The 4 Best Alternatives to Photoshop in 2024

Adobe Photoshop is the most recognizable name for designers, photographers and image editors across the world. Having somewhat of a monopoly on the market, it’s important to know that there are other Photoshop alternatives you can try. From a price or functionality perspective, you might want to explore what these dependable alternatives to Photoshop have to offer. From AI tools to storage requirements there are a lot of options to consider that offer things Photoshop might not.

4 top Photoshop alternatives you can use now

Find the best tool for you with these powerful and useful Photoshop alternatives.

Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo is one of the best Photoshop alternatives on the market. Its advanced features make it an effective tool for professional photographers and designers. There are a number of features that make Affinity Photo stand out from Photoshop and its other alternatives.

• Compatibility: Affinity Photo runs on a variety of platforms and devices like Windows, Mac and iPads. It also has 100% file format compatibility making it easy to work on the same project across multiple devices seamlessly.
• Precision: The precision of this app’s software makes it easy to select any part of an image or photo down to single strands of hair. Every detail can be edited and selected with the many brushes, pens and photo editing tools available in Affinity Photo.
• Variety: There is an enormous variety of brushes, pens and even customizable brush strokes that are available to you. This is one of the alternatives to Photoshop that offers one of the most natural painting experiences you can find among design software.
• Retouching capabilities: Smoothing skin and textures in photos has never been easier. Using the Dodge, Clone, Burn, Patch and Blemish Removal tools you can greatly enhance any photos and images with ease in Affinity Photo.

GIMP

GIMP is among the available free alternatives to Photoshop for designers. While Photoshop offers stronger pixel manipulation and has more intuitive tools than GIMP, it is still a considerably powerful tool for a free Photoshop alternative. Here are some of the factors that make GIMP stand out from the crowd despite not being as powerful as Photoshop, but still a valuable asset in its own right:

• Beginner friendly: GIMP is a great tool for beginners who want to improve their editing skills without making a large financial commitment. While the user interface can be a bit fiddly to navigate it is an ideal place to practice the basics of graphic design and hone your skills. With online tutorials and time to experiment you can learn how to use this tool quickly without too much hassle.
• File size and storage: GIMP uses much less storage space on your computer than the other design software including the Photoshop alternatives on this list. This makes it easy to run on just about any kind of computer regardless of age. If file size and storage are issues for you then GIMP is an excellent choice.
• Modifiable: Being an open source program means that GIMP’s features can be modified. If you know how to access and change the operating code then you can make some changes to suit the way you use them. This is entirely legal and encouraged.

Skylum Luminar Neo

Lightroom and Photoshop are both Adobe products used to edit photos and images. The main difference between the two is that Photoshop uses layers that are useful for multi-image montages, editorial use and other situations. Lightroom focuses purely on editing the image itself which can then be moved to Photoshop and vice versa. There are many other differences between Photoshop and Lightroom, but this is the most prominent from a functionality point of view.

Photoshop and Lightroom are closely connected and exploring a good alternative to Lightroom might be a good idea for graphic designers, photographers and anyone who works with design software. Skylum Luminar Neo is probably one of the best Photoshop alternatives for you to explore. It offers an expansive range of high-quality AI-powered photo editing tools. The biggest benefits to Skylum Luminar Neo includes:

• AI photo fixing tools: Replace and enhance elements like skin and landscapes in your photo with the powerful AI tools available in Skylum Luminar Neo.
• Easy to use: The user interface of Luminar Neo is far more approachable than Lightroom’s making it a great tool for beginners.
• Capabilities: Luminar Neo has a wide range of capabilities like lens correction, layer support, batch processing, dodge and burn and non-destructive editing. Everything a photo editing tool needs and more is available with this software.

CyberLink PhotoDirector

There is a tool amid the Photoshop alternatives that combines the functionality of both Photoshop and Lightroom to create the ultimate tool for professional and advanced graphic designers and photographers. CyberLink PhotoDirector gives you access to powerful photo editing tools allowing for pixel-level editing. There are a lot of incredible features that CyberLink PhotoDirector can provide designers with including:

• Powerful AI tools: Enhance and edit photos with AI tools that reduce noise, remove backgrounds, brighten up images and sharpen details. It can also produce AI-generated images using text and stickers.
• More to use: Use PhotoDirector’s AI to make stickers, create styled effects, replace skies, depth blurring and more tools.
• Layer work: From object selection, layer templates, adjustment layers and layer masks this tool provides incredible tools for layer work. These tools are useful for a variety of different projects and types of work making this tool one of the most versatile Photoshop alternatives for what it can be used for.

How to choose between the Photoshop alternatives for your editing needs

Don’t be afraid to dive right in and start creating. The best way to learn is to practice and explore these Photoshop alternatives, so feel free to test out different photo editing software until you find one that suits you best.

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