You’ve done your market research, decided on the perfect theme for your brand, and made plans to take the world by storm! But suddenly you realize you have to create banners, product photos, and promotional materials to launch and grow your store—you’ve found yourself in need of photo editing software.
If you’ve heard of Photoshop, you’re probably aware that it’s quite an investment. Don’t worry, there are plenty of free alternatives to Photoshop. Together with Yeefu’s graphic team, we’ve come up with a list of options suited for both graphic editing newcomers and seasoned Photoshop users.
But, before diving in, let’s explore Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop is an industry-leading raster (pixel-based) image editor used to create unique graphics and edit photos. It’s packed with many useful tools for resizing, color adjusting, and retouching images. Photoshop used to be a program you could buy from Adobe and use to your heart’s content. But since 2013, it’s a part of a monthly subscription-based service—Creative Cloud. Photoshop is included in multiple subscription plans.
Creative Cloud is a marvelous collection of apps for experienced designers and a great investment if you’re planning on expanding your business or employing designers. Creative Cloud offers many useful features like storing and sharing your projects and even working on them at the same time. It’s the perfect graphic design environment.
Creative Cloud could seem overwhelming or impractical. That’s because even the slightest change to an image—like a decoration on a sales banner—or even just opening software-specific files like PSD (Photoshop Data file) requires a subscription to access the editing software.
If you’re testing the waters and don’t want to invest in Photoshop, or just want to try something a little different, you might be interested in these free alternatives.
Photopea
Gimp
InkScape
Canva
Pablo
Instasize
Photo Pos Pro
PIXLR
Which option is the best for me?
1.Photopea
Use it for: DTG, all-over print, poster & canvas printing, sublimation, UV printing, photo editing
No list of free Photoshop alternatives would be complete without Gimp. This software has established a strong presence in the graphics editing world and has built a strong community. It’s the perfect software for editing small files and creating simple designs.
Price: Free
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
File format: PSD, JPEG, PNG, GIF, PDF, EPS
Color space: RGB, CMYK (only with a plugin)
Use it for: Social media graphics, poster & canvas printing
Canva might not be the most obvious choice of Photoshop alternatives, yet it’s a useful platform for any designer. Their free toolkit is quite extensive and their paid plans offer even more editing possibilities, but they cost more than Photoshop itself. It’s great for designing posters. It also lets you post your creations straight to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, and other social media platforms. Canva Pro also offers a feature named Brand Kit, which makes branding each graphic exceptionally easy.
Price: Free (Canva Pro is $12.95/month)
Platforms: Online Browser, Also available for iOS and Android
File format: JPEG, PDF, PNG (transparent background only available with a paid plan)
Color space: RGB
