Inkscape VS Illustrator | Updated Comparison for 2024
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- A few years ago I uploaded a video to CZcams comparing the differences between Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator, but a lot has changed since then. Inkscape has grown by leaps and bounds and Illustrator continues to raise the bar while leading the charge on AI, so now seems like a fitting time for an updated comparison.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:29 Main Differences
00:54 Price
01:20 Hardware Requirements
01:48 Privacy
01:58 Customization
02:07 Most Advanced Features
02:42 Template Compatibility
03:02 Cross-Platform Compatibility
03:20 Common Questions
03:58 Learn More
I have used both Illustrator and CorelDraw at work since they were first developed (and I didn't have to pay for them). Since I retired, I cannot (read: will not) pay the crazy prices for for either product. Inkscape has been a Godsend. It does everything that I have needed it to do - as a fairly high-end hobbiest. Without doubt, some things are a little more elegant in AI and CD, but nothing that is worth the money for me. Great video! Thanks for affirming my decision and a **HUGE THANKS** to the Inkscape folks for what you do for old retired guys like me.
you don't HAVE to, but one nice way to give a "HUGE THANKS" to the Inkscape folks would be to participate (advocate, bugfix/report, submit patches, etc.), or make a donation. a donation amount is up to you and can be one time, or whenever u do some kind of work for it. you can imagine simply, how much is it worth to you? it could be a small gesture like buying a round of beers with a friend or kind stranger. in this case, these people are making a phenomenal software, and i'm sure it gives them a satisfaction and boost to keep on going with the project's development, even if the donations are not going to pay their bills.
cheers!
Thank you for mentioning that Adobe spies on us and collects data on us, but Inkscape does not. This is the first time I have ever seen that important point being mentioned in a tech review.
I love Inkscape, can't wait for a CMYK update, although I've used inky for many printing projects anyways lol, in the end you always need to do a test print to check the colors and most printings shops don't care if your file is in RGB, it's a common thing nowadays with the popularization of Canva too!
Also, am I the only one who feels like Adobe is just adding a bunch of features that just doesn't seem that necessary? Like how I see with photoshop, it feels like it wants to be the everything app, and with illustrator too, like they are adding all these things just to show how innovative they are, using AI everywhere. But to me feels like cars manufactures nowadays, there are no new improvements we need in them, but they keep making new cars cause they got to sell, so new cars have dumb and not really useful "new" features, ya know?
I have been using Inkscape for about 2 years now and have seen most (or all) of your YT content. Seems like every video I learn something new! I realized I really should thank you for that. Signed up for your Master Class modules today. Thanks again!
Nick' s voice is so Nostalgic.
5 years ago i started to use Inkacape and still working with that. You were my very first teacher ❤
Year by year the comparison videos get shorter and shorter, and at this pace, Inkscape will be an industry-standard in no time!
It'll take more time for Inkscape to be industrial standard til then we have to stick to Adobe for getting jobs 😢
They need to go the way of blender and recently thunderbird email client. Nothing is free.
@@kajolnimesh483as long that requirements are mindless as usual, inkscape will be minor choice except you are self-employed.
I don't allowed my clients to see my kitchen and made them receiver-end, works most of times.
😂😂😂😂😂 not a chance
@@kajolnimesh483affinity designer 2.1
I have been watching your videos for years and I love them. You taught me what a great tool Inkscape can be, I will get your courses as soon I can. Thank you and keep been here.
Every upload's a treat.
Inkscape and Illustrator compared in less than 5 minutes. This is a fantastic overview of both applications and the use/business cases for both.
Love your CZcams channel.
At the beginning of this video there is a brief shot of a lined ( looks like an object under notebook paper) effect. It's just before the pink Ying yang sign. Do you have a tutorial for this effect?
It is a bummer Adobe tracks info, but it is nice to be able to transfer works between Adobe products.
its a precise and perfect comparison, Great job ❤
I've never used anything Adobe (other than Photoshop for school), so it's good to get perspective on what things look like on the Adobe side of things.
