What is the best alternative to Affinity Photo?

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score 330 · Answer 1

Krita

Top Pro

Free and open source

Krita is completely free and open source. They have raised a couple of successful Kickstarters in the past to get the initial financing and now they are accepting donations. See More

Top Con

Poor Touch Controls.

They are still pretty much a WIP. But they are getting there. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use layout

All the most used and useful tools are easy to find in Krita's UI and are often just one click away. They are not hidden behind menus or dropdowns. See More

Top Con

Documentation is lacking

Krita's official documentation is incomplete in some areas, especially for new features that are constantly added. But this is compensated with it's great design and usability which makes it easier to understand how things work. See More

Top Pro

Amazing support for displaying brushes

Krita's preset brushes are one of the default dockers. Each brush has a preview on mouseover that shows a detailed view of the type of brush involved. All the brushes also have useful and descriptive names such as "HP Pencil" or "Textured Fuzzy". See More

Top Con

Working with text is not that pleasant

Top Pro

Constantly updated

Krita is getting constant releases with updates and bug fixes. New features are added at a pace that far surpasses the other alternatives. See More

Top Con

New features are not tested thoroughly

Since releases are so often and with little time between them, usually new features are not tested a lot and this can bring a lot of bugs with them. Which fortunately are quickly patched in the next release. See More

Top Pro

Very customizable

Although the UI is rather busy, Krita is very customizable. The editing window can be themed and the sidebar can be customized extensively throw many dockers or panes. See More

Top Pro

Easy editing in a tiled view

Tiled view that shows your image tiled in the editor, and permits you to edit it as you are seeing it tiled. If the brush passes out of your texture, it will just automatically wrap back the painting to the other side of the original texture, while permitting you to paint and see the results on any of the tiled "clones" (the shortcut key to activate this is w by default). See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, Android

License:Open source

See All Experiences

330 46

score 233 · Answer 2

GIMP

Top Con

Unintuitive interface

GIMP doesn't embrace OS X application design, thus Mac users might have a hard time wrapping their heads around GIMP's interface. See More

Top Pro

Free, open source and cross-platform

GIMP is completely free and open source, meaning you can use GIMP and all of its features without spending a penny. This makes it an excellent case for artists or designers who may not have the budget to spend over 700 USD on Photoshop. It is also available for free on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It's licensed under GPL with source code available here. See More

Top Con

Less features than other programs

Being a free program, it shouldn't be surprising that it has limited features. For those needing more advanced features for something more professional, GIMP just isn't for you. See More

Top Pro

Powerful

GIMP is the most feature rich free image editing tool. It has most image manipulation and workflow tools that you would expect from an image editing software and what it lacks it makes up with plugins. See More

Top Con

Lacks adjustment layers

Adjustment layers offer a non-destructive way of combining different photo manipulations. Without adjustment layers the only way to see changes is by irreversibly editing the image. They are promised in future updates. See More

Top Pro

Content-aware tools with a plugin

There's a content-aware fill plugin available for GIMP. See More

Top Con

Poor performance

Top Pro

Modular & single-window interface options

By default GIMP splits out each window, but you can check to use the one screen mode in options if you prefer. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Compared to to other photo editing software, GIMP is very light weight. In addition it isn't very resource-intensive, meaning you can put it on a flash drive and have it with you to load up on just about any computer. See More

Top Pro

Beginner-friendly

Gimp has less features than programs like Photoshop, but for a beginner, or someone not needing complicated options, Gimp is the perfect choice. It allows you to quickly do basic photo manipulation so you can easily get the product you need without having to worry about complicated features getting in the way. See More

Top Pro

Full channel support

Specs

Platforms:Windows 10/8/7; Linux; MacOS

233 52

score 8 · Answer 3

Picktorial

Top Pro

Fast

Browsing and editing are very fast. Much better than lightroom and most other competitors. See More

