Adobe Illustrator CC vs. Adobe XD

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Illustrator CC is a vector-based graphic design software.
$20.99
per month
Adobe XD
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Adobe XD is a prototyping and UX/UI option for website and mobile application design, featuring a range of UI tools and and templates, a versatile artboard and contextual layer panels, and deep integration with Adobe's creative suite of products for fast import of objects from these applications.
$33.99
per month per license
Pricing
Adobe Illustrator CCAdobe XD
Editions & Modules
Yearly - Billed Monthly
$20.99
per month
Monthly
$31.49
per month
Yearly - Billed Upfront
$239.88
per year
Individual
$9.99 ($119.88)
per month (annual, prepaid)
Students & Teachers - All Apps
$19.99 ($239.88)
per month, annual plan (for the year)
Business - Single App
$33.99
per month per license
Business - All Apps
$79.99
per month per license
Schools & Universities - Institution Wide
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe IllustratorAdobe XD
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Illustrator CCAdobe XD
Considered Both Products
Adobe Illustrator
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Illustrator has a wide capability for editing ability and can be used in combination with any of the other programs I've listed and used. This makes it incredibly versatile and one of my favorites. Each of the other products have specific purposes, making them less likely for …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
There are not a lot of competitors that range an evaluation, likely because of the product's age and maturity. I’ve used only other Adobe products to do a few of the same things illustrator does, but really nothing really compares to it.
Adobe XD
Chose Adobe XD
So far I've had minimal issues with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. All my issues have been with Adobe XD simply not being that great.
Chose Adobe XD
Before XD came to the company, screens were designed in Illustrator or Photoshop and a PDF presentation was generated, which was extremely time-consuming. XD saved us a lot of time (and money) by generating interactive prototypes, which are much more tangible for the client …
Chose Adobe XD
Compared to Sketch, Adobe XD is perfectly capable for most prototyping needs that we have. And it's free! I am less familiar with Figma, but can only say that it was a cost-prohibitive choice at the time we were evaluating. I do believe that Figma has become more sophisticated …
Chose Adobe XD
While I have used Zeplin, InVision, and Adobe XD on various projects, partly dependent on in-house client teams preferences, Adobe XD is the most familiar to me based on 20+ years [of] working within Adobe applications. They all can do most of what I am looking to do within …
Chose Adobe XD
Adobe XD is everything you would expect from an Adobe offering - seamless integration with creative cloud, easy workflow and great for collaboration. Adobe once again wins over again the competition by ensuring its software works straight out of the box with little to no …
Chose Adobe XD
The biggest benefit of Adobe XD for us is how easily we can use it based on our familiarity with Adobe products and because of the product’s integration with other Adobe products. There can be extra tasks when working, say, with Adobe Photoshop and Sketch. With XD, working …
Chose Adobe XD
In our program, we utilize both Mac and Windows workstations. We had attempted to use Sketch (another similar application to Adobe XD), but it is only available on Mac platforms which prohibits our students from accessing software at home (which is predominantly Windows PCs). …
Chose Adobe XD
XD can do everything we need and more. It's already part of our Creative Cloud subscription and integrates with our current tools. It was really easy to get to work and establish a workflow for almost all projects where we are designing, prototyping, and iterating. Feedback and …
Chose Adobe XD
Adobe XD has been a joy to use. It has this "Wow, it just works!" feel to it. Illustrator is more powerful, but it's quirky, complex, and unfortunately a bit outdated and buggy. These days you expect colors to update in realtime while you're working in the color selector.

Sketch …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe Illustrator CCAdobe XD
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.5 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
GIMP
GIMP
Score 9.2 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Illustrator CCAdobe XD
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(103 ratings)
7.6
(32 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(2 ratings)
7.7
(3 ratings)
Usability
7.2
(4 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(24 ratings)
8.3
(16 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Illustrator CCAdobe XD
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Adobe Illustrator is used to help make drawings look good but not make them. It is easy to add color or texture but it is hard to actually make the drawings in it. I would recommend using other software to make the lines for plans and sections and using Adobe Illustrator to make it look good.
