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12 Best GIMP Alternatives for Mac in 2026

Explore 12 alternatives to GIMP — vetted by our editors with real user reviews, pricing, and feature comparisons.

12 top-rated GIMP alternatives at a glance

Quick answer

Short on time? The best alternatives to GIMP are Sketch, CorelDraw and DesignEvo. Sketch leads with a SpotScore of 9 and a 4.62★ rating. All 12 are compared on score, rating, and pricing below.

Not every team clicks with GIMP, and that's fine. These 12 graphic design software alternatives give you real choices on price, features, and usability. We rank them by SpotScore, which combines real-user satisfaction with market presence, then layer in ratings and pricing. Scan the comparison table first, then read the detail for each pick.

ProductSpotScoreRatingPricingBest for
SketchUnleash your digital design genius.9★★★★★ 4.62(1010)from $9 /User/Monthteams of all sizes
CorelDrawUnleash your creativity with powerful graphic design tools.8.9★★★★ 4.38(416)FreeFree Trial · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
DesignEvoUnleash your creativity with DesignEvo's logo maker.8.7★★★★★ 4.93(771)Freefrom $24.99 One Time Paymentteams of all sizes
YouiDrawShape your creativity with ease.8.4★★★★ 4.41(16)Freefrom $9.99/mosmall & mid-size businesses
CanvaCreate stunning visuals with ease.9.8★★★★ 4.39(3547)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
DesygnerUnleash your creativity with Desygner.9.3★★★★★ 4.6(5)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
MarvelUnleash your creativity with Marvel's cutting-edge design tools.9.2★★★★★ 4.52(164)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
InfogramUnleash your creativity with Infogram's graphic design tools.9.2★★★★★ 4.73(274)FreeFreemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
VenngageElevate your visuals with one-click designs.9.2★★★★★ 4.64(82)FreeFreemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
LookaCreate, share, and elevate your designs with ease.9.1★★★★★ 4.76(906)FreeFreemium · One-time license · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses
Adobe IllustratorUnleash your creativity with Illustrator's versatile tools.9.1★★★★★ 4.99(551)FreeFree Trial · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses
CrelloDesign made simple, with Crello.9.1★★★★★ 4.81(533)FreeFreemium · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses

9.0

SpotScore

Sketch - Graphic Design Software

Sketch

Unleash your digital design genius.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Get Pricing Details

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What is Sketch?

Sketch is a professional tool for designing interfaces and websites. It features graphical tools for creating artwork, as well as built-in tools for prototyping and wireframing for apps. It’s for everybody who turns ideas into digital experiences. Innovative and customizable interface enables ...

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Sketch offers custom pricing plan

8.9

SpotScore

CorelDraw - Graphic Design Software

CorelDraw

Unleash your creativity with powerful graphic design tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is CorelDraw?

CorelDraw is an easy to use graphic design software that allows to easily create and edit graphics. It's fast, easy to manipulate pages, and more intuitive to use. Use graphics in more creative ways while increasing productivity with vector-based editing tools that let user edit the font style, ...

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Free Trial·

CorelDraw offers custom pricing plan

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Reach in-market buyersRank above rivals2M+ buyers a year

8.7

SpotScore

DesignEvo - Graphic Design Software

DesignEvo

Unleash your creativity with DesignEvo's logo maker.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

Add to compare

What is DesignEvo?

DesignEvo is an easy-to-use logo creator that offers thousands of templates to choose from. Unleash your creativity with user-friendly tools to bring to life your unique logo design in minutes. Every design you create can be fully customized and tweaked for unlimited possibilities for your ...

Read more about DesignEvo

8.4

SpotScore

YouiDraw - Graphic Design Software

YouiDraw

Shape your creativity with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Try for Free

Add to compare

What is YouiDraw?

