“Is there any free alternative to Photoshop?” is surely a question that you’ve asked yourself if you’re new to photo editing, photo manipulation or digital painting. Definitely, you can find some good replacement for Photoshop out there. Lots of sophisticated editing features are available in free apps that you can use instead of Photoshop. Here’s a list of the TOP 4 FREE Alternatives to Photoshop with their Top Features, and Pros & Cons.
Is there a Free Photoshop Alternative?
The good news is the answer to that question is !
And there is not only ONE good replacement for Photoshop, there are a couple of completely free options available.
Adobe Photoshop is without doubt the most powerful tool for photo editing and digital art available on the market. No other application can beat it. It offers the broadest range of features, supports the highest number of file formats, and offers the most comfortable and intuitive user interface.
→ Best File Format To Save Digital Art
However, all these features come at a price. Many people don’t want to spend that much money or wouldn’t use the software often enough to justify the expense. Others may just be getting started with photo editing, digital painting or photo manipulation. If you’re a newbie to the game, it’s surely wise to try a free Photoshop alternative first before making a bigger investment into the image editing ‘guru’.
→ Check out the huge compilation of Photoshop Tutorials to learn more.
To help those of you that are looking for a free image editor, I’ve looked into the 4 Best and Fully Free Photoshop Alternatives that work with all operating systems.
Here’s the lineup of the TOP 4 Free Alternatives to Photoshop!
GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It’s probably the most popular alternative to Photoshop. Gimp has been around almost as long as Photoshop and has developed into a more and more performing editing tool. GIMP can do *almost* everything that Photoshop can do.
One great feature is that you can work with layers and masks, which comes in very handy when you want to make photo manipulations or edit a photo without irreversibly damaging the original file. In case you want to reverse any of your actions, GIMP also offers you a history toolbar.
There are plenty of filters and downloadable add-ons that increase your editing possibilities. The blending mode options allow you to create catchy visual effects just like in Photoshop. GIMP also supports a wide range of file formats.
With its GNU license, it’s an open-source software that you can use with Windows, Mac, and Linux. Because it’s been around for such a long time, there are many tutorials available for GIMP and the official GIMP website offers a ton of helpful information as well.
Honestly, there are not many cons to mention here… One drawback is that the user interface is not as intuitive as in Photoshop. In fact, its ‘floating windows layout’ can be quite confusing if you’re not used to it. But you can always switch back to the more traditional one-window layout. Another minus is that GIMP doesn’t support raw filters.
All in all, GIMP definitely ranks first as the best, fully free alternative to Photoshop!
- Pros
- Great number of features
- Layers, masks, and filters
- Downloadable add-ons
- Lots of file formats supported
- History tool
- Blending mode options
- Lots of tutorials available
- For Windows, MAC and Linux
- Cons
- No raw filter
- Complicated user interface
Krita ranks second for best free alternative to Photoshop. In addition to the standard editing tools, Krita provides a lot of the functions you would also find in Photoshop, such as layers, masks, blending modes, and a large amount of brush presets.
Krita is a handy alternative for illustrators and graphic designers, too, because it includes many of the same tools as Adobe Illustrator.
The program supports PSD files and allows you to work on multiple projects at once, just like in Photoshop. Its support of drawing tables as well as guides and rulers make it a great tool for digital painting and sketching. Krita comes with a large amount of brush customizations and a hands-on pop-up color and brush selection palette.
One minus: Krita does not feature a history tool. So if you don’t like parts of your painting or sketching, you cannot simply go back to an earlier version and reverse them.
Krita is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Pros
- Supports PSD files
- Multiple projects at the same time
- User interface similar to Photoshop
- Drawing tables, guides and rulers
- For Windows, MAC and Linux
- Cons
- Doesn’t support RAW files
- No history toolbar
- Limited text feature
Pixlr Editor is a completely browser-based image editing software. Although it’s web-based, Pixlr ranks closely behind GIMP due to its various functions.
Pixlr comes in two free versions: a simple easy-to-use photo editor, Pixlr X, and a more advanced desktop-style editor, Pixlr E. Pixlr X is ideal for beginners and offers most of the tools that you need for quick photo edits.
The Pixlr E toolbox contains plenty of additional editing tools that come with a sleek desktop UI similar to GIMP’s.
Besides selection tools, fill and gradient tools, and an advanced color picker, there are stamp tools, healing brushes, and a whole bunch of other features such as blur and sharpen, noise, curves and levels. Pixlr E also has a history tool, so you can reverse what you don’t want to keep.
And you might not expect it from an online editor, but Pixlr even supports layers and blending! This is something you don’t want to do without if you wish to have a minimum of flexibility modifying and enhancing your pics.
All these editing extras make Pixlr an awesome browser-based free alternative to Photoshop!
The mobile version allows you to edit photos on the go. You probably don’t want to attempt complicated manipulations on your smart phone, but basic adjustments like color correction, saturation, contrast, vignettes and frames are done in a jiffy.
As an online tool, Pixlr requires a constant Internet connection. This can be a plus or a minus. The good thing is you don’t need to install any extensive software that slows down your computer or sucks up your hard disk storage. You can also use it with any operating system, regardless of whether you have Windows, Mac, or Linux.
On the downside, if your Internet connection is not stable or you don’t always have access to the web, working with Pixlr Editor is not cushy … or not possible at all!
- Pros
- Broad range of features
- Stamp tools, healing brushes
- Blur, sharpen, noise, levels, curves
- History tool
- Layer and blending modes
- On-the-go editing with mobile version
- Browser-based, can be used with all operating systems
- Cons
- Constant Internet connection required
- No guides and rulers
Photopea is an online photo editor that doesn’t require you to download any software, too. Its user interface resembles very much that of Photoshop and is equally intuitive. However, Photopea offers way fewer editing options than Photoshop, and is also more limited than GIMP and Pixlr.
However, it features most of the tools you’ll need for everyday image work. All basic editing and adjustment functions are supported.
It can open most of the standard image formats, but also RAW files, GIMP and CorelDRAW files, and Photoshop PSD files. One big plus is that it supports PSD files and layer editing on imported PSD files. It can handle both vector and raster graphics.
Photopea lets you work with layers and layer masks and use blend modes. A magnetic lasso and a quick selection tool provide you with the comfort of selecting things easily.
You can save your projects as a PSD file and export them to either one of the standard image formats or to a more industry-special TIFF file for printing.
→ Best File Format For Printing Digital Art
Again, you will need a constant Internet connection if you decide to work with Photopea.
Downside: There are loads of ads showing on Photopea. If you want to remove them, you’ll need to pay $9 a month.
These adds unfortunately diminish user experience and make Photopea lose half a star in comparison to its web-based buddy Pixlr.
The actual program functions, though, are free for you to use without paying any money!
- Pros
- Basic range of editing tools and adjustment functions
- Support of PSD and RAW files
- Layer editing on imported PSD files
- Intuitive user interface similar to Photoshop
- Browser-based, can be used with all operating systems
- Cons
- Lots of ads (removing them requires a minimum fee of $9 a month)
- Fewer features than GIMP and Pixlr
- Constant Internet connection required
What’s your favorite free alternative to Photoshop? Let me know in the comments! If you found this post helpful, consider sharing it with others looking for free editing software! Stay creative and see you next time, Angie ^^
My name is Angie and I’m a self-taught digital artist. On this blog, I am sharing my knowledge and discussing the best software and hardware for different artistic needs. My desire is to offer options for all creative stages and budgets so that everyone can follow their dream and create art!
