In the ever-evolving landscape of digital creativity, Adobe’s suite of professional tools continues to dominate, but open-source alternatives are gaining traction among cost-conscious users, hobbyists, and even some enterprises. This article dives into a head-to-head comparison of market shares for key Adobe products—Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, InDesign, and Acrobat—against their leading open-source rivals: GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, and LibreOffice Draw.
| Category | Adobe Product | Est. Market Share | Open-Source Alternative | Est. Market Share | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raster Image Editing | Photoshop | 70–80% | GIMP | ~5–8% | GIMP is the most widely used free Photoshop alternative; strong in education & Linux communities. |
| Photo Management & RAW Processing | Lightroom | 60–70% | darktable / RawTherapee | ~8–12% combined | darktable leads among hobbyists; RawTherapee favored for extreme RAW control. |
| Vector Graphics & Illustration | Illustrator | 75–85% | Inkscape | ~6–10% | Inkscape dominates open-source vector; used heavily in education and startups. |
| Desktop Publishing & Layout | InDesign | 80–90% | Scribus | <1% | Scribus remains niche; many switch to Affinity Publisher instead of pure OSS. |
| Motion Graphics & VFX | After Effects | 85–90% | Natron + Blender / Cavalry (free) | ~2–4% | Blender’s node compositor is gaining fast; Natron stalled in development. |
| Non-Linear Video Editing | Premiere Pro | 45–55% | Kdenlive | Kdenlive ~3–5% | Kdenlive strong on Linux. |
| Audio Editing & Restoration | Audition | 30–40% | Audacity | ~45–55% | Audacity is the most-installed audio editor worldwide (free + cross-platform). |
| UI/UX & Prototyping | XD | 25–35% | Penpot | ~5–8% | Penpot is the only fully open-source, web-based Figma alternative; growing rapidly. |
| 3D Modeling, Rendering & Texturing | Dimension / Substance 3D | 10–15% | Blender | ~70–80% (free 3D segment) | Blender completely dominates open-source 3D; used in film & game studios. |
Sources (2024–2025): Statista, 6sense, Enlyft, BuiltWith, Steam Hardware Survey (Blender), Blackmagic Design reports, Penpot community metrics, and various industry surveys. Market share percentages are estimates for the respective software categories among active users.