Design and creative software
181 companies assessed. 118 of them, 65.2%, sit in the two least protected bands, against 53.3% across all 10,525 companies assessed.
The picture
Design software is splitting into two very different worlds. At the top, companies that own a specific professional workflow like Autodesk in CAD, Bentley and Dassault in engineering, SideFX and Foundry in visual effects, Procreate on the iPad, and Canva for everyday brand work are holding their ground because switching away from them is expensive or the workflow is too specialized to copy quickly. At the bottom, a long list of smaller tools built around a single feature, template, or file format are getting squeezed out fast: Sketch and Zeplin are losing to Figma's all-in-one platform, MAGIX and Movavi are losing to free tools like DaVinci Resolve and CapCut, and Prezi, Marvel, Mockplus, and Piktochart are all bleeding users to bigger platforms that now do their one job for free. The dynamic deciding this whole sector is bundling. When a company like Figma, Canva, or CapCut can offer a free or cheap tier that covers what a smaller specialist charges for, plus add AI generation on top, the specialist's reason to exist disappears. The companies that survive are the ones with deep professional workflows that AI speeds up rather than replaces, or platforms big enough to bundle AI in themselves.
All 181 companies, most protected first
| Company | Standing |
|---|---|
| Ableton Maker of Ableton Live, a digital audio workstation for music production. | Hard to displace |
| Autodesk Autodesk makes CAD/BIM software (AutoCAD, Revit, Maya) for design, construction, manufacturing | Hard to displace |
| Bentley Systems Bentley Systems makes engineering software that runs the physics and asset records behind roads, bridges, and utilities | Hard to displace |
| Blackmagic Design Makes pro cameras, capture cards, and DaVinci Resolve, the video editing suite used in film and broadcast | Hard to displace |
| Canva Online design platform with templates, brand tools, and AI-powered creation. | Hard to displace |
| CELSYS Japanese maker of Clip Studio Paint, the software most manga and webtoon artists draw in | Hard to displace |
| CLO Virtual Fashion Makes 3D garment simulation software used by fashion brands, game studios, and film | Hard to displace |
| Dassault Systèmes French software giant making CAD, PLM, and clinical trial platforms for aerospace, industry, and life sciences | Hard to displace |
| Esko Esko builds packaging prepress, CAD, and artwork management software used by CPG brands worldwide | Hard to displace |
| FabFilter Dutch maker of pro audio plugins like Pro-Q and Pro-L for music production | Hard to displace |
| Focusrite Group UK maker of Focusrite/Novation audio interfaces and synths, with an Ableton stake | Hard to displace |
| Foundry Maker of Nuke, the node-based compositing software top VFX studios build their pipelines around. | Hard to displace |
| Graphisoft Makes Archicad, BIM design software for architects, owned by Nemetschek Group | Hard to displace |
| Image-Line (FL Studio) Belgian maker of FL Studio, a widely used digital audio workstation for music production | Hard to displace |
| Lectra French maker of CAD/CAM design software and cutting machines for fashion and auto | Hard to displace |
| Nemetschek Group German group behind Vectorworks, Maxon, Bluebeam and Solibri for architecture, engineering and construction | Hard to displace |
| Pantone Pantone sets the color-matching standard used across printing, design, and manufacturing worldwide. | Hard to displace |
| Procreate Procreate: paid iPad/iPhone drawing app, #1 paid iPad app for years running | Hard to displace |
| PTC Inc. PTC makes Creo and Windchill software that runs product design and lifecycle data for manufacturers. | Hard to displace |
| Robert McNeel & Associates (Rhino3D) Rhino3D makes precision 3D modeling software used widely in architecture and product design | Hard to displace |
| Serato Serato makes DJ mixing and production software tied to major DJ hardware brands | Hard to displace |
| SideFX SideFX makes Houdini, the procedural 3D software behind most Hollywood visual effects | Hard to displace |
| Siemens Digital Industries Software Siemens division making NX and Solid Edge CAD plus Teamcenter PLM software for engineering | Hard to displace |
| Yamaha Corporation World's largest musical instrument maker, also owns pro audio and Steinberg music software | Hard to displace |
| Adobe Maker of Photoshop, Acrobat, and Creative Cloud, the standard software for creative and document work | Defensible for now |
| Blender Foundation Nonprofit steward of the free, open-source Blender 3D creation suite | Defensible for now |
| Boris FX Maker of VFX and editing plugins like Mocha and Sapphire, now buying up NLEs and audio tools | Defensible for now |
| Bynder Bynder makes cloud software that stores, organizes, and manages a brand's digital assets. | Defensible for now |
| Cimpress plc (Vistaprint) Vistaprint's parent: prints custom business cards, signs, and promo items via a global manufacturing network | Defensible for now |
