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If you are a website designer, graphics designer or YouTuber then most of the time you need a decent image editing software to accomplish your task. Adobe Photoshop is the best image editing software, but it is expensive, and you need to pay around USD 24 per month to use it. If you are low on budget and do not want to spend this much money, then this post is for you.
In this post, we will reveal top 6 free Photoshop alternatives. These software have a simple user interface and almost equal in functionality compared to Photoshop. You don’t need to spend very little or no money for using these software. Let’s check out more about these free softwarethat are Photoshop alternatives.
Free Photoshop Alternatives
#1 – Pixlr
Pixlr is completely free web based image editing software. There is no need to download or install anything to use this tool. If you are looking for almost the features as Photoshop without spending any money, then this is one of the best photo editing online tool. Pixlr has layout, features and keyboard shortcuts that are similar to Photoshop. You can have image layers facility in Pixlr but one thing to note that if you use too many image layers in Pixlr then sometimes things can go wrong. So it is advisable not to use a lot of image layers during image editing.
As this is entirely web based tool, you can use it on browsers in Windows and Mac and on Android and IOS as well. This tool offers features like text overlay, resize, red eye removal, image layers, and filters. Pixlr even offers additional apps that can be used on desktop and mobile devices. The only downside of this tool is that you need to adjust with the ads that get displayed on the sidebar. But considering the free cost, one should not have a problem with these ads.
#2 – Paint.net
Paint.net tool is very much similar to Windows Paint utility. You can say that this is an advanced version of Windows Paint tool and offers some of the Windows Paint features as well. This tool is not that much compelling compared to Photoshop, but we can quickly complete image editing task with this software. You can extend the functionality of this tool by installing plugins. There are various plugins available that are developed by a community of developer that supports this software.
Paint.net can work on Windows 7 and later versions. Key features include Layers, histogram, resizing, noise removal, sharpening and plugin support. Paint.net supports file formats like RAW files, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, and PNG.
#3 – GIMP
Full form of GIMP is ‘GNU Image Manipulation Program.’ If you try searching for a free alternative to Photoshop, then search result will always present results related to GIMP software. Vast community developers support GIMP software. GIMP tool has cross platform OS compatibility making GIMP best alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Agreed that GIMP does not have as many features as Photoshop but you can easily edit the image with a professional touch.
GIMP can work on any operating system like Windows, Mac, Unix. GIMP offers features like Layers, HDR, noise removal, image sharpening as much more. It supports RAW file format and other formats like BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and PSD. Overall this is great software with a lot of features. This is one of the perfect photoshop alternatives softwares.
#4 – Canva.com
Canva is entirely online web based image editing tool which helps you to create great looking images. With the aid of Canva, you can create beautiful designs and documents. Canva offers drag and drop feature and professional layouts. You can make use of these functions to create stunning graphical images.
You can even produce design presentations and social media graphics with the help of these layouts. Canva also offers millions of images, photo filters, free icons, shapes and hundreds of fonts. To avail some of these features, you need to take their premium plan.
I feel that even with the free program, you can get lots of functions that you can use to create beautiful graphical images.
#5 – Adobe Photoshop Express
Considering all the other apps mentioned in this post, Adobe Photoshop Express is the easiest image editing software. This tool is a light version of Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop Express is free and available in the browser and additional apps available for Android, IOS, and Windows. The downside of this application is that you can not resize or crop your images. There are no features like layers and brush tools. This tool has an easy interface that can help you to adjust exposure, contrast and white balance of your images. So you want something just to enhance the quality of your pictures, then this is a perfect tool for you.
#6 – Photo Pos Pro
This software also has a free version which is more than enough for image editing needs. Photo Pos Pro has all those features that are available in Adobe Photoshop. This tool offers features like layers, color refining, batch editing, filters and plugins to use pre made templates. The downside of the free version is the size of the state files. But for your basic photo editing requirements, the free version is all you need.
So, these are all best free alternative softwares for Adobe photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is the best software for editing images. If you have a budget or willing to spend monthly charges for Photoshop, then you should consider using the Photoshop. But if you are looking to edit the images on an occasional basis with no cost then the mentioned alternatives are perfect for you. Hope you find this article helpful. If you know any other best Photoshop alternatives, then please share with us and we will update the same in our article.