Photoshop is the leading photo editing software provided by Adobe. It provides plenty of advanced features and tools for photo editing and trendy tool among photographers. It is so popular that some people refer to the term photo editing as Photoshop. However, there are several drawbacks and issues in photoshop. So, there may be many reasons when we needed another tool similar to Photoshop. One of the biggest reasons for using a Photoshop alternative is that photoshop is a premium tool, to use it, we have to pay for it.
We will talk about the top 15 Photoshop alternative tools that are very useful and popular among photographers and graphics designers.
Following are the top 15 popular photoshop alternative:
- GIMP
- Affinity Photo
- Canva
- Pixlr
- Krita
- Sketch
- Photopea
- CorelDraw (Corel Photo Painter)
- SUMO Paint
- Paint.net
- Inkscape
- MyPaint
- Acorn
- Pixelmator
- Picmonkey
Some of the above tools are open-source, and some are the premium tool. Let's discuss each tool in detail:Top 15 Photoshop Alternatives
Following are the top 15 Photoshop alternatives:
1) GIMP
GIMP is an open-source, cross-platform image editor. When it comes to Photoshop alternatives, the GIMP is chosen as a preferable choice by the photographers. Linux users widely use it. Most of the Linux distributions packaged GIMP as their default image editor.
It has almost similar functionalities as Photoshop. We can do almost all the things in Photoshop.
One of the primary reasons to use GIMP in Linux is that Photoshop is not available for the Linux operating system.
GIMP is best used for image editing, image retouching, color management, light adjustment, and other basic editing tasks. Some useful features of GIMP are as following:
- Free and Open- source
- Cross-platform
- High-Quality Photo Editing
- Original Art Work Creation
- Graphic Design Element
- Programming Algorithms
- Wide Range of Plug-ins
- Wide Range of Brushes
- Extensive Filters
- Massive support for basic editing tasks
- Customizable
- Flexible
- supports layers
- Supports Multiple image editing at once
2) Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is another photo editing tool that can be used as a Photoshop alternative. Some people find it more useful than Photoshop. It has a simple and user-friendly interface.
It is a raster-based graphics editor tool developed by Serif. It is available for macOS, Ios, Windows platforms and allows us to merge HDR photos.
Some useful features of Affinity Photo are as following:
- Panorama for wide-angle scene stitching
- Multiple image operations at once
- 360-degree image editing.
- Digital Painting.
- Supports essential editing tools like Dodge, clone, burn, and patch.
- Adjustment of exposures, white balance, black point, etc
- EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) support.
- PSD file support
- RAW files support
- Provides non-destructive editing
3) Canva
Canva is also a handy tool for photo editing. Apart from photo editing, we can perform other useful tasks such as logo designing, Instagram posts, Facebook posts, youtube banners and stickers, artwork, etc. using Canva.
Canva is a premium tool, but it is one of the most acceptable image editors because of its unique features and tools. It is suitable for social media influencers to make attractive posts with stickers and icons. It is easy to use.
The Canva is also available as web-version; it allows us to work with a team. It is packaged with thousands of predesigned elements such as backgrounds and filters.
It slightly differs from Photoshop and other image editing tools. But, we can perform basic editing tasks such as resize, crop, etc.
It is suitable for banner designs, creating social media posts, logos, youtube banners, etc.
Some useful features of Canva are as following:
- Crop photos
- Add text to photos
- add transparency effect
- Enhance photos
- Blur images
- Applying filters and effects
- Icon Creation
- Create a Badge
- Youtube banners
- social media post creation
- Cards creation such as Birthday cards, new year cards, valentine cards, etc.
The trial version of Canva is also available. It is easy to use try Canva.
4) Pixlr
Pixlr is a web-based online photo editor. It is much similar to Photoshop. If you are familiar with photoshop, the Pixlr will be easy to use. It provides AI-based powerful editing. It has an intuitive interface.
The Pixlr supports several popular file formats such as PSD, PXD, JPEG, PNG, SVG, etc.
It is a powerful image editor like Photoshop, but beginners may face the problem while using it. There are not more tutorials available on the web.
