Open-source software is a great option if you’re looking to avoid paid tools from giant corporations, but not all open-source software are created equally. There are many reasons you might opt to use proprietary tools over open-source alternatives, and most professional settings choose proprietary software over open-source for similar reasons. Open-source creative tools are great, but commercial and proprietary tools often win over their open-source counterparts in plenty of ways.

7 Speed

Faster loading and workflows

With proprietary and commercial software comes heavier investment development. Larger investment often results in higher performance.

It’s not exclusive that commercial or proprietary tools will be faster than open-source options, but it’s more often the case. It also depends on the system you’re running the software from, how much RAM or general storage you have, and the age of your device.

Software like Adobe often works fast when editing heavy projects, including multiple layers, large artboards, or complex digital art pieces. Despite this, it’s still encouraged to save frequently during your workflow due to spontaneous crashes that may still happen with proprietary tools.

Open-source tools sometimes have longer workflows or simply longer loading times for the same features. If waiting a few extra seconds may hinder your workflow, then choosing proprietary tools will offer less frustration.

6 AI

Futureproofing software

Plenty of people see AI as a negative feature in software — and that’s a valid opinion for many reasons. But for those who see the good in AI tools — how they can help your workflow in a variety of ways — you’ll prefer proprietary software with well-built native AI features.

Not all AI features are created equally, but the ones which are good — such as Adobe Firefly, which is the AI model built into most Adobe tools — can improve your workflow and supply helpful and impressive results.

There are some ways to add AI tools to open-source software, such asfor example. Using AI as an after-thought add-on won’t result in a seamless process of using AI, though.

It’s not a guarantee that proprietary software has AI built in, so you can still avoid AI if you want to with software like the Affinity creative suite or some productivity tools.

5 Consistency

Familiarity works better

There are more suites of tools available in proprietary software than you’ll find with open-source options. You’ll find similar interfaces across software suites, like how Adobe tools have similar UX/UI design and language.

Using open-source tools often requires multiple different tools in order to make a patchwork version of a tool suite. For creative software, you could use Ubuntu Studio as an open-source creative suite, but even that is made up of many different open-source projects such as Darktable, GIMP, and Kdenlive. These are all designed and developed drastically different from one another.

You’ll save much time and frustration using a consistent suite of tools; you’ll only need to learn one UX language, the layouts will be similar, the way tools work are comparative across the suite. It takes too long to learn different layouts and uses of tools in various open-source software.

4 Better UI

Where form meets function

Many open-source tools are uglycompared to proprietary software. This is largely due to finances going towards the function of the tool rather than the visual esthetics.

Propriety software receives its money from paid users, subscriptions, and stakeholders of various sizes, which affords the luxury of a solid design team.

There are some well-designed open-source tools, but since open-source projects are team efforts from a wide range of contributors and very rarely have any full-time workers, UX/UI design often falls by the wayside to promote bug fixing, language development, and adding new features to the tools. Design isn’t as important when your budget is limited.

3 Smoother updates

Reliable changes available

Open-source tools release stages of updates, along with release candidates (RC) before a stable release, such as GIMP upgrading from 2.0 to 3.0using multiple RCs before the stable release of GMIP 3.0. This can be frustrating if you just want one smooth upgrade.

Proprietary tools often have fewer larger annual updates, which are often required in order to keep using the software on your operating system, along with frequent micro-updates in between. These updates are seamless, such as simple bug fixes or improving a feature, and they don’t usually cause much harm to your workflow.

Adobe offers Beta versions of its major tools, allowing for live testing before public releases. This ensures a better hand-off to fix any issues before the updates go live, preferable compared to open-source updates which are available for everyone and can cause widespread issues.

2 Usage and licensing

Know where you stand, legally

One reason proprietary software is more common in professional settings is that the legalities and licensing are usually set in stone. Businesses know exactly how they can and cannot use the software with no gray zones of understanding.

On top of that, commercial software usually offers enterprise or business teams accounts, which have benefits compared to standard accounts. While some open-source tools have these features too, and are free to use for commercial use, the legalities are better explained for proprietary tools.

1 Official support

Better support lines

Having an official support line is one of the best reasons you might prefer proprietary software. Despite open-source tools having large online communities of users, contributors, and developers to advise and help with any issues, there’s not often a guarantee that you’ll receive support or advice from any official entity.

When paying for software, you’re paying for support. You can usually find support from many platforms, such as online, web chat, via the phone, or email. Large corporations take support tickets seriously, and you’ll usually receive prompt and helpful replies to resolve issues as soon as possible, making sure you have a good experience.

Software corporations want happy customers, so it’s in their best interests to support their users efficiently at every opportunity. Open-source tools have a myriad of bugs, changes, and variations that cause multitudes of issues for all different reasons, and beyond adding a ticket to a project’s GitHub repository, there aren’t usually many opportunities to flag an issue and receive personalized help to resolving it.

There’s a time and a place for proprietary tools

It’s good to have options on the type of creative software you want to use. Open-source tools are great and offer a cost-effective way to implement creativity, but there are still plenty of ways that paid tools are better to use. For consistent use, smoother and faster workflows, and licensing you can understand better, paid tools may be your best option. While there’s no right or wrong answer, you should use whichever software works for your personal benefit, whether it’s free and open-source or paid proprietary tools from large corporations, or something in between.