• Download Vector Editing Software

• January 02, 2020
• 29 min to read

The programs mentioned above should be enough for performing all sort of creative editing in your vector and in some cases, raster images. Nevertheless, if you want to use certain specialized functions of some premium software, here are a few of the Top Paid Software for Vector Graphics Editing that you can download for a free trial. Jun 17, 2020 Some of them are for video editing novice, while some free video editing software are for professionals (but if you need to use the professional features, you may need to purchase the Pro version). I hope you can find the right video editor based on your needs from the following list. Top 5 Best Free Video Editing Software for Mac Beginners 1.

A comprehensive review of the best RAW photo editors on the market

There are many RAW photo editors available, and they get better every year. It can be hard and time-consuming to try all of them, so we’ve tried them for you and come up with a list of the best RAW photo editors you should consider right now.

Professional photographers shoot in RAW to preserve as much detail as possible. They want high-resolution images with a wide dynamic range, natural-looking colors, and sharp details. RAW files are large files that need powerful editors. A good RAW photo editor is able to edit RAW files while preserving image quality and color accuracy.

The first criterion in choosing a RAW photo editor is how good the RAW processor is and how well it renders the RAW data. But there are also other criteria to consider, such as support for batch processing, digital asset management, preset libraries, layers and masks, and local editing tools. Practicality is also important. Consider system requirements, processing speed, the user interface and workflow, and, of course, the price.

Because RAW editors are sophisticated software that require a long time to develop, you’ll hardly find free RAW photo editors. The only free editors on our list are darktable and RawTherapee, cross-platform image processing programs with enthusiastic communities around them. Nevertheless, all paid RAW photo editors on this list offer free trials that allow you to test them before buying.

The best RAW photo editors on the market

1. Luminar 4

Released at the end of 2019, Luminar 4 is a RAW photo editor that includes AI-based technology. Yes, it provides support for most RAW file formats and all the basic adjustments you need, but it also provides content-aware automatic adjustments. Its smart features and friendly interface have already convinced many professional photographers to become Skylum Ambassadors.

Luminar’s AI-based features analyze your images and make decisions based on their contents. Luminar 4 recognizes objects and people and applies custom adjustments for different types of pictures. It includes AI-based features for sky replacement, skin and portrait enhancement, structure enhancement, general image enhancement, and adding sun rays.

Moreover, Luminar 4 comes with more than 70 built-in presets, called Looks, that provide easy access to the most popular artistic styles. You can also create your own presets and download Signature Looks designed by renowned photographers from the Luminar Marketplace.

Luminar 4 allows you to fine-tune every aspect of an image, which is great because in RAW editing, every detail counts. Luminar works with layers and masks and provides easy tools for controlling opacity and blending modes. The workflow is fluid and easy to learn, and you’ll find features such as batch processing, adjustment synchronization, digital asset management, and image rating and labeling.

Luminar 4 works as standalone software, a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, and an extension for Apple Photos. It’s available for Mac and Windows and costs $89.

2. Aurora HDR

Aurora HDR was the first Skylum solution for RAW photo editing and is one of the most appreciated HDR photo editors. It’s the perfect choice if you want to create images with a wide dynamic range. Aurora provides tools for bracket merging that create high-quality images without halos, chromatic aberrations, or artifacts. It also includes basic tools such as color toning, a polarizer filter, detail enhancer, and LUT mapping.

Like Luminar 4, Aurora HDR makes use of AI technology to separate noise from detail and deliver exquisite denoising and detail enhancing tools. As Aurora is a RAW photo editor, its support for layers and masks is especially useful. Also useful are the presets designed in collaboration with professional photographers, which deliver amazing effects in seconds.

In terms of practical features, Aurora HDR offers batch processing, support for most popular cameras, and the ability to run as standalone software or a plugin for Adobe and Apple products. Aurora HDR is available for Windows and Mac and costs $110.

