6 Best Sketch Alternatives for Windows and Linux

6 Best Sketch Alternatives for Windows and Linux – Sketch is a modern graphics design app for macOS that took the world by storm after its release in 2010.It is currently the staple for web, portable, UI/UX and symbol plan. The application is all around adored, and has very few direct competitors, but unfortunately due to the technologies exclusive to macOS that it relies on, the designers are not considering discharging it on Windows and Linux. While a great portion of graphics designers use Macs, many do not, and thus, Sketch’s Mac exclusivity becomes a problem.

So, if you are primarily a Windows or Linux user, here are the 8 best Sketch alternatives for you:

 1. Adobe Illustrator:

Adobe Illustrator is easily the most well-known and feature-rich vector graphics editor in the world. From logos, symbols, portable and website composition to drawing, print plan and typography, Illustrator gives you a chance to do it all. Much the same as most other Adobe titles, the group for aides, instructional exercises and assets, both free and paid is tremendous.

Some of the features include perspective drawing tools, shaper tool, live shapes, dynamic symbols, smart guides, multiple artboards, transparency in gradients, and live gradient editing. Using Illustrator through the Creative Cloud also brings additional features such as cloud syncing, which lets you access your designs from anywhere, companion apps for Android and iOS, and access to Adobe’s collection of millions of royalty-free images, graphics and videos.

While Illustrator is great for digital illustrations (hence the name), and general-purpose vector design, it doesn’t have a work process for item and interface/UX plan. It is surely feasible, however does not have the adaptability of Sketch in this division.

Availability: Windows, macOS (Free 7-day trial; $19.99/mo with Creative Cloud)

 2. Inkscape:

The venerable open-source tool Inkscape is a general-purpose vector graphics editor. While it is neither as feature-rich, nor as powerful as Sketch, it makes up for the shortcomings by being cross-platform and extremely lightweight. It has support for importing the greatest number of file formats, including Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Microsoft Visio and Sketch (using an extension).

Inkscape packs in features such as flexible drawing tools, including a pencil tool for freehand drawing, a pen tool for creating Bézier curves and straight lines, a text tool, and other powerful tools for illustrations, web design, and general vector image editing. Because of it being free and cross-stage, it is an awesome device for understudies, individuals with more established PCs, and beginners to vector graphic design.

Availability: Windows, Linux, macOS (Free)

 3. Affinity Designer:

The Apple Design Award winning vector editor Affinity Designer was initially made as an option for Adobe Illustrator. That however does not negate the fact that depending on the use case, it can be a fantastic other option to Sketch. The reason it is not at the top of our list is that the Windows version is still in beta, and hence, prone to bugs and lacks functionality, compared to the much more stable macOS version.

Affinity trumps Sketch in a few features though, since, in addition to doing vector graphics, it has full support for pixel plan, in addition to an all the more intense and exact Pen apparatus. Different components incorporate artboards, overprint, canvas turn, trim, drain, edit marks, and some more. On the other hand, it has some of the same limitations as Illustrator – it does not match up to Sketch when it comes to doing UI / UX design.

4. Xara Designer Pro:

Xara Designer Pro is one of the most comprehensive solutions for graphics design. Other than essential support for vector plan, it has devices for outlines, web design, photo editing and more. Some of the advanced features include Live Effects, non-destructive photo handling, vector masking, layer blending, website creation tools, and support for PDF and PSD file formats.

Compared to the UI / UX design bent of Sketch, Xara is a more of a general-purpose graphic design application, offering something for nearly everyone. It is additionally a great deal more conductive towards website composition. If all you need is basic raster and vector image editing, Xara is overkill for you, both in scope and in price. Luckily, you can purchase just the Graphic Design, or Web Design segments independently.

Availability:

Designer Pro:  Windows($299 with Free 7-day trial)
Photo & Graphic Designer: Windows ($89.99 with Free 7-day trial)
Web Designer Premium: Windows ($99.99 with Free 7-day trial)

 5. Gravit:

Gravit is different from the other programs in the list, as it is a web-based app. While generally web-apps are, simplistic and do not have great performance, this is not the case with Gravit. It holds its own against the likes of Sketch and Illustrator, and has the additional advantage of being cross-stage, since all it needs is a current variant of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari.

Gravit includes tools for screen design, interface design, vector graphics, and logo creation. It comes loaded with preset canvas sizes, over 29,000 icons, more than 1,000 stock photos, a curated list of Google web fonts and a community marketplace where you can purchase assets for your projects.

As is standard with web applications, it automatically keeps everything in sync with the cloud. This is also one of its greatest disadvantages, since you lose all access to the app and your files, if no internet connection is available. Another department it is lacking in is keyboard shortcuts, which is again not as good as compared to native desktop applications.

 Availability: Web (Free)

Another promising, albeit basic web-based vector graphics editor is Boxy SVG. It is available as a Chrome Store app, and works in Chromium-based browsers such as Opera and Vivaldi.

6. Adobe Fireworks:

Fireworks, Adobe’s presently discontinued graphic design app is another Sketch alternative. It is not a vector-based outline device, and years of disregard has made its performance relatively sluggish. Additionally, the application does look outdated by today’s standards. Sketch’s interface design capabilities are unparalleled, but despite these problems, Fireworks is still a solid contender when it comes to web design.

Fireworks will not receive updates in the future (and hasn’t since 2013), but it is still downloadable in the event that you have a current Adobe Creative Cloud enrollment.

Bonus: Adobe Experience Design (Preview)

Experience Design, formerly codenamed Project Comet, is Adobe’s direct competitor to Sketch. It is accessible for macOS for the present, but seems very promising and stands for some as the only potential answer to Sketch for UI / UX design.  A Windows variant is balanced for discharge in late 2016. You can join to get educated by email.