The best Photoshop alternatives

Although Adobe Photoshop remains the industry leader in its field, Photoshop alternatives have become very sophisticated, and some of them even offer things that the granddaddy of photo editing software doesn’t. That’s right, not only can they match the majority of Photoshop features, they may also offer unique features of their own – especially when it comes to iPad software. And most of them are considerably cheaper than a Photoshop subscription.

In the guide below, we outline our pick of the best Photoshop alternatives, based on our hands-on reviews and testing. We’ve personally evaluated these tools for features, ease of use, and value for money. (See our how we test software guide for more on that). 

We’ve focused here mainly on desktop software, but if you’re purely interested in editing on mobile, see our roundup of the best photo apps. 

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Ultimately, no current software can fully compete with the breadth – and evolution – of tools that Photoshop offers, especially its new AI features. This seven-day trial allows you to try the latest release of Photoshop for free, and find out for yourself if you’d rather one of the alternatives below.

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Best Photoshop alternative overall

One of the most appealing things about Affinity is that you just have one up front cost, and that’s it. No endless, recurring subscriptions fees like with Adobe Photoshop. But that in itself is meaningless if the software isn’t up to scratch. Thankfully, Affinity is packed with fantastic features and tools.

From its interface to its range of features, Affinity Photo is the closest thing to Photoshop that we’ve seen yet. Aimed squarely at professional photographers and designers, it’s also fully compatible with Photoshop and other file formats. And again, it also works out a lot cheaper than Photoshop in the long-run since you can buy it for a one-off cost rather than an ongoing subscription.

We also found Affinity Photo to be less demanding on hardware than Photoshop, although that may depend on what equipment you’re using (it’s been specifically designed to take advantage of the latest quad-core technology). It doesn’t offer all the features of Photoshop, particularly features like neural filters, but there is still a lot to impress. We found the Personas – customised toolsets for different jobs – to be particularly handy.

Affinity Photo is available for both Mac and Windows, and there’s a separate version for iPad, which is much improved in the latest version. If you’re looking for an affordable alternative to Photoshop, Affinity Photo is definitely worth investigating.

See our full Affinity Photo review for more details.

Best Photoshop alternative for digital painting

If it’s a painting app for iPad you’re looking for, we highly rate Procreate. What started out as a basic drawing app back in 2010 has transformed over the years into a highly professional tool; so much so, it’s even bagged itself a couple of Apple Design Awards.

Our testing found that the easy-to-use layout is packed with features artists will love, from true-to-life pencils and inks to advanced layer compositing and unique digital tools. Added palm support means you no longer have to worry about accidentally drawing over your canvas, and an ever-growing library of Procreate brushes will help you add flair to your artwork. 

Procreate has full support for both first- and second-generation Apple Pencils, depending on your iPad model. And since 2019, there’s been a dedicated iPhone version named Procreate Pocket. Newer versions have also seen an improvement in 3D painting tools (and animators should check out the new Procreate Dreams app). If you want to use it but haven’t bought an iPad yet, read our guide to the best iPads for Procreate. 

You won’t find all the features you’d expect from Photoshop for editing photos here, but for digital painting specifically, you’ll have at least most of what you need. There’s a free handbook on the Procreate website, featuring an overview of all the app’s features and tools, to help get you started. 

For more information, read our complete Procreate 5.3 review.

Best cheap Photoshop alternative for AI

We’ve found Skylum’s Luminar Neo to be a capable Photoshop alternative on various fronts, as it offers many of the same excellent photo editing tools, and seems to be designed specifically for photographers. In our latest Skylum Luminar Neo review, we focused on the generative AI tools that have been added more recently, and found that overall, they were comparable to Photoshop’s offerings. 

The most reliable of these offerings is the GenExpand tool which allows you to expand your canvas, with the extra parts being filled in by AI. Our reviewer did point out though that the AI tools available were already available in other photo editors, so he wouldn’t recommend getting Luminar Neo over Photoshop overall, but did think Luminar Neo was worth upgrading for existing users.

Best Photoshop alternative in-browser

Thanks to continual advances in web technology you don’t always need a discrete app to do much of what you’d use Photoshop for. Photopea, which runs in the browser, is a case in point.

Designed to be an advanced editor with pro tools, it bears a distinct resemblance to Photoshop and features most of the tools you’ll need for everyday image work. It’ll open most standard file formats such as JPG, PNG and RAW, and it’ll accept Sketch, GIMP and even Photoshop PSD files.

Photopea supports layers and layer masks, lets you use blend modes, and features a stack of selection tools, from standard marquees through to a magnetic lasso and a quick selection tool. While it doesn’t offer the sort of advanced features you’d expect in Photoshop, such as content-aware fill, it still has a more than enough going on to keep most designers and artists happy, and it’s completely free to use. 

On the downside, it comes with ads, although paying for the premium version gets rid of them, and gives you extra levels of undo (60 rather than 30).

Best Photoshop alternative for trad art

If you’re looking for a program that provides a true-to-life painting experience, look no further than Escape Motions’ Rebelle. This affordable program replicates traditional painting techniques – watercolour in particular – with absolute authenticity, making it a worthy contender on our list of Photoshop alternatives.

Our review found that Rebelle does exceptionally well at mimicking the way paint behaves in the real world, enabling you to simulate a drop of colour being blown and running in different directions. You can also specify the blow length, drip size and the amount of water you ‘use’ with your paints, while the Tilt option lets your colours run in any direction you choose. 

The latest version is the recently released Rebelle 7, which offers improvements in terms of Paths, Structures and a new Ruler and Perspective tool.

A highly professional painting software package, Escape Motions is keen to keep the focus of Rebelle on traditional media and the best way to present it in the digital realm. And we have to say it’s doing a fantastic job. 

See our Rebelle 6 review for more details.