Top Con

No image blending

You can't blend images, like in photoshop. See More

Top Pro

Fun

This software makes editing fun. See More

Top Pro

Single-space workflow

No need to move between different slow modules. See More

Top Pro

Truly non-destructive edits

Every edit is non-destructive, no matter the order. See More

Top Pro

No need to import

It's catalog free so no need with slow import and backup problems. See More

Top Pro

Local adjustements

Has many options Lightroom doesn't, like HSL, curves and split tone within local adjustment. See More

Top Pro

Great value for money

Much better than a subscription to pay every month and very affordable for what it does. See More

Specs

Platforms:Mac OS

Tethered capture:No

Fuji Lens Correction:Yes

Local Adjustments:Yes

See All Specs

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8 1

score 32 · Answer 4

Photopea

Top Pro

Can save as PSD

This means you can open these files in Photoshop, so if you don't have Photoshop on one device, you can still export your Photopea project and continue editing on Photoshop on another device See More

Top Con

Has only basic filters and operations

Top Pro

Requires no browser plugin

As it is an HTML5 application, running it requires no additional plugins on modern browsers. See More

Top Pro

Fast to load

Top Pro

Drag and drop support

Photopea allows dragging & dropping images in to the browser window to upload them and add to the scene. See More

Top Pro

Uses Photoshop standard shortcuts

Top Pro

Very reactive on feedbacks

Top Pro

Photoshop Like Interface

It has a Photoshop-like interface with most of its features for basic editing. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web (in a browser)

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32 1

score 54 · Answer 5

Pixelmator

Top Pro

Beautiful, easy to use UI

Pixelmator's interface is pleasant to look at, easy to use and specifically optimized for OS X users, making it very intuitive for long-time Mac users. See More

Top Pro

Feature rich

Not only does Piexelmator provide easy to use tools that you should expect in any image editor, it also has rare tools such as layer styles, liquify tools and OS X optimized, fast image manipulation engine among others. See More

Top Pro

Supports layer styles

Layer styles allow non-destructively applying effects to a layer. See More

Top Pro

Loads quickly

Gives you common image editing capabilities almost instantly. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

Pixelmator's image engine is specifically optimized for use with Macs, providing one the best performance results available on OS X. See More

Top Pro

Powerful effects

Dozens of visual effects available, easily discovered from the visual Effects Browser, broken into categories. Effects have interactive dialogs and live preview. See More

Top Pro

Inexpensive

Pixelmator costs just $30 on the App Store. Additionally, it often comes bundled with other software that you might also find useful bringing the price down. See More

Top Pro

Multiple-display support

Pixelmator can be used across any number of monitors. See More

Specs

Platforms:OSX

Tethered capture:No

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54 15

score 34 · Answer 6

Lightroom

Top Pro

Excellent asset management capabilities

Lightroom allows, for example, organizing images based on folders, color labels, flags, rating, keywords, GPS location, it can automatically create smart albums (albums that automatically update based on set rules) and it can be set to automatically backup, rename based on set rules, apply default processing, add keywords to images on import. It offers that functionality in an intuitive way and allows extensively customizing layout, behavior and workflow of managing assets to better suit your needs. See More

Top Con

No layer-based image editing capabilities

There are no layers removing any ability to blend images, create composits, overlay text, etc. See More

Top Pro

HDR support

Can merge multiple shots into one in order to expand dynamic range. See More

Top Con

There's a learning curve

Top Pro

Facial recognition helps find and tag people

Lightroom has built-in facial recognition support that can be used to find the same person in any collection of photographs. See More

Top Con

Hot folder option could be better

It can take a couple of seconds for Lightroom to check the folder for incoming images and that can noticeably slow down the workflow. Additionally, only the last image is imported as active. See More

Top Pro

A good number of cameras have built-in lens profiles for lens distortion correction

Lightroom has over 900 lens profiles from all kinds of manufacturers, including major lens brands like Canon, Nikon, Leica, Pentax, Ricoh, etc. You can see the full list of supported lenses here. Lens profiles will in most cases speed up the process of correcting lens distortion down to 1-2 clicks. See More