YouiDraw is an intuitive tool that lets user create designs by easily connecting shapes together. It can be used for creative purposes, like making wallpaper, stationary, business cards, etc or for more technical ones, such as loading shapes into the production of video games. With a single ...

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9.8

SpotScore

Canva - Graphic Design Software

Canva

Create stunning visuals with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Canva?

Canva is an AI-powered visual communication and collaboration platform that empowers users to design various visual content, including presentations, infographics, videos, documents, websites, social media graphics, and more. Canva provides access to thousands of stock images, videos, ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $9.99/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.3

SpotScore

Desygner - Graphic Design Software

Desygner

Unleash your creativity with Desygner.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

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What is Desygner?

Desygner is a full-fledged graphic design software that provides all the tools to help create beautiful designs in workflow. It is easy to use and powerful at the same time, offering a complete set of professional photo editing and drawing tools in a tight and user friendly software. It will be ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $4.95/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.2

SpotScore

Marvel - Graphic Design Software

Marvel

Unleash your creativity with Marvel's cutting-edge design tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Marvel?

Marvel is an intuitive graphic software that bridges the gap between traditional drawing and digital design. Drawing tools include pencil, pen, crayon, markers, brushes, text and paint. Interface tools include ruler, grid and guides. Secondary tools are text box, table and layer manipulation. ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $8/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.2

SpotScore

Infogram - Graphic Design Software

Infogram

Unleash your creativity with Infogram's graphic design tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

Add to compare

What is Infogram?

The Infogram software has been created with a purpose of helping user design graphics on computer easily by providing graphics editing toolsand templates. In the process of learning how to create a business card, for instance, also learn how to create other different types of graphics and print ...

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Starts from $19/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.2

SpotScore

Venngage - Graphic Design Software

Venngage

Elevate your visuals with one-click designs.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

Add to compare

What is Venngage?

Venngage is an AI powered, browser-based design platform for creating infographics, reports, presentations, charts, diagrams and marketing materials. Its drag-and-drop editor and customizable templates help individuals and teams turn information into visual content without advanced design ...

Read more about Venngage

Starts from $10/user/month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.1

SpotScore

Looka - Graphic Design Software

Looka

Create, share, and elevate your designs with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Try for Free

Add to compare

What is Looka?

The looka design suite comprises a full software environment for every stage of a designer's work. The suite enables designers to create and share a seamless style in every image. With looka, any image can have a consistent style that creates maximum impact. Looka offers the simplicity of ...

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Starts from $4.99/Month, also offers free forever plan

9.1

SpotScore

Adobe Illustrator - Graphic Design Software

Adobe Illustrator

Unleash your creativity with Illustrator's versatile tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is a powerful graphics tool for logos, icons, and digital illustrations. Quickly create professional quality art for web, print, video, and interactive projects. Capture ideas anytime, anywhere with the Illustrator mobile app . Work across multiple mediums—like print, web and ...

Read more about Adobe Illustrator
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $20.99/Month when Billed Yearly

9.1

SpotScore

Crello - Graphic Design Software

Crello

Design made simple, with Crello.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Try for Free

Add to compare

What is Crello?

Crello is a graphic design program that allows to create graphics, logos, headers and banners, business cards, social graphics, web graphics, and more. With Crello emphasize pictures by using different shapes and effects, such as shadows and 3D rotations. Crello is simple to use. It has special ...

Read more about Crello

Starts from $10/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

GIMP competitors, compared

Buyers comparing GIMP usually weigh it against these 12 graphic design software competitors, starting with Sketch, CorelDraw and DesignEvo. Each is compared against GIMP on rating, pricing and feature coverage below.

Sites and apps like GIMP

Searches for "sites like GIMP" and "apps like GIMP" land on the same shortlist as "GIMP alternatives" — the 12 options below cover both, whether you want a like-for-like replacement or something lighter.

Why each made the list

Sketch9Best for teams of all sizes

Easy-to-use interface with design tools for creating mockups and prototypes efficiently.

