Ever since Adobe's 2013 change to a subscription model and their attempts at revoking already sold PERPETUAL LICENSES (not to mention the threats to people DARING TO USE the software they already bought and paid for!), Adobe has preyed upon the creator's needs, creating the subscription trend that has been replicated to death and beyond, with the goal of having to eternally rent their software and own nothing in this digital age.
Millions of creatives use Photoshop for photo editing and drawing, Premiere Pro for video editing, After Effects for video effects and motion design, yet with the $19.41 BILLION dollars of revenue that Adobe generated in 2023, they can't even manage to make their software reliable. Ask anyone using the Adobe suite how often it has crashed on them. Oh, what's that? You were editing your project and were almost done with it? Sorry, Premiere Pro crashed! Hope you like editing it again since the last time we thought about saving your project. Oh, sorry, did you expect us to Autosave your project? Yes? Oh silly you! You even thought that our Autosave is also reliable! :D
Pay us more, because we demand you to, not because you'll get a better product, but because we KNOW you won't bat a fucking eye. Go ahead, cancel your subscription. Oh, good luck doing that without accepting our new Terms of Service that gives us a Worldwide royalty-free licence to reproduce, display, distribute or do whatever we want with any content you produce using our software. What's that? You signed some NDA documents with our software? We're gonna have a peek at them if you don't mind. Thanks for your trade secrets :D
We can't wait for your plan cancellation after you've paid us 50% of the remaining time left on your yearly subscription too. Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that? Silly me. You know how buggy our software is, did you expect anything else from our website? Who can trust these silly computers to show the actual price and the actual plan you're in these days. :D
Pay up. Shut up. And sit down, fuckwit.
Still here? Good. Here's the list. But...
Before you read:
Consider donating to him for making this GODLY list.
Anyways, this is KenneyNL's Adobe Alternatives List
Adobe Alternatives
A list of alternatives for Adobe software, originally collected by @XdanielArt and improved upon by the community. Feel free to open issues or pull requests, or create an image (for easy sharing) out of the data. The lists are always ordered with the free & open source option on top, but it might not be the best alternative depending on your use case.
Legend:
- ✨ = Free and open-source
- ⭐️ = Free of charge
- 💵 = Single purchase
- 🔒 = Subscription for more functions
Alternatives to:
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Animate
- InDesign
- Substance
- Lightroom
- XD
- Premiere
- Acrobat
- Bridge
- Dreamweaver
- Audition
- After Effects
Photoshop
Photography
- ✨ GIMP (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (💵, 🔒) Sumo Paint (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (💵) Photopea (Browser)
- ⭐️ Paint.NET (Windows)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Pixlr (Browser)
- 💵 Pixelmator Pro (Mac)
- 💵 PaintShop Pro (Windows)
- 💵 Affinity Photo (Windows, Mac, iOS)
- 💵 Photoline (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Acorn (Mac)
Painting
- ✨ Krita (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android)
- ✨ MyPaint (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ IbisPaint (Windows, Android, iOS)
- ⭐️ (💵) Sketchbook (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS)
- ⭐️ FireAlpaca (Windows, Mac)
- ⭐️ Medibang (Windows, Mac, Android)
- 💵 Paintstorm (Windows, Mac, iOS)
- 💵 Corel Painter (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Rebelle (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 (🔒) Clip Studio Paint (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS)
- 💵 PaintTool SAI (Windows)
- 💵 Procreate (iOS)
- 💵 Artstudio Pro (iOS)
- 💵 Infinite Studio (Android, iOS)
- 💵 Realistic Paint Studio (Windows, Mac, iOS)
- 💵 ArtRage (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS)
Pixel art
- ✨ (or 💵) Aseprite (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Pixelorama (Browser, Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi)
- ✨ PixiEditor (Windows)
- ✨ LibreSprite (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ GrafX2 (Windows, Linux, Android)
- ✨ Pixilart (Browser, Android, iOS)
- ⭐️ Lospec Pixel Editor (Browser)
- ⭐️ Pixel Studio (Windows, Mac)
- ⭐️ Microsoft Paint (Windows)
- ⭐️ GraphicsGale (Windows)
- 💵 Pro Motion NG (Windows)
- 💵 Lightcube (Windows)
- 💵 Pyxel Edit (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 Pixquare (Mac, iOS)
Illustrator
General
- ✨ Inkscape (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ Boxy SVG (Browser)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Linearity Curve (Mac, iOS)
- 💵 CorelDRAW (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Affinity Designer (Windows, Mac, iOS)
- 💵 Xara Designer (Windows)
- 🔒 Corel Vector (Browser)
Live trace
- ✨ SVGcode (Browser)
- ✨ VTracer (Browser, Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ CR8tracer (Windows)
- 💵 Vector Magic (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Animate
General
- ✨ Tahoma2D (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Blender (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ OpenToonz (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Wick Editor (Browser)
- ✨ Synfig (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Glaxnimate (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Linearity Move (Mac, iOS)
