Glyphs 4

Glyphs is what a lot of working type designers on Mac open every day. You draw with a pen tool that understands curves the way a font needs them, set up masters and interpolate between them, define variable axes, write OpenType feature code, kern, hint, and export OTF, TTF and WOFF2 that a foundry or a browser will accept without argument. Plenty of people use it outside type design too, for icon fonts and lettering-based logo work, where real outline control beats fighting an illustration app.

The money side: you buy a major version outright and keep it. Glyphs 4 is EUR 319, and when the next major version lands it is another purchase — Glyphs 2 and 3 owners paid 199 to move to 4, while anyone who had bought 3 shortly before the release got it free. Students pay half. That is a paid-upgrade product, and calling it "no subscription" is accurate; calling it free updates forever is not.

Do not buy it to make one logo. The 30-day trial is complete, the learning curve is real, and Glyphs Mini at EUR 49 covers simple font work for a fraction of the price. If you are not already drawing letterforms with some regularity, Mini or the trial will answer the question for you.