When we reviewed it, we also found Affinity Photo to be less demanding on hardware than Photoshop, although that may depend on what equipment you're using (it's been specifically designed to take advantage of the latest quad-core technology). It doesn't offer all the features of Photoshop, particularly in terms of features like neural filters, but there is still a lot to impress. It also works out a lot cheaper than Photoshop in the long-run since you can buy it for a one-off cost rather than an ongoing subscription). Aimed squarely at professional photographers and designers, it's fully compatible with Photoshop and other file formats. Photoshop is only available on a subscription, whereas most of the best Photoshop alternatives below can be purchased for a one-off fee, and some are free.įrom its interface to its range of features, Affinity Photo is the closest thing to Photoshop that we've seen yet. See our how we test software guide for more info. We've evaluated them for features, ease of use, and of course value for money. In the guide below, we've made a pick of the best Photoshop alternatives mainly based on our hands-on reviews. If what you're looking more for a tool to edit photos without making such transformations, see our guide to the best photo editing software. In this guide, we'll focus on tools that offer those kinds of functionalities. It allows you to create original digital art and totally transform images with wholesale manipulations and compositions.

It's worth remembering that Photoshop is a lot more than a photo-editing program. And after all, many people simply don't need all of the features that Photoshop offers, particularly if it's only to edit photos rather than make more advanced manipulations. Of course, some do remain significantly less powerful than Photoshop, but even these have their place since they're usually a lot cheaper (sometimes even free).

Gimp photo manipulation