Design tools in 2026, compared by price
We track 42 design tools. The list below is ordered by what it costs to start, cheapest first. Tools that cannot be put on that scale — usage-based pricing, a free tier, or a price we could not verify — come last, and each one says which case it is. The cheapest verified entry point is Affinity Designer at Free.
How to choose a design tool
Design tools price per editor, and the useful question is who really needs to be an editor. Most suites let viewers or commenters in free or cheap, so a team of three designers and thirty stakeholders pays for three seats, not thirty-three.
The newer variable is AI: image generation and similar features increasingly run on credit allowances that differ by plan. For print and production work, also check export formats and color management — a plan that watermarks or restricts exports is not usable output, whatever it costs.
Before you commit, check:
- Editor versus viewer seat rules
- AI or asset credits: allowance size and what happens at zero
- Export formats and commercial-use rights
- Collaboration features like comments and shared libraries at each tier
No vendor has paid for a position on this page. Price is not quality: the cheapest tool here is not the best one for your team, it is only the cheapest. We do not publish a quality score because we do not have one we can stand behind. How we score tools.
- Affinity Designer
One-off purchase vector design software.
One-off price instead of a monthly fee
Freeverified
- Blender
Open-source 3D modelling, animation and rendering.
Free with no licence tier at all
Freeverified
- Figma
Collaborative UI/UX design.
Flawless Collaboration: Designers, developers, and clients can view and edit at the same time.
From $3/user/moverified
- Carrd
Simple one-page sites.
Unbeatable Value: Annual costs are lower than the monthly fees of most competitors.
From $9/moverified
- Midjourney
Elite AI art.
Artistic Quality: Output has a distinct aesthetic that needs less post-processing than most models.
From $10/moverified
- Sketch
Vector interface design for macOS.
Fast native performance
From $12/user/mo billed annuallyverified
- Descript
Text-based video editing.
Text-Based Kurgu: Edit video by moving and deleting words like a document.
From $16/moverified
- Squarespace
Designer-grade websites.
Premium Templates: The cleanest and most 'expensive-looking' designs on the web.
From $16/moverified
- Wix Studio
Agency-grade website platform by Wix.
Responsive AI: Let AI automatically adjust your layouts for every screen size.
From $16/moverified
- Adobe Premiere Pro
Pro video editing.
Industry Standard: The most widely recognized and accepted video software in the world.
From $22/moverified
- Bootstrap Studio
Commercial offline desktop builder that exports Bootstrap-based static websites.
Offline authoring: Core design work and project files remain on the user's computer.
From $29/moverified
- Affinity
Topics referred to by the same term.
Automatic CRM data: Contact and interaction records maintain themselves from email and calendar activity.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- Blackmagic Design
Australian cinema manufacturer.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- Bubble
Most powerful no-code.
Full Functionality: You can build almost any logic, database, or API integration.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Canva
Design for everyone.
Free tier includes 1.6M+ templates and 5 GB storage
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Canvas X
Drawing and imaging computer program.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- CapCut
Viral video editing.
Social Media Optimized: Trending transitions and music are always at your fingertips.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Coolors
Colour palette generator.
Free tier covers the core generator and image picker
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- CorelDRAW
Vector graphics editor.
Deep vector and print production features
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- Dribbble
Portfolio community for designers.
Large audience of designers and hirers
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- FlutterFlow
Build native mobile apps.
True Native Apps: High-speed performance that feels like a 'real' application.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Framer
Best designer site builder.
Figma Integration: Transfer your designs directly to a live site via copy-paste.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- KineMaster
Mobile video editing application.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- PageCloud
Hosted no-code website builder with visual editing, forms, analytics and optional ecommerce.
Visual editing: Templates, sections and free-form drag-and-drop controls reduce the need to write code.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Photopea
Browser-based image editor that opens PSD files.
Opens PSD files in a browser tab
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Picsart
Armenian Cross-platform design, photo and video editing platform.
Large template library
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- Pixelmator Pro
Graphics editor for Mac developed by Apple.
Native and fast on Apple hardware
$49.99 one-time purchasenot a monthly price
- Prezi
Online presentation design platform.
Visually distinctive presentations
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- remove.bg
Automatic image background removal.
Results are good on people and products
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- ScreenPal
US software company.
Free plan records and edits without a subscription
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- SiteW
French no-code website and online-store builder with bundled hosting and free-to-paid plans.
Low-friction start: A permanent free tier and a 15-day paid-feature trial are available without a card.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Spline
3D design for web.
Design and interaction live in one browser file
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Vegas Pro
Video editing software.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
- Webflow
Build custom sites visually.
Total Design Freedom: Build anything you imagine without being tied to a template.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Webnode
Hosted website and ecommerce builder with free projects and tiered premium publishing features.
Free hosted start: A website can be created and run on a Webnode-branded subdomain without a paid plan.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Weebly
Square-owned drag-and-drop website builder for simple sites and stores, with an active 2026 country wind-down affecting Turkey and 66 other markets.
The classic editor remains approachable for basic informational sites and blogs.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Wix
Popular website builder.
Max Design Freedom: Place any element exactly where you want it with pixel precision.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
- Xara Designer Pro+
Image editing suite.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Head-to-head comparisons
Two design tools side by side, on price and on the features we actually checked.
Looking to switch?
What each of these costs to replace, with the closest tools that do the same job.