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GIMP

A long-running image editor for retouching, compositing and creating pictures.

Instead of Adobe Photoshop

M · ToolOpen sourceFreeNo accountWorks offline
www.gimp.org
Screenshot of the GIMP website

Screenshot from www.gimp.org, taken 2026-10-23, shown to help you recognise the tool. It belongs to its maker. Ask us to remove it.

The story goes that GIMP began in the mid-1990s as a project by two students at Berkeley, and whatever the details, it has been going ever since. It is a free image manipulation program for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring, released under the GNU General Public License, and it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Community authors and contributors develop it, and it takes donations and sponsors.

What you make is yours, in standard image formats, and there is no sign-in and no upsell. GIMP scores a 5 on lock-in, power and longevity, a 4 on footprint and delivery and a 3 on self-direction.

The interface has long been a sticking point for people coming from Adobe, so expect to spend time learning where things live.

It is the best-known free answer to Photoshop, and a session in it is you, an image and a menu you will slowly learn.

    What stands out

  • A long-running image editor for retouching and compositing
  • Free under the GPL, with no sign-in or upsell
  • The interface takes time to learn
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For comparison, we also reviewed Adobe Creative Cloud (12/30) as a benchmark.

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