The Best Adobe Photoshop Alternatives for 2025
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Nothing can completely replace Adobe Photoshop if you need its technological-marvel features. Its slick interface and two AI technologies, Firefly and Sensei, let you perfect your images like nothing else. Add strong collaboration tools and plug-in support to the mix, and you have a near-unbeatable set of capabilities. But if you just need standard photo editing software features for correcting brightness and colors, working with raw camera files , adding text, or even using layers, then Photoshop might be overkill. Excellent alternatives to Photoshop ($22.99 per month) cost less and have similar core capabilities. Read on to see which Photoshop replacement best fits your needs (in order of our ratings), along with everything you should consider before making a decision.
The Best Photoshop Alternatives for Beginners
A reasonable place to start with photo editing is to use the applications that come with your operating system : Apple Photos across Apple's ecosystem, Google Photos for Android, and Microsoft Photos for Windows. They give you basic color and lighting tools—and even some impressive AI effects—in simple interfaces.
If you're interested in building your photo editing chops with more Photoshop-like editing, Photoshop Elements is a more approachable version of Adobe's software. Its many Guided Edits take you through the steps of using both standard and advanced effects.
Lightroom , the non-Classic version, is also worth your consideration. Lightroom gives you access to the Discover community, where photographers and editors share their entire process from raw image to final product. You can even submit your photos to the community and let them edit your work.
The Best Free Alternatives to Photoshop
Again, most operating systems include photo software that can serve your basic needs for free. The Microsoft Photos app in Windows 11 provides auto-tagging, blemish removal, face recognition, good image correction tools, and even raw camera file support in a touch-friendly interface. It can also automatically create editable albums based on photos' dates and locations. Apple Photos on macOS does those things, too. Both programs sync with online storage services : iCloud for Apple and OneDrive for Microsoft. (You can now access iCloud Photos in Windows 11's Photos app , too.) They also let you search based on detected object types, like "tree" or "cat." Apple Photos supports plug-ins like the excellent Perfectly Clear and Topaz Photo AI , the leading noise reduction tool.
You also have free options if you use Ubuntu or another Linux distro, including the capable-enough Shotwell app. For more sophisticated editing, the venerable GNU Image Manipulation Program, better known as GIMP , is available for all the major desktop platforms. It has a ton of Photoshop-style plug-ins and editing capabilities but very little in the way of creature comforts or usability. For free Lightroom-style workflow options, look to the open-source Darktable and RawTherapee applications.
