Design, graphics & illustration
Vector and raster editors, UI tools, icon and colour utilities. The main escape route from Creative Cloud.
Category: Design
- Design, graphics & illustration15
- Developer & terminal tools15
- Documents, PDF & office13
- Email, calendar & tasks15
- Files, disk & backup14
- Launchers, clipboard & automation12
- Menu bar & system utilities12
- Privacy, security & networking13
- Screenshots, recording & annotation15
- Video, audio & media14
- Window management & desktop control14
- Writing, notes & markdown14
Licence
- PerpetualUpdates included, forever35
- This versionThe next major is a new purchase47
- Paid upgradesMajor versions cost again25
- Lifetime tierA one-time plan of a subscription app14
- FreewareNothing to buy9
- Open sourceNothing to buy; source published36
Each mark reads left to right: this major version, the next, the one after. Filled is included, half is a paid upgrade, hollow is bought again.
Price
11 apps priced in £ or € sit outside these bands, because we don’t convert currencies.
 Acorn 8Flying Meat Inc. | $29.99Paid upgrades | Each major version is a fresh $29.99 purchase, not a discounted upgrade |
 AffinityCanva (Serif) | FreeFreeware | Free, but the download runs through a Canva account and the AI tools need a paid Canva plan |
 AmadineBeLight Software | $29.99Lifetime tier | The iPhone and iPad app is a separate purchase with its own monthly subscription |
 AsepriteIgara Studio S.A. | $19.99This version | The $19.99 covers the 1.x series only; a future 2.0 would be a separate purchase |
 Boxy SVGJarosław Foksa | $19.99Perpetual | Buy it on the Mac App Store — the developer's own site sells a separate web version |
 Glyphs 4Glyphs GmbH | €319Paid upgrades | Major versions are paid again — Glyphs 2 and 3 owners paid 199 to move up to Glyphs 4 |
 IconJarDavey Heuser and Curtis Hard | $75Lifetime tier | The pricing page never states what future major versions the 75 dollar licence covers |
 ImageOptimKornel Lesiński | FreeOpen source | Free covers the Mac app only — server-side compression is the paid ImageOptim API |
 InkscapeThe Inkscape Project | FreeOpen source | The macOS build is a GTK port — menus, shortcuts and dialogs don't behave like a Mac app |
 KritaKrita Foundation / KDE community | FreeOpen source | The $12.99 Mac App Store build unlocks nothing extra — it is a donation with auto-updates |
 Pixelmator ProApple (originally Pixelmator Team) | $49.99Perpetual | The one-time build is drifting behind the subscription one, which gets the Warp Tool exclusively |
 RetrobatchFlying Meat Inc. | $29.99Paid upgrades | The nodes worth having are Pro-only, which is $49.99 rather than the $29.99 standard edition |
 RightFontRightFont | $59Paid upgrades | One Mac per licence, and updates stop after a year unless you pay half price again |
 SketchSketch B.V. | $120This version | Updates stop after a year, and the licence buys the Mac app alone with no trial first |
 VectorStylerVectorStyler | $95Perpetual | One person builds it, so "lifetime" means the app's lifetime rather than yours |