Forgot to mention that they're already working for the CMYK integration :)
You're awesome. Thank you
I haven’t used illustrator in years. I just used cc until I couldn’t. Inkscape has everything built in. The warp tools for fonts and the halftone screens, I remember having to buy 😂plugins for illustrator! The tools in Inkscape are absolutely amazing! I’m still studying it but if they can get cmyk support I’ll say goodbye to windows and paid services for good!
I'm new to inkscape, So if a client asked me for something to print ,what should I do then ??
Also what about panaton colors ?😢
Hola gracias por todo esto, el curso se puede leer con subtitulos en español?
Thank you for this Nick, could you also do us a comparison with Inkscape and affinity please? I’d love that.
Already done: czcams.com/video/z2XfFvW4yII/video.htmlsi=PhhOdK6-c1JPbUDK
Thank you. I just wondered if there had been more updates since then.
the CMYK thing is still bizarre for me after all this years but i know it is what is used in printing. strange that usually we use vector drawing design to be printed and it has issue on inkscape. but i'm still on inkscape side because linux and FOSS.
fwiw one of the main dev of inkscape is actively working on this, so hopefully we will get this soon-ish
The bizarness is instructive. Features are not developed by Inkscape, they are developed by Inkscape contributors. The larger the feature, the more effort needed to do the work, the less likely one guy can do it all. So there's no one sitting a top the mountain directing volunteers to work on this or that thing, but a bunch of individual volunteers who know full well that multi-page or shape builder or cmyk would be the best thing to make, but don't have the personal resources to make it happen.
All hail my Patreon supporters 😉
more bizar is that you dont really need CMYK good printshop will do conversion for and will do test prints for you anyway
I think the main reason is that independent developers--the kind of people who contribute to Inkscape or Gimp--will mainly use graphics for web design or software (i.e. games), and for those applications, CMYK has zero benefits. (There may even be a hint of "paper is such obsolete technology; why should we waste time supporting it!?")
@@xtifr Paper/Printing is by no means obsolete. Been to a retail store lately? CMYK is very important. However, there are workarounds.
How stable is the latest version of Inkscape versus older ones such as v.0.92?
I am using version 1.3.2 and it works just fine. The new features are really worthwhile.
I ❤ InkScape, Adobe can go kick rocks.
is there any workaround for cmyk? free converter app maybe? or maybe inkscape combined with affinity? not free but...
Ive tried scribus. It works but its not perfect.
Доброго. Попробуйте через Крита...
maybe you could load your svg into photopea (web app), then color correct the image (didnt tried it)
Export as PDF get old Adobe Acrobat (4,5,6) and use preflight/convert CMYK with colour destination profiles for printer. Or just send RGB to the press, most prepress don't seem to care these days. Some online services ask that files remain RGB.
Wait. 😉
Yes
wooow that map illustrator would be amazing on Inkscape!
WAIT UNTILL YOU SEE WHAT MARTIN OWENS IS DOING RELATED TO CMYK!
IT WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!!!:D
Been using inkscape since 2016
Can Inkscape be used on Chromebook? That's my #1 issue when looking at software like this, it's never compatible with what I need
That was good.
Inskape looks great, I tried to use it but as a 20+ years adobe user my fingers work automatically and I didn't manage to use it.
you can easily change inkscape's keyboard shortcuts to match AI's or CD's and others.
You can change the layout on startup, iirc
Out of topic, if there's any chance i can get an alternate open source to replace photoshop?
Check out GIMP and Krita
@@LogosByNick which one do you prefer?
@slowmomine4224 In regards to the two mentioned, GIMP is arguably more like Photoshop but has a steeper learning curve and Krita is more geared towards digital art rather than photo editing iirc (but can still fill that niche with enough knowhow and finagling). If you want another alternative to Photoshop you can try out Photopea. That one runs in browser and is ad-supported but is otherwise free.