| Colorfront Hungarian color grading and on-set dailies software used in certified Hollywood post pipelines | Defensible for now |
| FilmLight UK maker of Baselight color grading systems for high-end film and TV finishing | Defensible for now |
| Godot Engine Free, MIT-licensed, community-owned open-source engine for making games. | Defensible for now |
| Luxion (KeyShot) KeyShot makes physics-accurate 3D rendering software for CAD and product design teams | Defensible for now |
| Muse Group Owns Ultimate Guitar, MuseScore, Audacity, and Hal Leonard, the main hubs for tabs, scores, and audio editing | Defensible for now |
| Pomfort German maker of on-set DIT software (Silverstack, Reeltime Pro) for film production crews | Defensible for now |
| Roland Corporation Roland makes electronic instruments, drums, synths, and BOSS effects pedals for musicians | Defensible for now |
| Signiant Signiant makes SaaS software that moves huge media files fast across studios and clouds | Defensible for now |
| Steinberg Media Technologies German maker of Cubase and Nuendo digital audio workstation software, owned by Yamaha since 2004 | Defensible for now |
| Toon Boom Animation Canadian maker of Harmony and Storyboard Pro, the software behind most TV cartoon production pipelines | Defensible for now |
| Topaz Labs Topaz Labs makes AI software that upscales, denoises, and restores photos and video | Defensible for now |
| Vizrt Norwegian maker of broadcast graphics and virtual production software used by CNN, BBC, and Fox | Defensible for now |
| Waves Audio Waves Audio makes professional audio plugins and hardware licensing tech for studios and consumer electronics | Defensible for now |
| Assimilate Maker of SCRATCH color grading and on-set dailies software for film and VR | Protection under test |
| Balsamiq Balsamiq makes low-fidelity wireframing software for early product sketches. | Protection under test |
| Chaos Bulgarian maker of V-Ray, Corona, and Enscape rendering software for 3D visualization and VFX | Protection under test |
| Chief Architect Chief Architect builds CAD/BIM software for residential home design and construction docs | Protection under test |
| Kaltura Kaltura sells video and media management software to schools, enterprises, and media companies | Protection under test |
| Krita Foundation Free, open-source digital painting software built by a small Dutch nonprofit team | Protection under test |
| LottieFiles LottieFiles runs the platform and format behind Lottie/dotLottie animations used across apps and sites | Protection under test |
| Maxon Maxon makes Cinema 4D, the 3D animation and motion graphics software owned by Nemetschek Group | Protection under test |
| Perfect Corp Maker of YouCam AI beauty and AR try-on apps for consumers and beauty brands | Protection under test |
| Pexels Free stock photo and video site owned by Canva, feeding images into Canva's design tools | Protection under test |
| Pixelmator Lithuanian photo/design editor, now Apple's in-house creative app inside Creator Studio | Protection under test |
| Pond5 Stock video, audio, and image marketplace, now a Shutterstock-owned brand | Protection under test |
| Serif Labs British maker of Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher, now owned by Canva | Protection under test |
| Simpleshow German platform automating explainer videos for enterprise training and communications | Protection under test |
| Sketch Mac-native digital design and prototyping tool built by Bohemian Coding. | Protection under test |
| Skylum Maker of Luminar Neo, an AI-powered photo editing app for desktop and mobile | Protection under test |
| TechSmith Maker of Camtasia screen recording and Snagit screenshot software for training and documentation | Protection under test |
| Telestream Telestream makes video encoding and workflow software broadcasters use to move, caption, and check content. | Protection under test |
| Uppbeat Freemium royalty-free music and sound effects platform for online video creators | Protection under test |
| WeTransfer Amsterdam file-transfer service for creatives, now owned by Bending Spoons | Protection under test |
| Zeplin Zeplin turns design files into specs and code notes developers can actually use | Protection under test |
| 123RF 123RF runs a Malaysia-based stock photo, vector, and video marketplace under Inmagine | Losing its protection |
| 99designs Crowdsourced design marketplace owned by Cimpress, matching freelance designers to small-business logo and graphics jobs | Losing its protection |
| ACD Systems (ACDSee) Canadian maker of ACDSee, perpetual-license photo editing and DAM software | Losing its protection |
| Alamy UK stock photo and editorial image licensing agency owned by PA Media Group | Losing its protection |
| Animaker Online tool for making animated and live-action marketing videos | Losing its protection |
| Aprimo Enterprise digital asset management and marketing work software for regulated brands | Losing its protection |
| Arturia French maker of synth plugins (Pigments) and hardware synths/controllers since 1999 | Losing its protection |
