Adobe Illustrator
Still the professional standard; no longer the only way to get a vector.
why this verdict
Downgrade — pay for the workflow, not the AI
Inkscape and Figma cover the headline feature free, so the $23/mo is now paying for the workflow around it.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Native image generation plus one-click vectorisation. OpenAI, March 25, 2025 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers headline only editorial call
- The headline feature, but not the workflow, data or integrations around it.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 2 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Inkscape and Figma.
- What the call is worth $276/yr
- $23/mo at the entry paid tier — $276 a year per seat.
- Threatened by
- OpenAI
- Since
- March 25, 2025
- List price
- $23/mo
- Per year
- $276
The backstory
Illustrator is a thirty-year-old professional tool with genuine depth — precise bezier control, colour management, print output. What changed is the bottom of the funnel: someone who needs a logo, an icon set or a simple illustration can now generate it in a chat window and vectorise it free. Adobe answered with Firefly inside Illustrator, which is the right move, but the casual half of the user base has an exit that did not exist before.
Escape hatches
switching could free up $276/yrFree, open-source vector editor.
inkscape.org open_in_newFree vector work for screen design.
figma.com open_in_newGenerative vectors directly.
recraft.ai open_in_new2 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.