8 best free photo editors for 2025 that are alternatives to Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is the Kleenex of picture editing, being used as both a noun and a verb. When discussing photo modification, some say, "Just Photoshop it!"
Photoshop is the industry standard for a reason: it's superb. However, there are several free Photoshop alternatives to help you avoid the subscription. I initially used Photoshop over 20 years ago, when it had to be purchased on CD-ROM at a real store (can you imagine?).
These are the eight greatest free picture editing tools, based on my extensive expertise with Photoshop, as well as weeks of study and testing.
Best Free Photoshop Alternative Online
What determines the best free picture editor?
How We Evaluate and Test Applications
Our top app roundups are produced by people who have spent a significant portion of their careers using, evaluating, and writing about software. Unless specifically specified, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing applications, using each app as intended and comparing it to the category's requirements. We never accept payment for app placement in our articles or for connections to other websites; we respect readers' faith in us to provide honest assessments of the categories and applications we evaluate. For more information on our methodology, see the Zapier blog post detailing how we choose applications to showcase.
Photoshop functions as a professional picture editing program for photographers and a digital painting app for artists. The free Photoshop equivalents on this list are largely aimed at picture editing, but I've also included several for designers and artists.
Not to mention AI. It appears like AI picture editing programs are getting all the attention these days, transforming everybody with a smartphone into a wannabe Henri Cartier-Bresson, yet Photoshop continues to lead the pack with its combination of photo editing, art creation, and powerful AI capabilities. Based on my experience, here is what the best free picture editing software provides:
AI features. All programs let you change brightness, contrast, crop, and apply filters. To effectively compete with Photoshop, an app must use cutting-edge AI to accelerate your productivity.
Easy to use. Photoshop's core layout and design have remained mostly unchanged for the past 30 years. Why? It's simple to use and effective. The greatest free picture editor will make it just as simple.
Nondestructive editing. Layers are the ultimate gold standard; however, an "undo" button is also useful.
The option to include text and design components. Beyond picture editing, today's tools must contain graphics, popular typefaces, and templates to enable making social media material easier and faster.
100% free. We're trying not to pay for Photoshop here, correct? There are some high-end, paid Photoshop equivalents available, but this list will focus on free solutions, allowing you to edit like an expert on a college budget.
This year, I evaluated 49 applications before selecting the top eight to publish here. When reviewing them, I tried everything I normally do with Photoshop, including color grading, tone, cropping, retouching, masking, blending modes, generating social media images, and adding text. I also examined each app's distinctive special effects or features, such as its AI capabilities.
Discover the best free Photoshop alternative for your needs below, based on over 35 hours of hands-on study.
Best free photo editor for ensuring brand consistency among remote teams
Canva (Web, iOS, Android, Mac and Windows)
Best free Photoshop alternative for a genuine Photoshop experience.
Pixlr E and X (Windows/Web)
The best free Photoshop alternative for AI object removal.
Fotor (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Web)
The best free Photoshop alternative for utilizing custom brushes.
Photopea (Website)
The best free photo editing software for product images and social networking.
Photoroom (iOS, Android, and Web)
The best free picture editing tool for painters and illustrators.
Krita (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
The best free Photoshop alternative for RAW picture processing.
PhotoScape X (Windows/Mac)
Best free Photoshop alternative for professional-level AI effects.
MyEdit (Website)
There are several other free or low-cost Photoshop alternatives that did not make the list. A couple that I tested and suggest for certain categories of users are:
Adobe Express for simple social media graphics, particularly for existing Creative Cloud members.
Sumopaint and Sumophoto provide an economical Adobe Creative Cloud software suite alternative for photo, video, audio, and more for $4 per month.
Use remove.bg to remove backgrounds for free.
Affinity Photo 2 is a one-time purchase Photoshop replacement.
Use Inkscape for free vector graphic design.
MediBang Paint for Comic Book Illustrations