| Ashampoo German maker of consumer PC utility and photo editing software since 1999 | Losing its protection |
| Avid Technology Maker of Pro Tools and Media Composer, the editing software behind most Oscar films | Losing its protection |
| Axure Software Solutions Maker of Axure RP, prototyping and wireframing software for enterprise business analysts | Losing its protection |
| BandLab Technologies Singapore's free cloud music DAW and social platform, home to 60M+ creators, owns Cakewalk | Losing its protection |
| Brandfolder Brandfolder is digital asset management software for storing, tagging, and finding brand files. | Losing its protection |
| Bubble Bubble is a no-code visual builder for making web and mobile apps without writing code. | Losing its protection |
| Canto Canto sells digital asset management software that stores, tags, and finds brand files and media | Losing its protection |
| Capture One Danish maker of Capture One, pro RAW photo editing software for studios and photographers | Losing its protection |
| Carrd Bootstrapped one-page website builder run by a tiny indie team | Losing its protection |
| Cocos Creator Cross-platform 2D/3D game engine from China, now a subsidiary of ad-tech firm SUD | Losing its protection |
| Colossyan AI avatar video platform for corporate training and course content | Losing its protection |
| Corel Corporation Canadian maker of CorelDRAW, Painter, MindManager, and WinZip, now owned by Vector Capital | Losing its protection |
| CyberLink Taiwanese maker of PowerDirector video editing software and FaceMe facial recognition tech | Losing its protection |
| Daz 3D Daz 3D sells 3D character models, poses, and animation software to hobbyist and indie creators | Losing its protection |
| Depositphotos Stock photo and video licensing library owned by Cimpress, serving small businesses and marketers | Losing its protection |
| Dribbble Design portfolio site turned tiny freelance marketplace, owned by Tiny Ltd. | Losing its protection |
| Duda Website builder platform that agencies and SaaS companies white-label as their own | Losing its protection |
| DxO DxO makes PhotoLab and Nik Collection, photo software built on lab-measured lens and camera calibration data | Losing its protection |
| Elegant Themes (Divi) Elegant Themes makes Divi, a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder theme used on ~1M sites | Losing its protection |
| Elementor WordPress plugin letting anyone build websites with drag-and-drop, no code. | Losing its protection |
| Extensis Portland font and digital asset management software maker, now a Monotype subsidiary | Losing its protection |
| Freepik Company Spanish stock-asset and AI creative platform behind Freepik, now rebranded Magnific | Losing its protection |
| Frontify Swiss maker of brand management and digital asset management software for enterprises | Losing its protection |
| Genially Interactive presentation and content platform for education and corporate training | Losing its protection |
| Headliner Turns podcast audio into captioned videos and clips for social platforms | Losing its protection |
| Iconik Cloud media asset management platform for video and broadcast teams | Losing its protection |
| IK Multimedia Italian maker of music software and hardware like AmpliTube, TONEX, and iRig | Losing its protection |
| Infogram Infogram lets users turn spreadsheets into charts, infographics, and interactive reports online | Losing its protection |
| InVideo AI video creation platform turning text prompts into finished marketing videos for SMBs | Losing its protection |
| JW Player Video player and ad-monetization platform for publishers, now branded JWX | Losing its protection |
| Kdan Mobile Software Taiwan maker of PDF, e-signature, and creative apps now pivoting to open-core enterprise tools | Losing its protection |
| Kittl Browser-based design tool for print-on-demand sellers, mixes AI generation with vector and typography editing | Losing its protection |
| Lightricks Israeli app maker behind Facetune, now splitting off its LTX-2 AI video model unit | Losing its protection |
| Looka AI tool that generates logos and brand kits for small businesses | Losing its protection |
| Lost Marble (Moho) Lost Marble makes Moho, a perpetual-license 2D animation tool used by pros and indie studios | Losing its protection |
| Marmoset Maker of Toolbag, a 3D texturing and baking/rendering tool for game and film artists | Losing its protection |
| MasterGo Cloud-based collaborative UI/UX design tool, China's domestic stand-in for Figma | Losing its protection |
| MASV MASV runs cloud file transfer built for media and broadcast teams moving huge video files | Losing its protection |
| MediaValet Cloud digital asset management software for mid-market and enterprise marketing teams | Losing its protection |
| Monotype Font foundry owning Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman, licensed to brands worldwide | Losing its protection |
| Motion Array Non-exclusive stock video, template and music marketplace owned by Artlist | Losing its protection |
