Both of the programs have similar ways of moving around the canvas, but through a bit different key combinations. Getting used to moving around in one program has clear advantages while it makes you able to move around efficiently without having to think about it, but when shifting to another program it's a bit frustrating how the same commands suddenly produce different results. For example, while tracing a bitmap, Inkscape by default traces it as shapes on top of each other, but Illustrator as strokes that may or may not be connected at their end nodes.

My first impression of Illustrator is that while in inkscape the basic approach is to work with shapes, Illustrator seems to see things more as collections of lines. I have mostly been using Inkscape for now, but while learning about Illustrator, I am taking notes of the differences, trying to construct some kind of a guide.

Illustrator is a commercial product by Adobe and Inkscape is an open-source program. For vector design there is more than one option of which program to use, and at FabLab Reykjavík we have Illustrator and Inkscape installed on the computers.

Inkscape vs illustrator path