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Adobe
Adobe XD is particularly useful and extremely easy to learn if you are a designer or a frequent user of the Adobe Creative Suite. Like all Adobe software, the tools, shortcuts, and interface are very similar to each other and allow for easy migration. Now, if you are not a frequent user of Adobe, it will probably cost a bit more to learn how to use the software, plus it is probably not going to be worth the price just for Adobe XD.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Vector graphics for scaling to large sizes
  • Filling an object with a texture
  • Easily adjusting and expanding an artboard to fit the size of the content (especially for infographics)
  • Compatibility with other Adobe CC programs, but also exporting for PPT graphics
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Adobe
  • Easy and simple animations.
  • Good tool for website mock-ups.
  • Easy user interface and tools that are like most Adobe products.
  • You can share a dev link and it displays all assets for developers to download or user like it's very own style guide.
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Cons
Adobe
  • It's tough to master. If you haven't used Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator before, there is a lot to take in.
  • It would be great to have some better options to preview the final product if you're creating a multiple page document.
  • Better integration and pricing points with Adobe Stock for the useful stock images to complete your projects.
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Adobe
  • Doesn’t have image editing tools, so having to go back to Photoshop or Lightroom just to make a sight edit can be a pain.
  • Could add some text editing functionality. It feels silly that I have to draw a line under text when I should just be able to underline.
  • Would be nice to have some real-time collaboration functionality.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
While Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the only true design software out there, it really stands heads above the other products. It's clean UI and menu structure is easy to navigate.
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Adobe
We utilize many of the applications in the Adobe CC suite and our usage of this application came about simply because it was the one that was already paid for. Bearing that in mind we will definitely be renewing the software upon the expiration of the licensing. I am not sure if this is the solution we would go with were it not already included, we would have to evaluate all other options
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Usability
Adobe
Illustrator has become easier in recent years to use with more intuitive tools and controls for them. Illustration software has improved but Adobe Illustrator has kept up and keeps the edge with its extensive toolset. Newly added collaboration tools with Adobe make it even better and the expectation is that is to continue.
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Adobe
Very easy to use even for novice software users. A lot of the functionality is ubiquitous among the different software applications so the learning curve is relatively small. The biggest limitation may be someone's creativity or lack of it. There are some functional limitations but my understanding is that reviews come out fast and furious
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Support Rating
Adobe
I normally already know how to do whatever I'm trying out, but the documentation (as well as a simple Google search) makes any question quick to resolve. The Adobe boards themselves are a fantastic resource, especially for resolving questions between new programs and iterative releases.
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Adobe
I have not had a need to connect with the Adobe XD support team as of yet, but from past experience when dealing with the other products, the support has been very very good, and I would have no reason to think that this product would be any different. There are a good number of training videos on the Adobe site for this product as well as on other social media sites so a quick search should let you find the answers in several different ways.
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Implementation was a snap
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
They complement each other, each with its own specific characteristics, but within a marketing sector, an experienced designer knows that the use of these tools in sets makes all the difference. It is possible to combine their uses and create really relevant materials that will bring a great return to the company and in the dissemination of arts with superior quality to the competitors
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Adobe
While I have used Zeplin, InVision, and Adobe XD on various projects, partly dependent on in-house client teams preferences, Adobe XD is the most familiar to me based on 20+ years [of] working within Adobe applications. They all can do most of what I am looking to do within their toolset, from what I can tell, but jumping from Photoshop to create raster images and to Illustrator for my vectors, it is very second nature then to bring those right into XD to layout, basically as a digital experience analogy to InDesign. The fact that Adobe XD is already there in Creative Suite makes it very hard to consider any other product since it works well with what I do.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Helps us quickly and easily create and manage numerous logos
  • Cloud libraries allow us to access commonly used colors, fonts, logos and other design elements quickly
  • We are able to provide high-quality, scalable college logos for print and digital which give us a more professional, credible look.
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Adobe
  • Ease of use means we are up and running in no time.
  • Integrates and is a part of the Adobe CC platform (which we already subscribe to) so there was no additional cost.
  • Online proofing and developer handoff links are the icing on the cake. Keeps everything in one place.
  • Handles all our assets (mostly created in Illustrator) like a dream. Even imports native Photoshop docs, too, so that saves us so much time round tripping.
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ScreenShots