Best Free Open Source Alternative Software to Photoshop

Here are the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives which you can use for basic and professional editing. Not Everyone can afford Adobe Photoshop, so here i have compiled the best list of open-source alternatives.

1. Gimp

Gimp is probably the most feature rich and well known open source Photoshop alternative that will not make you feel broke. Photoshop may be a bit ahead in terms of bleeding edge features, but most of what Photoshop is capable of can be done somehow in Gimp. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.

2. GIMPshop

GIMPshop is a modification of the free/open source GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop. Its primary purpose is to make users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP. It shares all GIMP’s advantages, including the long feature list and customisability, while addressing some common criticisms regarding the program’s interface: GIMPshop modifies the menu structure to closely match Photoshop’s, adjusts the program’s terminology to match Adobe’s. GIMPshop does not support Photoshop plugins, all GIMP’s own plugins, filters, brushes, etc. However it is a great open source Photoshop alternative.

3. Paint.net

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

4. Splashup

Splashup is designed to give you a feeling of working in Photoshop. It is integrated with Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, and more and even support layers. Being a free tool this application offers many features, filters and is really worth trying out. I don’t consider it as strong as Pixlr listed above.

5. ChocoFlop

ChocoFlop is a pure Mac application and it has been optimized to run efficient on Mac. It allows you to edit your photos or design stuff using Apple’s CoreImage technology. It takes advantage of the power of your graphics card (GPU).

6. Pixia

Pixia was originally a Japanese editor, but English versions are available for Windows now. It is a pretty OK and feature rich editor and it may be worth trying it out.

7. Krita

Krita is a creative sketching and painting application based on KOffice technology for Linux. Whether you want to create art paintings, cartoons, concept art or textures, Krita supports most graphics tablets out of the box. Krita comes with some unique and useful features but it is not as powerful as GIMP.

8. Phoenix

Phoenix is the Aviary image/photo editor and it offers layers and compositing. It is integrated with Flickr, Facebook and Picasa allowing you to import images from these popular services. This is another very interesting free tool to check out before investing in commercial packages like Photoshop.

9. Aviary

Aviary can be considered as a Browser based Photoshop clone. The editor is powerful and fully featured with lot of functionalities. Apart from advance image editor they also provide tools like Vector Editor, Effects Editor, image Markup, Music Creator and Audio Editor.

10. FotoFlexer

FotoFlexer claims it as the most advanced online photo editor. It has lot of tools for the beginners and armatures, but lacks in advance editing.

11. Adobe Photoshop Express

This is the official browser based image editor from Adobe. Photoshop Express lacks functionalities in compared to other browser based image editors. This tool is good for beginners who do not wants to go into details of photo manipulation and advance image editing.

12. Pixlr Editor

Pixlr also follows the path of other browser based image editors and gave their interface the same look and feel of Adobe Photoshop. Pixlr is feature rich with lot of advance functionalities.

13. IrfanView

IrfanView is a free light weight image viewing and editing tools. It’s features are limited but for small editing this is very handy.

The program is named for its creator, Irfan Å kiljan from Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, living in Vienna. IrfanView works under Windows 95 through Windows 7, and can also be run in Linux under Wine and in Mac OS X using Winebottler.