Through apps mostly available via the Mac App Store,(s AAPL) you can decide which components of the software set matter most to you and build up your own custom suite over time to meet your creative needs. Here are the best alternatives I’ve found that offer similar functionality to what is available in each of Adobe’s products. Acrobat to SmileOnMyMac’s PDFPen ($59.99, ) Possibly one of the is PDFPen. Like Apple’s Preview application that comes with OS X, you can.
Computers Adobe releases Creative Suite 2 for free. If you have an older Mac or Windows system and wish to do some image editing, you'll be glad to hear Adobe's CS2 software is now available for free.
Looking beyond annotations, you can directly into PDFPen and use its OCR feature on the scanned in text to make the scanned document editable. Being able to edit a PDF document directly, not just annotate it, and saving changes to it as a PDF document is another important feature PDFPen has. Exporting the document to Microsoft Word(s MSFT) is a that is also very useful. There is a Pro version ($99.99, ) that adds the ability to create interactive PDF forms, which allows you to add text fields, check boxes and radio buttons, as well as add submit buttons to your forms.
It is also one of the few apps on this list that has an iOS companion app ($4.99, $14.99 ) with which you can share your PDF files with your iPad and iPhone via iCloud. Photoshop to Pixelmator ($14.99, ) By now it’s no secret that Pixelmator is. When you think of Photoshop, you think more than just applying filters to your images; you want to edit them. With its multilayered support, you can easily touch up and enhance your images with Pixelmator. Many of the same tools that Photoshop users have become accustomed too are here too, like the smudge, sponge and brush tools. Pixelmator also comes with some basic vector tools that may be all that you need from a full-featured vector editing tool like Illustrator. For most of your day-to-day image editing needs, and at the current low price point of $15, it is hard to beat Pixelmator.
Illustrator to Indeeo’s iDraw ($24.99, ) If you have not worked with a true vector drawing tool then you have been missing out on being able to make some really crisp and sharp graphics. Indeeo’s iDraw comes with a decent library of shapes to choose from and supports PDF and SVG import/export. This means that you can import professional shapes from sites like and and tailor them to your needs. For shapes that are not included in iDraw’s library, you will find the pen tool up to the task of drawing your own set of custom shapes. The gradient editor is more than adequate and you can edit and modify your paths with ease.
About the only feature that is great to have in Illustrator is the ability to automatically trace a path around an existing graphic — an important feature if you happen to inherit a library of graphics that you need to modify and resize to a higher resolution. IDraw also has an iOS companion app ($8.99 ) that can be a useful as well. InDesign to Belight’s Swift Publisher ($19.99, ) When it comes to page layout editors, what you are looking for is one that comes with plenty of pre-defined templates to choose from; this one has 180 different templates. It also has the ability to create additional templates.
With Swift Publisher, you can create professional-looking brochures, fliers and newsletters. It has a large clip art library, many different shapes to work with and a decent layer editor that allows you to work with multiple layers within your documents.
It also has some convenient features like the ability to quickly center objects on the page with the touch of a button — something that makes Swift Publisher a better choice as a layout editor over alternatives in the App Store like Apple’s own Pages app. Premiere to TechSmith’s Camtasia ($99.99, ) If you are looking for a quick and easy movie editor, then look no further than iMovie (free, ). If you want something a little more full-featured, then consider stepping up to Final Cut Pro X ($299.99 ). But if you are looking for a tool that will help you create screen captures then Camtasia is the best tool that will deliver everything you need to make a professional-looking video.
Some of the included features with Camtasia, like the tilt and restore animations, will bring a level of professionalism to your online screencasts. Besides being a great screen-capturing tool, its included video editing tool is also easy to use. Definitely consider this one if you are not splicing together a feature film. Audition to Amadeus Lite ($24.99, ) Of course there is Garageband (free, ) and LogicPro ($199, ), but if you are looking for a something with a simpler user interface for dealing directly with an audio file, then Amadeus is what you need. Zooming in and out and scrolling through an audio file is straightforward. It even comes with full support for, plug-ins that can be used to process audio. There is a Pro version ($59.99, ) that adds multi-track editing, batch processing and some audio repairing features that enable you to remove some of the background noise from your recordings.