- 💵 CACANi (Windows)
- 💵 TVPaint (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android)
- 💵 Toon Boom (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 Clip Studio Paint (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Moho (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Tumult Hype (Mac)
Honorable mentions
- ✨ Krita (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android)
- ✨ Pencil2D (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ FireAlpaca (Windows, Mac)
InDesign
- ✨ Scribus (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Laidout (Linux)
- 💵 Affinity Publisher (Windows, Mac, iOS)
- 💵 QuarkXPress (Windows, Mac)
Substance
Designer
- ✨ Material Maker (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ Quixel Mixer (Windows, Mac)
- ⭐️ InstaMAT (Windows, Mac)
Painter
- ✨ ArmorPaint (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android)
- ⭐️ Quixel Mixer (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 3DCoat (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 (or 🔒) Marmoset Toolbag (Windows, Mac)
Lightroom
- ✨ RawTherapee (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Darktable (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ digiKam (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 (or 🔒) Darkroom (Mac, iOS)
- 💵 On1 (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 FastRawViewer (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Capture One (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Dx0 PhotoLab (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Luminar Neo (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Aurora HDR (Windows, Mac)
XD
- ✨ Penpot (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Draftoola (Linux)
- ⭐️ Lunacy (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Figma (Browser, Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Sketch (Mac)
- 💵 Origami Studio (Mac)
- 💵 Axure RP (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Principle (Mac)
- 🔒 Framer (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Premiere
- ✨ Olive (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Kdenlive (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ OpenShot (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Shotcut (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (💵) DaVinci Resolve (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 (or 🔒) VEGAS Pro (Windows)
- 💵 Final Cut Pro (Mac, iOS)
- 🔒 Kapwing (Browser)
- 🔒 CapCut (Browser, Windows, Android, iOS)
Acrobat
Editor
- ✨ LibreOffice Draw (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ PDF24 (Windows)
- 💵 PDF-XChange (Windows)
- 🔒 Xodo (Browser, Windows, Android, iOS)
Reader
- ✨ Zathura (Linux)
- ✨ Sioyek (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Sumatra PDF (Windows)
Bridge
- ⭐️ XnView MP (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 🔒 Anchorpoint (Windows, Mac)
Dreamweaver
- ✨ Netbeans (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ VSCodium (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ Visual Studio Code (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ PageFabric (Windows)
- 💵 (🔒) Nova (Mac)
- 🔒 WebStorm (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 🔒 PHPStorm (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Audition
General
- ✨ Audacity (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ Ocenaudio (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (💵) DaVinci Resolve Fairlight (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 GoldWave (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 iZotope RX (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Sound Forge (Windows, Mac)
DAWs
- ✨ (💵, 🔒) Ardour (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ LMMS (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ Cakewalk (Windows)
- ⭐️ GarageBand (Mac)
- ⭐️ (💵) Tracktion (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Pro Tools (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Reaper (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 Logic Pro (Mac, iOS)
- 💵 Ableton Live (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 FL Studio (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 FL Studio Mobile (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS)
- 💵 Bitwig (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 Steinberg Wavelab (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Steinberg Cubase (Windows, Mac)
- 💵 Steinberg Nuendo (Windows, Mac)
- 🔒 Studio One (Windows, Mac)
- 🔒 Cakewalk Next (Windows)
- 🔒 Cakewalk Sonar (Windows)
After Effects
Compositing and effects
- ✨ Natron (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Blender (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (💵) DaVinci Resolve Fusion (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (💵) HitFilm (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 💵 VEGAS Effects (Windows)
- ⭐️ Unreal Engine (Motion Graphics Tools) (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Motion graphics
- ✨ Blender (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ✨ Friction (Windows, Linux)
- ✨ AstroFox (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Fable (Browser)
- ⭐️ (🔒) Linearity Move (Mac, iOS)
- 💵 Final Cut Pro (Motion) (Mac, iOS)
- 🔒 Cavalry (Windows, Mac)
- 🔒 Rive (Browser, Windows, Mac)
- 🔒 Jitter (Browser)
Final thoughts:
The first paragraph will remain there for around a month or two, then I'll put it in a separate page which I'll link to so the alternatives are the first thing you see.
Like the website? Consider donating to my Ko-Fi if you can.
Peace out. (~ ̄▽ ̄)~