The guys over at makeuseof.com have put together a nice list of free alternatives to Photoshop that weigh in at less than 2mb. Why there was a cut off point at 2mb we can’t understand but the article has got the list lovers over at delicious.com all a fluster. We’re here to suggest some more options fleshed out with a few more bells and whistles.
Have a quick snoop at their list, but don’t dwell on it too long because we’ve got some much better solutions for you:
Fotografix
Uber-cool misspelled name makes you want it. All the basic features you’d like to see in your photo editors and even supports layers.
Splashup Light
It’s a very simple editor, you can apply effects, crop, resize, and add speech bubbles. It runs in Adobe Air.
i.Mage
Useful for editing pixel by pixel. It’s small and well featured, basic shapes, resize, crop, and a colour dropper! Also, the name makes you feel like a wizard, which is fun.
Paint.net
This is the best editor in the list in our most humble of opinions. It has a great interface, it’s lightweight, plenty of options, and supports layers. If you’re not sure which one you want, trust us, you want this one.
IrfanView
More of an image viewer than an editor, so we’re not sure how this imposter got in the list. “Though IrfanView has less emphasis on image editing and more on image viewing, it’s still one of the best in its league….” The league it’s in definitely isn’t image editors.
Easy Photo Editor
This editor is a waste of time, don’t bother with it. Anything that asks you to install a trial version and then later asks for $29.95 for the full version is an under pants piece of software. Considering Paint.net and gimp (which we’ll come to later) are free, you’re wasting your money on this software. Do. Not. Get.
Free Image Editor
Does exactly what it says on the tin, just not very well. Looks like it was designed circa 1995 in the free floppy disk with PC Magazine golden (but crap) era of software.
PhotoFiltre
It applies filters to your photos, does a faaaairly decent job of it. Still feels a little Windows 95 if you ask us.
The (half) Conclusion
The problem with list style blog entries is their lack of closure. So which one is worth the minuscule effort of the download and install? Out of the above list we would only bother with Paint.NET. Considering its size it’s a fantastic piece of software, it looks pretty, it supports layers, and it’s simple to use.
If you want our conclusion, don’t limit yourself to a 2mb image editor; they’re an important part of your software arsenal and there’s plenty of decent free options to choose from. Who needs to conserve space on your hard drive these days?
Our list of alternatives to Photoshop.
This is usually the weapon of choice for most people who don’t want to fork out $639 on Photoshop. It’s open source, and 9 times out of 10 open source literally means “good.” It’s extendible with plugins a plenty developed by the lovely chaps in the open source community so if there’s a specific tool you want, chances are, someone else wanted it too and it’s already been developed.
It’s a modification of the Gimp. It tries to replicate the look and feel of Photoshop but has all the advantages of being open source. Oh, and that advantage of saving you $639 in these torrid financial times. What’s the point of Photoshop again?
Inkscape
It’s an open source vector graphics editor. Vector graphics are shapes rather than images, so scaling them upwards means you don’t get distortions like you do with an image. Most (decent) logos are designed as vectors, since they can be scaled to as large as you want. Inkscape is a great solution for vector editing…
Web based photo editors
Software that doesn’t require installation and runs seamlessly inside your browser is where the future lies, so here’s our choice of the best options available so far.
Two words: Fan, Tastic. Considering the speed at which this loads, how pretty it looks, it’s support of layers, it’s nice tool set, and endless functionality, you’ll wonder why you ever bothered downloading anything. Can all software work like this please? Thanks…
We have a sneaky suspicion this free web app will soon be a paid web app, so get your filthy mittens on a free account while you still can. They have an image editor as good as pixlr but have the added bonus of an entire software suite. A vector editor, a colour palette generator, and an effects generator (whatever that might be). It scores 9 out 10 from us.
Very similar to pixlr.com but not as widely used. An interesting feature is it’s ability to communicate with your flickr, facebook or picasa account and grab images straight from there. Cool eh? Based on that very feature this little gem could pip pixlr to the post in our all knowing judgement. Oh, and guess how much it costs…? Nothing.
This will perform some basic functions right inside your browser but if you want the full version it will cost you $24.95 a year. Based on our 15 minutes of playing with it we’d say it’s might be worth that, but..probably not.
It’s got some fantastic effects and filters that are clearly designed to be easy to use for a casual user; this is clearly aimed at a younger, more fun and arty crowd than the editors we’ve already mentioned. We’re a particular fan of their “fancy focus” feature, soon to be a design cliché right across the net…Jump in and have a play!
Not quite as “high end” feeling as the rest. Its interface is a little clunky, the layer system is far from simple, but it does have some redeeming features. In fact, on second thoughts it’s bloody brilliant…look what I just threw together in five minutes and I can’t even draw a tree! Fun isn’t even the half of it! I’ll be putting this original print on eBay so get your bids ready…
This is great if you want to draw something. It’s got some fun tools specifically for making silly shapes and patterns and it’s pretty much the most addictive image editor we’ve ever used. If you’re planning on doing something productive today I wouldn’t bother clicking this link, you’ll loose at least 15 minutes of your day playing with the tools. Alternatively, if you do have some time to spare, jump in and go stir crazy…
Really simple online editor. If you want to really quickly resize an image and keep it proportioned, pixer.us would be a super slick solution. It’s also got some some effects to play with but it’s a bit slow for it to be much fun. This is the re-sizer king.
Somewhat concerned about the swift moving browser based image editing competition, the kings at Adobe have entered the fray with their own version. I should probably have given it a fair test before telling you about it, but the from the moment I clicked “test drive” I was dazzled with galleries, “my library” functions and wibbly wobbly demo pictures. Where is the editor? I quit before I got to it. Do not want.
The Conclusion
Download Gimp, it’s excellent. If you want to resize a picture go to pixer.us. Make some nice artwork at FotoFlexer, and use splashup to edit your facebook pictures. There, we’ve done the thinking for you.
As ever, if we’ve missed a vital piece of software from our lovely list let us know in a comment. Also, if you get as excited at the artwork you created with fotoflexer as I did, make sure you share it for everyone to see. Thanks!
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