Linearity Curve Review 2026: Pricing, Features, Pros & Cons
Most people arriving at Linearity Curve are actually looking for Vectornator — the free, genuinely excellent vector app for Mac and iPad that this is the direct continuation of. The app is still very good. It is also no longer free, is metered in credits, and its free tier now sits behind a waitlist. That gap between what people remember and what they will find is the whole story of this review.
Quick Verdict
Best for: illustrators and solo designers on Mac and iPad who want a real pen tool with Apple Pencil pressure, plus auto-trace and background removal in the same file. Not for: teams that need real-time co-editing, anyone on Windows or Android, or people who remember Vectornator being free and are expecting that to still be true.
What Is Linearity Curve?
Linearity Curve is a native vector design app for Mac, iPad and iPhone — the renamed continuation of Vectornator, now sold as one half of a two-app suite alongside Linearity Move for motion design. Underneath the AI marketing it is a serious illustration tool: pen tool, shape builder, brush tool with pressure sensitivity, boolean operations, PDF editing and export to SVG, PDF, AI and PNG.
The AI layer sits on top of that rather than replacing it. Auto Trace converts raster images into editable vector paths, Magic Eraser and background removal handle cleanup, Super Resolution upscales, AI Backgrounds generates, and automation handles bulk resize and translation across artboards. Linearity's framing is that the AI is included in every plan — no feature is locked mid-file — and that is accurate, with the caveat that every AI action consumes credits from a monthly allowance.
What has changed most in 2026 is the commercial model. Vectornator was free and won a large audience on that basis. Linearity Curve is a per-editor subscription running from $10 to $80 a month, the Free plan is 250 lifetime credits behind a waitlist, and credits are consumed at different rates depending on which AI action you run. The app got better; the offer got considerably more expensive.
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Linearity Curve Pros & Cons
✓ Pros
- •The vector toolset is genuinely professional and always has been: pen tool, shape builder, brush tool, pressure sensitivity, PDF editing and boolean operations sit alongside the AI, not instead of it
- •Linearity AI is included in every paid plan rather than sold as a separate add-on, so there is no mid-file upsell when you reach for auto-trace or background removal
- •Auto Trace is the strongest reason to open the app: raster-to-vector conversion is the one AI task in design where the output is objectively checkable, and Curve does it well enough to replace a manual pen-tool pass
- •It ships as a native Mac, iPad and iPhone app with Apple Pencil pressure support, which puts it in a category Figma and Canva cannot enter — genuine tablet illustration with a desktop-class vector engine
- •Every subscription includes Linearity Move, the motion-design sibling, so a static logo and its animated version come from one purchase rather than two
- •A Figma plugin exists, so Curve can sit downstream of an existing team workflow instead of demanding you abandon it
- •Students, teachers and institutions get 58% off the annual Pro plan, verified through a four-question form — one of the steeper education discounts in design software
- •Export coverage is broad: SVG, PDF, AI and PNG all come out clean, so nothing is trapped in a proprietary format
✗ Cons
- •The free tier is no longer a free tier in any useful sense: it is 250 lifetime credits, and as of 2026 the sign-up button says "Join waitlist" rather than letting you start — a free plan you cannot reliably access is a marketing page, not a product
- •Everything is metered in credits now. Starter buys 800 a month, Pro 3,250, Business 6,500 — and the vendor's own FAQ concedes that different AI actions consume different amounts, so you cannot predict what a month of work costs before you buy it
- •Vectornator was free. Linearity Curve starts at $10 per editor per month and the tier most working designers will actually need is $30. That is a substantial re-pricing of the same lineage of app, and long-time users have not been quiet about it
- •"Per editor" pricing on a solo illustration app is an odd fit — it is priced like team software while being used, mostly, by one person on an iPad
- •Linearity Intelligence and the higher-value brand-management features are gated to the $80/month Business tier, so brand-kit workflows are out of reach at any individual price
- •There is no Windows or Android client. Apple-only is a defensible choice, but it means half the design market simply cannot evaluate the tool
- •It is not a collaborative multiplayer canvas: for real-time co-editing with engineers and PMs, Figma remains the only serious answer and Curve does not pretend otherwise
- •The pricing page itself argues that AI plans have to cost more because of inference cost — an honest explanation, but one that lands as a defence rather than a value proposition
Linearity Curve Pricing 2026
Free
- •250 lifetime credits (not monthly)
- •1 basic brand kit
- •5 GB cloud storage
- •No credit card required
- •Waitlisted sign-up as of 2026
Seeing what one prompt does, nothing more
Starter
- •$8/editor/mo billed annually
- •800 credits per month
- •Automation: resize and translate
- •Remove background, AI upscale
- •100 GB cloud storage
Individuals adding AI to everyday design work
Pro
- •$25/editor/mo billed annually
- •3,250 credits per month
- •Access to Curve and Move
- •100 GB cloud storage
- •58% education discount available
Working designers and fast-moving small teams
Business
- •$65/editor/mo billed annually
- •6,500 credits per month
- •Linearity Intelligence (early access)
- •Brand management
- •500 GB cloud storage
Brand teams needing governance and controls
An Enterprise tier is quoted by company size and adds org-shared credits, SSO, export permissions and a Brand Management MCP endpoint. Every paid plan includes both Linearity Curve and Linearity Move. Figures are as published on Linearity's pricing page in 2026 — verify before purchase.