As a free alternative, you may also and to try out Audacity (free, ). DreamWeaver to Realmac’s RapidWeaver ($79.99, ) With the dawn of technologies like WordPress, Drupal and online hosting providers like SquareSpace, the need to create a website from the ground up for many has almost become a forgotten art form. RapidWeaver includes 45 different themes that you can use to help kickstart your website development without having to learn how to code HTML and CSS. RapidWeaver has more of a traditional WYSIWYG document editor feel to it than a traditional HTML low-level development tool. It really picks up where Apple’s now-abandoned left off. Another great alternative to consider when editing HTML and CSS files on the Mac is Tumilt’s HyperEdit ($9.99 ) if you are looking for an editor more appealing to developers. Flash to Aquafadas’ MotionComposer ($149, ) While MotionComposer is not available on the Mac App Store, I was able to pick up a license as and I’m glad I did.
This tool brings the same animation effects that you’d get in Apple’s Keynote and helps you publish them on your website. MotionComposer will create both Flash and HTML5 animations from the same project. You get to decide which format you want to publish on your site. It can also integrate your animations into your iBooks Author document. If you are just looking to add a little animation to your website, then this is the tool to get. An alternative to Flash in the Mac App Store that you may also want to consider is Tumult’s Hype ($59.99 ), it too can output your animations as HTML5. Provided you have a clear idea of what you are looking for, shopping for individual apps may be a much more economical route to go.
There are times when you are participating as part of a creative team that you must support the input and output formats of the tools your teammates are using. This is especially true when you must hand off your artwork to a publisher or printer that requires a specific file format. When this is the case, you must purchase the tools that your team supports.
None of these apps listed are complete replacements for such development shops, but these alternatives will get the job done in smaller or one-person creative teams. And at these prices, each one of these great software titles are definitely worth the investment. Azrael Group The real problem with Adobe renting out the software comes from the fact they have painted a big target on them for hackers. We have seen it with Valve, LinkedIn, Playstation, and countless other pay to play companies. Adobe will now have monitor and maintain all the billing information that now has become a desirable target to hack. Frankly, I question Adobe’s ability to keep my payment information private. Another issue I worry about is companies that make products to extend Adobe products.
Filter Forge, CSS Hat, SiteGrinder, and Machine Wash come to mind. We all have customized workspaces, some are very subtle, others are unrecognizable. So what happens to their business model? Will they also move to subscription service? There is something to be said for owning something outright. They first toyed with this subscription model with Muse and Edge, new products with an uncertain future. Now with far lower prices to use the entire suite of software, It seems to me that they could have afforded in the past to offer their products at a much lower rate, and created add-ons to purchase.
BobRockefeller My main Creative Suite tools are Photoshop, Illustrator and sometimes Fireworks. On the surface, the “obvious” replacements are Pixelmator, iDraw and Sketch. But that still leaves some holes. Pixelmator can’t edit 16-bit images and does not have the lens correction, noise reduction and panorama stitching abilities of Photoshop. The good news is that I can do 85% of what I need to do for photos in Aperture. IDraw can’t import/open Illustrator files.
That’s a REALLY big deal if you need to open files you’ve made using Illustrator in the past or are working with other creatives who do still use Illustrator. Sketch can’t import/open Firework’s editable PNG files. Same issues there as iDraw. But also, it can’t save (reliably) in SVG format – something I use more and more for vector graphics to get “retina” display quality on websites.
Having said all that, I’m on the last month of my Creative Cloud subscription at the $29.99 per month price. I’m not looking forward to the $49.99 I’ll have to pay if I stick with it; not to mention that I’ll be hostage to whatever Adobe wants to charge for that next year, and the next. I only own Photoshop CS5.
During this month I’m trying to switch my workflow to Pixelmator and iDraw. I’ve saved a number of my more recent Illustrator project images in SVG format for iDraw. I’ll see how it goes, how much trouble it causes and what gaps I just can’t fill.
