{ "title": "Adobe Photoshop Alternatives 2027: 12 Paid, Free & Open-Source", "url": "https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/adobe-photoshop/", "summary": "The best Adobe Photoshop alternatives in 2027 are Pixelmator Pro (best overall, $49.99 one-time (Mac)), Affinity (best free plan: Free for individuals) and GIMP (best open source, GPL-3.0). Adobe Photoshop itself starts at $22.99/mo. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 13 Nov 2026; 9 more are compared below, including 3 with a free plan and 4 open source.", "tool": { "name": "Adobe Photoshop", "starting_price": "$22.99/mo", "free_plan": "No", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/free-trial-download.html" }, "task": "AI image editor / photo editing", "prices_checked": "2026-11-13", "date_modified": "2026-11-13", "alternatives": [ { "name": "Affinity", "type": "Free", "starting_price": "Free plan; paid price not published", "free_plan_limit": "Free for individuals; AI tools need a Canva premium plan", "best_for": "Free pro photo, vector and layout app", "difference": "One app covers vector, pixel and layout and brings in PSD, AI, IDML and DWG files with layers kept; Affinity's homepage states it is free for individuals, unlike Photoshop's $22.99 monthly plan.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.affinity.studio/", "website": "https://www.affinity.studio/" }, { "name": "Pixelmator Pro", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$49.99 one-time (Mac)", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Mac and iPad editing without Adobe", "difference": "Opens PSD, SVG, PDF and Illustrator files, edits over 750 RAW formats as layers and has one-click background removal; the one-time version is Mac only, while iPad needs the subscription.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.apple.com/pixelmator-pro/", "website": "https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/" }, { "name": "Photopea", "type": "Free", "starting_price": "Free plan; paid price not published", "free_plan_limit": "Free in any browser; opens and saves PSD; files stay on your device", "best_for": "Opening and fixing PSD files in a browser", "difference": "Runs in a browser tab with nothing to install, opens and saves PSD plus AI, Figma and about 40 other formats, and works on your device's CPU and GPU without uploading files.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.photopea.com/", "website": "https://www.photopea.com/" }, { "name": "Pixlr", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$1.99/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Cheapest browser editor with AI credits", "difference": "Plus is $1.99 a month billed yearly with 80 AI credits a month; Premium gives 1,000 credits against 25 monthly credits for new Photoshop single-app subscribers.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://pixlr.com/pricing/", "website": "https://pixlr.com", "zekai_score": 7, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/pixlr/" }, { "name": "Canva", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$10/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "Free plan exists; Background Remover is a Pro feature", "best_for": "Social graphics with simple photo fixes", "difference": "Pro covers up to 5 people for $12.99 monthly or $119.99 yearly and includes one-click Background Remover; Photoshop's single app is $22.99 monthly for one user.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.canva.com/pro/", "website": "https://www.canva.com", "zekai_score": 9.4, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/canva/" }, { "name": "Picsart", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$10.50/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Phone-first editing with AI image and video models", "difference": "Pro lists bulk editing of up to 50 images at once, 100 GB of cloud storage and AI models such as Seedream 5.5 and GPT Image 2.6 in one plan at $15 monthly.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://picsart.com/pricing/", "website": "https://picsart.com", "zekai_score": 8.2, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/picsart/" }, { "name": "Clipdrop", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$15/mo", "free_plan_limit": "20 background removals, 20 upscales and 20 cleanups per 24 hours", "best_for": "One-click cutouts, upscaling and cleanup", "difference": "The free tier caps background removal, x2 upscaling and cleanup at 20 each per 24 hours; Pro raises these to 1,000 per 24 hours and upscales to x16.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://clipdrop.co/pricing", "website": "https://clipdrop.co", "zekai_score": 8.6, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/clipdrop/" }, { "name": "GIMP", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "GPL-3.0", "best_for": "Free layered raster editing and retouching", "difference": "Raster editor under GPL-3.0 with layers and a plug-in interface; stable 3.2.8 shipped on 2026-11-02 with installers for Windows, macOS and Linux, including ARM64 builds for Windows and Linux.", "website": "https://www.gimp.org", "repository": "https://github.com/GNOME/gimp", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/gimp/", "commercial_use": "Yes (GPL-3.0); share source only if you distribute a modified build.", "runs_on": "Windows 10+, macOS 11+ or Linux; no GPU requirement stated.", "setup": "easy: Installer, DMG, Flatpak, Snap or AppImage from gimp.org.", "github_stars": 6584, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-13", "last_release": "2026-11-02", "zekai_score": 7.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/gimp/" }, { "name": "Krita", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "GPL-3.0", "best_for": "Digital painting and illustration", "difference": "Painting-first app used by comic, concept and texture artists; it ships for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android but not iPad or iPhone, and paid copies on Steam and Microsoft Store fund development.", "website": "https://krita.org", "repository": "https://github.com/KDE/krita", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/krita/", "commercial_use": "Yes (GPL-3.0); free for commercial art, share source if you distribute changes.", "runs_on": "Windows 8.1+, macOS 10.15+, Linux or Android; no GPU requirement stated.", "setup": "easy: Installer, portable ZIP or AppImage from krita.org.", "github_stars": 10743, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-13", "last_release": "2026-10-07", "zekai_score": 8.