Home / Professions / Graphic design & design
Best AI for graphic design & design
Graphic designers, design agencies, in-house design teams and UX/UI designers now use AI at every stage of their work. Image and vector generators produce sketches, moodboards and variants in seconds, design tools turn a text prompt into a clickable prototype, and brand platforms search, tag and check thousands of brand files. Design suites such as Adobe Firefly, Kittl and Frontify bundle image models from multiple providers, while European players such as Figma (Berlin), Bynder (Spain), Affinity (Switzerland) and Penpot (Amsterdam) focus on brand consistency and control over your own files. The designer remains responsible for the concept, the quality and the rights to the final result.
FigmaGDPR: Strong- Provider based outside the EU
- Data in the EU according to the provider
- Publishes certification/GDPR safeguards
ClaudeGDPR: Strong- Editorial score 9.0 of 10
- Elo 1506
Watch out in this field
When it comes to AI imagery, pay attention to two things: rights and data. Rights: with Recraft, images from the free plan of Recraft itself are not licensed for commercial use, and only the paid plans give you full ownership. Adobe says it trains its Firefly models on licensed material and public domain content, not on user content. Data: with Kittl, training on your content is switched on by default in the Starter and Professional plans (the administrator can turn it off), while it is off in Organization and Enterprise. CELUM (Berlin) states in its privacy policy that data is also processed outside Europe, including in Canada and the US. If you want to keep your brand files within the EU: Frontify offers hosting in Frankfurt, Bynder on AWS Frankfurt and Figma on Azure in the EU. Penpot can be self-hosted. Do not upload client material under NDA to a free account, and record in your quote whether and how you use AI.
All 30 options
Professional tools with the strongest published GDPR safeguards first, then general assistants by suitability.
Frontify professional toolFrontify AG, St. Gallen (Switzerland)Brand management platform that brings brand style guidelines, brand files and brand knowledge together in one place, with a Brand Assistant and an MCP connection so AI tools work on-brand.own modelon request (monthly pricing model…Strong2
Bynder professional toolBynder B.V., Amsterdam (Netherlands) · NetherlandsAmsterdam-based digital asset management platform for brands and design teams, with AI agents that enrich files, adapt them per channel and check them against brand guidelines.own modelon requestStrong3Figma professional toolFigma, Inc. (US) · free to tryDesign platform for interface, web and product design with Figma Make (prompt to prototype or app), a Figma Agent and AI for image editing and search.on 
free (Starter)Strong4
Uizard professional toolUizardApp ApS (Miro), Copenhagen (Denmark) · EU · free to tryUI design tool that, with Autodesigner 2.0, turns a text prompt into editable screens and prototypes, and turns screenshots or hand sketches into digital mockups.own modelfreeGood5
Penpot professional toolKaleidos Subsidiary SL (Spain) · EU · free to tryOpen-source design and prototyping platform for designers and developers, built on open standards (CSS, HTML, SVG, JSON), with an official MCP server so AI agents can read and edit designs.own modelfree (Professional)Good6
CELUM professional toolCELUM GmbH, Linz (Austria) · EUEuropean enterprise DAM for brand and product content, with creation and approval workflows and CELUM AI for tagging and localisation.own modelon requestGood7
Framer professional toolFramer B.V. (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · Netherlands · free to tryAmsterdam website builder for designers in which an AI agent creates editable pages, texts and images from a prompt, which you then refine on the canvas and publish.on free ($0, 500 AI credits)Good8
Kittl professional toolKittl Technologies GmbH, Berlin (Germany) · EU · free to tryBerlin-based online design platform for branding, merchandise and product visuals, with templates and a collaborative editor that has multiple image and video models built in.on free planLimited9
Adobe Firefly professional toolAdobe Inc. (US) · free to tryAdobe's generative AI app for image, video, audio and vector, with Firefly Boards for moodboards and integration with Photoshop and the rest of Creative Cloud.on free (limited)Limited10
Recraft professional toolRecraft, Inc., San Francisco (US), with Recraft AI Limited (UK) · free to tryImage generator for designers that, alongside photos and illustrations, also makes editable vectors, icons and logos, with its own Recraft models and an API.own modelfree planLimited11
Sloyd professional toolSloyd AS (NO); terms of Sloyd Inc. (US) · EU · free to tryCreates game-ready 3D models from text or an image, with plugins for Unity, Unreal and Blender.own modelfree GuestLimited12
Kaedim professional toolKaedim Limited, London (UK)Turns sketches, references and art direction into production-ready 3D game assets, with a review and approval loop.own modelTrial $50 (7 days)Limited13
Magnific professional toolMagnific AI, S.L.U. (Málaga, Spain) · EU · free to tryCreative AI platform (formerly Freepik) in which you generate and edit with dozens of image, video and audio models, with the Magnific upscaler and a large stock library.on 
free planLimited14
Placid professional toolNifty Software GmbH (Bad Gleichenberg, Austria) · EU · free to tryAn Austrian tool that automatically creates images, PDFs and videos in your house style from dynamic templates, via API, no-code integrations or ChatGPT.on Basic $19/monthLimited15RRunway professional toolRunway AI, Inc., New York (US) · free to tryGenerative video app: create shots and clips from text or images, edit existing video with Aleph, plus music, voices, upscaling and an API.on Free $0 (125 credits one-off)Limited16
Affinity professional toolCanva (Affinity by Canva) · free to tryProfessional design suite with vector, photo editing and page layout in one app for Mac, Windows and iPad; free for individuals, with built-in Canva AI for those on a paid Canva plan.own modelfree for individualsUnknown17