Watch for: Lack of cross-platform compatibility, limited to Mac OS, which may restrict usability for Windows and Linux users.

CorelDraw8.9Best for teams of all sizes

Versatile design capabilities streamline graphic design work efficiently.

Watch for: Resource-intensive, leading to occasional system crashes, especially on lower-spec machines.

DesignEvo8.7Best for teams of all sizes

Easy and quick logo creation process, even for beginners.

Watch for: Limited customization options for advanced users.

YouiDraw8.4Best for small & mid-size businesses

Easy shape manipulation

Watch for: Limited advanced features

Canva9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Great customer service and prompt issue resolution, contributing to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Watch for: Some users find premium features restrictive, leading to unexpected costs and limitations, especially when accessing specific assets.

Desygner9.3Best for teams of all sizes

Comprehensive design tools

Watch for: May be overwhelming for beginners

Marvel9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Interface is accessible for both beginners and experienced designers.

Watch for: Feature set feels limited or basic compared to more advanced prototyping tools.

Infogram9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Easy to use platform for creating visually appealing presentations and infographics without the need for advanced design skills.

Watch for: Free plan limitations, such as fewer features and templates, may hinder full exploration and utilization of the tool.

Venngage9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Offers a wide variety of templates leading to quicker content creation.

Watch for: Monthly subscription cost can be expensive for some users.

Looka9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Customer service team (including staff like Sam, Ryan, and Frank) responds quickly and resolves issues directly.

Watch for: Advanced customization options beyond logo creation are limited.

Adobe Illustrator9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Versatile tool for creating various design projects, including logos, posters, and handouts.

Watch for: Steep learning curve, requiring time and training for new users.

Crello9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Easy to use and user-friendly interface.

Watch for: Limited marketplace for additional apps and connectors.

Why teams look for a GIMP alternative

Switching away from GIMP is usually triggered by one or more of these sticking points:

  • Has a steep learning curve, especially for users accustomed to other software, requiring time and effort to master.
  • Some users may find the interface non-intuitive, requiring navigation through menus and tools.
  • Limited selection in the Marketplace for additional apps and connectors may restrict advanced functionalities.
  • Initial difficulties in finding shortcuts for convenient navigation, which can be challenging for beginners.

What to keep in mind choosing a GIMP alternative

The hard numbers across these 12 graphic design software alternatives: 11 offer a free tier; paid plans run $9–$24.99, with Sketch the cheapest entry point; and Adobe Illustrator is the highest rated at 4.99 across 551 reviews.

Our ranking method.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Stuck on something? We're here to help with all the questions and answers in one place.

The top-rated alternatives to GIMP are Adobe Illustrator (5.0★), DesignEvo (4.9★), Crello (4.8★). Compare all 12 alternatives side-by-side above.

When evaluating alternatives to GIMP, prioritize: Built-in Templates, Premium Icons, Image Editor, Transparency Tool, transparent pricing, free trial availability, and integrations with your existing tools. Use the filters above to compare by feature, budget, and team size.

Migration difficulty depends on how deeply GIMP is integrated into your workflows. Most alternatives offer data export/import tools and dedicated onboarding support. We recommend narrowing to 2–3 options, running a free trial, and checking each vendor's migration guides before committing.

Picking the best GIMP alternative for your team

  • On a budget / just exploring: start with a free tier — CorelDraw, DesignEvo and YouiDraw let you evaluate without paying upfront.
  • If real-user ratings matter most: Adobe Illustrator has the strongest star rating (4.99★) among the options with verified reviews.
  • Want the safest pick: Sketch has the highest Spotsaas Score (9) in this list — a strong default if you're unsure.

How to switch from GIMP

Switching from GIMP goes smoother with a plan. Start by exporting your data and making sure the new tool imports it cleanly. Confirm the workflows you rely on still work, run a small pilot first, and keep GIMP running until everything's moved. Most options above let you test free before you commit.

Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].