Best Free Photoshop Alternatives for PC, Mac, Web and Phone

GIMP is the long-running free answer to Photoshop. It has layers, masks, selection tools, retouching tools such as healing and clone, colour adjustments and a big library of third-party plugins. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and there is no account, no ad and no upsell.

The project is active. GIMP 3.2.6 came out on September 10, 2026. Menus and tool names still differ from Photoshop, so expect a week or two of relearning muscle memory.

GIMP is not a RAW developer on its own. If you shoot RAW, pair it with darktable or RawTherapee, which we cover in our list of free Lightroom alternatives.

What you lose vs Photoshop: AI tools like Generative Fill, and the polish of Adobe's interface.

Affinity used to be a set of paid one-time apps. Canva now offers it as one free app that combines photo editing, vector design and page layout. The official page lists the price as "$0, free" and its FAQ says "Affinity really is free."

For Photoshop users it is the closest feel on this list: non-destructive layers, adjustment layers, masks, retouching and RAW development in one place. You sign in with a free Canva account to download it. After activation you do not need to stay online. The only paid part is Canva's AI tools inside Affinity, which need a Canva Pro, Business, Enterprise or Education plan.

It runs on Windows and macOS today. Affinity says an iPad version is "coming soon" but gives no date. It also shows up on our lists of Canva alternatives and buy once software.

What you lose vs Photoshop: Adobe's generative AI tools and plugin ecosystem.

If you use Photoshop to draw, paint or make comics rather than fix photos, Krita is the better free pick. It has strong brush engines, stabilisers for clean inking, drawing assistants, layer styles, filter and transform masks, animation with onion skinning, and it opens PSD files.

Krita 5.3.4.1 came out on October 7, 2026. Downloads from krita.org are free. Paid copies on Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store are the same app, and the money funds development. The Android version is still a beta made for tablets and Chromebooks, not phones, and there is no iPad or iPhone version.

For more drawing apps, see our list of Procreate alternatives.

What you lose vs Photoshop: photo-focused tools such as content-aware fill and smart object workflows.

Paint.NET sits between Microsoft Paint and Photoshop. It has layers, unlimited undo, effects and adjustments, and a community library of plugins that add more tools and file formats. It opens fast, which makes it handy for screenshots, crops, blurs and quick touch-ups.

It is Windows only. Version 5.1.12 came out on March 8, 2026. The download from the official site is free. A paid Windows Store version exists to support the developer.

What you lose vs Photoshop: advanced masking, AI tools and Mac support.

Photopea looks and works a lot like Photoshop, and it runs in a browser on almost any device, including a Chromebook. PSD is its main format, with full support for opening and saving. It also handles PNG, JPG, WEBP, SVG, PDF, AI, TIFF and RAW formats such as DNG, CR2 and NEF.

Photopea says files never leave your device: there are no uploads. You do not need an account to start editing. The free version shows ads, and a Premium account removes them. Photopea shows the Premium price inside its Account window rather than on a public page.

What you lose vs Photoshop: AI features and the speed of a native app on very large files.

Pixlr runs in a browser and as a phone app, and it leans on AI. The Android app lists AI Generative Fill, AI Remove Object and AI Remove Background, plus collages, templates, double exposure, retouch tools and text. It has over 100 million downloads on Google Play.

The free version shows ads. Plus costs $2.49 a month or $1.99 a month billed yearly, and adds ad-free use, unlimited saves and 80 AI credits a month. Premium is $9.99 a month or $7.99 a month billed yearly, with 1,000 AI credits. One subscription covers web, desktop and mobile.

What you lose vs Photoshop: depth. Pixlr is built for quick results, not detailed compositing.

If you like Photoshop but not the bill, Adobe's own phone app has a free tier. Adobe describes it as "an image editor app with a wide selection of free photo editing tools", including layers, the Tap Select tool, the Spot Healing Brush, adjustment layers and background blur or removal.

The paid Photoshop Mobile & Web plan adds the Remove Tool, Content Aware Fill, Object Select, the Magic Wand, advanced blend modes, 100 generative credits a month and export to PSD and TIFF. On the US App Store it costs $7.99 a month or $69.99 a year, a fraction of the desktop plan. The app has no ads. Our AI photo editors guide covers its AI tools in more depth.

What you lose vs Photoshop: the full desktop toolset, and most AI tools unless you pay.

Photoshop Express is Adobe's simpler editor, with over 100 million downloads on Google Play. It covers the jobs most people open Photoshop for: blemish removal, spot healing, clone stamp, red-eye fixes, filters, text, collages and AI background replacement. It also imports RAW, TIFF and PNG files.

The Play listing shows no ads. Premium unlocks extra features and finer controls for $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year on the US App Store. An Adobe Express Premium plan also includes Photoshop Express Premium on mobile.

What you lose vs Photoshop: layers, masks and any real compositing.

Snapseed from Google gives you 30+ tools with no subscriptions, purchases, ads or watermarks. It has healing, selective adjustments, curves, perspective fixes, one-tap smart masking, batch editing and RAW support, and every edit stays reversible.

It is a photo editor, not a design tool, so there are no layers for combining images. We cover it in more detail in our Lightroom alternatives list.

What you lose vs Photoshop: layers, text design and generative AI.