Open-source Photoshop alternatives, compared

GIMP is a free, community-developed raster editor distributed under GPL-3.0-or-later. Official builds cover Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the application is designed for retouching, image composition, painting, and format conversion. It is the most established Photoshop alternative in this comparison, with layers, masks, channels, high-bit-depth processing, color management, automation, and a broad supply of community plug-ins and resources.

Its strength is depth without a subscription. Web graphics, photography retouching, compositing, texture work, and exports to common formats can move successfully once a user learns GIMP’s terminology. PSD import and export exist, but GIMP’s own documentation warns that blending modes do not always map exactly. Photoshop-specific constructs such as Smart Objects, editable layer effects, and some adjustment-layer behavior can flatten, change, or require rebuilding. GIMP’s developer roadmap also describes high-end CMYK backend support as work in progress, which matters for controlled prepress and ink workflows.

Choose GIMP when you own the workflow, can make XCF the working format, and deliver flattened or standard exports. Do not make it the only editor in a team that exchanges complex, continually editable PSD files with Photoshop users or depends on Adobe plug-ins and actions.

PhotoCraft is ArtCraft’s open-source image-editor project, presented as a familiar layer-based alternative for Photoshop-style work. Its official materials show adjustment layers, masks, text, selections, and PSD-oriented editing across desktop and web targets. The project is in Early alpha, however, so those demonstrations describe direction and current builds rather than a guarantee that every advertised workflow is dependable on deadline.

The attraction is a modern interface and an architecture being built in public rather than another skin over an old editor. It may suit curious designers who want to test a new open-source Photoshop alternative, report bugs, and help shape keyboard, layer, and file-format behavior. The failure point is maturity: there is no long production history, no Photoshop-sized plug-in marketplace, and no independent evidence that complicated PSD documents preserve every type layer, effect, mask, profile, and blend mode through repeated round trips. Platform labels also should not be confused with equally polished installers on every system.

Use copies of files and verify exports before trusting it with client work. Read the dedicated PhotoCraft guide for its current status, official screenshots, and known unknowns; early adopters are the right audience, while teams needing proven compatibility should keep a mature editor available. See the PhotoCraft guide before downloading.

Photopea is a browser-based image editor built around a Photoshop-like interface and strong PSD handling. Its official terms allow anyone to use the editor for free and to sell work created with it, while premium removes some constraints and advertising. Those terms are not an open-source license and the product does not publish its application code as a community-governed open-source project, so it belongs in a free Photoshop alternatives list but not a strictly open-source-only shortlist.

Its best feature is immediacy. A user can open a layered document on a managed computer without installing an application, retain a familiar tool arrangement, and handle many common masks, text, vector, Smart Object, and export tasks. Files are processed on the device according to Photopea’s privacy statement. It also exposes scripting and a web plug-in API. Where it breaks is the browser boundary: memory pressure, tab suspension, keyboard conflicts, local-font handling, and very large multi-layer documents can be less predictable than a native workstation. Its ecosystem and color-managed prepress path are not equivalent to Adobe’s.

Choose Photopea for occasional PSD access, classroom or locked-down machines, and quick handoffs. Avoid treating free access as source-code freedom or assuming every Photoshop automation and enterprise workflow transfers unchanged.

Krita is a GPL-3.0 digital painting application for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with additional mobile builds. The project explicitly focuses on illustration, concept art, comics, textures, animation, and prolonged drawing sessions. Its brush engines, stabilizers, assistants, layer types, masks, color spaces, HDR support, and artist resources make it more capable than Photoshop for some painting-centered workflows.

Krita can load and save PSD features including raster layers, groups, blending modes, layer styles, text, vector shapes, and transparency masks. Its manual is equally clear that PSD is an internal Adobe format that no outside application can support perfectly. A document built around unsupported Photoshop effects, linked Smart Objects, application-specific adjustment behavior, or repeated exchange with an Adobe production team can change. Krita also says it is not intended as a Photoshop replacement for broad image manipulation; batch retouching, photography utilities, and some compositing conventions are not its design center. CMYK is available, but the project still recommends an RGB working space for many jobs and conversion using the target printer profile.

Choose Krita if the canvas, brush system, and drawing experience matter more than Photoshop parity. Illustrators can switch confidently after testing deliverable formats; photo retouchers should evaluate GIMP or Photopea first.

Paint.NET is a fast Windows image editor distributed in two functionally similar editions: a free Classic download and a paid Microsoft Store version with automatic updating. Its license permits personal, academic, commercial, government, and business use, but forbids modification and derivative works. It is therefore freeware, not open-source software. Current requirements center on 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, Direct3D 11 graphics, and an SSD.

The application is strong at the work its name suggests: quick crops, color changes, selections, layers, effects, annotations, and web-ready exports without a complex workspace. Community effect and file-type plug-ins can broaden it, and the official documentation maintains installation guidance and a plug-in index. The same documentation notes that those plug-ins are third-party software without support from the Paint.NET team. PSD work therefore depends more heavily on extensions and cannot be assumed to preserve an advanced Photoshop document. There is no macOS or Linux edition, and non-destructive adjustment workflows, sophisticated typography, controlled CMYK prepress, automation, and large collaborative documents are not its core strengths.

Choose Paint.NET for a Windows user who wants a responsive editor for modest raster tasks. Do not choose it as the main interchange application for layered agency files or as an open-source project you can audit and modify.

Glimpse Image Editor was a GPL-3.0 downstream fork of GIMP created primarily to provide a different product name and, later, improve aspects of the interface. Its initial releases were based on the GIMP 2.10 generation, so layers, masks, filters, PSD handling, and plug-in behavior largely came from that inherited code rather than an independent editing engine.

That history explains both its appeal and its decisive weakness. A person who liked GIMP’s capabilities but wanted alternate branding could get a familiar editor. The project then went on hiatus and its main repository was archived; it no longer offers a current development path comparable with GIMP itself. Installing it now means accepting an older base, outdated dependencies, missing security and compatibility improvements, and an ecosystem that did not develop separately. Any apparent Photoshop compatibility is constrained by what the underlying historical GIMP version supported, while modern GIMP has continued to improve PSD import/export, high-bit-depth processing, and platform packages.

Glimpse is useful as project history, not as a 2026 recommendation. Existing users should plan a controlled move to current GIMP, preserving original files and checking fonts, plug-ins, and exports. New users should exclude it first rather than investing in abandoned tooling.