The most powerful and the most Photoshop-like one is Pixelmator Pro for Mac which is more than capable of handling the giant majority of jobs that the Adobe app can. It does have fewer options with. Creative Kit is a set of six applications made exclusively for Mac: Intensify, Focus, Snapheal, FX Photo Studio, Tonality and Noiseless. All these apps are available free with further upgrade to Starter's Edition, Complete Kit or Complete Kit Premium for Mac. Alternative Photoshop goes in one kit.
By Amber Neely Wednesday, June 12, 2019, 04:40 pm PT (07:40 pm ET)
Adobe Photoshop has been the number one app for most photographers and digital artists for decades. But with a plethora of other apps available it may not be the best one for you —and we have suggestions.
Adobe Photoshop alternatives
When people use Photoshop, they're usually in one of two camps: photographers or artists. Photographers have relied on Photoshop for color correction, air brushing, stitching, straightening, cloning, masking—basically anything you'd need to make your photography stand out. Artists, on the other hand, have taken the program out of its wheelhouse and used it to create impressive digital works with Photoshop's somewhat limited brush tools. While Adobe has sought to expand some of these features to accommodate for these uses, there's always a better tool for the job.
Procreate (iOS - $10)
Procreate is hands down the best app we've found if you're looking to create digital art that mimics traditional media. Anyone who has used Photoshop to create art is going to have no issue navigating the interface, but will be delighted when they find that all the useless bits of fluff in Photoshop have been pared down.
Procreate
There's also an incredible secondary market for ProCreate brushes to be found online as well, with brushes to suit just about whatever project you're working on. We suggest checking out CreativeMarket to see what you can find. In addition to a sleek interface, Procreate has features you won't find in Photoshop, such as drawing assist, allowing artists to quickly create perspective and isometric drawings. Procreate also has a feature called StreamLine, which that allows the program to stabilize any pen strokes you make. To get the most out of it, you're going to want to use the Apple Pencil, as Procreate has been designed with it in mind.
Procreate
Affinity Photo (MacOS - $50)
Photographers looking to step away from Adobe's subscription fees would do well to check out Affinity Photo. This app exists both on MacOS and iOS, and boasts many of the same features as Photoshop, including liquefy, color correction, red eye removal, and RAW editing. This is all packed into an efficient UI that is fairly self-explanatory.
Affinity has also recently upgraded their desktop apps, adding support for HDR and EDR displays and multiple GPU/eGPU setups. Affinity's iOS app turns your iPad into a serious powerhouse of photo editing, giving you all the features you would want while still giving you an adequate amount of work space. This also means that photo editing has become much more portable, allowing you to edit anywhere you can take an iPad. In addition to buying from Serif directly, B&H Photo is accepting orders for Affinity Photo. While not required, Affinity has also created a hardcover workbook to help new users become familiar with their program. It helps users understand the interface and helps to walk them through example projects. We think that anyone coming from Photoshop or Lightroom could skip this purchase if they don't want to spend the money, but it is handy once you have it.
SketchBook is somewhere between a digital art program like Procreate and a drafting program, such as AutoCAD LT. Its primary use has been by architects, product designers, and industrial designers to quickly jot down ideas for projects.
Free Photoshop Alternative For Mac Os X
However, that doesn't make SketchBook a one trick pony, either. It features plenty of brush options, drawing tools like rulers and symmetry features, and ample layers to give artists enough tools to create digital artwork. There have been many artists who have made the switch solely to SketchBook and haven't looked back. The simple UI is one of the biggest selling points for SketchBook. It's fast and focuses entirely on whatever the user is creating.
Autodesk SketchBook
While we personally prefer Procreate for digital art, SketchBook does an excellent job of allowing design industry professionals the ability to create technical drawings much faster than they would be able to with something like Photoshop, Affinity Photo, or Procreate. If a user is an individual, they can get SketchBook for free, both on macOS and iOS. Businesses can opt into multi-user licenses for $85 per year.
Pixelmator Pro (MacOS - $40)
Pixelmator is actually a whole range of apps across the Mac and OS. The most powerful and the most Photoshop-like one is Pixelmator Pro for Mac which is more than capable of handling the giant majority of jobs that the Adobe app can. It does have fewer options with layers, that mainstay of complex illustration and photography work, for instance. Overall, though, it's not only capable but it's also enjoyable to use, with much more streamlined and simplified tools. There is currently no Pixelmator Pro specifically for iPad, but there is Pixelmator for iOS, which is an equivalent of a more basic Pixelmator app that's still available on the Mac and good for general use. The company has recently added Pixelmator Photo for iOS to the range, which brings more of the controls that will most benefit photographers, such as Machine Learning-based automatic adjustments and cropping.
