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A designer or small company asks how much the software costs, whether it can be used for free and whether the software stays theirs after payment. These decide 50 points out of a hundred.
Basic metrics · 69.9
+ Public and affordable price list: Plus 2.49 €/month, Premium 9.99 €/month, monthly or annual billing available
Basic metrics: 69.9, rank 2 · ▲ 1 place
– The software remains yours: The price list page has only monthly and annual subscriptions, a one-off purchase is not mentioned.
Basic metrics · 70.9
+ A European company (Sketch B.V., the Netherlands) which states in its privacy notice that it operates in the EU in accordance with the GDPR
Basic metrics: 70.9, rank 1 · ▼ 1 place
Basic metrics · 66.6
+ A German company (Linearity GmbH) operating under EU data protection regulation; company details shown in the imprint
Basic metrics: 66.6, rank 5 · ▲ 2 places
– The programme stays yours: The pricing page only has subscription packages, a one-off purchase is not mentioned.
Basic metrics · 68.6
+ German company (Xara GmbH, Berlin) operating under EU data protection regulation; company details shown in the imprint
Basic metrics: 68.6, rank 4 · no change
– The software remains yours: The Xara Cloud price list page has only subscription packages, a one-off purchase is not mentioned.
Basic metrics · 69.5
+ The price list is publicly shown and broken down by seat type: Full seat 16 €/month, Dev seat 12 €/month, Collab seat 3 €/month
Basic metrics: 69.5, rank 3 · ▼ 2 places
– The programme stays yours: The pricing page only has subscription packages, a one-off purchase is not mentioned.
Basic metrics · 63.0
+ Exceptionally offers both an annual subscription (€18/month) and a one-time purchasable permanent licence, and both prices are stated openly
Basic metrics: 63.0, rank 6 · no change
Weights are fixed. All companies are measured on the same scale. Read the full methodology.
| Buying motive | What is measured | Scale | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid price QUESTIONHow much does the cheapest paid package cost per month? | Monthly price of the cheapest paid single-user package with annual billing, in the currency of the price list page. | 2 or fewer = 100 points, 25 or more = 0, in between directly proportional. | 24 p |
| Free use QUESTIONCan I use the software for free before I pay? | Whether a permanent free tier is offered or only a time-limited trial. | Permanent free tier = 100, time-limited trial = 60, no free option = 0. | 16 p |
| The programme remains yours QUESTIONCan I buy the software with a one-off payment without a continuing subscription? | Does the price list include a permanent licence sold as a one-off purchase? | Single purchase possible = 100, subscription only = 0. | 10 p |
| Basic metrics | Digital quality, transparency, reachability and AI quality score | Basic metrics × 0.5 | 50 p |
We scored 6 graphic design and image editing software products on 20 metrics. The most important question for the user: is the real price revealed without contact, is the pricing model (one-time purchase or subscription) clear, are the real limits of the free tier or trial stated, and where is your data located before you register?
Graphic design and image editing software has moved almost entirely to a subscription model, where you pay for as long as you use it. For the consumer the most important question is whether the real price is revealed without making contact, whether the software can be bought as a one-off purchase or only as a subscription, and where the files and the account are located. We scored six software products on transparency metrics that anyone can check for themselves.
Pricing publicly displayed without contacting (25), free version or free trial and its limits stated (15), pricing model (one-off purchase or subscription, monthly or annual) clear (15), EU or GDPR data location and data protection stated (15), contract term and cancellation stated (10), Finnish-language interface or support (10), owning company stated on the site (10)
Transparency is 30% of the basic metrics, i.e. 15% of the total points · these metrics make up its 100 points · the full formula and the other pillars
How to read the comparison correctly: Half of the points come from buyer's questions, i.e. things the buyer finds out before deciding. The other half measures how openly the company publishes its prices, terms and contact details. Clear differences in points indicate a genuine difference: one tells you the price immediately, another only after logging in. Close scores should not be read as a ranking order, because every measurement has a margin of variation. The measurement accuracy and the full calculation formula are open in the methodology.
Customer experience is brought into the assessment separately. We also collect customer feedback and customer experiences about companies through separate surveys. The survey results will be added to the overall assessment later.
A one-off purchase or a subscription determines the real price. Most software has moved to monthly or annual subscription, so you pay for as long as you use it. CorelDRAW still also offers a one-time purchase perpetual licence and Sketch a separate Mac licence, whereas Figma, Pixlr, Linearity and Xara are subscription-only. Calculate the total cost against your period of use, not just the starting price.
A free tier and a trial are different things. Figma, Pixlr, Linearity and Xara have a permanent free tier with restrictions, whereas CorelDRAW and Sketch offer only a time-limited free trial. See which applies and what the real limits of the free tier are before you start.
Data location and ownership vary. Sketch (Netherlands), Linearity and Xara (Germany) are European-owned and operate under EU data protection regulation, whereas Figma is American, CorelDRAW Canadian and Pixlr Singaporean. None offers a Finnish-language interface. We show the owning company and the data location for each.
The market's two best-known names, Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva, block automated measurement on their sites, so they could not be scored this round. This is a measurement gap, not an assessment of the service's quality.
Every company is measured with the same public formula: half of the points come from buyer's questions and half from basic metrics, which have four pillars: technical quality, transparency, reachability and AI quality score. Ranking cannot be bought, and you can see the origin of each point on the company's profile. Read the full methodology →
Figma, Pixlr, Linearity and Xara have a permanent free tier with limitations. CorelDRAW and Sketch offer only a time-limited free trial. The limits of the free tier (credit, storage and feature limits) should be checked in advance.
CorelDRAW is sold both as an annual subscription and as a one-time purchase perpetual licence, and Sketch offers a separate Mac licence. The other programs in the comparison are subscriptions only.
Sketch (the Netherlands), Linearity and Xara (Germany) are European companies. Figma stores data in the United States, CorelDRAW in Canada and Pixlr in Singapore; EU transfers use standard contractual clauses or adequacy decisions. The data location is stated for each.
Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva block automatic measurement on their sites, so their price lists and terms could not be downloaded and scored in this round. This is a measurement gap, not an assessment of the quality of the service.
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