--- title: Substance Designer Reviews meta\_title: 'Substance Designer Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 56 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Substance Designer works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.5 review\_count: 56 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: 3D Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/3d-design --- # Substance Designer Reviews & Product Details Claimed ###### Profile Status This profile is currently managed by Substance Designer but has limited features. Are you part of the Substance Designer team? [Upgrade your plan](https://sell.g2.com) to enhance your branding and engage with visitors to your profile! Substance Designer is a node-based non-destructive application for creating materials. Edit complete texture sets fast with the non-linear workflow and see your changes apply simultaneously to all your outputs. Unleash the power of Substance Designer and focus on what really matters: your art. * * * Seller [Adobe](https://www.g2.com/sellers/adobe) Discussions [Substance Designer Community](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/discuss) Languages Supported English, Chinese (Simplified) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Overview by Vincent GAULT (Tech Artist / Community Manager chez Allegorithmic) Show More ## Value at a Glance Averages based on real user reviews. ### Perceived Cost $$$$$ [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/pricing) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Blender](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Blender") Blender 4.6/5(319) ](https://www.g2.com/products/blender/reviews) [ ![3ds Max Design](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "3ds Max Design") 3ds Max Design 4.3/5(284) ](https://www.g2.com/products/3ds-max-design/reviews) [ ![Maya](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Maya") Maya 4.3/5(267) ](https://www.g2.com/products/maya/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/competitors/alternatives) ## User Insights Average based on 56 real user reviews. Perceived Cost $$$$$ [Log in to unlock pricing and user insights](/login) ![Lauren S.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Lauren S.") LS Lauren S. Project Manager Marketing and Advertising Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/22/2026 "Incredibly Powerful Procedural Texturing with Full Material Control" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? Substance Designer is an incredibly powerful tool for creating high-quality, procedural textures. It gives full control over materials, allowing me to build complex, reusable textures from scratch with precision. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? The node-based workflow is flexible and efficient once you get used to it. I especially like how easy it is to iterate, make variations, and maintain consistency across assets. Integration with other Adobe tools and 3D software makes it even more valuable for professional workflows. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? That said, the learning curve can be steep for beginners. The interface feels complex at first, and mastering advanced nodes takes time. Performance can also slow down with very heavy graphs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic Review from User Profile ![Verified User in Animation](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Animation") UA Verified User in Animation Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 9/8/2023 "BEST TOOL FOR DESIGN PROCEDURAL MATERIAL" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? Substance designer helps ne to create endless procedural materials and combinations for my 3D projects . This software made specifically for game artists. This software gives you the freedom to create your own unique materials for your needs Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? For beginners I think it's difficult to understand the complexity of the nodes because this software based on node workflow . And sometime this software feels very laggy I think it's depends on system configuration Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? This software helps me to create procedural materials and seemless textures for my projects Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite DK Davron K. 3d game designer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 12/22/2021 "Best experience in creating texture assets for 3D" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? What I admire most about Substance Designer is the ease with which you can create incredible textures with minor discomfort than other applications. The ability to get all the texture maps you need or the finished material for your substance painter at a glance Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? The only thing you might not like is the complexity of the nodes in the beginning, but after spending some time inside the app, I can say that this is not a severe disadvantage. The great possibilities of the app outweigh the disadvantages. After a few days of use, the app will blow your mind, and a smile will spread across your face as a result. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? Create complex and unique game-ready textures that can be modified using nodes and adjusted to my needs. Export these textures directly to Substance Painter as a material and work with them quickly in another application Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Michael M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Michael M.") MM Michael M. 3D Technical Artist Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 10/22/2021 "The Houdini of Texture Creation." 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? It is incredible how you can build complex structures from simple forms and well-thought steps. The node system is superb. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? The only thing I don´t like is when you want to review with iRay it goes full screen and loses the possibility to edit my nodes. I wish it would remain in the preview window as I want to continue to edit the node structure. I do believe the new version at the time of this review in 2021 is a little different. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: Read through the documentation. It is well done and beneficial, plus explore the massive tutorials at Adobe and if you really want to dig its power, explore complex functions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? I use it to create digital food virtually by creating a generator of things, such as bread, muffins, cookies, and such. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 11/9/2023 Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Ilya C.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Ilya C.") IC Ilya C. Curator of the course "Super Maya" Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 6/29/2021 "How to create something out of nothing?" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? As an environment artist, it is essential to get suitable materials for myself, which are found everywhere in our world. But what if you are unable to reach them? Substance Designer will come to the rescue, which will allow you to create all sorts of materials through the node system and flexible settings. As an artist, I say yes to this program, and it occupies one of the places of honor in my collection. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? New and exciting nodes have not appeared in the program for a long time, it is also a pity that there are not enough lessons from the creators of the program themselves. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: I recommend all artists use this to create textures, it's really cool! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? I create procedural materials with a very wide arsenal to create different surfaces. Flexible settings and the ability to do whatever comes to mind, while achieving amazing photo realism. This program is truly a lifesaver for many artists. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Sherif G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Sherif G.") SG Sherif G. 3D Visualizer and Animator Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 5/11/2021 "Realistic Material for Archviz" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? the ready alpha library helps a lot to start with a good base, the nodes are really dynamic and create a variety of material options Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? the unclear connection issue without a tip message, other than that it works perfectly Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? As an arch viz i was able to create old scratchy walls with a lots of details in a single map Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 3/14/2022 Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Animation](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Animation") UA Verified User in Animation Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 6/10/2022 "easy to use" 4/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? easy to use and easy with wich you can create textures. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? I thing is complexity of the nodes in the beginning. I think you only need some times spent to use app. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? I ceate complex texture that can be modified. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Louis-Philippe D.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Louis-Philippe D.") LD Louis-Philippe D. Technical Artist/ Level Artist Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 1/15/2021 "Substance designer is more accessible than ever" 5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? I love that bridges can be done easily between multiple application for artist, game developers and such. Per example I created materials for unreal and could update easily the process without going back and forth by exporting/importing al the time. A great speed up. The fact that they give a free student License for those who are in need to learn or simply to keep an edge back at home is nice but they could be giving this opportunity for free like Unreal does. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? the learning curve is intense. compared to substance painter designer is nodal based and, as easy it becomes after you tried this and that you still need to fail considerably a lot to do something significantly good. Although Substance designer is greatly appreciated it is still a niche programme which is reaching a a small amount of individuals in the development of video games. (mostly one responsible for an average 200 people team) this can be understandable because the package given for game developers is considerably expensive. Lastly tutorials community is small and is not teaching in general the how to but more the end results of many years of experience. It can be challenging for a new time beginner. Online classes are expensive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: first and foremost is you need to get proper learning. Online tutorials are there and some are free also but there is nothing replacing a teacher to get up to speed quickly and get things done by yourself after. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? As a developer i will use this program to create fast iterations of the material when asked or after reviews. this is a must since PBR is a science of precision and many trials. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Luke D.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Luke D.") LD Luke D. Freelancer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 2/9/2021 "I was offered a gift card for this review. This is, therefore, my review of said product." 2.5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? Well, I've never used substance designer. The name and the logo look and sound nice, I guess? I've heard of the product prior to this and I've also heard that it's a decent software for creating materials that look nice. I've heard it works well with Unity, but, like all hearsay, I cannot confirm nor deny any of this. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? The logo does look like it'd blend into a load of other orange icons that other programs I own have, especially something like blender. I do question why the company behind it outsourced their review collection to what I assume is a third-party company, which then decided that I, a person who's never used the software in question, was a prime candidate for it. But hey, they're offering me a gift card, so, I shall provide my unbiased review of this software I've not used. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Substance Designer: I would heartily recommend finding another review of the product. Additionally, look at the product and deeply review what the problem is that you're trying to solve. You probably will find the solution in this product, but always make sure to factor in time to learn it before you can start using it as a solution. I made that mistake with 3DSMax one time, thinking it would solve problems that Blender was already solving. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? I haven't? I genuinely have not used this software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Computer Games](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Games") UC Verified User in Computer Games Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 3/10/2021 "Steep learning curve, but so worth it" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Substance Designer? I like the variety of ways you can achieve certain effects or results in Designer. When I create materials, I already have several ideas in my head about how to produce certain details, but then I look at other artists making similar materials on youtube, and their methods might be completely different, yet we can both achieve similar and high quality results. To me, this is amazing and allows for so much creatice thinking. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Substance Designer? I disliked the steep learning curve, as it took a long time to learn Designer well enough so that I don't have to follow tutorials to create materials anymore. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Substance Designer solving and how is that benefiting you? I think it helped my employability to learn this software, as it's allways attractive to employers (especiallyy game studios) when artists can create their own materials. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ## Questions about Substance Designer? Ask real users or explore answers from the community Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights. [ Ask about Substance Designer ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/discussions/new) GU Guest User What is Substance Designer used for? 0 Upvotes 0 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/substance-designer-what-is-substance-designer-used-for) [ View all Discussions ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/discuss) ##### Pricing Pricing details for this product isn’t currently available. Visit the vendor’s website to learn more. [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/pricing) Substance Designer Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_6112c138e20f80a02a073469ac6e865c/blender.gif "Product Avatar Image") Blender 4.6/5(319) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/blender-vs-substance-designer) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_a5f997e9293e492840a3e9596a8c566b/keyshot.png "Product Avatar Image") KeyShot 4.5/5(182) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/keyshot-vs-substance-designer) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_4c780658e809bc5049c36f652e511ea4/cinema-4d.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Cinema 4D 4.6/5(137) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/cinema-4d-vs-substance-designer) ##### ##### Substance Designer Features Design Brush Variety Effects Move Render Views Store & Manage Pipeline Controls Template library [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/features) ##### Categories on G2 [3D Modeling](https://www.g2.com/categories/3d-modeling)[3D Rendering](https://www.g2.com/categories/3d-rendering) ##### Explore More [What is the best encryption software for securing sensitive files without degrading user workflow speed?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-encryption-software-for-securing-sensitive-files-without-degrading-user-workflow-speed)[What's the best CPQ software with custom pricing features](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-s-the-best-cpq-software-with-custom-pricing-features)[Top tools for optimizing cloud spend](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-top-tools-for-optimizing-cloud-spend) [Best compensation planning software for growing companies](https://www.g2.com/discussions/best-compensation-planning-software-for-growing-companies)[Which aviation compliance monitoring platforms deliver user-friendly interfaces despite complex safety management features?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-aviation-compliance-monitoring-platforms-deliver-user-friendly-interfaces-despite-complex-safety-management-features)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/substance-designer/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)