For years, Adobe Photoshop has been a standard photo editing tool. We mean, why should it not be? The powerful and versatile tool offers a wide range of services, from simple photo correction to complex digital arts and creative design features.
However, the time has now changed, there are several other free Photoshop alternatives that can be used to boost productivity. If you are someone in the same boat and are searching for the best free Photoshop alternatives, then this article has got you covered. Hop on below to explore the list.
Here is a list of the top Photoshop alternatives that have taken over the world of photo editing by storm!
Tools | Best For | Simplicity | Pricing |
X-Design AI Photo Editor | E-commerce creators needing fast, AI-enhanced product visuals | Background removal, AI background gen, cropping, retouching, image enhancements. | Free tier available; Pro plan at around $4.17/month |
Canva | Beginner-friendly all-in-one graphic/photo editor | AI-powered replace/erase/brush edits, background remover, drag-and-drop design features | Free plan available; Canva Pro starts at about $12.99 to $15/month for advanced tools |
PhotoWorks | Budget-conscious photographers needing quick edits | Color balance, background changes, object removal, watermarking, batch processing | Starts around $19.25 (perpetual license); lifetime license under $80 |
Polarr Next (Beta) | Professional photographers needing high-volume AI culling/editing | AI culling, trained assistant, consistent color/tonality across batches | Monthly billing: $3.99/month. Annual billing: $29.99/year (equivalent to $2.49/month) |
Inkscape | Vector illustrations, open-source design work | SVG editing, vector tools, text editing, templates, image import/export | Completely free and open-source |
PIXLR | Quick, browser-based edits and graphic design | BG remover, overlays, stickers, AI-powered editing | Free with ads; Premium: $7.99/month; AI Tools plans: $1.49-$11.99/month; Creative Pack: $14.99/month |
BeFunky | Casual editors creating collages and stylized images | Batch editing, filters (artistic effects), background remover, retouch, collage maker, watermark | Free basic tools; BeFunky Plus: $6.99/month (billed annually) or $14.99/month |
Krita | Digital artists and illustrators | Advanced brushes, textures, animation tools, painting-focused interface | Free via official site; $10 on Steam |
MyEdit | Beginners and professionals who need to quickly edit and enhance their creative content without needing to download or install any software. | best known for its AI features, including generative expansion and fill, upscaling, background removal, and text-to-image generation. | MyEdit has 3 pricing editions, from $0 to $7 |
Photopea | Browser-based Photoshop-like editing | PSD/AI/XD support, layer-based editing, offline browser usage, drag-and-drop | Free with ads; ~$5/month subscription removes ads, adds AI and 5 GB storage |
FilterPixel | Amateur and professional photographers | Perfect for post-production tasks like editing with freedom or culling | free, monthly, and lifetime options |
Adobe Lightroom | Professional photo management and editing | RAW editing, presets, cloud sync, AI (via Lightroom CC / Cloud), exposure/tone adjustments | Subscription-based; part of Adobe Creative Cloud—around $42/month for Pro individual, with seasonal discounts |
X-Design stands out as one of the best AI photo editors in our lineup, offering exceptional AI-powered tools that make professional-quality editing accessible to everyone. Its AI background remover lets you do the job in just a few seconds, you can also upscale your image into high resolution. X-Design is specifically designed to transform complex editing tasks into simple, one-click actions.
You can easily erase unwanted objects from your images and enhance the pixels to make it more appealing. Besides all these features, it also offers plenty of video editing tools. Whether you’re a small business, content creator, marketer, or graphic designer needing an extra hand, X-Design is there to help you with the editing process while ensuring stunning results.
Key Features
AI Product Photography: It helps transform plain product images into professional photographs quickly with its AI powered features.
Image Background Remover: Replace or remove unneeded background and make it more aesthetic. X-Design will detect and remove any image background and convert it into a professional image.
AI Image Enhancer: The image enhancer will help enhance low-resolution images into high-quality including 4k and 8K.
AI Video Editing: Best to remove watermark, enhance video quality, and remove video background.
Pros of X-Design AI Photo Editor
Time Efficiency: It’s efficient and deliver results in minutes, saving you time and hassle.
Cost-Effective Solutions: It helps save money on any expensive photoshoots, courtesy of its enhanced images and AI-generated techniques.
User-Friendly Interface: X-Design understands that not everyone is a tech pro, hence it comes with a user-friendly interface that is very easy to navigate.
Canva is another excellent pick that many people incline towards. The service has been constantly introducing new and high-quality AI tools since 2023, and shows no sign of slowing down. Canva allows users to edit their images, replace background objects, or fully generate AI images from scratch, making it a great free Photoshop alternative for graphic design.
Moreover, users can also develop AI text-to-video easily without the need for a camera. How cool is that! While all of this is great, its collaborative nature is actually what helps it stand out in the AI editing tool market the most.
Pros
A great pick for all kinds of content creation using its excellent AI features.
The template library holds versatile options for social media posts, stock photos, and more.