| Musicbed Musicbed licenses curated music to filmmakers and brands for sync use in video projects | Losing its protection |
| Native Instruments Maker of Kontakt sampler software and NKS-integrated hardware for music producers | Losing its protection |
| ON1 Photo editing software, non-subscription alternative to Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop | Losing its protection |
| OTOY OTOY makes Octane Render, a GPU renderer used across film, VFX, and design pipelines | Losing its protection |
| Penpot Open-source, self-hostable design and prototyping tool built as an alternative to Figma | Losing its protection |
| PicsArt Photo and video editing app with a large creator community and an AI model marketplace | Losing its protection |
| Pixabay Free stock photo, video, and music library owned by Canva since 2018 | Losing its protection |
| Pixso Chinese cloud design tool selling private-deployment access Figma legally can't offer | Losing its protection |
| PreSonus Maker of Studio One DAW and audio interfaces, now rebranded under Fender as Fender Studio Pro | Losing its protection |
| Prezi Prezi makes zoomable, animated presentation software and now an AI agent called Swoop | Losing its protection |
| ProtoPie Maker of ProtoPie, a no-code tool for advanced interaction prototyping of apps and hardware | Losing its protection |
| Reallusion Taiwan maker of iClone and Character Creator, tools for rigged 3D characters and animation | Losing its protection |
| Recraft AI platform that generates images and native vector graphics for brands and designers | Losing its protection |
| Remini Remini is an AI app from Bending Spoons that enhances and generates photos and videos using licensed AI models | Losing its protection |
| Rev Rev sells human and AI transcription, captioning, and legal transcript services for media and courts | Losing its protection |
| Rive Rive makes a design tool for interactive animations that run natively in apps and games | Losing its protection |
| ROLI UK maker of expressive music hardware and a piano-learning app, reborn after bankruptcy | Losing its protection |
| Sketchfab Free web platform for hosting, viewing, and embedding 3D models, owned by Epic Games | Losing its protection |
| Spitfire Audio UK maker of sample libraries and virtual instruments, now a Splice subsidiary | Losing its protection |
| Splice Cloud platform selling licensed music samples, loops, and AI tools to producers. | Losing its protection |
| Tailor Brands AI platform for LLC formation, logo design, and small business branding tools | Losing its protection |
| Teenage Engineering Swedish maker of cult synths and samplers, also a design partner for Nothing and IKEA | Losing its protection |
| TVPaint Développement TVPaint makes hand-drawn 2D animation software used on films from Cartoon Saloon to Pixar | Losing its protection |
| Unsplash Free stock photo platform owned by debt-heavy Getty Images | Losing its protection |
| Vecteezy Vecteezy runs a stock vector, photo, and video marketplace with free and paid licensing tiers | Losing its protection |
| Veed.io Browser-based video editor and auto-captioning tool used by creators and marketing teams | Losing its protection |
| Visme Visme makes browser-based tools for presentations, infographics, and branded documents | Losing its protection |
| Vyond Vyond makes drag-and-drop animated video software for businesses, US | Losing its protection |
| Wacom Japanese maker of pen tablets and displays (Cintiq, Bamboo) for digital artists | Losing its protection |
| Webflow Webflow is a visual, no-code platform for designing and hosting production websites | Losing its protection |
| WeVideo Cloud video editing platform for K-12 schools and business training teams | Losing its protection |
| Widen Widen is Acquia's digital asset management platform for enterprise brand and marketing files | Losing its protection |
| Wondershare Technology Chinese maker of budget video, PDF, and office software, listed in Shenzhen | Losing its protection |
| Animoto Web-based video and slideshow maker for SMB marketing content | Little protection left |
| BeFunky Small online photo editor offering filters, effects, and basic AI touch-ups for casual users | Little protection left |
| Biteable Template based online video maker for small businesses, based in Australia | Little protection left |
| Bondware (Poser) Maker of Poser, 3D character posing and rendering software, plus the Renderosity content marketplace | Little protection left |
| Brightcove Brightcove sells enterprise video hosting and streaming to companies like Marriott and Ford | Little protection left |
| FaceApp Freemium app for AI face aging, gender-swap, and photo editing filters | Little protection left |
| Fliki Estonia based bootstrapped platform that turns text into AI voiceovers and videos | Little protection left |
| Flinto Mac app for building animated app and UI prototypes, run by two people | Little protection left |
| Fotor Fotor is an online photo editing and design tool with AI background removal and generative editing features | Little protection left |
