Free alternatives to Photoshop and where they stop working

Photopea opens .PSD files with layers, masks, smart objects and adjustment layers intact. It runs in a browser tab, costs nothing, and the interface is deliberately close enough to Photoshop that muscle memory transfers within an hour.

For opening a client's layered file, changing some text, exporting a JPEG and getting on with your day, it is genuinely the right tool. It is also the only free option on this page that reliably round-trips a PSD without quietly flattening something.

Where it stops: it is a browser tab, so very large files get slow and depend on your machine's memory. There is no Camera Raw, no Generative Fill, no proper CMYK soft-proofing, and nothing that talks to the rest of a print workflow. It is ad-supported unless you pay a small monthly fee to remove them.

GIMP is a real image editor with layers, masks, paths, channels and a scripting engine. It has been developed for nearly thirty years and it is free in every sense — no account, no trial, no upsell.

It also does not behave like Photoshop, and pretending otherwise wastes people's time. Menus sit in different places, shortcuts differ, and some workflows that are two clicks in Photoshop are a five-step detour here. If you already know Photoshop, expect to be slower for a few weeks. If you are learning image editing from scratch, that cost does not exist and GIMP is an excellent place to start.

Where it stops: non-destructive adjustment layers are limited compared with Photoshop, CMYK support is workable rather than good, and PSD import handles most files but not every smart-object arrangement.

Krita is built for drawing and painting, and for that job many illustrators prefer it to Photoshop outright. The brush engine is excellent, pressure and tilt handling is precise, and the animation timeline is included at no cost.

It is free, open source, and there is no version that costs money. If your work is illustration, concept art, comics or texture painting, download Krita before you consider paying anyone anything.

Where it stops: it is not a photo editor. Retouching, colour grading a shoot, batch-processing product photography — those are not what it is for, and it will feel wrong. Use it alongside something else rather than instead of everything.

Affinity Photo is a one-time purchase. You buy the version, you own it, and it keeps working when you stop paying — because there is nothing to stop paying.

It handles PSD files, has a proper raw develop stage, real CMYK output for print, and non-destructive live filters. Professionals use it commercially every day. For a freelancer who needs a serious photo editor and does not need Adobe specifically, it usually costs less over three years than any subscription.

Where it stops: it is not Photoshop, so if a client sends a file that depends on a specific Photoshop feature, or a studio's pipeline assumes Adobe, the compatibility gap becomes your problem rather than theirs.

There are jobs where free alternatives cost more than they save. Be honest about whether you are in one of them.

• You are paid to hand over PSD files that someone else opens in Photoshop. Any conversion risk lands on you.
• Your work runs through Camera Raw or Lightroom with a catalogue you have built over years.
• You need Generative Fill or the current AI features. No free tool matches them today.
• You work in a studio or agency where the pipeline assumes Adobe and you do not get to change it.
• You are learning for a job listing that asks for Photoshop by name. Employers test on the named tool.

If none of those describes you, a free tool is not a compromise. It is simply the correct choice, and you should take it.