It provides various tools and features such as one-click enhancement, which makes it a unique editor.
The Pixlr is a big name in the photo editor world for the mobiles and computers. It is best used for computer-aided designs and 3D modeling. It is one of the most significant competitors of Adobe.
Some key features of Pixlr are as following:
- AI-based smarter tools
- Online editor
- Fast processing
- Inbuilt library for the stickers. Icons, borders, overlays, etc.
- Mobile device support
- Intuitive navigation
5) Krita
Krita is an Open-source photo editing tool, which is mainly used for digital paintings and 2D animation. It provides various painting features such as OpenGL-accelerated Canvas, advanced brush engine, vector artwork support, group-based layer management, etc. It is freely available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows operating systems.
It is a perfect Photoshop alternative like GIMP. But, when it comes to design and creativity, it is not much better than Photoshop.
Krita also provides additional tools to configure the software to offer a personalized experience to the user.
Some popular features of Krita are:
- It provides a wide range of painting tools.
- There are various filters and effects available for the image processing.
- A large number of configuring settings.
- It also supports various image formats and color patters.
6) Sketch
The Sketch is a vector-based professional graphics editor. It is prevalent among graphics designers. It is a very flexible tool that supports infinite zooming and vector shapes.
It has a simple user interface and includes Photoshop and Illustrator features such as layers, color picker, gradients, etc.
Several communities and organizations use it. It provides external plugins support that makes it more specific.
Some useful features of Sketch are as following:
- We can create, prototype, collaborate using Sketch.
- It allows us to design vector images.
- We can update and share our creativity with others.
- It easily allows us to add faces, places, and names to our design.
- It offers a wide range of plugins for designing images.
7) Photopea
Photopea is a web-based online editor that can decently handle our workflow. It covers all the major tasks under one tool. We do not need a separate tool for image editing and graphics designing tasks.
It is an advanced editor having pro editing tools. It supports most standard file formats like JPG, PNG, RAW, Sketch, PSD, etc.
It provides several useful editing tools such as selection tools, layers, layers mask, blend, marquess, etc.
Some useful features of Photopea are as following:
- It provides a simple user interface like any traditional image editor.
- It supports circular and pattern brush shapes.
- It tool provides operations on layers.
- Add text on a shape.
- It provides color fill tool with specific strokes with different options.
- It provides a grid to helps us to align the image elements.
- We can create animated GIF images using Photopea.
Both the free and premium versions of Photopea are available. The premium version has more features and does not display any ads.
8) CorelDraw (Corel Photo-Paint)
The CorelDraw is a vector-based graphics editor provided bu Corel Corporation. It is also known as the Corel graphics suite. It contains several image editing programs like bitmap image editor, Corel photo painter, and more. It is suitable for designing 2D images, such as logos and posters.
The Corel Photo Painter is a powerful alternative to photoshop. It has massive support for cameras (approx 300 types). It provides essential editing tools such as color balance, temperature, saturation, etc., as well as advance editing tools such as healing, filters, etc
some useful features of Corel Photo-Paint are as following:
- complex composition using non-destructive layers.
- special effects in text like bokeh and sepia
color tone to images. - Essential editing features crop, straighten, stitch, etc.
- Remove unwanted areas from photos.
- Mask tool to select parts of images.
9) SUMO Paint
SUMO Paint is a great web-based image editor. It is highly capable and light-weight and fast and contains the most frequently used editing tools.
It is available in free and premium both versions. Its free version is capable enough for basic editing.
SUMO Paint contains many standard tools such as brushes, pencils, shapes, text, cloning, and more. These tools can be accessed from the quick access toolbar. It also allows us to open and save the files to our storage media.
It can be used as a Photoshop alternative. It offers extensive editing features, but it is not as much capable as Photoshop. It has some limitations, especially in the free version.
Some useful features of SUMO Paint are as follows:
- Shape tools for creating shapes.
- Offline working
- Realistic ink impression.
- Updates and bugs fix.
- Automatic fill for any bitmap with brush libraries.
