Adobe Illustrator vs Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop are both image editing software. Adobe Illustrator is a commercial product from Adobe Inc. Adobe Photoshop is a commercial product from Adobe Inc.
Which to pick
- Pick Adobe Illustrator when
- You produce professional vector artwork or need to exchange AI and EPS files with print and brand agencies.
- Pick Adobe Photoshop when
- You do professional photo retouching or compositing, or need to exchange PSD files with other professionals.
Side by side
The standard vector graphics editor for logos, illustration, icons and print layouts.
The standard raster image editor for retouching, compositing and graphics, with generative fill and other AI tools.
Subscription only and steep to learn; Affinity Designer covers much of it without a subscription.
Subscription only, and the full Creative Cloud bundle is expensive.
Production-ready (both)
Desktop app
Desktop app, cloud service and mobile app
Not published (both)
Closed source, sold by Adobe Inc. (both)
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code. (both)
2.8k Wikipedia readers a month on phones
11k Wikipedia readers a month on phones
Other comparisons
More image editors
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.