Adobe products have many alternative software options. Whether you want to find the best Illustration software or specifically look for open-source alternatives to Photoshop, there’s always an option. Adobe Illustrator is no exception to competing software, with open-source tools like Krita or Inkscape, and proprietary options like Affinity Designer. Kittl is a relatively young German software brand with a large focus on vector creations. While it’s similar to Canva and Adobe Express, it also makes a great replacement for Adobe Illustrator.

7 Kittl is browser-based

No bloatware for my machine

Adobe Illustrator can only be accessed through an app via Creative Cloud. The software is big, comes with plenty of bloatware that Adobe is famous for, and is only accessible from a computer or the iPad app, which is not quite as full-featured.

Kittl, on the other hand, is a browser-based tool. This means you don’t have to install anything onto your system to use it, and it can be used from any device where you can access an internet browser. This makes it more accessible and easier to use.

A browser-based tool is especially great if you’re on the go and need to fix your designs quickly. You can easily sign in from anywhere, with all your projects and designs saved to your account.

6 Big focus on creating for brands

Perfect for the modern hobby designer

As a hobbyist designer, I don’t need all the bells and whistles found in Illustrator. Sure, those features are great for professional illustrators and designers. Still, I’m mostly designing for social media or creating apparel and marketing to sell via print on demand—that’s what Kittl is best for.

Kittl has always had built-in mockups feature, something that Illustrator has only implemented as a beta tool since 2023. This native tool allows you to create a design in Kittl and produce mockups for that design all in one place.

Alongside the mockup generator, Kittl also has direct integration with production houses and apparel printers, meaning you can complete your entire process of creation, marketing, and sales all within Kittl. These are big-name brand production houses, so you’re getting high-quality results.

5 Collaborative features

Work together with other designers

Kittl offers team plans that allow for live collaboration on projects. It has multiplayer editing features, so team members can simultaneously edit one design, allowing for smoother and faster iterations and end results. Alongside that are real-time comment abilities for clear communication from non-designers, too.

Your team has access to shared folders to keep the team’s files and projects together in one easily accessible place. You can organize these with project-level organization structures.

Teams accounts also include access to brand kits — something not available in Illustrator but in Adobe Express. This ensures that all team members have access to the same brand assets and that no one ruins collaborative designs with off-brand additions.

4 Growing and supportive community

Sharing is caring

Since Kittl is a smaller brand compared to Adobe’s empire, there’s a huge emphasis on building community. While Adobe Illustrator has a large swathe of followers, the community feels more professional and can make a newer illustrator or designer feel left out if they’re not as experienced.

Kittl’s online community starts from within its own team. Kittl began as a small startup in 2020 with an official launch in 2022, so it’s only a baby compared to Illustrator, which was first released in the late 80s. Any Kittl users feel part of a small but growing family.

Compared to the elder Illustrator, Kittl has a modern approach to design and collaboration. Its YouTube channel shares tutorials and podcast-esque videos to help inspire designers, and it’s not always with a focus on using Kittl’s product. It has a refreshing feel that design and exploration is more important than using the specific product they’re selling.

3 High-quality AI features

AI that benefits designers

I’m not a huge fan of AI features in creative software, but when I first discovered Kittl, I found its AI vector generator to be the best out of almost all that I’d tried. And this was a couple of years ago, before vector generators became as popular.

The vector-generated results are fully editable, including text, which is rare. Although Illustrator’s vector generator is editable, too, it often creates overly complicated vectors that wouldn’t be suitable for projects like logos or brand marks, which require more simplicity.

Kittl features many other AI tools, such as:

• AI templates
• Background removal
• AI generators for logos, vectors, images, and text
• Upscaling tools
• Erase and fill
• AI design assistant

I find good results across the board with Kittl’s AI-based tools. While I might not choose to use AI often, the logo vector generator is a favorite of mine due to its edibility after generation.

2 Ease of use

There’s barely any learning curve

Being a browser-based tool doesn’t strictly mean it should be simple to use. However, Kittl is easy to use.

It has well-labeled menus of tools, resources, and features. Once into the Editor, it’s well-labeled and simple to use. It largely uses a drag-and-drop system, similar to Canva, but there are also custom tools like helpful and good AI generators, the vector creation tools, template creators, and much more.

There’s no guessing and minimal time learning how to use Kittl. This makes it a great choice for newer designers, those who design for fun, or anyone who doesn’t need years of industry experience to create good designs.

1 More than just illustration

Mix vector with raster in Kittl

While Adobe Illustrator is typically only used for vector-based design, and most designers might switch to Photoshop or another tool for raster-based design, Kittl allows you to easily edit both vector and raster in one platform.

With newer features like Reframe, which allows you to extend the borders of your canvas or image, and content templates, you can mix your vector designs with raster photos or assets as required. Kittl continues to add more features, taking it from a basic design tool to a full design suite.

Although you can use Kittl for non-vector designs and editing, vector-based design is where Kittl really shines. In April 2025, Kittl announced the Vector Editing Suite, which features more vector editing tools than ever before, pushing it side-by-side to Adobe Illustrator.

• Kittl

  See at Kittl

• Adobe Illustrator

  $23 at Adobe

Kittl takes the top spot in my design workflow

Kittl has often been a go-to tool for vector-based design if I cannot access Illustrator. The Vector Editing Suite allows me to make a full switch. With full customization and creation of vector graphics, as well as editing options for existing vectors, Kittl’s vector abilities merge well with all its other features. They can easily turn my workflow from Illustrator and other apps to a solely one-app situation. Kittl is affordable with no bloatware or installation, giving better accessibility and features I actually want to use as a hobby designer and illustrator. Why pay for professional-level software tools if I’m not a professional designer?