The landscape of photo editing programs has changed enough to find us with true alternatives to Photoshop from Adobe. And more if possible when this same has passed to Artificial Intelligence to save us tasks and efforts.
With that great advance of the Adobe program, for the basic things and those that are a little more complex, there are very significant alternatives that we cannot ignore. There are free ones and there are a little more price, but far from that subscription model that Creative Cloud has us now used to. Go for it.
Affinity Photo
If we look for a real alternative and that is being developed to add new features that make it the best alternative to Photoshop, this is Photo by Affinity. A program for graphic design and photo retouching that imitates Photoshop in several elements and that we do not have for free.
Yes, to through a single payment of 54,99 euros we are going to have a high quality photo retouching program in our hands. We have already talked on numerous occasions about the virtues and benefits of Affinity Photo to highlight some of its best features such as RAW editing, HDR combination, panorama stitching, focus stacking, batch processing, PSD file editing, image editing in 360, multilayer composition, smart objects and different skills for digital painting.
It's a program for different types of users, and that has that degree of complexity for the professional user as well as the simplicity that an amateur can seek by getting into graphic design, digital painting or photographic retouching. Join another series of Affinity shows as Publisher o Designer; do not miss the Affinity programs key combinations.
You can try the Affinity Photo trial to test it and then decide for the final purchase of a single payment.
Affinity Photo - Website
Procreate
Adobe is very active lately with a large series of apps for mobile devices not only because of their growing expansion, but also because on the iPad there is a program that has been able to become one of the best to draw and design through an Apple product, this is Procreate.
Procreate is an app with those advanced features that Adobe Lightroom has included in its version 6.0 for mobile phones, and for being one of the most used apps for digital design as well as painting. And the truth is that in all these years it has gone from being a simple app to go becoming a more complex found as a real alternative for those looking for something like 'Photoshop' on their iPhone.
The biggest problem is that only available for Apple mobile devices, so the rest of us have no option to try it. Still, it's a great alternative to Adobe's design program; especially for those brushes that imitate the same feeling of holding a pencil in hand and being able to feel the same sensations as when we press the sheet of paper with the tip.
Available for € 9,99 on the App Store, so you know where to look for it.
Procreate - Website
Rebelle
With Rebelle we are facing a program for Windows and OS X that is characterized by emulating traditional drawing and painting techniques. It is precisely this aspect that we are seeing more and more in numerous apps such as the previous Procreate or that Adobe Fresco that we finally have in Windows since this past summer.
As we have said, its greatest value is the ability to emulate traditional techniques, and to be more concise, his watercolor is unique. That is, you will almost be able to imitate that feeling of making a wash with a brush that imitates the watercolor technique. That is, we will even be able to drop a drop of water on the canvas so that we can enjoy how it expands to all sides as if we were doing it in a real one.
In other words, we will be able to customize the amount of water in that drop, its length, and the size of the drop. It does lack a greater variety of presets for the brushes, so it is not entirely perfect. Yes, we have the option of trying a trial, and it does not have a version for mobile devices, so everything is for Windows and OS X at a price of $ 89,99.
A whole alternative to Photoshop aimed at traditional painting and with those details for watercolor that we cannot ignore; In fact, it makes us think about what the tools that we will have in our hands through these programs will be in a few years.
Rebelle 3 - Website
ArtRage
We once again have in our hand another tool for more traditional drawing and that imitates the best known techniques such as charcoal, oil or acrylic. Perhaps its greatest value is its lower cost and some of those details to start with this digital painting without spending a lot of money.
To highlight that interface that when we start to draw does disappear the same to leave only the blank canvas so we can focus on our creativity and talent for drawing. In fact, when we stop drawing again, only the most used tools magically "appear" so we can focus on the task.
In this case yes we have versions for Windows and OS X on the one hand, while on the other a unique and own version for mobile devices such as iOS and Android at a cost that does not exceed 4 euros. If we want to access the desktop version, things change to reach $ 79.
ArtRage - Website
Photopea
With this application, and what is a web, we forget what a program is with its installer, be it an APK for Android or an .EXE for Windows, to go to a website from which we can access a dedicated app for photo retouching.
It is the first on the list as an alternative to Photoshop in the broadest sense of retouching those photographs that we want to make them better than they were. Its reason for being is as a complex program with advanced functions that is capable of being loaded from the web so that anyone with a PC can handle it perfectly. That is, we will be able to retouch our images well so as not to throw the Adobe program at any time.
Some of Photopea's virtues include the layer and mask support, blending modes, and a number of tools to select from magnetic lasso to one for quick Photoshop Magic Wand selection. It has everything you need to edit and transform photos with all the comfort that means it is a web app that we can access from almost anywhere.
Offer psychological therapy to employees a monthly subscription for those who want to hide advertising that we will see those who do not pay for it.
Photopea - Website
GIMP
Another of the apps for graphic design and photo retouching of greater substance and that has been with us for many years. Among one of its greatest virtues is its different versions for Windows, Linux and OS X. As we are talking about a free open source program that we can access without any payment and that has around a community of users and developers who offer tutorials and go updating it so as not to be left behind in features.
We actually have a GIMP plugin called PhotoGIMP that transforms with the same interface of the Adobe program. It offers a wide variety of tools that we can find in Photoshop and that it is completely free has made many users have it as an alternative to Adobe's.
We have tools like paint brushes, color correction, cloning, selection and improvement of photographs. The team in charge of its development has always been able to offer an alternative for those with a limited budget.
GIMP - Website
Pixlr
Uno of the best programs we have on the web and that over time has also improved to be another alternative to Photoshop to take into account. Especially when we do not have enough space in the PC memory and we want to search the web for an app that allows us to retouch photos and perform basic actions typical of these programs.
Among some of its best features are find its great variety of effects up to 600. And the truth is that the interface is quite similar to Photoshop, so you will find yourself at home when you use it from Firefox or Chrome.
Pixlr - Website
Corel Photo Paint
And I could not miss any of the Corel programs for an alternative to the above. PHOTO-Paint by Corel is a dedicated photo editor that comes from the CorelDRAW suite of programs. It was precisely updated in this year 2020 with a well-designed app and those collaborative features that we are getting used to today in many apps.
It has the professional tools to work with vectors, layers, photo editing and those tools for typography that we cannot leave aside when it comes to having a quality program. As a detail, it offers support for 4K and multi-screens, so if you go with a PC with Windows 10 you are in luck.
Corel Photo-Paint - Website
Sketch
Another one dedicated to Apple and that this time we go to UI and UX design for the web. In other words, if you are looking for an app to design all the elements that an interface can contain, whether for a website or an app for mobile devices, Sketch is one of the best.
An app dedicated to vectors and that in a matter of years, and thanks to being exclusive for Mac, has earned the applause of designers around the world. It allows you to create a graphic from a shape or take the pencil tool to create vectors and thus define those elements that we will later use in a website or in design.
Like Photoshop also has other basic tools, so if you are with a Mac, prepare $ 99 to get it. One of the essentials in the world of UI and UX design.
Sketch - Website
Paint.net
We finished this list of alternatives to Photoshop with Paint.net. One of the simplest programs we have in Windows and that its learning curve allows new designers to join digital creativity. Paint has been a program that Microsoft launched with different versions of Windows, so it has all the basics to carry out basic edits as well as some other photo retouching.
A simple app for low weight in terms of performance and storage for those who do not want to use web applications and want to have a quality program on their Windows PC.
Paint-net - Website
So we end this list of Photoshop alternatives With which we will surely be able to do without Adobe, or even show that it is still the queen of digital creation in all its breadth.