The only Photoshop alternatives actually worth your time
Best free alternatives to Photoshop. Ones you can use on any computer without monthly fees. No install required, no strings attached.
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Photoshop is a classic. It’s a dinosaur of photo manipulation software. There might be a lot of them out there nowadays but it remains the gold standard. Although it’s been around for decades, it’s not an easy task to find a good replacement, or at least they are unheard of.
Photoshop has it all — for a price. And don’t get me wrong, it’s worth every penny. Of course, if you use it professionally or at least often enough to justify the cost.
But what if you only want to use it for occasional banter, to replace your best friend’s face with something more tasteful? Or anything just as productive. Well, you wouldn’t want to pay a monthly subscription just for that, would you? I’m not judging.
Hungry for solutions, I went on a search for free, online alternatives to our beloved Photoshop. Ones you can use on any computer without monthly fees. No install required, no strings attached. Sounds too good to be true? Here they are.
For the purpose of this comparison, I will attempt three basic tasks which in my experience Photoshop is best used for: ① background removal, ② combining images into a collage and ③ face retouch.
Pixlr E
As they claim, Pixlr is the world’s favourite #1 online photo editor that lets you edit photos right in your browser for free. All that enhanced by AI-powered tools. There seem to be two different versions of the software: advanced and playful. Looks like they’ve got their own stock photos as well. After a quick search and no attention-worthy horseheads found, I’m turning to my good old friend Unsplash.
I’m feeling Advanced. The first useful option that grabs my attention is the ability to upload an image from a URL. Very helpful in my case — sourcing from Unsplash. So, here we are.
The interface looks familiar. Some options look new to me at a first glance but it makes an impression of overall simplicity compared to Photoshop. Let’s see if we’ve got all we need.
① Background removal
I’m very curious to try out the abilities of the AI.
Hmm… That’s a no from me.
Here’s the best result achieved with a wand tool.
② Combining two images into a collage
The first thing I notice is the missing keyboard shortcuts. Return key doesn’t apply my changes. I can’t use the keyboard to resize the eraser. On top of that, moving on the touchpad zooms in and out instead of moving to a different part of the image. That has to be done by moving scrollbars on each side. Very frustrating! 🤬
A few options were quite hard to find. Although, only because of an unexpected placement — not native to a Photoshop user.
Oh, and once in a while, you get a surprise. Just like this.
You’d be surprised how long 10 seconds can be. Especially when combined.
After quite a battle, a half-decent result still can be achieved.
③ Face retouch
At first, using the spot healing tool feels weirdly satisfying. It feels almost too easy. Then I quickly get reminded that you can’t change the size of it using keyboard…
It seems like the effect it achieves isn’t quite as good as if you used Photoshop. It looks like the defects are blurred but still visible. Not a great look but close enough considering the price.
Another missing option is Selective Color. Although teeth whitening can be achieved in many other ways, so not a biggie.
The final result is not too bad.
Pros
- Possibility to upload from URL
- Very similar interface to Photoshop
Cons
- No keyboard shortcuts
- Can’t navigate using a touchpad
- Time-consuming ads
Photopea
Photopea describes itself as an advanced image editor supporting PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD and CDR formats. This means you can open and edit projects previously saved in Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Sketch App, Adobe XD, Corel Draw.
They claim their goal is to create the most advanced and affordable photo editor and encourage to suggest new features.
By the sounds of it, it’s much more than a Photoshop replacement. Or at least that’s what it aims for.
The first impression stands up to my expectations. Looks pretty similar to PS, with subtly sneaked in ad area — ironically displaying Adobe ad at this very moment. It can be a little bit distracting but certainly not disturbing or in your way.
A nice little detail caught my attention. The URL — photopea.com takes you straight to the tool, ready to play. Things like that just make me happy. 😊
Let’s get down to business.
① Background removal
No AI magic is available at hand this time, so we’ll go with the good old ordinary wand. Everything goes smoothly leading to a very satisfying result. I can now move around the image with the use of the touchpad. I’m at peace.
And yes, I have been looking for bins recently.
② Combining two images into a collage
What a relief to be able to resize the eraser using the keyboard shortcuts I already know… It helps me to really get into details and achieve a more natural result. As much as it can be for a horse head attached to a human body.
③ Face retouch
Time for my favourite. The experience I’ve had so far with Photopea and its remarkable similarity to Photoshop gets me excited to try this one. I feel like I know what I’m doing and it will go well.
And so it did. It was pure pleasure. The process was smooth and everything went as expected. That’s what I’m talking about!
Pros
- Very similar interface to Photoshop
- Same keyboard shortcuts
- The touchpad behaves as expected
Cons
- Ads take up a chunk of the screen reducing the working area
- Can get slow at times
Polarr
Polarr call themselves a modern photography company whose focus is to give all photographers the professional tools and resources they need to create their best work possible.
You can immediately notice that this one is a bit of a different bag. Not nearly as complex as Photoshop or the alternatives we’ve seen before. It looks like it’s a simple tool focused on enhancing photographs, not creating a new reality.
① Background removal & ② Combining two images into a collage
Unfortunately, these two won’t be possible to achieve here. Although I still believe it can do a decent job in the face retouch area, so let’s give it a shot.
③ Face retouch
The spot healing tool is a little bit of a surprise. Even though it feels like it gives you more control than usual it does feel overly complicated and difficult to use. You wouldn’t want to remove a lot of them this way. Nevertheless, it does the job.
There is a very interesting set of tools hidden under the Add Face option. You get presented with it after selecting the face area you would like to edit. Only by using the automatic mode, you will get great results. Everything beyond that is very intuitive and easy to use. It is quite satisfying to see big results by doing very little.
And a little bit of a filter…
Tadaa! Isn’t it awesome?
Teeth whitening wasn’t an option in this case but the overall result is still quite badass, especially with how little effort it required. Let’s compare it to the rest.
To me, Polarr is a clear winner here. For an optimal result, I would use a combination of Photopea and Polarr. It’s only up to you what ratio of pain to gain you are looking for.
There’s a catch. If you want to use any of the premium features, you can only save one image a day for free. Posting selfies more often than that isn’t healthy anyway but if you take photography seriously, consider getting premium.
Pros
- Very minimal and beginner-friendly interface
- Does what it’s made for very well
Cons
- Not nearly as powerful as Photoshop or the other alternatives
- Only one free export a day
And the winner is… Photopea 🏆
Overall, it is the most powerful one. It also is the closest to Adobe Photoshop. If you use it only to retouch photos I strongly recommend adding Polarr to your toolbox to get even better results using each one of them for what they do best. But for anything else, Photopea has it all.
While navigating the way too many resources available online I found tons of other recommended tools. Most of them didn’t get even close to imitating Photoshop’s functionality. Another bunch of them require Adobe Flash installed on your computer which is no longer supported and if it still happens to work for you, it’s only a matter of time for it to stop.
Surprisingly enough, Adobe has a free online version of Photoshop which also is dependent on the Adobe Flash technology. Online Tool Directory aims to support tools of the future, not the past. Hence why that one also couldn’t make it to this list.
