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As a graphic designer and illustrator who‘s spent over a decade primarily working on Macs, I‘ll admit I didn‘t give CorelDRAW much consideration for a long time. For many years, it was a Windows-only program that couldn‘t really compete with the Mac-based design tools I was used to like Adobe Illustrator and Sketch.
But with the release of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019, that all changed. Corel finally brought their flagship vector graphics software to the Mac, along with a slew of new features and improvements to appeal to a new audience of Apple creatives. I decided to take a closer look – here‘s what I discovered.
A brief history of CorelDRAW on Mac
First, a little backstory. CorelDRAW originally launched way back in 1989 as one of the first dedicated vector illustration tools. It quickly became a popular alternative to Adobe Illustrator in the early 90s due to its ease of use, wide range of powerful features, and lower cost.
However, CorelDRAW was only available for Windows PCs which severely limited its usefulness as graphic design increasingly moved to the Mac platform. Corel did release a stripped-down Mac version called CorelDRAW 8 Limited Edition in 1996, but it failed to catch on. The company then abandoned the Mac market for over 20 years.
That finally changed in 2019 with the release of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac, a full-featured version with feature parity to the Windows release. Corel has continued to update it every year since, adding more Mac-specific optimizations and features with each release.
CorelDRAW 2024 pricing & what‘s included
So what do you actually get in the latest Mac version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2023? It‘s a bundle of 7 different creative apps and utilities:
- CorelDRAW for vector illustration and page layout
- PHOTO-PAINT for photo editing
- Font Manager to explore and organize your font library
- AfterShot HDR for high dynamic range (HDR) photo processing
- PowerTRACE to convert bitmaps to editable vector graphics
- CAPTURE to capture images/video directly from your screen
- Corel DUPLEXER to create two-sided projects for double-sided printing
Plus you get a massive content library including:
- 7,000+ high quality clipart, digital images, vehicle templates, etc.
- 1,000+ TrueType and/or OpenType fonts
- 150+ professionally designed templates
- 600+ fountain, vector and bitmap fills
Corel offers both a subscription and perpetual license for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite on Mac. You can either pay $249 per year and get ongoing updates and support, or make a one-time purchase of $549 for a specific version that doesn‘t require a subscription.
Note that this is significantly less than a comparable Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, which runs $599 per year for Illustrator alone or $2,332 per year for the entire collection of 20+ creative apps.
Mac system requirements & setup
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2024 for Mac runs on macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or higher, including the latest macOS 13 (Ventura). The complete system requirements are:
- macOS 10.15 or higher (64-bit)
- OpenCL 1.2 capable video card (recommended)
- 4 logical cores or higher (recommended)
- 8 GB of RAM (16 GB recommended)
- 10.8 GB hard disk space for installation
- 1280 x 800 screen resolution (1920 x 1080 recommended)
- Multi-touch trackpad, mouse or tablet
- Internet connection for installation, authentication & some features
Installation is a straightforward process of downloading the installer from your Corel account, running it, and following the prompts. On my M1 MacBook Pro it took about 10 minutes in total to download and install.
One thing to note is that by default, CorelDRAW 2024 runs through Apple‘s Rosetta 2 translation layer on M1/M2 Macs since it‘s not a native Apple Silicon app. However, in my testing it still performed extremely well and I didn‘t encounter any issues. Corel says they are working on full Apple Silicon support for a future release.
Vector illustration
As a vector graphics editor first and foremost, how does CorelDRAW actually stack up for common illustration tasks? Quite well in my experience!
All the standard vector drawing and editing tools you‘d expect are here: pen tool, bezigon tool, shape tools, text tools, etc. If you‘re coming from Adobe Illustrator, everything will feel very familiar. The properties bar and inspectors give you complete control over fills, strokes, effects, text formatting, etc.
One area where CorelDRAW really shines is its support for pressure sensitive/tilt drawing tablets. As someone who uses a Wacom tablet daily for illustration, CorelDRAW‘s brushes are some of the most natural and responsive I‘ve used. You can completely customize the thickness, opacity, rotation, and dozens of other settings based on your pen pressure and tilt. The resulting strokes really capture the hand-drawn feel better than Adobe Illustrator in my opinion.
Another standout is the new AI-powered LiveSketch tool, which lets you sketch freehand and have your strokes automatically converted to precise vector curves in real-time. This is a huge time saver compared to tracing over sketches manually and the AI does a surprisingly good job interpreting my quick pen strokes. Adobe Illustrator has a similar tool but I find CorelDRAW‘s to work better and produce cleaner results, especially after the latest enhancements in version 2023.
Some other notable vector features in CorelDRAW 2024 for Mac:
- Symmetry drawing mode: Create mirrored curves and shapes in real time based on a line of symmetry you define. Great for making geometric designs quickly.
- Block shadow tool: Instantly add solid vector shadows to objects with complete control over color, opacity, position, and more. The shadows are separate objects you can further edit and refine.
