The 10 Best AI Designer Tools You Can Use for Free

Small businesses and startups once struggled to rise above the towering presence of big brands, often overshadowed and fighting for recognition. But the tides have turned. With the emergence of AI, these businesses now have the tools to compete—and even soar higher—than the industry giants. Here’s a list of the ten best AI designer tools you can use for free to help your brand stand out!

Table of Contents

• LogoMakr
• DeepArt.io
• Lunacy
• Designify
• Figma
• Canva 
• Runway
• Patterned.ai
• PhotoRoom
• Remove.bg
• How AI Helps in Creating Designs
• AI Design vs. Human-Made Graphic Design
• Design Types AI Can Generate

1. LogoMakr

A popular logo creation tool, LogoMakr is a favorite among many startup owners, schools, and individuals looking to create customized logos. This free AI-powered design tool lets you craft any logo quickly and easily. Its user-friendly interface assures you that you don’t need artistic or technical skills to get your very own logo design.

Additionally, LogoMakr will offer you smart suggestions based on your input. This ensures you get a design that aligns with your brand’s visual identity. It lets you download your logo for free, but if you prefer a higher-quality file, it offers a paid plan at a $29 price.

2. DeepArt.io

If you’re looking to boost your brand’s imagery, why not make a bold statement using DeepArt.io? This AI-powered design tool specializes in turning your photos and graphics into stunning artwork. It applies the styles of famous artists or custom designs, opening a gateway to artistic expression that can differentiate your brand.

DeepArt.io’s unmatched creativity allows you to craft attention-grabbing visual assets for your websites, social media, and marketing materials. It also offers versatile applications for creating marketing visuals, product designs, packaging, and even branded content for social media. 

3. Lunacy

Unlike many on this list of the best AI designer tools that are cloud-based, Lunacy is an excellent choice because it lets you work with it offline. This free graphic design software is feature-packed yet easy to use. Its innovative AI tools enable you to remove backgrounds, generate text, and enhance your images, among many other things. 

Not only can you craft beautiful graphics with Lunacy, but it also has built-in resources that are free to use. These include illustrations, icons, stock photos, and UI kits. While you can use it free of charge, it also offers a paid plan if you want more features, priced at $11.99 per user per month.

4. Designify

Empowering you to turn any photo into awesome, Designify is another excellent AI designer tool ideal for small businesses and startups. It lets you craft polished, professional-quality visuals without breaking the bank. It automates complex photo editing tasks, transforming raw images into stunning, ready-to-use visuals with just a click of a button.

Furthermore, Designify boasts an exceptional ability to create high-quality product images quickly. This makes it the best AI designer tool for startups in the e-commerce industry. Like Lunacy, this AI tool has a free version and a paid plan for downloading higher-resolution files for just $39 per month.

5. Figma

A collaboration design powerhouse, Figma is the go-to AI design tool for many startups and small businesses. It is the ideal software for those looking to craft websites, app interfaces, or marketing materials without spending a ton of money. Its real-time collaboration feature lets you and your team work on the same design simultaneously, wherever they are.

Moreover, Figma has AI-enhanced productivity tools to help you speed up laborious tasks. Its robust free plan allows you to create a variety of designs, from logos and icons to user experience (UX) prototypes and mockups. 

6. Canva 

A well-known web-based design platform, Canva enables you to craft visually appealing content without the need for a professional designer. It’s the go-to software for startups, businesses, individuals, and students. This easy-to-use platform has fantastic AI features to help you create beautiful designs without the steep learning curve.

Additionally, Canva’s AI tools will give you helpful suggestions, such as color schemes, font pairings, and layouts. Its free plan lets you access a wealth of features, templates, and stock assets. However, if you need more advanced features, a paid subscription is still within reach.

7. Runway 

If you’re ready to push the boundaries of creativity, Runway is the best AI designer tool for you. Its AI-powered toolkit speeds up design, video production, and content creation. Its no-code tools, user-friendly interface, and powerful AI capabilities can take your brand visuals to the next level.

Runway has outstanding video editing tools, text-to-image and image editing features, and integrations with popular creative software. Its customizable AI models allow you to create tailored solutions specific to your needs. Its free plan allows you to explore and experiment using the platform, which you can always upgrade to get advanced features.

8. Patterned.ai

As its name suggests, Patterned.ai specializes in generating unique and customizable patterns for a wide array of uses. This includes branding, web design, interiors, and fashion. For startups seeking to create visually appealing patterns even without a background in design, this is the AI design tool you need.

Since Patterned.ai uses AI, you can generate intricate and custom patterns based on your input. Its simplified design process gives you high-quality and ready-to-print patterns. Whether it is for packaging, web elements, or fabric design, this design tool will save you time and resources.

9. PhotoRoom

A powerful AI-powered image editing tool for startups, PhotoRoom lets you create standout product photos, marketing materials, and social media graphics. Its most notable feature is its ability to remove backgrounds from images automatically with just a few clicks. It also has customizable templates you can use to produce banners, promotional photos, and web design.

In addition, PhotoRoom offers a wide range of templates for eye-catching social media posts, stories, and ads. Its AI easily automates tedious tasks like background removal, image enhancement, and object detection.

10. Remove.bg

Designed specifically for removing backgrounds from images, Remove.bg is an invaluable resource for startups and small businesses. Its AI technology removes backgrounds automatically and in a few seconds. This is the perfect tool for ecommerce biz owners with product photos that need polishing. 

Remove.bg also offers more than background removal. It can also restore any part of your photos, change its background, blur the background to maintain focus on your subject and add realistic shadows to give your image subject and depth.

How AI Helps in Creating Designs

Nowadays, crafting eye-catching designs is faster and more accessible, thanks to AI-powered design tools. It’s because they are user-friendly, often with a low learning curve, allowing anyone to design professional-quality visuals. The technology can generate high-quality designs in seconds instead of hours, days, or even weeks. 

In addition, these AI tools provide a wide range of design options. You can design logos, social media graphics, marketing materials, and many others with your brand identity in mind. This means you can get great designs for less without compromising quality.

AI Design vs. Human-Made Graphic Design

Given that AI-powered design tools are powerful and fast, they differ significantly from human-made designs. First, AI-generated designs rely on algorithms and pre-existing templates to allow them to produce designs quickly. This means that they are only generating what’s already out there. Thus, these designs can lack originality and have no deep creative insight.

On the other hand, human designs offer experience, emotion, and strategic thinking. This results in work that is unique and highly personalized. While AI is an excellent tool for generating ideas and making the design process easier, human designers excel at various aspects. This includes storytelling, branding, and crafting one-of-a-kind artwork.

That said, you don’t need to choose one over the other. You can combine the power of AI designs with human creations. 

Design Types AI Can Generate

AI design tools can generate a variety of design types. They are the following:

• Branding assets: logos, brand guidelines
• Social media graphics: posts, stories, and banners
• Marketing materials: posters, brochures, flyers, infographics, presentations, and more
• Web and UI design: wireframes, layouts, and UI elements for websites and apps
• Illustrations and Artwork: digital paintings, illustrations, and others

Work with Penji

Using the best AI designer tools can be the best way for startups and small businesses to get high-quality graphics, especially if offered for free. However, as your business grows and your design needs become more complex, it pays to work with a professional design partner. Enter Penji. 

Penji gives you access to a team of talented designers who can bring your ideas to life. Watch our quick demo video here to learn more about what we do. Better yet, click here to get them started.