Top Pro

Intuitive interface that's streamlined for a photographer's workflow

At a high level the interface is organized into broad groups of tools called workflow modules. Modules like "Library" for asset management and "Develop" for manipulating the photos. Each module displays only those tools that are needed for that task. This allows you to separate concerns between tasks and reduces interface clutter. When you're, for example, developing the image, you're not bothered by interface tools relating to exporting it. Within each module tools are grouped in a logical manner. Develop module, for example, will group tools relating to basic image adjustment, lens correction, and effects. And there are a plethora of keyboard shortcuts that improve the workflow speed even further. At all times you can easily navigate between images you're working via arrow keys, quickly compare images before and after making edits with \, or see side by side comparisons with y. See More

Top Pro

Supports tethered capture

You can connect your camera directly to Lightroom and have Lightroom display images as soon as they are captured. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows OSX

Tethered capture:Yes

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34 13

score 8 · Answer 7

MediBang Paint Pro

Top Pro

Multi-platform support

Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. See More

Top Con

Displays a dialog with some ads at the start

When starting up the app, there is a dialog that pops up containing advertisements, this can simply be closed, but will happen every time when opening the app. Sadly there is no way to remove these ads currently. See More

Top Pro

Has a lot of options for editing photos

Top Pro

Free

It's a powerful, fully featured app and it's free. See More

8 1

score 127 · Answer 8

Darktable

Top Con

Can be overwhelming

There are a lot of different modules. You're going to need some time watching tutorials to understand how to get the best out of it. See More

Top Pro

Fast and Flexible

A very well considered UI makes edits fast and fluid. You can redo or undo any step without disturbing any other part of your edit. The UI doesn't get in the way. See More

Top Con

For tethered capture on Linux you may need additional software installed that is not a dependency for Darktable

First make sure you have gphoto2 and libgphoto2. See More

Top Pro

Feature rich

There are a lot of different modules. See More

Top Con

No official Windows version

Whilst official builds exist for Linux and OSX, this isn't the case for Windows (though unofficial versions do exist). See More

Top Pro

Good batch editing capabilities

Darktable allows applying the same set of operations to multiple images and saving your history stack as a style (you can pick exactly which modules). See More

Top Pro

Allows for local adjustments

Most modules, by default, affect the whole image, but have the option to only be applied to masked-off areas (be those drawn masks, parametric ones, or a combination of the two). See More

Top Pro

Supports tethered capture

On the camera set it to use USB Remote. Open Darktable, on the left side under Import, click scan for devices. The camera should appear. Click on tethered shoot. Next on the right side look for the gear icon above the battery n/a and click it. go to the session options tab, and change the base directory to the location you want to save photos. close that settings window and try taking a picture. It should come right up. See More

Top Pro

Customizable

Darktable allows favoriting modules and remapping hotkeys. See More

Top Pro

Edits are saved to a separate file

Original files are untouched by any edits. No worries on what was done before or if an accidental save occurs. All work is separate from the originals. See More

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127 24

score 9 · Answer 9

Paintshop Pro

Top Con

Windows only

Top Pro

Has tutotirals

There are quite a few tutorial videos available on Paint Shop's website for users. See More

Top Pro

Several file formats supported

Can read and write images in several file formats: PCX, PNG, GIF, CDR, PSD, JPG, EPS, TIF, TGA, WMF... even RAW. See More

Top Pro

Custom palettes

Being able to work with a pre-defined number of color palettes, save and load custom palettes and several modes to reduce the number of colors on a picture. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Tethered capture:No

9 3

score 20 · Answer 10

Snapseed

Top Pro

G+ integration

Google has also integrated most of Snapseeds features into the G+ app as well. See More

Top Con

Limited social integration

Snapseed supports sharing with email, Facebook, and Twitter, but leaves out important networks like Instagram and Flickr. See More

Top Pro

Clever Interface

Snapseed interface is controlled with swipes, up and down to choose the option and left and right to choose the intensity. It does take a bit of getting used to, but once you have the interface is very nice and easy to use. See More

Top Pro

Selective adjustments

In order to make adjustments to just one part of an image, tap and hold the box on the top right corner of the screen. See More

Top Pro

Free

With the acquisition of Snapseed by Google, the app was lowered in price from $4.99 to free. See More