3. Adobe Lightroom

Due to its prestigious producer, Adobe Lightroom has been the standard in RAW photo editing for a long time. But it has lost many fans since Adobe introduced the monthly subscription plan. Yes, Lightroom is a RAW photo editor that gives you access to cloud space and synchronizes your edits across all your devices. But it’s expensive, and people have started to look for cheaper alternatives. Adobe Lightroom costs $9.99 per month, which means almost $120 per year. That’s more than other software costs for a lifetime license.

For this money, Adobe Lightroom offers endless sharing capabilities, image synchronization, exquisite image management tools, and easy-to-use image editing tools. It also has many presets, and you can find more in the large Adobe community, which also offers books, tutorials, and video materials.

Adobe Lightroom is available for Windows and Mac, but check the system requirements before you buy it because it requires relatively new operating system versions.

4. ON1 Photo RAW

ON1 Photo RAW 2020 is the latest version of the ON1 RAW photo editor. It’s a complete solution that includes photo management functionality, a powerful RAW processor, and tools for professional photo editing. Like Skylum products, ON1 Photo RAW 2020 includes AI-based functionalities for applying automatic adjustments, creating masks, and producing RAW photos that look like ones from the in-camera display.

Among the best features of ON1 Photo RAW are non-destructive editing using layers and masks, local adjustments, lens correction, custom camera profiles and support for more than 800 camera models, HDR tools, and many presets and effects. ON1 Photo RAW 2020 allows you to copy adjustments to multiple images and synchronize your edits with your colleagues. It also supports tethered shooting and cloud storage applications.

ON1 Photo RAW 2020 is available as a standalone program for Windows and Mac and runs as a plugin for Adobe and Apple products. It costs $99.99.

5. Capture One Pro 2020

Capture One develops a RAW photo editor that supports many RAW file formats and has dedicated versions for Fuji and Sony camera users. Capture One Pro 2020 is a complete photo editing solution for all cameras, and it provides tools for image editing and management.

While Capture One Pro 2020 isn’t very easy to learn and use, once you get to know it, you’ll have full control over every aspect of your images. This software’s features range from tools for basic image adjustments (fixing exposure, color, and contrast) to HDR tools, advanced color adjustments, and presets. Essential for a RAW editor, Capture One Pro 2020 works with layers and masks and provides non-destructive editing.

Capture One Pro 2020 is a powerful photo editor even if its workflow isn’t for beginners. It provides lens and camera profiles, lens correction, high color accuracy, and tools for printing and creative artwork. All these features come with a price, however: Capture One Pro 2020 costs $27 per month. It’s available for Windows and Mac.

6. DxO PhotoLab

Like Capture One Pro, DxO PhotoLab is a complex RAW photo editor for professional photographers. It focuses on color accuracy and camera compatibility. DxO PhotoLab matches the rendering of over 60 camera models and provides optical corrections and custom lens profiles.

Among its best features are exquisite color tools such as ICC profiles, Moiré removal, and the new HSL tool, more than 40 presets, haze removal based on colorimetric component analysis, noise removal that’s been optimized to process RAW files at high speed, and local adjustments. DxO PhotoLab is an editor for color perfectionists and aims to satisfy the most demanding professionals.

DxO PhotoLab provides digital asset management with all you need for organizing images in a neat interface. It’s available for Windows and Mac and costs $140.

7. PaintShop Pro

PaintShop Pro is one of Corel’s solutions for photo editing that includes RAW functionalities. Keeping to Corel’s long tradition in graphic design, PaintShop Pro provides not only photo editing tools but also graphic design tools. So if you want tools for creating artistic compositions, drawing, and painting onto images, PaintShop Pro is the best editor for you.

In terms of RAW photo editing, PaintShop Pro offers a powerful RAW processor, lens correction, HDR editing, geometric transformations, basic adjustments for image retouching, and layers and masks. It doesn’t have too many filters and presets, but it offers support for third-party plugins such as the NiK Collection from DxO and Topaz Labs plugins. This may cover the need for extra features, but these plugins come with an additional cost.

