Category

The best Design apps for Mac

The best design apps for Mac feel native rather than ported. This shelf covers Acorn's serious one-time-purchase image editing, the now-free Affinity by Canva suite, Sketch's Mac-only interface design, Shapr3D's professional CAD, the Typeface font manager and Pika, an open source colour picker with real taste.

Acorn preview
Acorn Serious image editing, bought once. $29.99 One-Time
Affinity by Canva preview
Affinity by Canva Pro vector, photo and layout tools, now free. Free
Pika preview
Pika An open source colour picker with real taste. Free
Shapr3D preview
Shapr3D Professional CAD that feels born on Apple hardware. Free
Sketch preview
Sketch Interface design that never left the Mac. $12 One-Time
Typeface preview
Typeface The font manager designers recommend to each other. Free

Frequently asked

What are the best design apps for Mac?

Affinity by Canva now offers a full professional suite of vector, photo and layout tools for free, Sketch remains the interface design tool built exclusively for Mac, and Acorn covers serious image editing as a one-time $29.99 purchase. Shapr3D, Typeface and Pika round out the shelf for CAD, fonts and colour.

Which design app is free?

Affinity by Canva is free with a Canva account, and Pika is free and open source, with an optional $2.99 Mac App Store version.

Is there a Mac app for CAD or 3D work?

Shapr3D brings professional CAD to Apple hardware, free on its Basic plan or $299 a year for Pro.

Which app should I use for interface design?

Sketch is the pick for interface design, priced from $12 per editor per month or a one-time $120 Mac-only licence.

Do these apps work on Apple Silicon?

Yes. Every app in Mac Dept. is chosen for feeling native to the Mac, and the entries here are modern, actively maintained builds that run natively on Apple Silicon.