Linearity Curve vs Figma vs Canva vs Recraft
| Feature | Linearity Curve | Figma | Canva | Recraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core model | ✅ Native vector editor | ⚠️ Browser design system tool | ⚠️ Template-first suite | ⚠️ Generative-first |
| Raster → vector auto-trace | ✅ Built in | ❌ Plugin only | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ Vectorises output |
| iPad + Apple Pencil | ✅ First-class | ⚠️ View/limited edit | ⚠️ Basic app | ❌ Web only |
| Real-time co-editing | ❌ Not the model | ✅ Best in class | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Limited |
| Windows / Android | ❌ Apple only | ✅ Any browser | ✅ Everywhere | ✅ Any browser |
| Usable free tier | ❌ 250 lifetime credits, waitlisted | ✅ Real free plan | ✅ Real free plan | ⚠️ Small monthly credits |
| Entry paid price | $10/editor/mo | $3–$16/editor/mo | ~$15/mo | $10/mo |
| Best for | Illustration on Mac/iPad | Product and UI teams | Marketing volume | Generated brand assets |
Who Should Actually Buy Linearity Curve
Buy it if: you draw on an iPad and want a desktop-class vector engine under the Apple Pencil rather than a sketching app; you convert scanned or raster artwork to vectors often enough that Auto Trace alone saves you hours; you need both static and motion versions of the same asset, since Move is bundled at no extra cost; or you are a student or teacher, where 58% off annual Pro turns the strongest tier into an easy purchase.
Skip it if: a second person needs to be in the file at the same time — there is no real-time multiplayer canvas and Figma owns that job outright; anyone on your team runs Windows or Android; or your usage is AI-first rather than draw-first, because credit consumption varies by action and the cost of a month of heavy generation is genuinely hard to predict before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Linearity Curve the same as Vectornator?
Yes. Vectornator was renamed Linearity Curve when the company rebranded to Linearity and split its offering into Curve for static vector design and Move for motion design. The underlying app lineage is the same, but the commercial model is not: Vectornator was free, and Linearity Curve is a credit-metered subscription starting at $10 per editor per month. If you are searching for Vectornator because you remember it being free, that is the single most important thing to know before you download it.
How much does Linearity Curve cost in 2026?
There are four tiers. Free is $0 and gives you 250 lifetime credits, one basic brand kit and 5 GB of storage — and as of 2026 the sign-up is a waitlist rather than an instant account. Starter is $10 per editor per month ($8 annually) for 800 credits. Pro is $30 per editor per month ($25 annually) for 3,250 credits and is the tier most working designers land on. Business is $80 per editor per month ($65 annually) for 6,500 credits plus Linearity Intelligence and brand management. Enterprise is quoted by company size. Every paid plan includes both Curve and Move.
What are Linearity credits and how fast do they burn?
Credits are the unit of AI usage across the app — background removal, upscaling, auto-trace, resize and translate automation all consume them. Linearity's own pricing FAQ states that different AI actions require different amounts of processing and therefore cost different numbers of credits, which is honest but means you cannot forecast a month's spend before you start working. If your work is mostly manual vector drawing with occasional AI assists, Starter's 800 credits will last. If AI is the workflow rather than a helper, budget for Pro.
Linearity Curve vs Figma — which should I use?
They are not really competing for the same job. Figma is a browser-based, multiplayer product-design tool built around components, design systems and handoff to engineers; it is the correct answer for UI work and team collaboration, and its free tier is genuinely usable. Linearity Curve is a native Mac and iPad illustration app with a real pen tool and Apple Pencil pressure support, which is something Figma cannot match. Choose Curve for illustration, logos, technical drawing and tablet work. Choose Figma for interfaces and anything a second person needs to edit at the same time.
Is there a free version of Linearity Curve?
Nominally yes, practically no. The Free plan gives 250 lifetime credits — not 250 per month — plus one basic brand kit and 5 GB of storage, and the sign-up buttons on the pricing page read "Join waitlist" rather than offering immediate access. It is designed to demonstrate what one or two AI prompts produce, not to support ongoing work. Treat Starter at $8–$10 per month as the real entry price, and if you are a student or teacher, the 58% education discount on annual Pro is the better deal by a wide margin.
Does Linearity Curve work on Windows or Android?
No. Curve is Apple-only: Mac, iPad and iPhone. There is a Figma plugin so Curve output can flow into a cross-platform team workflow, and exports cover SVG, PDF, AI and PNG so files are portable, but the editor itself will not run on a PC or an Android tablet. If you need a vector app across mixed hardware, Figma, Canva or Affinity are the realistic shortlist instead.
What are Linearity Curve's biggest limitations?
Three. First, the re-pricing: an app that was free as Vectornator now costs $10 to $30 per editor per month, and the free tier has effectively been withdrawn behind a waitlist. Second, credit metering makes cost unpredictable, because the vendor explicitly prices different AI actions at different credit rates. Third, it is Apple-only and single-player — there is no real-time collaborative canvas, so it slots into an individual illustrator's workflow far better than a team's.
Compare AI Design Tools
See how Linearity Curve compares to Figma, Canva, Recraft and every other design tool in the directory.
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