For example, I’m using a trial version of PTGui Pro for creating panoramas. If any of you have any tips or tricks that can save me some aggravation in advance, please share!
Adrianoconnor Sketch and Inkscape need a mention. They are probably the two most capable tools out there for replacing PS/AI/FW. Inkscape works less well on Mac, but is great on Windows and Linux. Also, Slicy is useful for exporting PSD layers, if you’re getting resources from a designer and just need to export them.
Doesn’t work so well with PSDs that contain advanced stuff (smart shapes with effects and whatnot), but neither does Pixelmator’s PSD import. However, there’s no two ways about it, if you’re a graphics pro, you’re probably going to need PS – they’re big, slow and expensive, but they’re the best, and that’s why we pay for them. Steven Harte I suggest you research Stacks 2 and the HUGE amount of third party Stacks developers that can make RW a robust web creator that can produce a vast arsenal of web features very easily. Your comment suggests you only have a rudimentary awareness of the RapidWeaver potential. However, right, Flux 4 is a great alternative yet lacks good documentation on how to harness all it’s potential. Another possibility is Freeway Pro for Mac OS.
As a 10+ user of DreamWeaver, there are easier, better solutions. Not so for Photoshop or InDesign. Perry Many of these choices hinge on how often you use a product. I do book layout, so InDesign, with its wealth of time-saving features, is well worth the price.
I rarely edit pictures, so my three-versions back edition is Photoshop is all I need. Also, keep in mind that there are quirks in all these applications. I prefer the nimble PDFPen Pro to the ungainly Acrobat for editing PDFs, but, as I recently told Smile on My Mac, PDFPen is a ‘boss app,’ fine for editing a PDF, but frustrating when you want to use it to display a marked up PDF to edit a document in another app. For that, Adobe’s free Reader app is much better. I’m more concerned about how Adobe is handling Muse than any other app. I’d love to use it to maintain my business website since it works much like InDesign. But I can’t buy it and that single app isn’t worth the online fee.
Omalansky Who works in the non-code view? Are you serious? Having to write HTML to create web pages actually makes about as much sense as having to write Postscript to create a simple flyer.
When desktop publishing liberated graphic designers from their reliance on code-driven interfaces, the geeks must have resolved never to let the same thing happen to web publishing. But there is absolutely no inherent reason why web designers should have to write a single line of code. If that’s your thing, fine; but you clearly live in a very small bubble. Steven Harte As a professional web designer, omalansky is right. My credentials are I know HTML, CSS, GoLive, Dreamweaver etc.
RapidWeaver is brilliant as a low priced package (get Stacks 2+ of course) that enables both novice and pro to make sophisticated sites fast and with all the bells and whistles you could want. I admire the web developers that can use Notepad or whatever to handcode. Definitely leaner and meaner code. But omalansky is right, you don’t have to be slotted to that technique to produce great web sites. Iamnoskcaj I also think the notion if writing off the monthly/annual subscription is short sighted. The implied value in “ownership” may be overstated (and we know its not really “owned” by users anyway). With hardware and software rapidly changing, especially on Macs, maintaining modern versions of professional production software like this becomes even more important.
I have easier ten boxes of old adobe suites or apps, and guess how many of them I still use? Assuming you make a living off using part or all of the Creative Suite (along with your other tools) even the highest price option is still a value. When it comes to larger shops, I realize that becomes pretty pricey, but I’m pretty sure they still have institution and volume pricing outside of creative cloud for that. Anyway As a freelancer I happily signed up for creative cloud, as I rarely bought the whole suite at once And ended up with piecemeal versions that didn’t always play nice. I can run it on Macs or windows (gasp), and move from one machine to the next without troubleand I never have to mess with discs or codes.
Furthermore, they opened up their entire suite of applications, along with lots of new in-development stuff, to creative cloud members. Many apps I would never have considered buying due to price. They even included TypeKit (which I had previously subscribed to But now get for free). I want to be clear about something: I’m not an adobe apologist.
