10 of the Best Logo Design Software Options [Free and Paid]

Advantages:

✔️ Multi-functional – Adobe Illustrator is an all-in-one program for all kinds of vector tasks. No matter what you want it to do, it will do it.

✔️ An industry standard – most of the biggest companies in the world use it, which makes file sharing easier, and it is often required in job descriptions.

✔️ Lots of learning material – because it is recognized as vector software number 1 in the world, there are plenty of Adobe Illustrator tutorials out there.

Disadvantages:

❌ Very expensive – there is no option to buy Illustrator. On top of that, a subscription is costly (starting from $20.99/month)

❌ Hardware-demanding – it is a very heavy program. For example, for Illustrator 2022, you’d need at least a decent multicore CPU, 8GB of RAM (though 16GB are recommended) plus 4GB VRAM.

❌ Steep learning curve – while it has plenty of available features, Adobe Illustrator is very hard to learn, and it takes time to master all the tools you have available.

Advantages:

✔️ Option for a one-off purchase – we’ve been seeing so many companies offering their solutions for subscription models. CorelDRAW allows you to buy the software once and use it forever.

✔️ Feature-stacked – CorelDRAW has many graphic design features and a lot of tools that you can find for professional work.

✔️ Fairly easy to learn – from the more advanced software, CorelDRAW is probably the most effortless one to work with. It also has plenty of shortcut keys which will ease you even more.

Disadvantages:

❌ Hardware-reliant – a few years ago, it was possible to run CorelDRAW with 1GB RAM. Nowadays, it has similar requirements as Illustrator – powerful CPU, 8GB RAM, and 3GB VRAM.

❌ Native format not popular – although it is fairly popular among users, CDR format is rarely used for either print or illustrations where AI is the standard.

❌ It’s priced on the high end – the one-off purchase is over $500. A monthly subscription is $22.42/mo($269/year). Compared to other apps on the list, it appears a fortune.

Advantages:

✔️ Cheap price – you can buy Affinity Designer for $54.90. For this price, it’s a steal! With some skills, you can get outstanding results.

✔️ Very easy to use – Affinity Designer has a user-friendly UI and can be learned within days, as it is very straightforward.

✔️ Hardware-friendly – you can run Designer even with 2GB of RAM and a decent GPU. That’s much better than demanding programs.

Disadvantages:

❌ Lack of advanced features – while Affinity Designer is pretty decent software, it doesn’t have that many features you may sometimes need.

❌ Lack of tutorials – if you’re a newbie, you will want some web tutorials but you simply don’t have plenty of them. Anyway, we’ve collected some of the best available tutorials available.

❌ Grouping objects – this feature is just not intuitive enough. If you design a logo with multiple elements, you will certainly notice it.

Advantages:

✔️ Totally free – you pay nothing for using the software, so you haven’t wasted any money even if you don’t like it.

✔️ Advanced features – not only is this software good for logo creation, but it’s quite capable for other pro tasks.

✔️ Fully customizable – because it’s open-source, you can customize it whatever you like.

Disadvantages:

❌ Steep learning curve – it’s very hard to learn how to work well with Inkscape. In fact, it’s comparable to Illustrator.

❌ UI is a low priority – the product developers have focused on adding more functions and the UI looks a bit dated.

❌ No support – because it’s open-source, the only support you receive is via the community.

Advantages:

✔️ Cross-platform capability – being able to work on all kinds of devices is certainly a major boost for cross-platform teams.

✔️ Offline work mode – even if you lose Internet access, you can still use Gravit Designer in offline mode if you are a subscribed user.

✔️ Beginner-friendly – the software is very beginner-friendly which means you can learn it fairly quickly.

Disadvantages:

❌ The free plan is limited – while the free plan is good for very basic work, you cannot create a professional logo with it.

❌ It supports up to 300DPI – if the logo has to be printed in small sizes (like 5″ x 7″), having more DPI means sharper details.

❌ Not well optimized – even on powerful computers, Designer still crashes and is very sluggish at times.

Advantages:

✔️ Free forever and unlimited downloads – usually, many apps that have “free” services have a catch. Hatchful doesn’t. It’s free forever.

✔️ Logo files for social media channels – every generated logo can be downloaded in the right format for social media channels, plus YouTube.

✔️ software is very easy to use – you don’t need any design knowledge. You just need to select your preferred designs and click “Next” 5 times.

Disadvantages:

❌ Doesn’t support vectors – working with vector files is crucial for professional work. However, all the files downloaded are in PNG format.

❌ Not good for print – since it doesn’t support vector files, Hatchful logos are not good for print which is a huge disadvantage.

❌ Very basic – Hatchful is decent but you don’t have a variety of color palettes, gradients, icons, and fonts which is limiting.

Advantages:

✔️ Free plan – Canva has a free plan which allows you to create a logo, use templates, change fonts, and then download your result.

✔️ Very easy to use – with Canva, you should only select a template, and modify it. There’s nothing complicated about the app.

✔️ You can export in SVG – most of the “generic” logo design solutions allow you to export only in PNG format.

Disadvantages:

❌ You don’t hold the IP rights – even if you build your own logo, you only have user’s rights, which Canva could revoke.

❌ Too similar to other logos– the problem with Canva is popularity. It’s not uncommon to have a very similar logo to others.

❌ Free plan doesn’t support SVG – while you can work with vector files, you should subscribe in order to access it.

Advantages:

✔️ Full ownership of your logo – every logo created in Designhill will be owned by you – a small but very important detail.

✔️ Easy to use – you can create a logo in a matter of minutes. You can also use it as a vector file and it’s print-ready.

✔️ Option to hire designers – Designhill gives you the option to hire professional designers to make your logo.

Disadvantages:

❌ Pricing plans are very confusing– we saw several options but the pricing ranges from $20 to $999 – that’s a huge gap.

❌ One-off Basic logo is not worth it – the Basic one-off logo maker doesn’t support vector files and transparent backgrounds.

❌ Standard designs look generic – we were definitely not impressed with the standard designs generated by AI.

Advantages:

✔️ Full ownership of your logo – even after your subscription expires, you can still retain ownership of your logos.

✔️ Easy to use – Looka is very similar to Designhill. You can create a logo within minutes. All you need to add is a few details.

✔️ You can create a brand kit – you can subscribe to the brand kit and have access to plenty of features and even an AI website.

Disadvantages:

❌ Logos look generic– there aren’t a plethora of options to create a stunning design, some logos look generic.

❌ Not flexible enough – for decent logos, Looka does the job but you cannot create complicated tasks on it.

❌ The Basic logo isn’t worth it – honestly, for $20 you don’t get much value. You should use the Premium Logo package, which costs $65.

Advantages:

✔️ A suite of services – you can use Tailor Brands for many tasks, as there is a range of services.

✔️ Easy to use – since you generate an AI logo, the process is simple, and you get a result quickly.

✔️ Great results – the generated logos from the AI look like they’ve been made by a designer.

Disadvantages:

❌ No free version available– it would be a good idea to have a free version available.

❌ Only subscription model – there isn’t an option to buy your logo. You should subscribe.

❌ There aren’t customization options – while the results look good, you can only make minor tweaks.