What is the best photo editing software?

25

Options
Considered

233

User
Recs.

Jan 10, 2019

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

25 Options Considered

Best photo editing software	Price	Platforms	Tethered capture
89 Photoshop	$9.99/mo	Windows, macOS	via Bridge
-- Krita	Free	Windows, Linux, Mac	-
82 Gimp	Free	Windows 10; Linux; MacOS	No
-- Pixelmator	$29.99	OSX	No
-- Affinity Photo	$49.99	OSX, Windows	No

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

CatTrem's Experience

Simply the best but a bit pricey. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS

Tethered capture:via Bridge

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

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

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

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

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 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 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 Pro

Mobile companion apps available

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

Krita

Top Pro

Free and open source

The simple fact that If Its is free can easily steal away begginers and part time hobyists from wallet breaking options. See More

Top Con

Poor touch controls.

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

OrganizedAello's Experience

This is great too, I was able replace Corel Painter which is not great at editing images. Krita is great at image editing and artwork, it replaced Adobe Photoshop at Paris No 8 University in France! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

License:Open source

Top Pro

Intuitive, Photoshop-like interface

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. A realitivley intuitive GUI, very similar to Photoshop. 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

Multi platform

Windows, Linux and OS X builds. 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

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 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 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

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 Pro

Tileable drawing feature

Verry useful for painting game textures, and making seamless textures, Krita comes loaded in with a seamless view, witch permits you to keep painting accross seams, as it automatically wraps your work around to the other side. 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

Gimp

Top Pro

Free and open source

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 US $700 on Photoshop. 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

OrganizedAello's Experience

Works great on Windows/Linux. I was able to replace Corel Photo-Paint, which ironically replaced Photoshop years ago. With that thinking, Open Source & Linux let me replace all the snooping junk from Microsoft & Apple. We have a choice to be free from Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, Corel and others. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows 10; Linux; MacOS

Tethered capture:No

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Unlike Photoshop or Pixelmator, GIMP is cross platform compatible with Linux, Mac and Windows making it perfect for a team with varying hardware. See More

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

greggman's Experience

i can only guess that people who use the gIMP just don't know what they're missing. Photoshop, Affinity Designer, Pixelmator etc all allow non-destructive adjustment layers and layer styles. Those 2 features alone put them in a different league than gIMP. Maybe someday gIMP will gain those features but until then it's really a huge step down in usefulness. 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

Mediocre usability overall

Many simple tasks are complicated in GIMP. For example, changing the brush size is annoying. Basically the UI is not bad, but not very good either. See More

Top Pro

Feature rich

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

Lightweight

Compared to to other photo editing programs, GIMP is doesn't take up much space and isn't very resource-intensive. See More

Top Con

Poor performance

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 Con

Osx uses it on a X11 server

A native user interface would be much better for this kind of program See More

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

Script-Fu

You can automate pretty much anything. See More

Top Pro

A portable version is available

You can put GIMP on a flash drive and have it with you to load up on just about any computer. See More

Top Pro

Full channel support

Pixelmator

Top Con

Only available on Mac OS

Only runs on Mac OS, unlikely to ever support anything else. 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

Specs

Tethered capture:No

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

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

Loads fast

Gives you common image editing capabilities almost instantly. See More

Top Pro

Supports layer styles

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

Loads quickly

Gives you common image editing capabilities almost instantly. See More

Top Pro

Multiple-display support

Pixelmator can be used across any number of monitors. 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

Affinity Photo

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Lifetime updates

Pay once, get updates forever. See More

Top Con

Limited selection of plugins

Plugin support was only recently added to AP and not many plugins have been created for the program so far. See More

Specs

Platforms:OSX, Windows

Tethered capture:No

Top Pro

Compatible with Photoshop PSD files

Affinity Photo can import and export .psd files. See More

Top Con

Can not import gimp or krita files

Free alternatives like gimp (and krita) are sort of "go to" apps i can allways install and use for simple image editing or graphics on any computer. I find affinitys support for photoshop is great, but having support also for opening and editing gimp and krita would make the versatility and use of this program absolutely superb. See More

Top Pro

Interface will be familiar to those coming from Photoshop

The interface, especially the Photo persona, is laid out in way that's very similar to Photoshop - a panel for icons for tools on the left, a panel for information and settings on the right. See More

Top Pro

Supports layer styles

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

Top Pro

Personas allow separation of concerns

At a high level the interface is organized into broad groups of tools called Personas. Personas like Photo for in-depth image manipulation, Liquify for warping the image, Develop for basic RAW photo development and Export for exporting. Each persona displays only those tools that are needed for that task. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

Uses the GPU extensively for fast speed on any platform. See More

Top Pro

Powerful effects

Dozens of visual effects available. All run extremely fast with live previews See More

Top Pro

Non-destructive adjustment layers

extensive adjustment layers are non-destructive. See More

Darktable

Add Video or Image

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

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

ResourcefulTaneRore's Experience

I've used Darktable as my main editing and cataloging tool for the last thre years. Darktable have all the capabilities I need for my photographic work. Regarding the "CON Can be overwhelming", this also applies to other software of the same level of sophistication (Lightroom, Capture One...). 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

OrganizedAello's Experience

Works great in Fedora Linux Design Suite. I was able to dump Windows & Apple. 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 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

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

Capture One Pro

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Capture Pilot enables using Capture One collaboratively during a shoot

Capture pilot is a feature that allows any web-enabled device to remotely connect to Capture One and use a subset of its functionality like view a selected catalogue, rate images and even make minor edits to photos. An iOS app for Capture Pilot is available as well that in addition to default functionality also allows controlling a tethered camera though that functionality has to be purchased separately. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support color checkers