❤
I use CorelDraw Graphic Suite. But I do on occasion use Inkscape. One thing I dislike about Illustrator, is when I get a template with the Adobe Illustrator extension (.AI) Those template are a pain to use. How many times I get a template, I paid for, and surprise the format size doesn't fit my need, often these template are in A4 paper format. For example, I got a template for a certificat, I had the bad surprise to discover it's in the A4 format and won't fit 8.5x11 frames format. To solve the problem I had to reproduce that same certificat in letter format. And the best I did a better job, and when I printed all the certificats the colors all match what I had created on the screen, compared to the Illustrator version, colors were screwed when printed on paper.
THe day I let go of CorelDraw I will fully switch to Inkscape since I already do save some of my files in SVG that Inkscape support and on Linux.
The fact that you work professionally using Inkscape and have a successful business with it, is a testament that Inkscape is completely viable option for professional graphic design. I have seen you go from using Linux to Windows and now you're in Mac, showing the development and growth in your life and career.
What about Affinity Designer version 2.5? A long list of changes since v1. Doesn't it become the best value choice? Updated version of your old video comparison with Inkscape and final opinion would be great. I'm afraid open source will have always problem to get level of quality and features of commercial software. Many people left Illustrator because of subscription so Inkscape had boost. But as Designer added missing features people may switch to Designer for good and left Inkscape behind again. What do you think?
can't be compared because they are not the same. I also use Affinity Designer and i like Inkscape bc its free!!
@@PhuongThaoyk Free things have it's price too. Often they are most expensive.
👍👍
inkscape with the adw-gtk3 theme makes its UI look on par or better than illustrators to me, which is nice
Agreed, I think Inkscape has a much nicer UI tbh
💖💖💖 !
Oh, there is already 1 view, who was this fastest hand in wild west?
I still struggle with fonts in Inkscape. Custom fonts would do wonders.
what do you mean by custom fonts ?
@@AdamBelis fonts that don't respect the limitations imposed by the SVG format like weights out of range.
Can you be more specific ? Not sure if understand
I LOVE INKSCAPE!
To be honest, with the rise of on-demand printing shops and better printing technologies, the need to deal with CMYK processing isn't as vital as it used to be several years ago, so Inkscape works quite fine for that with no issues.
Inkscape uppppp!
I've been a designer for over 30 years and learned graphics on Mac. But, I've always found Adobe Illustrator to be over-rated and almost never uses it. When I was still working on a Mac, I used Aldus Freehand mainly. When I moved over to PC, which I still prefer today, I used Aldus Freehand, until it was discontinued. From there on, I moved to CorelDraw and still use Corel to this day. I'd rather give Inkscape a try before ever going back to Illustrator. Of course, for photo editing, I used and still use Adobe Photoshop, but I try to use GIMP for simpler graphic projects..
Affinity Designer is very good too.
I love Inkscape for many reasons. One being the always supportive and helpful community. Besides the cost, Illustrator is far less intuitive and oh yes, it eats up your working storage to the point, that even panning can become a PITA!!, even when the design ist pretty simple (just simple vectors with color and different strokes plus some text. No effect nothing! I work with a 3d software, that although performing very complex taskes is far less demanding, than Illustrator 😨 Illustrator is my Nemesis and I destest it deeply. There is one feature I need however, which Inkscape does not provide (exporting layered PDF) and once Inkscape adds that, Illustrator will never see me again!
Affinity: I want you pay the just money for quality (by now no rent)
always for open source.... Love inkscape.
most printing companies just request that you send RGB files anyway; They have their own color processing pipeline that would interpret the RGB to CMYK better for their printers.
so there is no real reason to dislike the software.
Kind of, I mean for your regular prints, this probably works ok. But you will get some distortions, for example gradients of pure inks will have other inks being added in as the conversion isn't perfect. You may get banding and most sRGB conversion houses don't even release icc profiles for their printer pipeline (and they should!) because even if you send them an sRGB file, installing the icc into Inkscape and using the print-preview will help you understand the dynamic range and other aspects you are likely to get when you send them the file. Of course, you can do this in inkscape today, it's just not that easy.