- Pointillizer: Convert any vector object, text, or imported bitmap to a pattern of dots/circles for a screenprint/halftone effect. Lots of settings to customize the pattern and density.
Page layout
While not marketed as a desktop publishing app per se, CorelDRAW is no slouch when it comes to multi-page layouts. If you‘ve used Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, or Affinity Publisher, you‘ll feel right at home in CorelDRAW.
You can set up multi-page documents with master pages to instantly populate headers, footers, page numbers, etc. Linking text frames so the text flows from one to another across pages is also supported.
I was especially impressed with the typography features. Fine-grained control over kerning, tracking, OpenType features, drop caps, bulleted & numbered lists, etc. It‘s all here. The built-in preflight checks are also fantastic for ensuring your print jobs come out looking exactly like you expect.
Some other notable page layout features:
- Text styles & style sets: Store your text formatting for easy reuse and one-click formatting across your entire document
- Dynamic guides & alignment: Customize guide positioning and object snapping for precision layout
- Multi-page import: Flow text from a word processor across multiple pages in your layout automatically
Again, while not as deep as InDesign for long documents, CorelDRAW is more than capable for shorter graphic-intensive print projects like brochures, flyers, newsletters, restaurant menus, and more.
Photo editing
If you get the full CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, you also get Corel PHOTO-PAINT for editing bitmap/photographic images. Think of it like a lite version of Photoshop.
The standard healing, clone, red eye removal, and touch-up tools you‘d expect are all here. There‘s also lens correction options to correct distortions and aberrations, HDR tone mapping, and manual JPEG artifact removal.
For more creative photo manipulations, you‘ll find a wide assortment of filters, effects, and adjustment layers that can be stacked and masked non-destructively. The AI-powered upsampling and artifact removal are also best-in-class from my tests.
Some other notable photo editing features unique to the latest Mac version:
- Multi-Asset Export: Export a single photo to multiple file formats and sizes in one step, great for preparing web images
- Non-destructive effects: Move, edit & delete effects you apply without altering the original image
- AfterShot integration: Send a photo to the included AfterShot HDR app for high dynamic range editing
While not a full Photoshop replacement for professional image editing work, PHOTO-PAINT is great for the occasional photo edit or touch up to go along with CorelDRAW illustrations.
macOS integration & usability
I‘m happy to report that unlike some other cross-platform apps, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite feels right at home on macOS. The standard Mac keyboard shortcuts are supported, Windows have the proper close/minimize buttons, and everything looks like a native Cocoa app.
Support for Mac-specific features is also quite good. CorelDRAW supports the MacBook Pro TouchBar, iCloud sync, multiple monitors, and even the Dark Mode UI introduced in macOS Mojave. Performance is excellent thanks to GPU acceleration — I was easily able to work on very complex multi-page illustrations with dozens of artboards and high res imported images without any slowdowns.
Some other nice Mac touches:
- Touch Bar shortcuts: Contextual tool shortcuts automatically appear on the MacBook Pro Touch Bar as you work
- iCloud document sync: Save your CorelDRAW files in iCloud Drive and access them across all your Macs and iOS devices
- Multiple display support: Work with CorelDRAW on an external display or spread the app across multiple monitors
- macOS Services integration: Access CorelDRAW tools from the macOS Services menu and use your favorite Mac apps to edit images in CorelDRAW
There are a few missing Mac features that would be nice to see in a future version, like Apple Pencil/Sidecar support on iPad or a native Apple Silicon version. But overall the Mac experience is very polished and I encountered no show-stopping bugs in my testing.
Final thoughts
So is CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2024 worth a look for Mac-based designers? If you‘re in the market for an affordable do-it-all graphic design tool, I think it‘s a very compelling option.
At $249/year, you get a full professional workflow for vector illustration, layout, photo editing, and typography for far less than a comparable Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. The app is easy to learn thanks to the downloadable user guides and over 5 hours of in-depth training videos included.
It‘s especially appealing for designers who need the power of Adobe Illustrator or InDesign but don‘t want to be locked into a Creative Cloud subscription. The perpetual license option starting at $549 is a great value.
Some advantages of CorelDRAW 2024 on Mac vs. the Adobe apps in my experience:
- Much more affordable pricing, especially with the perpetual license option
- Extensive vector brushes and symmetry tools
- Powerful page layout features usually reserved for separate apps like InDesign
- Better included photo editing than Illustrator
Of course, there are also some good reasons to stick with the Adobe ecosystem, like the much larger community of learning resources, integration with other creative tools, and collaborative features.
Affinity Designer is also a very capable Illustrator alternative. But CorelDRAW‘s Mac version offers a more extensive toolset, professional print features, and photo editing tools you won‘t find in Affinity Designer alone.
The bottom line: If you‘ve been curious about CorelDRAW but brushed it off as a Windows-only novelty, the latest Mac version is absolutely worth a serious look. It‘s an impressively powerful suite of tools for professional vector graphics, photo editing, and page layout—all optimized for macOS. And the free 15-day trial means there‘s no risk in taking it for a spin yourself to see if it meets your needs.