If you’re considering getting a copy of Adobe Illustrator for your Mac and aren’t sure where to get it or how much it will cost, here’s everything you need to know. Plus, we answer the popular question of whether you can get Illustrator for free and look at some alternatives you might want to try.
What is Adobe Illustrator?
Illustrator is Adobe’s graphic design software package for creating logos, web graphics for your site, and other types of digital design. If you want your brand to have a unique, eye-catching aesthetic and are proficient with design tools, Illustrator is a great choice, as well as being an industry standard for professional graphic designers.
Besides the software itself, Adobe also includes 100 GB of storage, numerous video tutorials and articles, and an iPad version.
Adobe
Can I get Adobe Illustrator for free?
The company offers a 7-day free trial that lets you try Illustrator for a week to see if it meets your needs. This is also the full version, not a restricted sample with watermarks or the inability to produce the work you created.
To give the sequel a spin, go to the Adobe Illustrator page (here’s the UK page) and select the Free try option. You’ll need to create or sign in to a free Adobe account to use the software, but once set up you’ll be good to go.
How much does Adobe Illustrator cost?
Adobe switched to a subscription-only model for its software some time ago. This means you can no longer pick up boxed copies for a one-time fee. If that doesn’t float your boat, we list some alternative software options later in this article.
While it can be a pain to add another monthly bill to the pile, you have the benefit of always using the latest version of the software, which includes all new features and upgrades. If you use other Adobe products, such as Photoshop or InDesign, it’s worth considering an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (here’s the UK page) as this gives you access to all the major packages offered by Adobe.
Pricing is a bit higher for this full suite compared to standalone software subscriptions, with current cost of $54.99/£51.98 (annual, paid monthly), $599.88/£596.33 (annual , prepaid) or $82.49/£78.98 (monthly, cancel anytime).
If that’s overkill, you can just opt for an Adobe Illustrator subscription (UK version) which will cost you $20.99 / £19.97 per month if you sign up for a one-year subscription. Paying up front for the year saves you quite a bit of money, costing $239.88 / £238.42. There’s also an option to have a month-to-month subscription, which you can cancel at any time, which currently sits at $31.49 / £30.34 per month.
Foundry
To see all the prices for different apps in Creative Cloud, read: Adobe Creative Cloud Pricing: How to Get the Best Deal.
Is there a student discount for Adobe InDesign?
Adobe offers a student and teacher discount, which can save you a small fortune, but it’s not available for Illustrator alone. Instead, Adobe is massively slashing the price of its Creative Cloud subscription. This means you can get all the major packages (over 20 of them) for less than the price of a standard Illustrator subscription.
With the Student and Teacher discount, Creative Cloud costs $19.99/£16.24 (annual, paid monthly) or $239.88/£196.30 (annual, paid up front). Not a bad deal at all.
Adobe typically offers student deals throughout the year, so keep an eye out for discounts and bundles that come along as you enroll in a course or prepare to start a new term.
Where to buy Adobe Illustrator
Due to the subscription-based nature of Adobe’s current products, you don’t have many options when it comes to grabbing a copy elsewhere. Amazon offers an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription on its site (here’s the UK version), and we’ve seen discounts in the past, so it’s worth checking before signing up.
At the time of writing, the monthly subscription option was available for $79.49 in the US, but you can only get the one-year subscription paid up front in the UK. United. It costs £548.79 and is a saving of around £40 compared to the Adobe site. The same option in the US will cost you $599.88, which won’t save you anything at all.
Are there good alternatives to Adobe Illustrator?
If you’re not set on Adobe, you can find some good alternatives.
Our current favorite is Serif’s excellent Affinity Designer 2, which not only comes with a wide range of tools for creating vector graphics, logos and just about anything else you need for graphic design, but has also an affordable price that does not require a subscription. You can buy Affinity Designer 2 for $69.99 / £69.99. If you take advantage of the company’s Affinity V2 license agreement, you can get Designer 2, Photo 2 (Photoshop equivalent) and Publisher 2 (InDesign equivalent) for a one-time payment of $169.99 / £169.99.
Serif
Other popular and proven solutions include CorelDraw, Sketch, and Inkscape, which are very capable and free. If you prefer working on an iPad using an Apple Pencil, then Procreate is another great option.
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