Buy once instead of Adobe Creative
5 apps in the directory cover what people use Adobe Creative for. 3 of them are a one-time purchases, and 2 cost nothing at all.
Read the catch on each one before you switch — a one-time price is not automatically the better deal, and we say so where it is not.
The replacements
Affinity
the whole design suite, now free for individuals
Free Free
Free, but the download runs through a Canva account and the AI tools need a paid Canva plan
Inkscape
SVG-native vector editor with no licence to buy at all
Free Open source
The macOS build is a GTK port — menus, shortcuts and dialogs don't behave like a Mac app
Amadine
approachable vector drawing app with a 29.99 dollar lifetime licence
$29.99 Lifetime tier
The iPhone and iPad app is a separate purchase with its own monthly subscription
Retrobatch
node-based batch image processing, bought once
$29.99 Paid upgrades
The nodes worth having are Pro-only, which is $49.99 rather than the $29.99 standard edition
VectorStyler
deep vector illustration app, 95 dollars once with upgrades included
$95 Perpetual
One person builds it, so "lifetime" means the app's lifetime rather than yours