- Inkscape developer who's working on cmyk/color
I'm glad you pointed out all the completely unnecessary BS Adobe pulls on it's users. Especially the spyware and cost. You pay, and pay, and pay, forever, for Adobe products, not only with money but also with your personal information being sold to anyone who wants to buy it.
Inkscape, Krita, Blender, the three horseman in the linux world
The future is CMYK w/ Inkscape
Only "complaint" I have about the comparison is the 'inkscape can't do 3d'. Blender can do 2d and 3d and animate and edit video and...
I use Blender a lot, I find the idiosyncrasies between Blender and Inkscape to be tremendously annoying, I hope in future that the inkscape developers elect to unify behaviors between the two programs, as despite the differences between line art and 3D, many of the processes are much the same. I think that unification would give FOSS stuff a much better chance at flourishing. Like a lot of the 3D stuff Inkscape is lacking could be facilitated with Blender, and there's certain operators that blender has that I think could benefit vector art workflows. Having a unified control scheme between the two would make doing art a breeze for people interested in FOSS, and I think that'd pay dividends ultimately.
For now I've chosen Affinity, but I hope in future the Inkscape team can make things less of a headache for me.
Why would you ask the cash poor Inkscape to do all the work, while cash rich Blender can just invent UX. That's not very fair. 😉
@@doctormo I think it's more about Inkscape/GIMP/Krita learning from the considerable success that Blender has had, e.g. copying homework. Not that it's easy or inexpensive, but certain to pay off in the long run.
Hi Nick! sent an email with subj line Gimp Question. Hoping you'll check it :) thank you!
Do affinity vs adobe
Adobe: I want your f@cking money.
Inkscape: I don't want your money.
Inkscape wins.
Inkscape: I don't want your money. (But if you have some spare cash we have a donation page)
Inkscape still wins :D
@@wombora Or donate resources to their gallery !!!!
also Adobe: I want your f@cking data.
You money would be helpful in keeping this thing alive. 😸
Inkscape total donations 2023: $58k, barely enough to fund bug fixing. Certainly need to do better fund raising!
Yeah. Imagine spending roughly $280 a year for a program that takes up space. . . and you don't even get to own it.
I can understand if it's a monthly licensing fee placed on companies that use the program for profit reasons. . . but for most people, you're just making designs or drawings. You basically pay them to have a monthly hobby. And I don't know how I feel about that.
Also anything you put on their cloud can be used to train their AI, so they're stealing from you too.
As soon as you get to work with larger files Inkscape just fails.
Inkscape is free. Adobe is Adobe. The end.
Pay per month? Dealbreaker!
Blender made it, succeeded.
Inkscape soon then GIMP!
I would not say that illustrator is the most advanced there’s also coral draw and infinity designer
Illustrator since the 90s the reason why I left it to go with infinity designer is honestly the lack of innovation and improving the workflow from adobe
The day Inkscape implements CYMK, I will legit abandon illustrator for good.
Be sure to drink your ovaltine.. a crummy commercial?!
Here as part of the 2024 exodus from Adobe's rent a AI spyware business model.
Or just getintopc
Illustrator photoshop etc are amazing but I'm just a hobbyist I cannot justify the price of the subscriptions... Hope Adobe and autodesk go bankrupt and shut down.
I think integrating AI is what Adobe is betting to standout. And I not gonna lie, it is a real big unique selling point
There is no comparison. Inkscape is not a profissional alternative.
What would you fix in Inkscape first?
@@doctormo Layout like Illustrator.
Cracked Illustrator is better than them both
It's funny to me that everyone praises Inkscape just because it's free, because it's on Linux or just because it's the only decent competition that Illustrator has, but anyway its files are not compatible with anything, neither for printing nor for creating animations, NOTHING.
But people continue to pontificate it.
SVG, JPG, PNG, PDF. Yep! Not a single compatible file for export.🙄
The SVG Inkscape produces is SVG 2.0, there are some features which are just not available in other programs and they fail to read SVG 2.0 properly.
Make sure you save with compatibility if you want those things in the xml, especially for text.
@@PMPdesigns None of these formats are useful for making animations or rigging.