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/krita/" }, { "name": "Graphite", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT OR Apache-2.0 (dual licence)", "best_for": "Node-based vector and raster editing, in alpha", "difference": "Alpha-stage editor that combines layers with a node graph and runs in the browser; its README lists photo editing and VFX compositing only as planned work, not shipped features.", "website": "https://graphite.art", "repository": "https://github.com/GraphiteEditor/Graphite", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/graphite/", "commercial_use": "Yes (MIT or Apache-2.0, your choice).", "runs_on": "Modern browser for the web editor; local builds need a Rust toolchain.", "setup": "easy: Open editor.graphite.art; building from source is harder.", "github_stars": 27931, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-12", "zekai_score": 8.2, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/graphite/" }, { "name": "Pinta", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": "Simple paint-style editing on Linux", "difference": "A GTK clone of Paint.NET 3.0 for Linux, Windows and macOS that reuses Paint.NET 3.36 code under MIT; the README lists no layers-and-masks feature set comparable to Photoshop.", "website": "https://github.com/PintaProject/Pinta", "repository": "https://github.com/PintaProject/Pinta", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/pinta/", "commercial_use": "Yes (MIT); keep the licence notices with copies.", "runs_on": "Linux needs GTK 4.18+ and libadwaita 1.8+; builds need .NET 10 SDK.", "setup": "moderate: Flathub and Snap on Linux; Windows and macOS README steps build from source.", "github_stars": 4137, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-08", "last_release": "2026-04-02", "zekai_score": 7, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/pinta/" }, { "name": "PhotoDemon", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "BSD (2-clause style; file headers can override)", "best_for": "Portable Windows editor with batch macros", "difference": "Portable Windows editor that opens PSD, PSP, XCF and camera RAW files, offers over 200 tools and records macros to apply to whole folders, but it is 32-bit and Windows only.", "website": "https://github.com/tannerhelland/PhotoDemon", "repository": "https://github.com/tannerhelland/PhotoDemon", "commercial_use": "Yes (BSD); keep the copyright notice and disclaimer.", "runs_on": "Windows only (XP to 11); 32-bit, so files over about 2 GB fail.", "setup": "easy: Portable 22 MB download; no installer needed.", "github_stars": 2430, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-09", "last_release": "2025-12-12" } ], "faq": [ { "q": "What is the best alternative to Adobe Photoshop in 2027?", "a": "Pixelmator Pro is the best overall Adobe Photoshop alternative on this page ($49.99 one-time (Mac)). For no cost, Affinity has a free plan (Free for individuals; AI tools need a Canva premium plan). To self-host, GIMP is open source (GPL-3.0)." }, { "q": "Is there a free version of Adobe Photoshop?", "a": "No. Adobe Photoshop has no free plan; paid plans start at $22.99/mo, checked on 13 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "Is there a 100% free alternative to Adobe Photoshop?", "a": "Yes. GIMP, Krita, Graphite, Pinta, PhotoDemon are open source and free to self-host. Affinity, Photopea, Canva, Clipdrop have a free plan with limits, shown in the table." }, { "q": "What is cheaper than Adobe Photoshop?", "a": "Pixlr starts at $1.99/mo billed yearly, against $22.99/mo for Adobe Photoshop, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 13 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "How much do Adobe Photoshop alternatives cost for a team of 5?", "a": "If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 13 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Pixlr $9.95/mo, Canva $50/mo, Picsart $52.50/mo, against Adobe Photoshop $114.95/mo for Adobe Photoshop. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size." }, { "q": "Which is better, Pixelmator Pro or Adobe Photoshop?", "a": "Opens PSD, SVG, PDF and Illustrator files, edits over 750 RAW formats as layers and has one-click background removal; the one-time version is Mac only, while iPad needs the subscription. Choose Pixelmator Pro if you work only on Apple devices and prefer a one-time Mac purchase to a monthly fee. Stay with Adobe Photoshop if you edit on Windows or need every teammate to open the same files on any computer." }, { "q": "Why are people leaving Adobe Photoshop?", "a": "The documented reasons are: Adobe renamed Creative Cloud All Apps to Creative Cloud Pro and raised prices at the first renewal from June 17, 2025 in North America; Pro is $69.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly (12 Feb 2026); New single-app and Photography subscribers from June 17, 2025 receive 25 generative credits a month; Creative Cloud Pro keeps unlimited standard generations plus 4,000 credits for premium features (12 Feb 2026). Each is sourced in the section above." }, { "q": "Is there an open-source alternative to Photoshop?", "a": "Yes. GIMP is the closest for photo retouching, Krita is built for painting, and Graphite is an alpha editor with a node graph. All three are free to download and use commercially under their licences." } ], "publisher": "Zekai (zekaiwork.com) — independently reviewed; prices read on vendor pages on the dates shown.", "licence": "Free to quote with a link to https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/adobe-photoshop/. Bulk copying or republishing the dataset is not permitted." }