Top Pro

High quality photo editing

Snapseed includes many features of high end photo editing software, auto correct, image tuning and other effects. Snapseed makes editing your photos easy and gives the photographer many options to choose from in how they present their images. Scrolling up and down lets the user choose from different effects and tools, swiping left to right determines the intensity. This app includes many effects such as tilt shift that are hard to find elsewhere. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android, iOS

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20 0

score 93 · Answer 11

Photoshop

Top Pro

Industry standard

Photoshop is used by professionals everywhere in a wide variety of fields including photography, graphic design and digital art. It is the de facto standard for image manipulation. If you've seen a magazine ad featuring a model, you've probably seen the effects of Photoshop. You won't be alone when using Photoshop. See More

Top Con

Expensive

The standalone version of Photoshop costs $19.99/month, though it can be leased as part of the Creative Cloud Photography bundle that includes Lightroom for $9.99/month. See More

Top Pro

Trove of plugins that extend functionality are available

A wide variety of plugins that add new effects, improve existing functionality and simplify workflow are available. See More

Top Con

Latest versions of Photoshop are subscription-only

While you can still buy CS6 from 2012 without needing a subscription by contacting Adobe support or the cut-down Photoshop Elements, any full-version version of Photoshop past CS6 requires a subscription. See More

Top Pro

Lots of tutorials

There's a huge number of both free and paid tutorials available online. Websites like Lynda.com offer premium high-quality, in-depth tutorials, but there are plenty of free alternatives to be found on YouTube, blogs and specialized sites on the Internet. See More

Top Con

Learning it can take some time

While you can relatively quickly learn how to perform a few basic image editing tasks, understanding Photoshop's ins and outs can be difficult. It's partially due to the sheer amount of functionality that Photoshop packs (and understanding that some of the advanced functionality can take a while to understand on its own), and partially due to it being aimed at professionals with little hand-holding for novice users. See More

Top Pro

A cheaper, standalone version called Photoshop Elements is available

A stripped down version of Photoshop, called Photoshop Elements can be bought as a standalone application for $100. See More

Top Con

Batch editing of images is not straightforward

Photoshop is designed to work extensively on one image at a time and while batch editing support exists, it's not that intuitive to use. See More

Top Pro

Includes powerful content-aware tools

Photoshop includes content-aware tools such as content-aware fill that can fill in a select area based on what surrounds it. See More

Top Con

Affinity Photo is just as good at a fraciton of the price

Switching from Photoshop to Affinity Photo and it's hard to notice the difference quality of a professional's work. They say that PS is the industry standard, but so very few pros that tried Affinity Photo ever look back. See More

Top Pro

Packs a staggering amount of functionality

Photoshop is the most fully featured image editing software available today allowing you to perform highly advanced image manipulation. It has tools for RAW image adjustments, lens correction, retouching, image stitching, HDR, fixing framing. It supports most professional color modes and file formats. It includes extensive lists of filters, styles, effects, fonts as well as tools for painting, sketching and typography work. It understands both raster and vector graphics. It even includes tools for video editing, working with 3D objects and support for 3D printing. See More

Top Con

Asset management capabilities are lacking

In Photoshop asset management is done through a separate program called Bridge. As Bridge is supposed to be a file management tool for not just Photoshop's files, but for files generated by all of Adobe's applications it covers a breadth of capabilities, but not depth. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with Creative Cloud

You can save all projects directly to the Creative Cloud allowing you to access them from any device and with any relevant Adobe software. See More

Top Con

Very slow

It needs a very power CPU and GPU and many GBs of RAM and still it is so slow. See More

Top Pro

Creative Cloud Photography subscription includes Lightroom

Lightroom is another image editing software from Adobe that's specifically designed for photo editing and managing of large quantities of digital images. See More

Top Con

Not good enough to be so expensive

Probably the only big advantage Photoshop has over the other free software is the adjustment layers. But still too expensive for just one feature. See More

Top Pro

Mobile companion apps available

There's a free mobile app available for iOS, Android & Windows Phone. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS

License:Hagu

Tethered capture:via Bridge

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93 38

score 12 · Answer 12

CarbonCopy Cloner

Top Pro

Auto-Run

Even if you have tasks in queue, once you connect, it will begin automatically backing up for you. See More

Top Con

No Organizing Tasks

Once your tasks are in the queue, you can't reorder them. You also can't organize them into folders. See More

Top Pro

Flawless Execution

Backing up and restoring your computer are fast and easy. There's no confusion. See More

Top Pro

Clear Interface

The interface is extremely streamlined. It walks you through the entire process. There are advanced options but they remain hidden until you want them. See More

12 0

score 6 · Answer 13

PhotoFlare

Top Pro

User friendly

An easy to use GUI, inspired by the equally great PhotoFiltre editor. Very suitable for beginners to add that special touch to photos/images. See More

Top Con

Feature maturity can be low

Some features lack polish or still require more development to make them more useful. Looks like not all features have been given the same development time. See More

Top Pro

Very fast

Starts up very quick and most editing features run at a high speed. See More

Top Pro

RAW support

This program can open most RAW formats produced by high quality DSLR cameras. Great feature to have if you own a high end Nikon or Canon camera. (other brands supported too) See More

Top Pro

Open Source

Offers a Community Edition which is free and the full code is available on Github. See More

Top Pro

Cross Platform

Runs on all major platforms such as Windows, Linux and Mac. See More

6 0

score 12 · Answer 14

Unclutter

Top Pro

Convenient and fast access to files and notes

Unclutter lives in the navbar at the top of your screen, and is always accessible. Any files and notes stored in Unclutter can be quickly accessed from anywhere, with just a mouse movement and scrolling down. See More

Top Con

Can't keep visor open when typing in other applications

The unclutter visor will not stay open when working/typing in other apps. Sometimes it is desirable to use the visor to re-type things, it's not possible outside of copying and pasting, or opening and re-closing the visor. See More

Top Pro

Keep desktop clean(er)

Instead of keeping commonly used files on the desktop, you can tuck them away to the top of the screen. This can unclutter your screen, or create more room for more icons if you like quick access to everything. See More

Top Con

$10 seems a bit much for what it does

Specs

Platforms:MacOS

Dark Theme:YES

Sync:Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, etc.

12 1

score 94 · Answer 15

F.lux

Top Pro

Can help sleep better

Helps provide better sleep for more energy during the day. See More

Top Con

Takes a while to get used to

After installing F.lux, the screen will look a lot more yellow. This takes about a week to fully get used to. You can ease into it by setting the color temps higher than the recommended defaults. See More

Top Pro

Eases eye strain

Decreases color temperature at night, changing the normally fluorescent blue of an LCD monitor to a soft orange. Much easier on the eyes, especially in a low-light environment. See More

Top Pro

Subtle transition

The transition from daytime to nighttime color modes takes an hour by default and will detect your current timezone, meaning that it will happen in the background at sunset, often without you noticing. See More

94 8

score 23 · Answer 16

VECTARY

Top Con

You have to be online

Top Pro

Free

Top Con

Subject to frequent change

As this tool is rather new, it tends to change often, it may confuse sometimes, but generally the change makes it better See More

Top Pro

Simple UI

Top Pro

Visually stunning

The feel of this app is really good and the beautiful design helps the overall experience. See More

Top Pro

Fast-evolving

This tool is progressing very nicely and often brings out new cool features. See More

Top Pro

Any operating system

Top Pro

Browser based - no install required

Top Pro

Easy-to-learn

Top Pro

3D printing ready

Top Pro

Free online support

Top Pro

Great for educational use

Since there's no need to install any application, VECTARY can be a great tool for teaching 3D modelling in schools as well. Students only need to make an account and they can use the same software both in their school labs and their own PCs. See More

Specs

Supported platforms:Windows, Mac, Unix, Chrome OS

Service integrations:Figma, Sketch

Exports:More than 60 file formats, including USDZ, GLTF, FBX

Import:3D and 2D formats

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23 3

score 14 · Answer 17

Little Snitch

Top Pro

Protected even at login screen

Little Snitch rules work even at login screen. Even when receiving attempted connection alerts, once logged in LS has stopped and requested permission for them. See More