In terms of useful functionalities, PaintShop Pro doesn’t have digital asset management, but it does provide batch processing and support for many file formats. PaintShop Pro is easy to learn and has a customizable workspace. But if you don’t need graphic design tools, they’ll only slow you down.

PaintShop Pro is available only for Windows and costs $79.

8. AfterShot Pro

Another RAW photo editing solution from Corel is AfterShot Pro. Designed to compete with Adobe Lightroom, AfterShot Pro focuses on increasing processing speed while delivering high-quality images.

Unlike PaintShop Pro, however, AfterShot Pro is dedicated to photography. This means is has RAW camera profiles, lens corrections, a large library of presets, and highlight recovery for images with a wide dynamic range. It also provides efficient digital asset management and integrates with other editors. In exchange, it doesn’t have graphic design tools.

In terms of RAW photo editing, we’re more interested in color accuracy, noise reduction, and HDR tools than in drawing tools. Still, the advanced selection tools provided by Corel’s programs are always welcome for local adjustments and subtle image retouching.

AfterShot Pro is a better option than PaintShop Pro for RAW editing. It’s also more expensive, as it costs $99.99. But if you compare it with Adobe Lightroom, you’ll see that it’s worth the money.

9. Darktable

Darktable is an open-source, free RAW photo editor available for Linux, Mac / macports, BSD, Windows, and Solaris 11 / GNOME. It’s designed to be a virtual darkroom and allows you to view negatives through a zoomable lighttable.

Aiming to be more than a RAW convertor, darktable provides tools for image enhancement, batch processing, and tethered shooting. It also allows you to develop your own image processing modules and add them to the program.

For a free editor, darktable offers exquisite tools, from an optimized RAW processor that can manage large files to non-destructive edits and professional color management. It has ICC profiles, several demosaicing methods, base and tone curves, lens corrections, and tools for dithering, haze, fringing, noise removal, color, contrast, and white balance adjustments. It also offers a few filters for creative effects.

However, darktable has minimal image organizing functionalities. It does allow you to search for images by tags, stars, and labels, and it works with metadata.

10. PhotoDirector Ultra

With PhotoDirector Ultra, Cyberlink aims to deliver a photo editor that accumulates the functionalities of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom at a better price. PhotoDirector Ultra supports many RAW file formats and provides AI-based tools for image retouching, layer editing, and presets.

This software is aimed at a wide variety of users, from professional photographers to the general public. It mixes powerful content-aware image adjustments with tools for making videos out of images, frame templates, and 360-degree photo editing. Delivering a wide variety of features isn’t always the best idea, however. Professional photographers are more interested in color accuracy, noise reduction, and detail preservation than in applying brushstrokes that simulate painting styles.

But despite the features unrelated to RAW editing, PhotoDirector Ultra is very good at recovering blurred images, eliminating haze and fog, and retouching portraits. It also provides image management tools, cloud storage, and additional products such as special effects and dedicated plugins.

PhotoDirector Ultra is available for Windows and Mac and costs $74.99.

11. ACDSee Photo Studio

ACDsee is known for its image organizing software, but its latest products show that it has become a powerful competitor on the photo editor market. Photo Studio is a complete editing solution that includes RAW processing, image editing tools, and the amazing ACDSee digital asset management.

ACDSee Photo Studio Professional 2020 supports more than 500 camera models and offers RAW editing tools such as LUTs, non-destructive color grading, lens corrections, noise and haze removal, contrast and brightness adjustments, layers and masks, selection tools, and local adjustments. It’s fast and supports many file formats, offers batch processing, and has a lot of tools for zooming, previewing, and reviewing images. In terms of the interface and image management, it’s one of the best RAW photo editors.

