List of Alternatives to Adobe Programs

Honestly, GIMP is not a good alternative to Photoshop. I know, "it's free" is enough for many people, but it ... just isn't.

For PDF "your browser" should be the default recommendation. Firefox allows to add text and images now. Gimp can also be used to edit PDF.

Another great alternative to Acrobat (Reader) is Okular; it's free, open source and runs on Linux, Windows and macOS.

It's been my go-to PDF reader since switching to Linux, since it already came pre-installed with Manjaro KDE.

Davinci Resolve has to be one of the most jam packed free software packages available… seriously, it absolutely trounces Premiere at evvvverything

the model of free for everything except if features you’d want for producing a professional movie, and financed by hardware sales - that you don’t need unless you’re a professional - is absolutely incredible for home users

What the actual fuck is adobe acrobat? A pdf editor with subscription model payment? Firefox, the browser, can edit pdf files. It's 2025.

Or if you have to use Adobe products, at least have the decency not to pay for them.

Neat list, but imo photoshop is closer to being called a photomanipulation/image editor than photography. lightroom is the more dedicated photography software.

Also I wouldn't call paint.net an alternative to photoshop. I love paint.net but its a relatively simple image editor and its functionally limited even with plugins.

Just a small thing, but as of the latest release Inkscape has a functioning live-trace tool

It was one of the biggest things keeping me using illustrator but I used inkscape's trace yesterday and it worked great

Does anybody have a similar list of alternatives but for the Autodesk Suite/Ecosystem? Some open source CAD and BIM programs, some FOSS modeling and rendering programs?

Shout out to pdfgear.

Does almost all the pdf file manipulation anyone needs and it's free.

Just started using reaper, coming over from audition and it's so similar I didn't have to re-learn anything.

Dreamweaver is still used? I used it a bit back in the day when Macromedia was around and shortly after Adobe got a hold of it. How does it work with the modern web? Does it work well with modern programming languages or is it still just a WYSIWYG HTML editor?

GIMP is unfortunately not a good competitor, the UX/UI is atrocious, and that's after spending 25 years using it now.. I switched to Krita for most things at this point. GIMP needs some sort of revamp.

No open source Flash alternatives? Disappointing.

The Affinity Suite is so worth it. Pay a single time and get all the apps on all major OSes instead of the stupid subscription bullshit Adobe tries to lock you into.

I don't know what those two letters mean. I wish they had written out the name. I've avoided buying Adobe stuff because it's stupidly expensive, but I'm still aware that in some industries, some of these have been industry standards at one point or another. Being able to tell wtf their names are, or even what they do would be helpful.

What's the Audacity/Tenacity deal?

Libre Office Draw is another Ai alternative

Affinity Photo is an excellent Photoshop alternative. I switched a while ago and have used it for all of my major projects since.

See, my problem with these types of resources is if you have to list more than one thing per thing the landscape may not be there for a full replacement.

That's not a hard rule, I do think some of these are a better first choice, or a better-for-some applications first choice. I'm just often frustrated by the way these things are communicated.

Kinda hilarious that anyone uses Premiere Pro when Resolve is better, and free (with very optional features locked behind 1-time paywall). David Manning had a revelation and made a video about this recently. As did PewDiePie.

Countering Animator with Blender, that's brutal. For at least some stuff Blender is also the better Illustrator.

A newer alternative to After Effects: https://pikimov.com/

It's still got a ways to go, but it's off to a good start.

is the image not loading only for me?

I’m no layout expert, but I did do some desktop publishing about 15 years ago 10 min in Scribus had me tearing my hair out. Installed InDesign and, while it’s still not easy to catch up on the modern capabilities, it was worlds ahead.

GIMP is just fine for casuals. It’s not close for professionals.

Truthfully I think that one major issue with open source programs that don’t have corporate involvement is that people who are great at code don’t always have the same skill in UI/UX. However, with support and a larger community, great things can happen. The barrier is getting that adoption level. If more people casually use the product and contribute financially or in code, it will help tremendously.

Sorry, there just are no alternatives to Photoshop, with Affinity Photo being the closest replacement nowadays, to the classical PS functions. Affinity Designer feels the same for Illustrator.

Ive been using Sumatra for pdfs. It’s open source too.

Affinity + BMD’s Davinci Resolve FTW. Best combo IMOO. I did the switch back in 2017 and never looked back. Worth the single low price and long term free upgrades. For acrobat replacement (basics only) Apple’s preview is flawless and Ubuntu 25.10 Pages looks promising. Looking for recommendations for Lightroom replacement. Apple’s pixelmator purchase looks promising but I don’t want subscription.

I've never used Photoshop but I have used Photopea and people tell me it's exactly the same: https://www.photopea.com/

Wish there was a good FOSS Acrobat/Blue beam alternative.

I use those tools for the majority of my work as an engineer.

I really like this layout, it's easy to read

I have no idea what any of those things really does and it's way too much to learn given how much GIMP and Krita do

Without the title of this post, it's probably easy for any non tech person to misunderstand this image as being a list of Adobe programs that spy on you, at least on first glance.

Adobe... Fucks people hard.

What happened to Audacity?

I have no clue what most of these abbreviations refer to 😅

Draw from LO is pretty meh for a lot of things, but I use it a lot to edit pdfs, and it is very consistent

Maybe it’s to only spy on Sony. They love pirating Adobe products; and hate when others pirate their stuff.

I hate that there is not a good alternative to InDesign that works on linux.

If only the Affinity suit were to work on linux, even just with wine, I would be alright with the fact that it still is proprietary software. It was somehow able to replace my whole Ph/Ai/Id workflow but it is till keeping me from trying to switch to the penguin.

The wave of GenP refugees today appreciate this post.

Penpot?

Are there any good alternatives as far as PDF creation goes? Creating fillable forms, not just editing? I have some users I can’t shake from Acrobat Pro.

Why isn't Okular on the list? Way better PDF reader than Acrobat.

Affinity Designer 2 might be the only one close to what Adobr Illustrator can handle.

text. no seriously, pdfs are easy to create. reading vendor locked files aren't useful. reply with a shrug 🤷 i create most of mine with firefox print. used to generate them on the fly with php, for users to download.

So happy to see my beloved Paint Tool Sai on here! 😃 Really good list. Didn't know there were so many alternatives