Unfortunately, there's no way to create color profiles using the Color Checker Passport. See More

Chrise's Experience

I have been using Capture one for 3 yrs. I find it easier to use than PS Which is more complicated and expensive over time See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows OSX

Tethered capture:Yes

Top Pro

Well thought out tethered capture implementation

Once you hook up your camera to Capture One, the program offers a bunch of useful tools and workflows based on your needs. For example, it has Composition Mode that allows setting up the shot without taking up hard-drive space by replacing the last image taken with the a one as soon as you take it. It has Hot Folder functionality that will keep an eye on changes in a set folder and as soon as any new images appear in that folder they will be added to Capture One; great for cameras that are not supported by Capture One natively and unlike other Hot Folder functionality in other programs C1 captures everything coming in quickly and imports all images as active. Many cameras can be controlled via the program and if the camera has live view, similar functionality can be enabled in Capture One. Plus, live view allows superimposing an overlay; great for cover shooting. There's also a overlay mask that shows wether a shot is in focus or not. And many other functions and design decision that help with ease of use. See More

Top Con

Asset management could be better

While it does have asset managment, it isn't as robust or intuitive as some of the competition, like Lightroom in particular. See More

Top Pro

Extremely robust color editing

A huge amount of color editing options, with the ability to modify overall, to extremely targeted ranges. Especially robust support for editing skin tones. See More

Top Pro

Clean and sharp default processing

Straight imports seem a bit sharper and more dynamic than many other RAW editors. See More

Top Pro

Very intuitive Irs, easier to use and raw conversion using Sony seems better

Lightroom

Add Video or Image

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

Specs

Platforms:Windows OSX

Tethered capture:Yes

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

Top Pro

HDR support

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

Photopea

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Works on all OS

Works on all standard browsers without additional plugins (i.e. does NOT require Flash for example). See More

RickZeeland's Experience

No Flash or plugins needed ! See More

Specs

Platforms:Web (in a browser)

Top Pro

Supports PSD

You can open a PSD file and edit it just like in Photoshop. See More

Top Pro

Free

No fees, no premium functions, no price, all is really free. See More

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

SVG support

Supports SVG vector graphics. See More

Top Pro

Cloud based

No install, no downloading - easy in browser and quick. See More

Top Pro

Quick author's feedback

Author is really comunicative. Bugs are fixed quickly, ideas for new stuff are implemented. See More

Top Pro

Uses Photoshop standard shortcuts

Snapseed

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

RAW files support

Super-helpful feature for a pro photograper on the go. 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

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

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

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

Paint.NET

Top Pro

HiDPI support

Paint.NET supports HiDPI displays fully, with no scaling problems. See More

Top Con

Only available on Windows

No OSX or Linux versions are planned. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Top Pro

Easy to learn and use

Unlike most photo editing software, Paint.NET is simple to learn and easy to use. This leads to less time learning the in's and out's of Paint.NET and more photo editing. For those who only edit photos sporadically and don't have time to invest in learning complicated tools for editing, Paint.Net will suit your needs. See More

Top Pro

Actively developed

The project is active and being continually expanded and refined. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Paint.net provides a streamlined but effective core tool set. Support for advanced and niche features is provided through modular plugins, allowing the user to install only what's needed. See More

Top Pro

Plugins allow extra functionality

Plugins can be made by anyone in the community, and are offered for download on the forum. They extend the capabilities of Paint.NET to cover most tasks. See More

Top Pro

Active and friendly community

The forums are filled with tutorials, people who are eager to help, and who are friendly while they do so. See More

Top Pro

Free software

No charge for this software, donations are welcomed. See More

PhotoFlare

Add Video or Image

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

SuccinctHera's Experience

Its very handy and intuitive. It really had the potential to push image and photo handling on Linux beyond where it is now. See More

Top Pro

Open Source

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

PassionateTaranis's Experience

It has been quick and useful for little edits. Usually all my edits can be completed before GIMP even starts up. 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

Cross Platform

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

321Soft Fotogo

Add Video or Image

softwarereviewer's Experience

Edit photos in bulk with filters like: Auto Contrast, Auto Gamma, Sharpen, Brightness. See More

Specs

OS:Widnows and Mac OS X

LightZone

Add Video or Image

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

PhotoFiltre Studio X

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Easy to use

The layout is intuitive allowing you to find and use tools without having to spend a lot of time learning the ins and outs of the program. See More

Top Con

Basic

The program is limited to basic functionality such as filters, masks and brushes. Advanced capabilities like in-depth color grading, asset management, tethered shooting are not available. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Tethered capture:No

Top Pro

Portable version available

A portable version can be held on an external drive such as a usb stick and run from it so you can use it on any Windows machine without needing to install it. See More

Top Con

Windows only

OSX and Linux versions are not planned. See More

Top Pro

Reasonable selection of brushes

PhotoFiltre has round, square and oblique line brushes of different sizes and allows custom shapes to be used as brushes. Gradient colors as well as effects such as 3D, pastels, charcoal can be used with brushes. See More

Top Con

Documentation is only available in French

English documentation is not available. See More

Top Pro

Allows quick access to predefined folders

A toolbar at the top of the interface allows quick access to predefined folders that allow quick access to selections, masks, patterns. See More

Top Con

Interface can be overwhelming

The amount of icons on display at any given time can take some getting acquainted with. See More

Top Pro

Add-ons

Top Pro

Plugins

Top Pro

Lightweight

Portable version available See More

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