- Tools for creating waves with a 3D effect
- Tools for creating spiral gradient shapes
- Wave effect in the image
10) Paint.NET
Paint.net is an alternative to Microsoft's paint tool, which is packaged with Windows. It is a Window-based tool. It is a very efficient tool for photo editing. It is a free tool. However, there is a paid version of this tool available on the Microsoft store. The premium version is more efficient and contains more features than the free version. Microsoft develops it as an undergraduate project; later, it becomes one of the most used open-source image editors.
It is easy to use the tool and provides several tools for artistic creation. It contains a range of effects and filters that allows us to perform the creation of a fake perspective, blend, selection, and more tasks.
It provides layers, selection, adjustments and other features. It is an excellent alternative to Photoshop.
Some useful features of Paint.net are as following:
- simple, intuitive, and innovative user interface
- Performance
- Layers
- Active online community
- Automatically Updated
- Special effects
- Powerful tools
- Unlimited History
11) Inkscape
The Inkscape is an open-source image editing tool. It is mostly used for creating and editing SVG graphics. It draws graphics based on formula or code to be scaled up or down without affecting the quality of the image. However, it uses SVG graphics, but it can also import raster graphics for vector design. We can open and edit images based on raster graphics by using it.
It typically supports vector-based file formats, but it can export some general file types such as PNG, PDF. It can also export the file in code formats, such as HTML and animation formats such as SIF.
It is mostly used as an alternative to Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw because these adobe tools are premium and do not support the Linux system. The Inkscape is cross-platform and distributed under GPL ( General Public License) to be downloaded for free.
It does not support many editing filters and effects, but it has some compelling drawing and graphics tools.
It is suitable for logos, icons, abstract arts, and dynamic images, but not as good for realistic photo editing or complex images. For photo editing tasks, GIMP is recommended.
Some useful features of Inkscape:
- Object Creation
- Object Manipulation
- Fill and Stroke
- Operation on Paths
- Text Supports
- Rendering
- File Formats
12) MyPaint
MyPaint is a distraction-free and easy painting tool for digital artists. It is developed on focusing on painting, not image editing. So it is suitable for painting works. However, it can perform editing tasks as well. MyPaint is a cross-platform tool available for different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Unix-based operating systems. It is similar to Corel Photo Painter.
Some useful features of MyPaint are as following:
- Support for a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet.
- Dynamic brush library.
- Layer management
- Intuitive User Interface
- Masking color wheel
- Unlimited canvas support
- Symmetry Modes
- Support for Python 3
- The integrated bug reporting feature
- Graphics tablets support made by Wacom and similar device
13) Acorn
Acorn is a useful editor for macOS; It is an excellent and affordable alternative to Photoshop. It supports various editing features, including layer styles, non-destructive filters, curves and levels, blending modes, etc.
The latest release, acorn 6, is viral among Mac users. It has come with some advanced scale, transform, and use emoji on path options.
It comes with 14 days trial option. Currently, it costs $29.99.
14) Pixelmator
The Pixelmator tool is available many times, but it was not so popular till now. But, the latest release of its Pixelmator Pro is beneficial. It comes with some advanced editing tools and features. It is more usable than the previous version as it comes with a single-window user interface while previous versions had floating windows UI. It offers non-destructive image editing.
It also supports the hidden interface option if we do not want any no distraction while editing. It is available for Mac users only.
Some useful features of Pixelmator are as following:
- Supports Tabs, Fullscreen and split view
- Low cast
- Easy to use
- Single window interface
- non-destructive editing
- Hide Interface option
15) PicMonkey
PicMoney is also an image manipulation program that allows us to create photos, social media graphics, Facebook covers, etc. It supports a versatile text tool, effects, vector graphics, etc.
It contains hundreds of predefined templates for media posts, cards, flyers, etc.
We can easily create or add graphics and text to our photos.
Some useful features of PicMonkey are as following:
- predefines templates for media posts, cards, etc.
- It has inbuilt textures and graphics.
- Massive supports for different types of fonts
- Layout supports
- millions of stock photos
All of the tools are not rated under any criteria, so their preference is just a numbering. Some people may find any of the given tools more useful according to their needs. Apart from the given tools, there are other tools also available on the web. These tools are well known for image editing or graphical tasks.
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