PhotoWorks is a user-friendly Photoshop free alternative with excellent AI features. It might be perfect for those looking into a free Photoshop replacement that handles batch editing swiftly. It has services like impeccable AI-powered autocorrection, which provides professional lighting, color techniques, and creative fillers, which enhance the pictures to a new level. The best part? This amazing tool offers an affordable lifetime license that is convenient for most people to purchase.
Pros
It holds excellent AI-powered autocorrection for quick fixes
Provides users with an affordable lifetime license.
If you love the advanced features of Photoshop and the perks of Canva, then we are sure this tool will be a dream come true for you. PolarrNext works as an all-in-one editing tool that holds a creative flair. Its sophisticated editing features works as an easy navigation tool, and the creative stickers and frames that add a playful touch to your design, this service has you covered on it all.
Pros
Vast presets and filters available
Holds a sophisticated and user-friendly design.
If you are an e-commerce business selling products online, then Inkscape is the ball that you need in your court. The tool offers AI photo editing for eCommerce products, social media content, or promotional ad designs. InkScape allows users to create files of any size because of its vector editing feature. Hence, the designs created on such vector editors can then be resized without disrupting the quality of the image.
Pros
It supports multiple languages
Offers custom DPI when saving the created content.
Developed for easy design creation and quick accessibility to all, PIXLR is another excellent free tool that you can access. It offers users multiple ways to edit images and add cute stickers and filters to enhance their designs. If you feel like giving it a more personal touch, you can always dive into a more thorough editing session using the several other AI tools on the service. PIXLR is free and supports multiple import and export file formats, making it an excellent pick for your needs.
Pros
Works well with Google Drive
Excellent templates for advertisements and graphics.
Are you busy working on your start-up but still need a creative platform to make simple designs and intriguing photos to increase your reach? Well, then, BeFunky is your go-to for sure. The tool is perfect for creating simple designs or adjusting existing ones. You can also edit photos with ease using its user-friendly interface. It might be the best free Photoshop alternatives for beginners. However, if you are a professional on board and think the free version has features a bit too basic, then we highly suggest that you check out the more advanced features on the paid version.
Pros
The service provides a lot of templates
Has free stock images from Pixabay and Pexels
Cons
The free version holds limited features
You think Photoshop has been present as long as you can remember? Well, then let us tell you that Krita is not far behind.
Operating for 25 years, Krita is a free and open-source service and undeniably one of the best free Photoshop alternatives for PC and Mac. This tool would be an excellent pick for artists and illustrators, allowing them the same level of fluid and lifelike sketching, masking, animation, workspace options for painting, and VFX, similar to Photoshop (maybe even better).
However, what you should know is that Krita still lacks one-click AI features, which other applications like X-Design AI Photo Editor have.
Pros
Holds a high-quality brush library similar to Photoshop for artists.
100% free to use.
Next on our list is the MyEdit AI editing tool, which is quite simple to use and offers professional results for free!
This is a Photoshop alternative without a subscription and allows users to create and design their images or use AI prompts to generate social media post templates easily.
The tool has set a benchmark for its AI features, including generative expansion and fill, upscaling, background removal and text-to-image generation. MyEdit offers all these features for free with a user-friendly interface.
Pros
User-friendly interface and professional results
Provides a free AI tool for life
Photopea gives the same gist of Photoshop, courtesy of its accurate layout replication, including the icons and menus. However, this browser-based tool is unique in its ways and allows users to open different types of files, including PDFs, Figma files, and raw photos. Another significant aspect that makes this tool so similar to Photoshop is its ABR format custom brushes.
For those who use brushes in Photoshop, this custom aspect is quite a replication of it, and something no other app offers. The service also offers free installation, a one-click template library with actions, patterns, mockups, brushes, and other creative tools you need your hands on.
Pros
Quite similar to Photoshop, hence gives the same experience
Multifunctional and supports multiple languages.
FilterPixel is another great AI-powered tool that is perfect for photographers looking into post-production tasks like editing with freedom or culling. The service is great and allows users to automatically sort and edit images, which helps save a significant amount of time.
Moreover, another great standout feature on this Photoshop alternative free online editor is its ability to create a personalized AI edit profile. How does it do this? Well, FilterPixel uploads around 3000 of the past edits, and then the AI aspects save all those styles within its data to generate similar results.
Pros
It supports RAW formats
Has an easy-to-use interface
If you are loyal to the Adobe platforms, then you should check out Adobe Lightroom. It allows users to apply similar adjustments to multiple pictures in one go, making batch editing easier. The tool is quite a pick for photographers as well who need consistent and quick editing on a large amount of pictures.
Pros
Pictures can be enhanced with custom presets,
Excellent for editing large photo sets
Conclusion
If you are someone who was on the lookout for the best free Photoshop alternatives, then we hope this article was helpful for you. While each editing tool mentioned on this list is exceptional in its unique way, when it comes down to choosing one, our vote always falls in favor of X-Design AI Photo Editor. So, check out this service today and let us know your thoughts on it.