Best Photoshop Alternatives
Photoshop might just be the most popular photo editing software in the world. Photoshop can make anything happen with pictures. You are only limited by your creativity!
Photoshop was written using programming languages like C++ and Pascal created by Adobe Inc in 1990, and since then, it has become the industry standard for digital art and photo manipulation.
While all that sounds great, Adobe has no desktop clients for users who are on Linux. No one really knows why Adobe doesn’t have any desktop clients on Linux. Here I have a list of photoshop alternatives for Linux. I hope with these Linux versions of Photoshop; you won’t need Photoshop anymore.
This list will not include Inkscape apps because it focuses on software that has similar features to that of Photoshop.
Pixlr
Pixlr is a free and online closed source photo editing Linux alternative for Photoshop. Pixlr has a wide array of editing tools and tens of thousands of free effects.
Pixlr has mobile apps for both iOS and Android, along with desktop clients for Windows and Mac. It has gained a total of over 500 million active users and more than 10 billion edited photos. However, Pixlr doesn’t have a dedicated Linux app, but since it has an online version that can be accessed from any browser, it can be used from Linux machines as well.
Photopea
If you’re looking for an advanced photo editing/manipulating open-source Photoshop replacement, then you should check out Photopea. It has an online version as well as an offline version.
Photopea was created to mirror the user interface and the features of Photoshop. Features like filters, masks, layers, vectors, smart objects, etc. are all present in Photopea, just like Photoshop. It also supports all kinds of file formats like .XD, .RAW, .sketch, PSD, and XCF.
Photopea is an open-source Photoshop alternative that you can use on any computer as long as you mind the advertisements.
GIMP
GNU Image Manipulation Program, commonly known as GIMP, is an entirely free and open-source image manipulation software with all the tools required for creative graphic design, typography, illustrations, and photography.
It provides a very similar experience to Photoshop with features list identical to that of Photoshop.
GIMP also has the most commonly used tools like color correction, filters, magic wand, brushes, layers, etc.
You can edit the key bindings (keyboard shortcuts) to match Photoshop and apply a theme to GIMP to make it feel more like Photoshop. Gimp should already be included in the official package repository of your Linux distribution, and it is the recommended method of installing GIMP.
Krita
A cross-platform, free, legally open source Krita can do it all! It is aimed at giving access to tools for creative individuals to create artistic masterpieces. Krita is one of the best photoshop alternatives for Linux machines.
Krita is also preferred to make comics, illustrations, concept art because of the many features it offers like layers, artboards, brushes, the pen tool, infinite undo/redo, layer masks, HDR support, color palette, and drawing assistance tools.
Krita was known initially as KImageShop, which started out as an initiative by members of the KDE project who decided to create a software enclosed in the KOffice suite.
The aim was to construct a graphical user interface around ImageMagick with plugin support. Ten years and two names later, Krita came into existence. Krita is free to use and is entirely compatible with GIMP plugins and a lot of other photo editing programs. Soon it was popularized as the Adobe photoshop of Linux.
You can Install Krita on Ubuntu and its variations like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, etc. utilizing the official Personal Package Archive (PPA).
If you are using any different Linux distributions, you have to download the Krita AppImage and execute it directly without installation.
Darktable
Darktable is a free, cross-platform and open-source Linux alternative for photoshop made by photographers for photographers. It is known to handle negatives and raw images very well too.
Darktable provides very similar tools to those in Photoshop like custom filters. Unlike raster photo editors like Photoshop and GIMP, Darktable helps you in post-producing raw photos non-destructively.
Notable features of Darktable are zero-latency, supports a wide range of image formats, GPU accelerated image processing, color management, etc.
Darktable is the best Linux raw photo editor, it is in the official package repo in the Linux distribution, and it is also the method of installation.
digiKam
digiKam is an open-source, photo management software available for free on Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms. It has inbuilt features for handling libraries, raw files, XMP metadata, and basic image editing. It looks similar to Photoshop.
digiKam processes bulk images with ease. Users can import, export, organize using tags, and edit the metadata as well. It does not include as many photoshop features, but it is much better than most other photography softwares.
By default, digiKam is present in the official package repository of your Linux OS, and it is the proposed method of installing.
