Adobe Photoshop is, undoubtedly, one of the best photo editors available in the market. However, for users who just need a normal photo touch-up occasionally; Adobe Photoshop is a pretty expensive affair. Photoshop, unarguably, is the top choice of all the professional designers; but for a non-professional person who is just looking for basic enhancements; the complexity and the cost of Photoshop are not viable at all. Due to this reason, we bring this post for you highlighting Top 15 Free Photoshop Alternatives 2020.
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There are plenty of free programs like Photoshop, though not as powerful as Photoshop, with plenty of features that are more than enough for your basic photo editing and enhancement tasks. Let’s have a look at these free apps like Photoshop.
Best Photoshop Alternatives 2020
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GIMP – GNU Image Manipulation Programme
GIMP is one of the best open-source Photoshop alternatives. It doesn’t offer all the features which you will get from Adobe Photoshop but with layers, masks, advanced filters, color adjustment, and transformation; it surely has more than enough to satisfy that photograph editor inside you.
The community of GIMP is large and growing and thus has a plethora of user-created plug-ins and scripts. Out of these scripts and plug-ins; most are already installed when you go to GIMP. Almost all the popular Photoshop tools have been replicated in GIMP.
Also, in case you get confused regarding any feature of the application, a perfect user manual is supplied along with it. The user manual contains various tutorials and even troubleshooting tips to help you start working efficiently with GIMP.
There is absolutely no doubt that GIMP is one of the best Photoshop substitute available in the current market. The latest version of GIMP has an appearance which is quite similar to Photoshop.
GIMP is supported on all major platforms; Windows, Linux and even MAC OS X.
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Paint.NET
Paint.NET is the best Photoshop equivalent for those who don’t have much experience in photo editing or are just starting. Though this picture editor has fewer features than GIMP or Photoshop it serves well the task of basic photograph enhancement and touch-ups.
The Paint.NET community has even developed various plug-ins which can definitely increase the level of functionality of this fantastic tool for beginners. The basic version of Paint.NET has automatic filters and some manual editing tools for making little adjustments in your picture. If you want to get the functionality of masks or layers then for that you need to install certain extra plug-ins.
This tool runs with great efficiency and speed and is not-at-all heavy on your PC. Kindly note that this Photoshop alternatives is available only on the Windows platform and is best for those who want to learn the art of photo editing and enhancement.
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Seashore
This photo editing software like Photoshop is exclusively for MAC Users. Though it has less amount of features as compared to similar Photoshop equivalents; the features are quite easy for you to understand and utilize.
Seashore is an open source Photoshop substitute. It does support brushes, gradients, and even multiple layers. This is one of the best Photoshop free alternatives for MAC OS X users who are looking for a simple and easy to use application for their photo enhancement and editing tasks.
The application, based on MAC’s Cocoa Framework, boasts of a simple user interface and even supports various plug-ins.
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Krita
Krita is one of the best Photoshop alternatives for Linux and Unix. This tool is an open source Photoshop alternative and comes bundled along with the KOffice Suite.
Although this tool doesn’t boast of a huge amount of features set; it has enough features to take care of all your image editing and processing needs.
Krita is compatible with Windows and MAC as well but is considered largely as the Photoshop substitute for Linux and Unix platform itself.
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Photos Pos Pro
Photos Pos Pro is a simple image editing software that has been developed and designed exclusively for the Windows platform. This picture editor is built nicely and just like Photoshop consists of mass and layers.
The best feature of this free Photoshop clone is that you can create a script of your routine tasks and perform them with just a single click. This saves a lot of time. It doesn’t matter whether you are just beginning on your photo editing ventures or you are a professional, Photos Pos Pro, is one of the best Photoshop freeware alternatives for you.
You can even import pictures directly from a camera or a scanner. However, there is a limit on the size of files (1024 x 2014 pixels) saved using Photos Pos Pro. But if you like the basic version of this free Photoshop clone you can easily remove this limitation by upgrading to the premium version.
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Pixlr
Pixlr is one of the best free versions of Photoshop that, instead of residing on your hard drive, resides online. This program is constructed for those who love to edit pictures straightaway from the web browser itself without shutting the browser down.
Just like Photoshop Pixlr has an amazing set of tools and even supports masks and layers to handle your photo editing and enhancement tasks online. This is one of the most preferred software like Photoshop as it has over 600 effects to choose from.
Moreover, its working is very much same as Photoshop so if you have the basic knowledge of Photoshop it won’t be hard for you to grasp this amazing piece of online picture editor.
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Pic Monkey
Pic Monkey is basically utilized for creating collages and scrapbooks from your photographs. It has a decent tool-set which is meant to enhance your pictures. You can even add funny objects like moustache or caps to your photographs.
Just like Pixlr, Pic Monkey is also an online picture editor and lets you edit your images straightaway from the browser. The feature set of Pic Monkey is limited as compared to other apps similar to Photoshop but if you want to unlock more features you are required to go for a premium version.