ACDSee Photo Studio Professional 2020 is available only for Windows. There’s also a separate ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 6. You can choose between a monthly subscription at $8.90 and a lifetime license for $99.95.

12. RAW Power

Gentlemen Coders offers a RAW photo editor for Mac and iOS called RAW Power that can run as standalone software or a Photos extension.

RAW Power uses Apple’s RAW decoder to provide high-quality images. Among its best features are support for hundreds of camera models, precise curve adjustments, white balance recovery, lots of presets, and perspective and chromatic aberration corrections.

RAW Power also provides digital asset management, batch processing, synchronization between devices via iCloud Photo Library, multiple editing windows, and batch export. It comes as an extension to Apple Photos and costs $29.99.

13. RawTherapee

RawTherapee is a free RAW photo editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides high-quality images with high dynamic range and uses state-of-the-art demosaicing algorithms. Although it’s open-source software, RawTherapee supports most common RAW file formats, including those from Pentax and Sony.

Among its best features are RAW histograms, adjustments for fixing exposure, contrast, detail, and color, color profiles, and advanced controls. RawTherapee also lets you save your current editing profile for later use or batch editing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support layers, and you have to apply all adjustments to the same layer, which may be confusing.

RawTherapee has a neat workspace that allows you to find all you need in seconds. It’s intuitive, well-labeled, and has shortcuts for everything. It also provides file browsing, ratings, and color labeling, and it supports metadata. For those who want to see how printed images will look, RawTherapee runs a simulation with a specific printer profile.

14. Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo provides powerful photo editing and graphic design tools. Alongside RAW editing, it provides HDR editing and focus stacking, panorama stitching, support for editing Adobe Photoshop files, and painting tools.

In terms of RAW photo editing, Affinity Photo’s big advantage is its ability to process very large files (more than 100 Megapixels) and to offer smooth zoom at 60 frames per second. It gives you full control over the smallest details of your images and provides editing tools such as levels, curves, HSL, and exposure and white balance adjustments. All edits are non-destructive because Affinity Photo works with layers and masks. You can perform local adjustments using advanced selection tools, analyze histograms, and edit EXIF information.

Affinity Photo provides lens corrections, noise reduction, and hot pixel removal, which is essential for RAW editing. It also provides presets and effects, including brush libraries and text and vector tools. It’s one of the best RAW photo editors for creating artistic compositions and collages.

Affinity Photo is available for Windows, Mac, and iPad and costs $49.99 respectively $19.99.

In conclusion

We’ve tested the most powerful RAW photo editors on the market, but the final decision is yours. Choose the best editor for your needs. Consider your budget, frequency of use, skills, and artistic preferences. For example, you shouldn’t buy an editor with graphic design functionalities if you don’t do abstract photography and strong editing. If you work with large amounts of similar images, batch processing is a must. So is digital asset management when you have lots of albums and catalogs. Keep in mind that trying before buying is the wisest thing you can do.

Paying $500+ for a new CorelDRAW Suite may not be the best investment for a graphic designer, especially a beginner. The same goes for Adobe’s stingy subscriptions. Give or take, most graphic design tools are built on the same principles. And more often than not, we need to create something simple and effective – an icon for our website, a logo, or just have some fun with vector art. Even for serious vector art, we probably never use all the fancy features big companies throw at us.

Thankfully, there is a free vector software that allows us to do what we want. In this article, we will cover the most popular and effective of ones.

Lunacy

Platform: Windows
Download link:icons8.com/lunacy

At first, Lunacy was developed as a Sketch viewer for Windows, because the problem of opening .sketch files was always a nightmare for people who didn’t own Mac. But it’s quickly becoming a powerful tool on its own. With Lunacy, you can not only open .sketch files, but also perform multiple editing functions: organize pages and artboards, draw, join & align objects, and use typography.

Add to that export in PNG and SVG, support of CSS & XAML code and you’ll get a powerful vector editing tool without having to employ a bunch of crutches to make .sketch files work on Windows. A portable version comes as a bonus.