Best Photoshop alternative for realistic art

ArtRage is another great option for those looking for digital painting that can pass for the real thing. It offers realistic oils, pencils, watercolour, canvas textures and other traditional media painting tools, many of which are fully customisable, replicating an old-school art studio in digital form. 

Its makers say that ArtRage is “a canvas for thick, expressive oils and delicate watercolors, a sketchpad with a full set of pencils, and a sheet of paper with a stack of wax crayons all in one.” 

The latest version, ArtRage Vitae, is available for Windows and macOS. Our reviewer found it does a great job in allowing to to virtually smear and blend thick oils to create natural colour gradients; sketch with pencils and shade with the edge of the tip; and create delicate watercolor strokes that react to canvas texture. Like most visual editing software, there are layers, blend modes, guides, grids, and perspective layout tools, and you can also use photos as references if you choose.

If you’re new to digital painting and looking for an affordable, intuitive program, ArtRage is an option seriously worth considering. The software is also available for iOS and Android, although you pay for those apps separately. 

Check out our Artrage Vitae review to find out more.

Best free Photoshop alternative for painting

If you’re after free software for digital painting, Krita is an excellent Photoshop alternative. As an open source program, it’s been created by artists who want to give others access to quality, affordable software. And they’ve focused on tools they know artists want and need. 

When we reviewed it, we were particularly impressed by the brush tools – there are 100 brush types, nine brush engines, and a brush stabiliser. Krita allows you to work on multiple layers and the interface is very similar to Photoshop, so users familiar to Adobe’s software will find this easy to master. 

However, our test found that as a digital painting program, Krita does lack some of the specific photo editing features of Photoshop. For more details, see our full Krita 5.0 review and our roundup of Krita tutorials.

Best Photoshop alternative for UI and UX

Sketch is a professional vector graphics app for creatives that’s created a huge buzz within the design community, and among web designers in particular, since its launch in 2010.  It’s very flexible, supporting infinite zooming and vector shapes for multiple resolutions. You can build a new graphic from primitive shapes, or start a new one with the Vector or Pencil tool.

We’ve found Sketch to have a pleasingly simple UI and many features similar to those of Photoshop and Illustrator, including layers, gradients, colour picker and style presets. Its popularity means there are also plenty of community-created Sketch plugins you can use to extend its functionality.

2021 saw a flurry of new features added to Sketch. These include improvements to real-time collaboration; in particular, developers can now view, inspect, and measure designs in any browser, on any operating system, all for free. Also, new document permissions allow designers to limit who can edit specific designs. Read our Sketch 2021 review for more. 

More recently, Sketch has become now available on the web and on iOS, rather than just for Mac. 

Best free Photoshop alternative for image editing

A free, open-source Photoshop alternative, GIMP has been around for years (the name stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, if you’re wondering). Today it’s available for Linux, Windows and Mac.

We think GIMP offers a wide toolset, similar to Photoshop in many ways, and is a great option if you’re looking for a no-cost image editor. Our testing concluded that the interface differs somewhat from Photoshop, but there is a version available that mimics Adobe’s look and feel, making it easier to migrate over if you’re ditching Photoshop.

The full suite of tools includes painting tools, colour correction, cloning, selection, and enhancement. We find it ensures good compatibility too, so you’ll be able to work with all the most popular file formats. You’ll also find a very capable file manager built in, along similar lines to Adobe’s Bridge.

As open source software, GIMP is constantly being improved, so if you tried GIMP before and didn’t like it, it may be worth taking a second look. See our GIMP review for more details.

Free Photoshop alternative for Macs

Pixelmator Pro is a kind of Photoshop-lite tool for Mac only, bringing together a photo editor, illustration and painting tool in one place. It offers non-destructive image editing, and supports features like tabs, fullscreen and split view. 

The interface is nicely minimalist and so won’t be confusing for newbies. Plus there’s a great ‘hidden interface’ option you can activate if you just want to see your image, with no distractions.  This Photoshop alternative is fairly limited on features compared with the original. But our Pixelmator review found it’s cheap, light, fast and fun to use, so if you just need to do basic Photoshop-like things every now and again, it might be just up your street.

An update in November 2021 introduced a Magic Background Eraser tool, allowing you to remove the background from any image with just a click, and a Select and Mask Tool, that lets you easily make advanced selections of challenging image areas such as hair or fur. Since then, Pixelmator Pro has introduced support for Apple’s M1 Ultra chip for the Mac Studio. Note that there are also slimmed-down apps for iPhone and iPad called Pixelmator and Pixelmator Photo.

FAQs

How to choose Photoshop alternatives

When choosing between Photoshop alternatives, first decide what you need the software to do. For example, if it’s just simple enhancements to images you require, there are an endless supply of free photo apps to choose from. If you want more sophisticated digital painting or graphic design features, though, the software on the list above will prove more capable. Beyond that, you’ll need to think about which platform you wish to work on. For instance, many Photoshop alternatives either only work on Macs or Windows. Also decide how much money you want to spend. Most Photoshop alternatives are cheaper than Photoshop itself, but generally the more you spend, the more features you’ll get.

How we test Photoshop alternatives

At Creative Bloq, we have years of collective experience in testing software, and so we’re rigorous in putting Photoshop alternatives through their paces. We’ll examine core image editing features and scrutinise tools such as layers, filters, and color correction to ensure they perform as expected. 

We’ll also check compatibility with common file formats, such as JPEG, PNG, and PSD, to ensure they can actually integrate into designers’ and artists’ existing workflows. We assess the interface to make sure that it’s easy to understand and learn, and evaluates the software’s speed, responsiveness, and stability to make sure it works quickly, smoothly and without crashes. 

Parts of this article were originally published in ImagineFX, the world’s best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe to ImagineFX.