Five best and free alternatives to Photoshop for editing photos

Photoshop has become so popular that people now rarely talk about editing photos. On most occasions a noun like ‘to photoshop’ is used. Photoshop is a great Windows app but you will have to pay a hefty price to use it. Don’t worry! There are many alternatives to Photoshop in the market.

We have selected such options for you which will not cost you any money to use.

adobe photoshop express
It comes with the basic features of Photoshop and is available absolutely free. You can use Photoshop Express in your browser. Apart from this, apps are also available for Android, iOS or Windows platforms. This app lets you crop, rotate and resize photos. Apart from this you will be able to adjust brightness and contrast. There are also some touchup tools with the help of which you will be able to remove minor imperfections of your photos.

Important features like dodge, burn and highlight of the photo are also present in it. But you will not get the same controls as the desktop version. Apart from this, effects like Crystallize, Pixelate, Sketch, Distort and Pop Color can also be used.

gimp
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the most popular alternative to Photoshop for desktop. It doesn’t have as many amazing features as Adobe’s Photoshop, but it does have some useful features for first-time image editing users. The good thing is that it doesn’t take too much time to learn how to use Gimp. After a while, the time invested will definitely be worth it.

You can easily do image filtering, joining multiple photos together in this app. It is available for Windows, OS X and Linux. There is a lot of information you can find on the web to help you use this app.

pixelar
If you don’t like the desktop app, you can edit photos in the browser through Pixlr. It is very similar to Photoshop in appearance and use. But it is free and works online. You’ll be able to edit photos in the browser by uploading them from a computer or copying a URL from the web.

Apart from Dodge, Burn, Blur and Clone Stamp, you will get many useful tools. The toolbox is also very similar to Photoshop. If you go to the filter menu, you will come across many strange and wonderful effects.

paint dot net
Paint.net was initially introduced as a more feature-rich version of the default Paint tool. But it gradually managed to become popular among Windows users. It is less powerful but easier to use than Gimp. And it comes with a more familiar interface.

You get complete control of the translucent interface. Paint.NET not only performs all the basic responsibilities, but also comes with layer support and some effects. Even though it doesn’t have many top end features, it is an app designed keeping the common user in mind.

picmonkey
This online app manages to strike a balance between an easy-to-understand interface and advanced features. It is also very easy to use. You can get started by clicking ‘Edit a Photo’ on the website. But once you reach out, there are many tools at your disposal. Shapes, textures and text can be easily added. Many Instagram style effects are also present in it.

These are a selection of apps we like. But there are many more options available in the market. If you use any other app, let us know through comments.