Pros:

• First fully-featured .sketch editor for Windows
• Constant updates
• Portable version
• Active development & support

Cons:

• Minor performance bugs
• Advanced features are yet to come

Inkscape

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux
Download link:inkscape.org

Inkscape is often called the GIMP of vector apps. It’s an open-source program with plenty of features that make you wonder why people aren’t selling it. And yet, it’s completely free. The app was released in 2003, and since then has become one of the most popular vector graphics software programs in the world. It’s available in 90 languages and across many platforms, including OS X and Linux.

Oct 18, 2018  The new dark mode in macOS Mojave is a striking departure from the longstanding look and feel of the Mac operating system. And while many apps look great in dark mode, some users don’t like the darker look in every app. Using the default interface options in System Preferences, however, there’s currently no way to exclude individual apps from dark mode. Mac os dark mode exclude app.

The node workflow in Inkscape is similar to that of Adobe Illustrator and allows adding new nodes, as well as moving and editing them.

Helpful features like node aligning and symmetry are also available to use. Bezier curves and pencil tools work smoothly with graphic tablets, allowing users to create hand-drawn vector images of any complexity.

Inkscape also has image bitmap tracing, which is for converting rasterized images into vector paths. However, the feature is not as advanced as the one in Adobe Illustrator, and you may need some extra manipulations to make it work, or you’ll have to trace it manually.

Inkscape supports all popular formats, including SVG, EPS, JPG, PNG, PostScript and others.
The list of features the app has is beyond listing, and chances are it can do pretty much everything paid programs like Adobe Illustrator can do.

At the very least Inkscape is nearly as good as Adobe Illustrator. Both programs share a very similar workflow and if you’re used to one of them, it makes it easier to make the switch. For logo designs and creating vector graphics, there won’t be much difference in whichever one of you use, apart from having an extra buck to spend on something else.

Tutorials: Inkscape’s website offers a wide variety of tutorials from beginner to advanced here. We also recommend Logos by Nick’s Youtube channel – it offers many excellent tips and workflows from a practicing designer.

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Pros:

• Many features, solid AI alternative
• Works smoothly with tablets
• Multiple platforms (Linux included)
• Extensions

Cons:

• Rare performance issues with big files
• Some features are not intuitive – tutorials are needed

Vectr

Platform: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, Web
Download link:vectr.com

Unlike Inkscape, Vectr is fresh blood in the yard. Which is good, because it means the development is shifted by industry demands, and not by the curse of bloatware.

This free vector art program was released just two years ago, but the pace of its development is truly magnificent. With all the features added recently, it’s hard to imagine what this product could be capable of in the future. However, developers are pressing that one thing stays unchanged – it will be forever free.

To compare Vectr and Inkscape is to make a great mistake – these two products are both in a league of their own. What Vectr lacks in features, it compensates for in intuitiveness. The learning curve on the program is non-existent: if you’re just starting in the design industry, you may be able to create your very first logo in five minutes after you start the program without having to skim through pages of tutorials.

Another advantage of the app is ubiquity – not only is it available on all popular platforms, but it also has a browser version with the same functionality as its desktop counterpart. That means you can work on your designs on your PC and then finish them in an internet cafe in the middle of nowhere.

From Vectr official website

The app allows all standard vector operations – creating and editing geometry shapes, curves, and paths. It supports multiple layers and pages, letting you organize your project. Vectr allows imports in AI, EPS, SVG, PNG, and JPEG file formats.

Another useful feature is the ability to share your projects simply by sending a URL to your colleagues, letting them view and edit it in a workflow similar to Google Docs. The development of full-scale collaboration with multiple people working on the same project simultaneously is currently underway, along with Marketplace and Versioning. You can literally watch the Vectr team’s backlog in the Open Roadmap.

