GIMP
Open Sourceby The GIMP Team
The best-known free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
- Layers, masks, channels and paths
- Extensive selection and retouching tools
- Scriptable batch processing
4 Best Free Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is paid software from Adobe. These photo & graphics programs do the same job for free.
- 4 free alternatives
- 3 open source
- ₹0 to download
- All free photo & graphics
Free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
Krita
Open Sourceby Krita Foundation
Digital painting software built for illustrators and concept artists.
- Exceptional customisable brush engine
- Excellent graphics tablet support
- Frame-by-frame animation tools
Paint.NET
Freeby dotPDN LLC
The sweet spot between MS Paint and Photoshop.
- Layers and adjustment effects
- Very fast to launch and learn
- Active plugin community
darktable
Open Sourceby darktable team
Non-destructive RAW photo workflow — the free Lightroom alternative.
- Non-destructive RAW processing
- Light-table for culling and organising
- Extensive colour management
Can free software really replace Adobe Photoshop?
Photoshop is subscription-only, which is what pushes most people to look elsewhere. For photo retouching and compositing the free options are genuinely capable; the gap is widest in advanced content-aware tooling and industry-standard file interchange.
Being honest about it: free alternatives are not always a feature-for-feature match, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. What they are is free — so the cost of finding out whether they cover your particular workflow is an hour of your time rather than a subscription.
The closest replacement: GIMP
GIMP is a full-featured raster image editor covering photo retouching, compositing, masking, layers, channels and scriptable batch processing. For the majority of image editing tasks it is a capable Photoshop substitute at no cost.
- Layers, masks, channels and paths
- Extensive selection and retouching tools
- Scriptable batch processing
- Large third-party plugin ecosystem
All 4 free Adobe Photoshop alternatives compared
| Program | Licence | Platforms | Best known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| GIMP | Open Source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Layers, masks, channels and paths |
| Krita | Open Source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Exceptional customisable brush engine |
| Paint.NET | Free | Windows | Layers and adjustment effects |
| darktable | Open Source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Non-destructive RAW processing |
The other options in detail
Krita Open Source
Krita is purpose-built for digital painting rather than photo editing, with an outstanding brush engine, excellent drawing-tablet support, and features aimed at comic and concept artists including frame-by-frame animation. Notable for exceptional customisable brush engine and excellent graphics tablet support. Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Paint.NET Free
Paint.NET fills the gap between Windows Paint and a full professional editor: layers, effects and a genuinely simple interface that opens instantly. Notable for layers and adjustment effects and very fast to launch and learn. Runs on Windows.
darktable Open Source
darktable is a RAW developer and photo workflow application for photographers, offering non-destructive editing, a proper light-table for culling, and colour management aimed at serious photographic work. Notable for non-destructive raw processing and light-table for culling and organising. Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
How to choose
3 are fully open source (GIMP, Krita, darktable) — pick one of these if you value auditable code you can self-host. For the widest platform coverage, GIMP, Krita, darktable run on three or more operating systems. On a Mac, GIMP, Krita, darktable support macOS natively.
All 4 are free to download from the publisher's own website, so installing two or three and testing them on your own files is the fastest way to decide — it costs nothing but a few minutes.
Why open source matters here
3 of these (GIMP, Krita, darktable) are open source. That means no company can later restrict the free tier, raise a price, or discontinue the product and leave your files stranded — the situation that pushes many people to look for an alternative to Adobe Photoshop in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Adobe Photoshop?
GIMP is the closest match — the best-known free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. If it does not suit your workflow, Krita, Paint.NET, darktable are worth trying.
Is there a free version of Adobe Photoshop itself?
Adobe Photoshop is commercial software from Adobe. The programs above are separate products that do the same job — not cracked or modified copies. We do not link to pirated software under any circumstances.
Are these safe to download?
Yes, provided you get them from the publisher. Every button above opens the software author's own official website — we host no installers.