Gimp - (macOS - free)
GIMP
GIMP has been around since 1995 and has been a fan favorite among hobbyists and professionals ever since. GIMP is a raster-based photo editing software, very similar to Adobe Photoshop in types of features. It is a great jumping off point for users who are new to photo editing and aren't quite ready to spend money on a piece of software. Though we find the UI a little daunting at times, GIMP is still an approachable program. While you certainly can do digital art and some basic graphic design in GIMP, much like Photoshop, GIMPs main priority is still photo editing and manipulation.
Adobe Photoshop has been around quite a long time now. And it has shaped the image editing and digital artwork industry like no other tool. You can know the extent to which it is used in the industry, by acknowledging that a legit term ‘Photoshopped’ exists. But there is a problem with Photoshop. Though the tool is really powerful and will get almost any image editing task done. But to be honest, it is a little hard to master and use. And if you are a beginner, you are looking over weeks and months of learning to get to know and use Photoshop efficiently. But you need not to worry, here we will be discussing some of the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives which you can learn easily, and will get the job done as good as Photoshop.
Here are the Best Adobe Photoshop Alternatives
1. Pixlr:
With the advancement of cloud apps and utilities, Pixlr takes the photo editing to the cloud as well. It is an online photo editing app. Which means you do not need to download any software or setup and locally install it on your PC. Well, it has some benefits, as you can work from any device, wherever you are. But again the downside being, that you do need a good and reliable internet connection. Which is not hard to find these days, even in the remotest of places.
It works quite similarly like Photoshop. You import an Image, from the File>Open image. And then after finishing the editing, save it locally on your computer. All the photo editing options are there, like Filters, Image Coloring Options, Blurring options etc. They are pretty well organized, and you will get hold of the interface as soon as you use it. You can make an account, and get some benefits on the platform. Also, they have a mobile option available if you also wish to edit your pictures on the go. It is one of the best alternatives to Photoshop, and you should definitely check it out.
So what to do if are not near any computer or laptop? Here’s how: they have a mobile option available if you also wish to edit your pictures on the go. It is one of the best free adobe photoshop alternatives. If you are looking for a quick free photoshop alternative, you should definitely check it out.
2. Corel Paintshop Pro:
Corel Paintshop is also one of the quite old editing apps. Though it is not as easy to operate as Pixlr, still it is a good option to go with. The utility will be downloaded and installed on your computer locally. It has features similar to Photoshop but the price is much lower.
It also has some cool features like the Face Detection, Geo Tagging, Vector Drawing Tools, and much more. Though it is not as powerful as Photoshop, still it is a good alternative as it provides all the features at a lower price. And the overall experience of using Corel Paintshop Pro is quite positive, and you will surely like the interface and the ecosystem.
Adobe Photoshop Alternative For Mac
Download:Corel Paintshop Pro
3. Gimp:
Gimp has the interface which most resembles the Adobe Photoshop. And the fact is that it is exactly powerful – same as photoshop. It is also free at the same time. This makes it quite an interesting photo editing tool. Though the categorization of the tools and the options are slightly different as compared to the Photoshop, the learning curve is steep. Though it does miss out on some features which are in the Adobe Photoshop, it is still a powerful & solid photo editing tool. You should definitely give it a try if you are looking for something similar to Adobe Photoshop.
Download:GIMP
4. Acorn:
Acorn is a no-nonsense image editor. It is also quite a simple image editor, which is one of the most user-friendly on this list. But the only down point is, that at this point in time it is only available for Mac. So sorry Windows users. The image editor is quite simplistic, and all the controls are well categorized as you can see in the image.
You can easily recognize the location of the features you are looking for and using them is even simpler. The color curves are quite accurate, and the tool will allow you to manipulate the colors and other things in the image just like Adobe Photoshop. Though it is quite easy to operate and simple to use, but do not think that it is any less powerful. It packs a punch when it comes to features. It is priced at about $29 on the iTunes Store. If paying a price for one of the Adobe Photoshop alternatives doesn’t affect you, you should definitely give Acorn a try.
Download:Acorn at flyingmeat.com
5. Paint.Net:
Paint.NET is yet another powerful alternative to Photoshop. All the tools are well placed, like the Eraser, Clone, Magic Wand. If you are coming from the Adobe Photoshop, you won’t find any difficulty as it is much easier than Photoshop to operate and master. There are also powerful layering options if you want the tool to do some heavy lifting. It won’t disappoint you in that area as well.
All the features which you will be found in the premium tools are present in this tool, and it is easier to use them in here as well. And also there are many plug-ins which can increase the functionality of this tool. But even without the plug-ins, it still is a quite powerful image editing software. You should definitely check this one out.
Download:Paint.Net
Conclusion
So these were some of the powerful yet easier to use Adobe Photoshop alternatives. All of the tools we mentioned here are quite cheaper as compared to Photoshop which is quite expensive. Some are even free! And at the same time, they do carry powerful features so that you can get the tasks done with these pretty easily and efficiently as well. If you think we missed out on a potential candidate, which deserved to be on this list, do let us know in the comment section below.
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