| FXhome (HitFilm) Discontinued UK video editing brand (HitFilm, Imerge), shut down by owner Artlist in 2025 | Little protection left |
| InShot Mobile video and photo editing app with a huge install base and flat revenue | Little protection left |
| Justinmind Bootstrapped Spanish tool for wireframing and clickable UI prototypes | Little protection left |
| Kapwing Browser-based video editor with AI tools for quick clips and team collaboration | Little protection left |
| Lumen5 Turns blog posts and text into short marketing videos using stock footage | Little protection left |
| MAGIX Software German maker of consumer video/audio editing tools like Music Maker and Xara | Little protection left |
| Marvel App UK maker of a simple browser based design and prototyping tool for digital products | Little protection left |
| Mockplus Mockplus makes UI/UX prototyping and design collaboration tools out of Chengdu, China | Little protection left |
| Moovly Belgian platform for template-based animated video and text-to-speech content | Little protection left |
| Movavi Movavi makes low-cost, beginner-friendly video and photo editing software for consumers | Little protection left |
| NexStreaming (KineMaster) Korean maker of KineMaster, a mobile video editing app for creators | Little protection left |
| PicMonkey Online photo editing and design tool owned by Shutterstock | Little protection left |
| Pictory Pictory turns scripts, blogs, and long videos into short captioned clips using AI | Little protection left |
| Piktochart Malaysia-based infographic and visual content maker, now a feature team inside ThriveCart | Little protection left |
| Pixlr Browser-based photo and video editor wrapping licensed AI models like Flux and Kling | Little protection left |
| Powtoon Tel Aviv maker of animated video and presentation software since 2012 | Little protection left |
| Prisma Labs Maker of Lensa and Prisma, AI photo/avatar apps built on Stable Diffusion | Little protection left |
| QuVideo (VivaVideo) Chinese maker of VivaVideo and VivaCut, mobile video editing apps with 500M+ installs | Little protection left |
| Renderforest Online maker of template based videos, logos, and website graphics | Little protection left |
| Slidebean AI-assisted pitch deck maker and fundraising consulting service for startup founders | Little protection left |
| Sonix Sonix turns audio and video into transcripts, subtitles, and translations | Little protection left |
| Squadcast Remote podcast recording tool now being absorbed and shut down by owner Descript | Little protection left |
| Trint UK maker of Trint, an AI transcription and editing tool for journalists and media teams | Little protection left |
| UXPin Polish design and prototyping platform letting teams build UI mockups and code-connected prototypes | Little protection left |
| Venngage Canadian platform for building infographics and visual reports from templates | Little protection left |
| VistaCreate VistaCreate is Cimpress's budget online design tool for templates, graphics, and social media assets. | Little protection left |
| Xara Xara makes vector graphics and web design software, plus a real estate marketing tool called Playbooks | Little protection left |
| Zencastr Remote podcast recording, editing, and hosting platform for independent creators | Little protection left |
Questions people ask
- Is Figma killing Sketch and Zeplin?
- Yes, largely. Figma has taken more than 80% of Sketch's old market through browser-based collaboration, and its built-in Dev Mode and Figma Make features are now doing the job Zeplin used to charge for.
- Will Adobe survive the AI design software shift?
- Adobe is holding its position but with real pressure, since Figma already won UI/UX design and Canva and Midjourney are pulling price-sensitive and prosumer users away from Adobe's paid tiers.
- Is Canva a threat to Adobe?
- Yes. Canva has close to 200 million monthly users and keeps adding AI creation tools, pulling everyday design work away from Adobe's higher-priced Creative Cloud tiers.
- What happened to MAGIX Software?
- MAGIX's revenue fell from about EUR32 million to EUR20 million as Blackmagic Design's free DaVinci Resolve pulled away its video editing customers, forcing the company into insolvency and asset sales.
- Which video editing apps are losing to CapCut?
- InShot and Movavi are both losing casual users to CapCut and Microsoft Clipchamp, which offer free AI-native editing that these paid apps don't match.
- Is Webflow going to survive AI website builders?
- Webflow is under real pressure from WordPress.com's AI builder and prompt-to-site tools like Lovable and v0, which let people skip visual design entirely and go straight from a prompt to a working site.
What to watch
- CapCut's download and active user rankings keep climbing against InShot and Movavi in app store charts.
- Figma keeps announcing new features that copy what standalone tools do, like Dev Mode, Figma Sites, or Figma Make.
- More insolvency, shutdown, or fire-sale announcements from consumer-facing design and editing brands.
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