range of projects. You can also create a new vector or redesign the existing ones.
Creating something without any assistance could be challenging for a lot of designers, especially new ones. But things are easy if you are on Vecteezy. It has readymade vectors and many different ideas to give you a start.
You can create the required vector within a few minutes with the help of a color-picker and other tools. After some practice, you can produce the vector within seconds. The process is simple and hence, even beginners can make new designs.
Pros
- Free images, vectors, and videos
- New and fresh content
- Suitable for any budget
Cons
- The free version has restricted features and access to resources
Letters
If you need stylish texts for your graphic design projects, try Letters. It generates incredible templates for your texts. Each prototype has a unique background and texture. So, you can create distinct visuals within a few minutes.
Letters have a wide range of photorealistic textures, which distinguishes them from other graphic design applications. Moreover, its templates cover all the latest trends, including 3D texts, 2D calligraphy, 3D transformed texts, neon effects, grunge style, and watercolor. Apart from that, there are settings to change the color, size, geometry, glow, lighting, and shadow to make the text appealing.
The Letter is the best free graphic design app for small businesses who want to design their graphics. It’s also suitable for professional designers searching for a quick design solution. In addition, this application works well for social media marketers who produce several graphics every day.
Pros
- Compatible with the latest macOS versions
- Seamless and scalable textures
- Suitable texts for all your projects
Cons
- Restricted to texts
Image Tricks
Image Tricks comes with 70 image filters and 35 quartz compositions. In addition, it has 70 image masks, 13 background image generators, and 20 customizable photo frames. So, it is one of the best free graphic design apps for picture modifications.
The Tricks offers multiple filters and compositions including color adjustments, face distortion, and the ability to blend two images. It can also turn an image into art. Moreover, this application supports the HEIC format.
Pros
- A wide range of filters and compositions
- Picture frames and borders for decoration
- Image generator for your assistance
Cons
- Nothing significant
ImageJ
If you are looking for an all-in-one graphic designing application, try ImageJ. Developed in Java, it has multiple image manipulation functions including median filtering, color processing, cropping, resizing, sharpening, and smoothing. In addition, there are multiple plugins on ImageJ’s website to increase its functionalities.
ImageJ is available to download for OS X. You can also use it via the command line. Furthermore, ImageJ Java source code is accessible because it’s an open-source application. Hence, you can modify the features as per your requirements.
Pros
- Compatible with almost all the operating systems
- No license required
- Large and knowledgeable community
- Plugin available for feature extension
- Fastest Java image processing platform
Cons
- Need some updates in its features
Conclusion
Now you know some of the best free graphic design apps for Mac. Are you inspired to pick an application that can suit your style? Canva Free is a high-quality software to try. It helps you produce a wide range of visuals for personal and commercial use. Thanks to high-quality templates, free content, and an easy-to-understand interface, you can design impressive graphics within a few minutes.
Other recommendations are also worth your attention. These apps are especially useful for new users who are yet to understand the complexities of graphic design. Professionals can also enjoy their features if required. Feel free to share the list if you like it.
Good luck.