Tutorials:vectr.com/tutorials

Pros:

• Cross-platform and browser versions
• Intuitive, easy to use interface
• Easy sharing of projects
• Integration with WordPress

Cons:

• Need to create an account
• Some people report crashes – the new features may be unstable
• Lacks advanced features

Gravit Designer

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, Web
Download link:designer.io

We might be a bit subjective here. After all, Gravit used our icons. However, Gravit’s developers have much more to offer than having good taste.

On a feature-wise specter, Gravit falls precisely between Inkscape and Vectr. It has more features than the latter while staying as intuitive as the former. And, like all the apps mentioned in this article, it comes with no price attached. Talk about balance.

The app allows you to do everything you would expect from a vector software program: Create curves, edit paths, manage layers and use the knife function. It supports SVG, PDF, JPEG,.SKETCH and recently, EPS (finally!) formats for import and export. In addition, you can work on your projects across different platforms; Gravit Cloud allows seamless transition of files between desktop and online versions. A portable version is also available.

Among the other handy things that Gravit features, there are vector assets that are available within the app. Gravit Designer’s library of assets includes icons, shapes, emojis, and illustrations – all of which can be combined and modified for commercial and non-commercial use.

Even though the tool is free (according to developers, “there will definitely be areas in Gravit Designer in the foreseeable future, or areas surrounding Gravit Designer, that are subject to a charge”), bugs are being fixed and the most voted for features are being developed. You can see a full description of the new features in the Gravit Designer developers’ blog, along with a bunch of cool tutorials.

Tutorials: Youtube Playlist

Pros:

• Huge library of vector assets out-of-box
• Intuitive UI and workflow
• Browser and cross-platform versions, all connected with cloud

Cons:

• Not yet clear what features will stay free in the future
• No advanced features like the ones that can be found in AE or Inkscape

SVG-edit

Platform: Web
Download link:https://github.com/SVG-Edit/svgedit

SVG-edit is one of those tools that does exactly what their name suggests: It allows you to edit SVG’s, and create your own. It’s an online, free vector program that is available in most popular browsers.

The feature set is standard: Create shapes, draw with a pencil, convert lines to paths, colorize and add images. The result can be exported into popular web formats: WMP, JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, and of course SVG itself. The interface is pretty straightforward and reminds you of painting programs from the early 2000’s – nothing fancy here.

One of the advantages of SVG-edit is that this open-source program can be easily embedded into your website, allowing your users to create and edit SVG’s of their own. The tool also allows you to quickly export results as HTML-code.

Even though SVG-edit lacks features in comparison to apps mentioned earlier in this article, it still can be useful in some cases – especially for web developers. Freely available Github repository allows modifying the source code to your needs. Another plus would be that the tool is constantly being updated.

Tutorials:Github

Pros:

• Simple, quick to use
• Open-source web code

Cons:

• Lacks advanced features
• Node-management is not perfect

Honorable mentions

RollApp

Not a vector drawing software itself, but RollApp allows you to run some popular desktop apps online, in your browser. One, in particular, is Inkscape. So if Inkscape being only desktop was the only thing stopping you from using it, RollApp will seal the deal.

FatPaint

This web tool really has some 90’s vibes to it. But if you’re a fan, give it a try. It’s available for free and there are enough features to make logos or other fancy web graphics. However, if you consider using FatPaint for commercial purposes, developers kindly ask to support them with a Pro subscription.

PrimarDraw

A free web vector editor to create vector images. It allows export in SVG, PNG and JPEG. The clean UI is a bonus. It features everything you need to create a logo or an icon inside your browser.

LaTeXDraw

A graphics editor available for Windows, macOS and Linux. It’s primarily used for building math graphs and illustrations (the ones you often see in school math books). But if you feel like life is not hard enough yet, you can try drawing vector art using this tool.

If you’re interested in free raster drawing software, check out our Best Free Drawing Software: Five Candidates article

Try free tools for creators by the Icons8 team

Also, get the list of free photo editing software.