I’ve been using their software since ( illustrator and photoshop and then page maker) since the 80’s, and professionally from the mid 90’s forward. But I was a very vocal critic of their pricing, bloat and performanceand slow change, as well as for flash and in general, their poor adoption of web standards). Along the way I tried and purchased many alternativessome that are quite good, and even better in some ways but professionally am I going to use them everyday? For most of them the answer is no. They take things almost far enough and then fizzle out.
Some may be good for personal useand some may be good in the hands of a professional who understands how to work around their shortcomings. But overall Adobe has stood the test of time in spite of their nasty, custom widgets/toolkit (for easier cross-platform compatibility), and in spite of the bloated nature of the core suite, and in spite of their avoidance of web standards for so many years. I’m sure there’s lots of smart people working there. If you look at some of their new web focused apps that are coming out, we can see the beginning of a new adobe (check out edge code, inspect and more and if you’re a creative cloud customer, download and play There’s more but I’m typing on my phone away from my desk and don’t want to look them up.
Iamnoskcaj No offense but this list is pretty lame and not very well researched. Does the author actually use these tools, or is this article a link bait that took 20 minutes of googling to write? One of the examples is an app that stopped development in 2008. There are much better Mac code editors out there. But the whole list is kind of half baked. “What you really need in a desktop publishing app is lots of pre designed templates??” LOL. Design professionals, or even people just learning, hardly need that.
Maybe posers or people who know not of what they speak. I do hear what you are saying about software subscriptions, but that is a different discussion when it comes to the merits of buying vs renting software. The context here was that you can pick and choose which creative features you really need, and begin to build your own suite of tools over time. It assumes ownership is desired. If you think about it, at the end of the first year, you could own more than half of all of the alternative apps listed here for the same amount of money you would pay out in a subscription model (even when paying the discounted student rate). That is of course if you find you need more than half of all of the apps listed here.
Franklin +1 Never mind the fact that a monthly subscription is, like, $30 if you own a version of CS from the past 5 years. Not one of the apps you’ve listed is a decent substitute for the CS; FCPX is the closest thing to a Pro app you’ve come up with, and even it’s a joke compared to PPro CS6 (which isn’t exactly great shakes either, if we’re being honest). If you want to screw around making videos of your cat for Youtube, or Photoshopping (“GIMPing”?) your buddies onto hilarious backgrounds, then you’re all set. Those people really have no need for the Adobe suites in the first place The majority of my income is made on the backs of the Adobe suite; while I don’t really agree with forcing customers into a subscription-model, I can’t complain too much. I’ve happily been ponying up a few hundred bucks a year for the upgrades; the subscription model won’t really change that — it’ll even save me a bit of money. I know that it probably isn’t a completely fair statement to make, but it seems to me that the people complaining the loudest about this switch are people who weren’t paying for the software in the first place.
Creative Suite For Mac
Bill K You’re completely wrong about the loudest people complaining. I’m one of those people and I’ve been paying for upgrades to CS for years, and I’m not alone. What happens if you lose your job, should you still have to worry about paying a fee, or would you feel better knowing you owned the software? What happens when Adobe decides to raise the “rent” on its more popular programs, or all of them, because they have no real competition? I’m glad there are alternative apps out there now, because creatives will find a way to be creative even without Adobe. Mike I’ve used Adobe, Aldus, Go Live, Quark, Macro Media, et al software since 1986 to today as a graphic design for print and digital work.
But this year, with the changes in how Adobe sells its products, I am VERY open to the idea of a competitor to come in and shake it up. Adobe’s legacy products have bloated up with too many features most people do not use, making the interface a confusing combination of old methods with stuff nobody uses.
The exception is InDesign. But it too is starting to suffer from bloat. I welcome some intense competition against Adobe. But as long as these alternatives are more about templates and non-pros rather than simplicity and power needed by professionals, I feel stuck with owning slowly outdated CS programs. No way I will subscribe to CS unless the multi year cost of “renting” is significantly cheaper than owning.
Adobe Creative Suite Software Purchase
Even then, what if a designer/filmmaker does work for a company and then changes jobs. Many hundreds of hours of work needed for their creative portfolio will be lost since, they or a new employer no longer rent the machine that can read it! Comments are closed.