In case you desire to opt for its Premium version it comes with a 7-day free trial and thereafter you need to pay only $5.50 a month so it is quite cheap Photoshop alternative which provides you enough features to make your pictures look and feel good.
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Sumo Paint
Sumo Paint is another free photo editing software like Photoshop which is browser-based. Yes! You are right. You don’t have to navigate elsewhere from your browser to edit and enhance your pictures.
The interface of Sumo Paint is very much similar to Photoshop. So if you have the basic know-how and navigation skills in Photoshop then learning to use Sumo Paint won’t be very tough for you.
It is wrong to compare Sumo Paint with Photoshop or GIMP, but it has enough features to enable you to do your photo editing tasks in a jiffy. It is one of the best lightweight Photoshop substitutes. If you like working with Sumo Paint you can unlock more of its features by going for the Pro version at just $4 a month making it very cheap Photoshop alternatives.
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Canva
Another great mention in our list of free programs like Photoshop is Canva. It is also a browser-based online photo editing software but goes much beyond than the functionalities offered by typical photo editing software.
The application boasts of numerous additional features like fonts, design and even stock photos. Canva is basically used for creating good looking cover photos, birthday cards, and even business cards. So Canva is best for you if your work is print-based or you need to design some of your office presentations.
Canva also has a big library of its own templates which you can use while doing your task. So, in short, if you are looking for complex photograph editing then Canva is not the tool for you. However, it is enough to handle common designing tasks. If you love working with Canva you can also go for its paid version which is very cheap and costs nothing as compared to Photoshop.
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Fotor
Fotor comes with a tagline of “Simple though Strong” and holds true on its statement as it is one of the best Photoshop substitutes if you are looking for some fast enhancements to your photographs.
One of the most amazing functions, which has been lacking in the above mentioned free alternatives to Photoshop is batch processing. Fotor comes with an excellent batch processing tool and thus can filter a majority of your pictures, together, in just one go.
Fotor is divided into 3 sections. The first section comprises of editing tools, filters, effects and various other kinds of fixes. The second and third sections are frames and text overlays respectively. However, the editing part is free, but for the two other sections, you will be needing to upgrade to a premium version at a mere $3.33 cost (comes with an annual charge of $39), making it a cheap Photoshop alternative.
Also just like Pic Monkey; Fotor does have a collage section too. So you get the functionality of many photo editing tools in one. Fotor is also a free alternative to Photoshop which is browser-based and works online.
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Fotojet
Fotojet is also worth mentioning if we are talking about web-based picture editors. As compared to other free programs like Photoshop; Fotojet is comparatively easy to learn and is an amalgamation of many photo editors in one. This is because you get collage maker, photo editor and even graphics maker in just one tool.
With Fotojet, you can do almost everything with your picture like cropping, resizing, sharpening, coloring, exposure and many more. There are even in-built 30 art fonts.
If you are looking for designing a great cover for your social media account then you should definitely go for Fotojet as it has one of the best graphics maker tools as compared to other Photoshop substitutes.
You can go for the paid version of Fotojet, which has a trial run for 7 days if you are happy with its working. In the paid version, you get access to many other great features.
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Affinity Photo
If you are looking to buy a cheap Photoshop alternatives, without compromising on features then you should definitely go with Affinity Photo as it is a true Photoshop equivalent.
With a price of $49.99 USD, it is definitely worth spending money for. Unlike other software like Photoshop; Affinity Pro does support working on the RAW format and vector tasks. This functionality is not available in other applications similar to Photoshop.
It is fully compatible with Photoshop file formats and others as well. This tool is meant for professional designers and photographers but with a low price tag as compared to Photoshop.
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Sketch
Sketch is a professional vector graphics program which is exclusive for MAC OS X users. With many features similar to Photoshop; Sketch has got the approval of many renowned persons who are using Sketch in place of Photoshop.
It is also compatible with RAW file formats, PSD and others as well. The benefit of using Sketch over Photoshop is that it is much stable and flexible. It is also very fast and smooth as compared to Photoshop making it an ideal Photoshop equivalent with a price tag of $99 USD.
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Cine Paint
Cine Paint is not just an ordinary picture editor tool. This tool was used earlier for designing animation movies. It is compatible with MAC OS X and Linux and is one of the best free alternatives to Photoshop if you are looking for editing videos as well.
Yes, it’s true! Cine Paint can be used for editing and re-touching videos as well making it a versatile software.
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GrafX2
GrafX2 is an open source Photoshop alternative which runs on Linux, Unix, Windows as well as MAC OS X. This tool was designed basically for drawing in indexed color mode.
Apart from this it also provides main image editing features like palette editor, transparency and various other image related effects and brushes.Any Windows compatible file format is supported on GrafX2.
So that’s it my dear friends. We have reached the end of our list of Top 15 Best Photoshop Alternatives.
If you feel like we have missed a good Photoshop substitute then please do let us know in comments below so that our readers can benefit from your knowledge. Also, any questions or queries, which you have, are most welcome.
