jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

From YouTube - free alternatives to PS.

Photopea - best - ads
GIMP
Keira
Paint.net
PhotoScapeX


If you want to spend a bit of money - just once -
PS Express
Pixel Express
Affinity. $165
Oscillator Pro $50

newsguygeorge Loc: Victoria, Texas

Thanks for posting this. I've converted my main desktop computer to Ubuntu/Linux in a move to leave as much of the Micro$soft ecosystem behind. I am maintaining Adobe and Topaz on a Win10 laptop for now. Eventually, I'll be done with that, too, so this information is helpful.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Is FastStone still available as a free download? I used it years ago and found it to be pretty darn good for a freebie.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Faststone is still available. It's great as long as you don't need local adjustments and advanced features. And it actually is working with the embedded jpeg, not the RAW file. I still use it for some adjustments and it has a good cloning feature.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I still use IrfanView. It's free and pretty much the same as FastStone, although I think it's better (probably because I've been using it longer).

Both IrfanView and FastStone are Windows only (although I'm not sure about Linux). Not supported on MacOS. But they're free. IrfanView is one guy supporting the software. He would appreciate donations but he doesn't require them. It has quite a few features I find useful, but raw demosaicing is not one of them. It uses the embedded jpg. IrfanView is quick to load and I use it as the default viewer on my Win10 machine.

Neither IrfanView nor FastStone are Photoshop alternatives. They do basic editing functions but do not handle masks nor layers.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I bet it is, but it wasn't listed on that YouTube channel. Trying a different channel would get me a different list of alternatives.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=photoshop+alternatives

photonaut Loc: Albuquerque, New Mexico USA

I've been using FastStone for several years and really like it for downloading files into my PC, basic organizing and retrieval of files and it can do quite a good job with basic post processing. When I have a batch of shots, such as items I want to put on ebay, I use FastStone because the workflow is easy and gets the job done. Highly recommended. BTW, I also use DxO and Photoshop but often FastStone is all I need. And it is free!

stant52 Loc: Williamsport, Pa.

I've been using Faststone off and on for the past year. It will ask you to donate but doesn't force you to do so.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

I have been using PhotoFiltre for years. V7 is free but not open source.

Others, some for Linux, are The Gimp, Darktable, Krita, RawTherapee.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Me and Newsguygeorgeare buddies so this I hope will not fall on fallow ground.

All of the above is probably quite true, how would an idiot like the likes of me know any different. Tat said I use Photoshop and only Photoshop. Here it comes, I use Photoshop 7. Today I just post processed an image from out of the camera. Now, please, I'm definitely old school, so old school that I ignore light meters and never use auto focus or auto anything. You see I'm an artist ad I have no use for all the bells and whistles of 'modern' photographic processes. I do not chimp the screen on the back (I think it is broken on the Sony A7 body, and I shoot with Leica lenses that I focus with my eye and also use zone focus. Definitely old school.

So, here is my suggestion, before you 'buy' into a expensive Photoshop you might learn the basics on PS 7. It is out there on the net, free for down loading, but don't look at me for help, I have a nephew who holds my hand and is tech savvy who does this for the idiot boy, me.

I learned Photoshop early on with number 4, a year or so layer number 7 came out. After PS 7 it was all new bells and whistles and I didn't need it so I never bothered to go for all that new stuff. I told you, I'm the essential idiot, I just want to make great photographs, that is all, and so PS 7 works just fine for me.

Oh, incase your wounding, yes I have a version of Lightroom and some advanced PS (I don't remember the name or number it has), given to me by well meaning people that mu nephew puts on my computer just in case, but I have no interest, too much doing and it turns into wasting time and busy work. Definitely old school., and making great art!

Bill_de Loc: US

It's amazing with all these free alternatives that PS sells as much as they do. For some folks who only use a fraction of what PS provides, that $10 a month could make a difference.

---

BebuLamar

Photoshop CC 2017...

newsguygeorge Loc: Victoria, Texas

It's not falling on my ears being deaf. I still am old school on some things, too, relying on my years of film shooting experience for the digital world. That means I prefer as little post-processing as possible. But, I do like the current Creative Suite for several reasons. I can have it on my Windows 10 and my wife can use it on her Windows 11 laptop. And it gives me some helpful cloud storage which really helped in this operating transition.

I suspect in the long run, I'll be done with the subscription soon enough. As for the Topaz products, the one I really use the most is Gigapixel, which helps me revive so of those old digital imaged I shot on 1.4 and 4.0 megapixel cameras at the turn of the century.

Thanks for the shout out, Tim; and, give my best to Kat and VADA.

JacksonHD Loc: NorCal

Decades ago, following an Apple Iic, I started with MSDOS 3.1, up thru Windoze 10. Around eight years ago, I was so tired of Billy's Bloatware, I converted everything to Linux (Mint). What a breath of fresh air.

There are several FOSS (free, open source software) PP programs available for Linux. I am currently using DigiKam (which is also available for Windoze and Apple). I downloaded the current version from the website rather than the older version included with the Linux distribution. It works well and suits my needs, which are strictly hobbiest.

Many years ago, in the film days, I did some stories for "Uncle Pete" at Petersen Publishing Co., primarily 4WOR. DigiKam would easily handle any editing I would have needed had digital been available.

There are a number of more powerful PP programs available for Linux, including Raw Therapee and Dark Table, as well as GIMP.

It is possible to run Adobe probucts in Linux with virtual machine software like WINE, but it can be tricky.

I currently have one older laptop setup to dual-boot Linux and Windoze (easy to do), running Photoshop Elements 9 in Win 7 (as recommended by Imagemeister), but I seldom use it because I just can't stand Billy's Bloatware anymore.

Just my experience. Your mileage may vary...

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

I, too, use IrfanView almost exclusively along with MS Paint and Gimp, as needed.

BTW, IrfanView can read and work with many RAW formats. Particularly, "Digital camera RAW formats (Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus, Epson, Fuji, Kodak, Sony, Pentax, Sigma)."
https://www.irfanview.com/main_formats.htm

One can do many sophisticated procedures with programs such as IrfanView even though they may not have such procedures named.

For example, to "denoise' a photo, one should first do a "blur" followed by a "sharpen." I usually use a value of 67 for the blur and 15 or 20 for the sharpen. --Richard