Not for good: the first paid plan costs €27 a month. VectorCraft does the same thing for free, in open source.

What is the free equivalent of Illustrator?

VectorCraft, an open source rewrite of Illustrator (MIT or Apache 2.0 license): pen tool, direct selection, Pathfinder, Shape Builder, layers and gradients. It opens and exports SVG and PDF, and .ai files saved as PDF compatible. Free on Mac, Windows and Linux. It is still an alpha.

Can you use Illustrator without a subscription?

No: Illustrator costs €27 a month with a one year commitment, and the only free version is a 7 day trial. VectorCraft installs with no subscription and no account.

Is VectorCraft really free?

Yes. VectorCraft is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Illustrator, on the other hand, costs €27 a month.

Do I need to code to install VectorCraft?

No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Illustrator?

VectorCraft does most of what Illustrator does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Illustrator

Illustrator costs €27 a month. VectorCraft does the same job for free, in open source: you install it on your machine or a small server, and you stop paying.

Price taken from Illustrator’s website (adobe.com): Illustrator plan, one year commitment paid monthly, VAT included. Over a year, that is €324 that stays in your pocket.

How much does Illustrator cost in 2026?

Illustrator’s public plans, checked on 12 October 2026 on adobe.com. Prices rounded up to the next euro.

Illustrator
€27 a month
On desktop, iPad and web, with Adobe Express Premium, 100 GB of storage and 25 AI credits a month. One year commitment, paid monthly.
Illustrator for teams
€34 a month per license, excluding VAT
The same plan for a business, with 1 TB of storage and a one year commitment paid monthly.
Creative Cloud Pro
€79 a month
Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom and over 20 Adobe apps, with 4,000 AI credits a month. A €40 promotion for 3 months was shown on the day prices were checked.

Prices including VAT shown for France, except the team plan (excluding VAT). The only free version is a 7 day trial. See the official pricing page ↗

What replaces Illustrator

The main alternative

VectorCraft

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installSave €27/mo

VectorCraft is an open source rewrite of Illustrator, built from scratch by the ArtCraft team. You find Illustrator’s layout, tools, menus and shortcuts: the pen, direct selection, Pathfinder and Shape Builder, smart guides, the Appearance and Swatches panels, layers, gradients and type with styles. It opens and exports SVG, PDF and PDF-compatible .ai files, exports to PNG, JPEG and WebP, and even opens Affinity files. MIT or Apache 2.0 license, free on Mac, Windows and Linux, with no account. The catch: it is an alpha released at the end of September 2026, which the team rates 65% ready for a mainstream illustrator. Illustrator’s own .ai files do not come through reliably yet, and it has neither advanced 3D nor generative AI.

Loucash’s verdict on VectorCraft

6/10

And here is the same team’s Illustrator. The pen, Pathfinder, Shape Builder, Appearance, layers: everything is where it is in Illustrator, so you start drawing at once. It exports to SVG, PDF, PNG and WebP, and even opens Affinity files. What may bite: it is an alpha, released at the end of September. The team itself rates it 65% ready for a mainstream illustrator: Illustrator’s own .ai files do not come through reliably yet, and advanced 3D, half of the Photoshop style effects and generative AI are missing. For your logos and visuals, it is worth a try. To exchange .ai files with a client, keep Illustrator for now.

Who it is for: You draw logos, icons or visuals for your social accounts, you pay for Illustrator mostly for the pen, Pathfinder and type, and you want to stop the subscription. If you exchange .ai files with clients or live on 3D, keep Illustrator for now.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

VectorCraft versus Illustrator: the match

Price
VectorCraft
€0, on every platform
Illustrator
€27/month, one year commitment
Account and sign in
VectorCraft
No account, no cloud, everything stays on your machine
Illustrator
Adobe account required
.ai files
VectorCraft
Those saved as PDF compatible; others come through poorly
Illustrator
Its native format

Illustrator ↗

VS	VectorCraft	Illustrator ↗
Price	€0, on every platform	€27/month, one year commitment
Account and sign in	No account, no cloud, everything stays on your machine	Adobe account required
.ai files	Those saved as PDF compatible; others come through poorly	Its native format
Generative AI and 3D	Not yet	Included, 25 AI credits a month
Maturity	Alpha, released in September 2026	Almost 40 years of development

The prompt that installs VectorCraft

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Je veux installer VectorCraft (le logiciel d’illustration vectorielle open source qui reprend Illustrator, dépôt GitHub officiel storytold/vectorcraft, site getartcraft.com/apps/vectorcraft) à la place d’un abonnement Adobe. Guide-moi pas à pas et pose-moi des questions si besoin. Repère d’abord mon système (macOS, Windows ou Linux) et mon processeur (Apple Silicon, Intel, x64 ou ARM). Télécharge ensuite la dernière version publiée dans les releases du dépôt storytold/vectorcraft, ou sur la page officielle getartcraft.com/apps/vectorcraft, en prenant le fichier qui correspond : l’image disque universelle sur Mac, l’installateur .msi sur Windows (x64, ARM64 ou 32 bits), l’AppImage, le paquet .deb, le paquet .rpm ou le Flatpak sur Linux. Vérifie l’empreinte SHA-256 du fichier avec le fichier SHA256SUMS.txt publié avec la même version, et arrête-toi si elle ne correspond pas. Installe l’appli et vérifie qu’elle démarre. Si macOS bloque l’ouverture, explique-moi comment l’autoriser dans Réglages Système, sans désactiver la sécurité de mon Mac. Rappelle-moi que VectorCraft est encore en alpha : je garde mes fichiers d’origine et je travaille sur des copies. Si j’utilise Claude Code, propose-moi aussi d’installer l’outil en ligne de commande vectorcraft-cli de la même version et de brancher son serveur MCP (vectorcraft-cli mcp), pour que tu puisses travailler à ma place. Pour finir, ouvre un de mes fichiers SVG ou PDF, ou un .ai enregistré compatible PDF, et dis-moi ce qui s’affiche bien et ce qui manque.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Illustrator cost?: Illustrator: €27 a month; Illustrator for teams: €34 a month per license, excluding VAT; Creative Cloud Pro: €79 a month. Prices checked on 12 October 2026 on adobe.com.
Is Illustrator free?: Not for good: the first paid plan costs €27 a month. VectorCraft does the same thing for free, in open source.
What is the free equivalent of Illustrator?: VectorCraft, an open source rewrite of Illustrator (MIT or Apache 2.0 license): pen tool, direct selection, Pathfinder, Shape Builder, layers and gradients. It opens and exports SVG and PDF, and .ai files saved as PDF compatible. Free on Mac, Windows and Linux. It is still an alpha.
Can you use Illustrator without a subscription?: No: Illustrator costs €27 a month with a one year commitment, and the only free version is a 7 day trial. VectorCraft installs with no subscription and no account.
Is VectorCraft really free?: Yes. VectorCraft is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Illustrator, on the other hand, costs €27 a month.
Do I need to code to install VectorCraft?: No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Illustrator?: VectorCraft does most of what Illustrator does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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