Top Pro

Comparatively easy to use

Easier to use than traditional firewall software, but more powerful due to design and workflow. See More

Top Pro

Protects your privacy

Protects your privacy and helps to prevent unwanted connections. See More

14 2

score 26 · Answer 18

LightZone

Top Pro

Allows users to create and edit RAW profiles

Unlike most other RAW editors, LightZone supports user-created RAW profiles and allows editing existing RAW profiles. See More

Top Con

Asset management is basic

Browser module includes a file browser, metadata viewer and a really basic metadata editor (allows editing just 6 fields), and allows you to give images a rating, but no advanced asset management is supported. There's not even a way to assign keywords to files. See More

Top Pro

Allows changing the order in which adjustments are applied

You can change in what order sharpening, saturation, tone, etc adjustments are applied simply by switching around their order in the tool stack. See More

Specs

Platforms:Mac

26 4

score 56 · Answer 19

Gravit Designer

Top Pro

Simple to understand and use

Very friendly interface. See More

Top Con

Too simple

If you have used vector illustration software for 10 years or more, you may find Gravit Designer too simple and confusing. Trade in your oil paints and brushes for Legos simple. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

It offers total portability to almost any platform. See More

Top Con

No longer offically licenced with a GPLv3+ version

In 2014 Quasado released Gravit.io having dual licensing: GNU GPLv3+ or a commercial license. This effectively made Gravit.io opensource, when they transitioned to "Gravit designer" they essentially dropped GPLv3+ license. You can still get the GPLv3+ licensed version of Gravit.io here: https://github.com/OliBridgman/gravit You can read the GPLv3+ licensing here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html See More

Top Pro

Modern UI

Top Con

Pro Subscription

Gravit's many basic features are now included in Pro Subscription. Font Import, Bezigon, Swatches and various Blending Modes fall in Pro Subscription now. See More

Top Pro

Friendly keyboard shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts are very easy to access and remember. See More

Top Con

Confusing bugs

Sometimes Gravit Designer can randomly duplicate your files, causing you to waste a large amount of time trying to find the right one. See More

Top Pro

Essential Tools and Effects

Gravit has many tools like Pen tool, Bezigon tool, Lasso tools. We can add Multiple Fills to an element also. It has many effects such as Drop Shadows, Blur, Recolor, Glows, etc. and much more. See More

Top Con

Very little information

Official sources do not provide a lot information about the program. See More

Top Con

No integration into the system

It uses it own theme and icons. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, MacOS, Windows, ChromeOS, WebApp

License:Commercial

Company:Corel Corporation

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56 8

score 354 · Answer 20

Alfred

Top Pro

Can create custom automated workflows

Allows the creation of automated workflows by connecting keywords, hotkeys and actions together without writing code. See More

Top Con

Many features require the $25 powerpack add-on

Features like custom workflows, clipboard history, 1Password integrations and others require the powerpack add-on. See More

Top Pro

Full keyboard controls

You can do everything using just the keyboard. See More

Top Pro

Versatile search

Quickly search for files, applications and web services from the same input. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with 1Password

Alfred allows getting secure and fast access to your 1Password 1Click bookmarks. See More

Top Pro

Built-in calculator

Alfred is able to handle simple mathematical commands and more extensive expressions alike. Pressing Enter copies the result to the clipboard. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and smooth

Alfred is a lightweight application for OS X and runs smoothly, even on older devices. See More

Top Pro

Productivity booster

Helps speed up your working day one shortcut at a time. See More

Top Pro

Clipboard history

Alfred offers a clipboard with an extensive history for quick access to your copied text, images and links. See More

Top Pro

Entry of everything

Top Pro

Allows theming

Alfred allows adjusting colors, fonts, sizes and more to create new themes. See More

Top Pro

Offers both a free version and a paid version available

The paid version is more customizable, but the free version is still very powerful. See More

Specs

Price (Base Program):Free

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354 35