Best Free T Shirt Design Software

When it comes to designing a shirt, you have two primary options – design it yourself using graphic design tools such as Adobe Illustrator or use software made for the job. The good news is that there are plenty of free t-shirt design software options to consider!

There are a growing number of platforms that specialize in t-shirt design and can help you create something that people will want to wear. Some of these tools integrate with a t-shirt sales portal as well, making the process even easier.

Adobe Spark saves your creations, so you can always revisit your t-shirt design if you need to update it. Make t-shirt graphics with creativity on your side. Wear your personality on your sleeve by designing a custom T-shirt graphic with the templates from Adobe Spark Post. Advance T-shirt is another cool free software for tee shirt design, with exciting image editing effects. While most t shirt design software or apps work best for desktop or laptop, Snaptee works wonderfully for mobile. It’s been designed specifically for mobile phones. This software lets you pick from a selection of designs uploaded. Even, you can choose from designs that users have uploaded, and then use them in many ways.

Here, we’re going to look at some of the best free t-shirt design software options available and how you can make these tools work for you.

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Custom Ink

Custom Ink allows you to create a t-shirt design and order all in one tool. You can add text, images, and custom graphics as you build a design on-screen.

The shirt builder has a ton of images to help you get started from athletic logo styles to emojis to occupational imagery. Just drag and drop the image onto the shirt preview and you are ready to go.

One of the best features of this online t-shirt software is that it has a background grid that ensures your text and image elements are in safe printing zones for different shirt sizes and styles. The rest of the interface is pretty sleek, too.

You can create shirts for selling or a little league team in minutes from start to finish.

Pros

Easy to use builder
Robust graphics options, even licensed team imagery
Ability to add names and numbers for sports teams

Cons

You need a basic idea of your design to get started
You have to order shirts from this website after you create the design

Design a Shirt

Design a Shirt is another free t-shirt builder that’s built into a website that allows you to order shirts. The tools allow you to add images and text on all different colors and styles of shirts.

The best feature of this tool is the Idea Gallery, which includes some basic templates to help you start a shirt design project. Search by type of shirt to jumpstart projects.

The software is a combination of click to place and drag and drop. It can be somewhat clunky at first but does allow for good control of the design.

Pros

You can see the design come together on the screen
Change the shirt color of style and see your design on it
The idea gallery can speed up projects if you don’t know what you want

Cons

The interface is a little clunky
Clipart options are very “clip art-ish”
You have to buy shirts from this website

Print Shop

Print Shop by Design Hill lets you create custom shirt designs that are printed and shipped to you.

This tool uses a builder with some drag-and-drop and some click tools. The template options are what make this t-shirt design software stand out. You can add artwork from a ready-made gallery and include any additional customizations you might have. It’s quick and easy.

Pros

You can choose shirt options and design in the same place (one screen website design)
Templates make design easy
Tool checks for print quality of graphics to ensure quality

Cons

The interface is a little clunky
Hard to use if you don’t have a ready to import design or use one of their templates
You have to buy shirts from this website

PlaceIt

Placeit is the one true design tool in this list and doesn’t require you to buy shirts after you design them, but that comes with a catch – not all the shirt designs are free.

Design can be as little as $2.95 or free with a subscription.

This t-shirt tool though has some of the best-designed options in terms of templates, and the interface is easy to use when it comes to custom designs. Then you can export your design for use anywhere you like. (Although they do offer shirt orders, too.)

Pros

Easy to use interface
Better clip art than alternatives
Can order shirts anywhere

Cons

Designs are not on shirt mockups for you to see
Not always free

One More Option …

One more option when it comes to free t-shirt design tools is to download a template, customize it in whatever tool you prefer, and then upload it to a printer.

This semi-custom option requires a little more time and work but gives most designers the control they want when working on a shirt design. (You can even upload basic artwork to one of the vendors above and add additional elements with their tools.)

This option is great if you have an idea of what you want, but don’t have a lot of time. Marketplaces are packed with simple templates, there are great professional designs to choose from, and most are “free” with your current subscription. (Envato Elements is great for this reason.)