Scenario professional toolScenario Inc., Delaware (US) · free to tryCreative AI platform where game studios train their own models on their art, so images, video and 3D stay in the style of the game.on free 50 credits/dayUnknown18
Meshy professional toolMeshy LLC, Sunnyvale (US) · free to tryCreates 3D models, PBR textures and animations from text or an image, with export to Unity, Unreal and Godot.own modelfree (100 credits/month)Unknown19Claude generalAnthropicFamily of language models from Anthropic that excels at long documents, careful reasoning, coding and reliable, safe output.1506Elo$20 / monthStrong20Gemini generalGoogleGoogle DeepMind's natively multimodal model family, deeply integrated into Workspace, with a very large context window.1527Elo€4.99 / monthStrong21ChatGPT generalOpenAIOpenAI's versatile, agentic flagship with a very large context window and a broad ecosystem of integrations.1485Elo$8 / monthStrong22
Le Chat (Mistral) generalMistral AIFrench/European AI lab with open-weight and commercial models and the Le Chat assistant, with EU data residency as its core proposition.1426Elo$14.99 / monthStrong23
Copilot generalMicrosoftMicrosoft's AI layer that combines GPT and Claude models with your own organisational data and the Microsoft 365 apps.1485Elofrom €10 / monthCaution24
Qwen generalAlibaba Cloud · free to tryChinese model family from Alibaba Cloud with a free chat app, a large open-weight catalogue and the proprietary flagship Qwen3.8-Max with 1 million tokens of context.1484Eloon requestCaution25
GLM (Z.ai) generalZ.ai (Zhipu AI) · free to tryChinese AI lab (Zhipu, international Z.ai) with the open-weight GLM family under MIT licence, particularly strong at programming and agent tasks at low prices.1483Elo$18 / monthCaution26
Kimi generalMoonshot AI · free to tryChinese AI lab (Moonshot AI) with the open-weight Kimi K2 family and an assistant that focuses strongly on agents, deep research and long documents.1487Elo$19 / monthCaution27Grok generalxAIThe model from xAI, integrated into X, distinguished by real-time access to live X posts and web data.1471Elo$10 / monthCaution28
DeepSeek generalDeepSeek · free to tryOpen-weight (MIT) Chinese language model with a 1M context window and a built-in reasoning mode, at very low API costs.1475Eloon requestCaution29
Perplexity generalPerplexity AI · free to tryUS AI search engine that delivers answers with source citations via its own Sonar models and external frontier models, with separate Enterprise agreements on data use.–Elo$20 / monthUnknown30
Llama generalMeta · free to tryMeta's natively multimodal, open-weight Mixture-of-Experts family (Scout and Maverick), free to download and self-host.–Eloon requestCautionNo options with these filters. Switch off a filter.
Last checked: 9 November 2026 · How we check
How to get started in graphic design & design
- Try this weekStart free with Figma on non-confidential work. That way you can feel within an hour what AI can do for graphic design & design.
- Sort the basics (GDPR)Choose the business variant, sign a data processing agreement and turn off training on your data. See the GDPR check per option.
- Go deeper with professional softwareBook a demo with Figma: built for graphic design & design, with the strongest published safeguards.
Where AI does the most in this field
The core tasks we track for this profession. Tools in the list above can be compared on these tasks.
- 1Make images and vectors: generate and edit concepts, illustrations, icons and variants (remove background, extend, upscale, vectorise)
- 2UI and web design: turn text prompts and sketches into wireframes, prototypes and code, and manage design systems
- 3Brand management: manage brand guidelines, logos and image libraries centrally, with automatic tagging and checks against brand rules
- 4Production and variants: turn one design into formats, languages and channels for print, social and campaigns
Per task in graphic design & design
A separate comparison for each task, with the top pick shown.
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Frequently asked questions
Related professions
What is the best AI for graphic design & design?
That depends on your requirements. Field-specific solutions such as Frontify are built for graphic design & design; general assistants such as Claude are more widely usable and cheaper to start with. Our picks are at the top of this page.
What is the difference between a 'field-specific tool' and a 'general assistant'?
A general assistant (such as ChatGPT or Claude) is a clever all-rounder you talk to yourself. A field-specific tool is a ready-made product for graphic design & design, often built on top of such an assistant, with its own domain knowledge, integrations and GDPR agreements. The 'Quality' column shows which model a tool runs on.
May I use confidential data?
When it comes to AI imagery, pay attention to two things: rights and data. Rights: with Recraft, images from the free plan of Recraft itself are not licensed for commercial use, and only the paid plans give you full ownership. Adobe says it trains its Firefly models on licensed material and public domain content, not on user content. Data: with Kittl, training on your content is switched on by default in the Starter and Professional plans (the administrator can turn it off), while it is off in Organization and Enterprise. CELUM (Berlin) states in its privacy policy that data is also processed outside Europe, including in Canada and the US. If you want to keep your brand files within the EU: Frontify offers hosting in Frankfurt, Bynder on AWS Frankfurt and Figma on Azure in the EU. Penpot can be self-hosted. Do not upload client material under NDA to a free account, and record in your quote whether and how you use AI.
What does the GDPR profile mean?
Our summary of what the provider publishes about data protection: EU hosting, no training on your data, certifications and provenance. 'Strong' = several safeguards published; 'Unknown' = the provider shares little, so ask them. It is a tool, not legal advice.