The CS4 version of Adobe Photoshop costs $699. Thought the functionalities offered by Photoshop is almost endless, it is yet not commonly used due to its high price. The price tag of $699 is more than enough for people who won’t be using it on a regular basis. For such users, who would not like to expend money on the costly photo editing software, here is a list of 20 free and open source alternatives to Adobe Photoshop.

Though these apps are not at par to Photoshop, yet they can be very well used for image editing works. A combination of two or more of these alternatives can miraculously work out the image editing task to the Photoshop level.

1. GIMP

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

License: Open Source

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux

Website: Gimp.org

2. 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.

License: Open Source

Platform: Windows

Website: GetPaint.net

3. Pixlr

Pixlr is a online image editor, that means that you can upload your images and edit them in your browser. It is built in Flash and you need to have a Flash plug in to get it to work. Pixlr is built for non-professionals, the users that have basic editing needs. It’s not for large RAW images or for printing. It is merely a tool for editing web images to be posted on blogs, news-sites, social networks like Facebook, Bebo, image sites like Flikr, Photobucket etc.

License: Free

Platform: Online

Website: Pixlr.com

4. GIMPShop

GIMPshop is essentially Gimp with some cosmetic changes. The Gimp’s menu structure and naming conventions had been a constant source of frustration for me because I was so used to Photoshop. So, I did what any hardcore graphics geek would have done. I hacked GIMPshop together. It’s a proof of concept and it’s a little buggy, so don’t expect too much.

License: Free

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux

Website: Plasticbugs.com

5. Picnik

Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It’s fast, easy, and fun.

License: Free

Platform: Online

Website: Picnik.com

6. Adobe Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is your online photo sharing, editing and hosting resource. Upload, organize, edit, store (up to 2GB free) and share your photos.

License: Free

Platform: Online

Website: Photoshop.com

7. ArtWeaver

Artweaver is a simple Freeware program for creative painting, i.e. Artweaver offers you all artistic effects which you need for your work. You can create sketches from photos and experiment with a wide range of brushes. The brush simulation is thereby as realistic as possible.

License: Free

Platform: Windows

Website: ArtWeaver.de

8. SUMOPaint

SumoPaint is a web 2.0 application which rivals Adobe’s Photoshop package. It uses cloud computing technology to relieve memory load. The application is free and accessed from any web browser that supports flash.

License: Free

Platform: Online

Website: SumoPaint.com

9. SeaShore

Seashore is an open source image editor for Mac OS X’s Cocoa framework. It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. It is based around the GIMP’s technology and uses the same native file format. However, unlike the GIMP, Seashore only aims to serve the basic image editing needs of most computer users, not to provide a replacement for professional image editing products.

License: Open Source

Platform: Mac

Website: SeaShore@SourceForge.net

10. Paint.COM

RealWorld Paint.COM is an easy to use image editor supporting image masks and layers with effects. It can modify pictures using drawing tools like Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Curve, Polygon, Text, Retouch, Magic wand, etc. Images can be processed with built-in filters (Drop shadow, Bevel, Blur, Displace, Color adjustments, etc.), scripted filters, or with image filters compatible with Adobe Photoshop.

License: Free

Platform: Online

Website: RW-Designer.com

11. GimPhoto

GimPhoto is GIMP modification with new menu layout, great selection of plugins, and many additional resources for more professional look and feel as digital photo retouching and image editing application package.

License: Open Source

Platform: Windows, Linux

Website: GimPhoto.com

12. PhotoFiltre

PhotoFiltre is a complete image retouching program. It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy learning curve. The toolbar, giving you access to the standard filters with just a few clicks, gives PhotoFiltre a robust look.

License: Free (for personal use)

Platform: Windows

Website: PhotoFiltre.free.fr

13. Krita

Krita is a painting and image editing application for KOffice. Krita is part of KOffice since version 1.4. Krita contains both ease-of-use and fun features like guided painting (never before has it been so easy to airbrush a straight line!) and high-end features like support for 16 bit images, CMYK, L*a*b and even OpenEXR HDR images.

License: Open Source

Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac

Website: KOffice.org/Krita

14. QtpfsGUI

QtpfsGUI is an open source graphical user interface application that aims to provide a workflow for HDR imaging.

License: Open Source

Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac

Website: QtpfsGUI@SourceForge.net

15. Phoenix

Flash-based web-app, Aviary Phoenix is an impressive image editing tool.

License: Free

Platform: Online

Website: Aviary.com

16. Nathive

Nathive is a libre software image editor, similar to Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo-Paint or The GIMP, but focused on usability, logic and providing a smooth learning curve for everyone.

License: Open Source

Platform: Linux

Website: Nathive.org

17. Serif PhotoPlus

Serif PhotoPlus is an image editing program for Microsoft Windows. This free photo-editing software is a cut-down version of Serif’s latest photo-editing software — PhotoPlus X3.

License: Free

Platform: Windows

Website: FreeSerifSoftware.com

18. Raw Therapee

Raw Therapee is a free RAW converter and digital photo processing software. All changes can be applied and batch processed at a convenient time.

License: Free

Platform: Windows and Linux

Website: RawTherapee.com

19. CinePaint

CinePaint is a deep paint application that edits EXR, DPX, 16-bit TIFF, JPEG, PNG and many other types of image files. CinePaint is available as a native application for Linux, Mac OS X, and BSD.

License: Open Source

Platform: Mac and Linux

Website: CinePaint.org

20. Fotografix

In addition to being totally portable, Fotografix has a ridiculously small footprint. It’s a 370Kb download and about 700Kb once extracted. Despite its size, most of the features I rely on in Photoshop are available. Fotografix supports layers, masks, and scripting, comes with a few key blur and stylization filters, and type layers are editable (unlike some other editors where text is a one-shot deal). The usual editing tools are also provided, like rectangular and elliptical marquees, magic wand, rubber stamp, eyedropper, and gradient tool.

License: Free

Platform: Windows

Website: LMadhavan.com

Tagged as: adobe, alternative, editing, image, photoshop