Powerful Open Source Creative Softwares

cel
cel List by cel , last updated 
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  1. Kdenlive icon
     Like

    Powerful video editor with KDE principles: "Simple by Default, Powerful when Needed"

    Use this instead of pirating Wondershare Filmora icon Wondershare Filmora. I know some of you do. Yes, some my friends did this all the time and ended downloading trojan.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Logging
    Editing
    Audio
    +2
    Effects
  2. Shotcut icon
     Like

    Free, open-source video editing with multi-format timelines, frame accurate seeking, and robust capture support up to 4k for diverse projects.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • AppImageHub
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    Text filter settings
    Shotcut on Ubuntu
    Shotcut on Windows
    +1
    Shotcut screenshot 3
  3. LMMS icon
     Like

    Free cross-platform DAW supporting VST plugins, MIDI, and lossless audio. Offers music loopers and sequencers with privacy, no ads, and offline capability.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    • Flatpak
    LMMS screenshot 1
    LMMS screenshot 1
    LMMS screenshot 2
    +2
    LMMS screenshot 3
  4. Audacity icon
     Like

    Free open-source multi-track audio editor and recorder with 32-bit float processing. Supports many formats and plugins for Windows, macOS, Linux.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • AppImageHub
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    Editing Audio
    Audacity 2.2.0 in default Light theme running on Windows 10
    Recording with Audacity 2.2.0 in Dark theme on Windows 10
    +4
    Audacity 2.2.0 MIDI playback running on macOS
  5. Originally forked from MusE Sequencer icon MusE Sequencer, now becomes one of the most user-friend notation music software.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • BSD
    • iPad
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    MuseScore 4.0
    Old screenshot of MuseScore 3.0
    Old screenshot of MuseScore 3.0
    +1
    Old screenshot
  6. Mixxx icon
     Like

    Mixxx integrates the tools DJs need to perform creative live mixes with digital music files.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
    Mixxx screenshot 1
    Mixxx screenshot 1
  7. Utilities

  8. qView icon
     Like

    Simple and distraction free image viewer. Great zooming approach, similar to good old Picasa icon Picasa Image Viewer.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    qView screenshot 1
    qView screenshot 1
    qView screenshot 2
    +1
    qView screenshot 3
  9. BeeRef icon
     Like

    Reference manager app. PureRef icon PureRef alternative.

    Krita has this feature built-in, but not as comprehensive as PureRef.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    BeeRef screenshot 1
  10. PostyBirb icon
     Like

    Ever tired managing art upload to many various sites? This software (might be) your solution.

    Supports various sites, from X icon X, DeviantArt icon DeviantArt, pixiv icon pixiv, Bluesky icon Bluesky, and so on. Fediverse instances such as Mastodon icon Mastodon, Misskey icon Misskey, Pixelfed icon Pixelfed, and Pleroma icon Pleroma also supported.

    There won't be any support for any Meta platform, including Facebook, Instagram, or Threads. (Require paid API?)

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    PostyBirb 4.0
    Account login
    Login profiles
    +5
    Submission field
  11. Sitra icon
     Like

    Browse, preview, and install fonts from Google Fonts with a sleek interface, privacy-first font previews, code for CDN or NPM use, TTF downloads, and easy filtering.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Linux Mobile
    Sitra screenshot 1
    Sitra screenshot 1
    Sitra screenshot 2
    +1
    Sitra screenshot 3
  12. Weylus icon
     Like

    Turns tablets or smartphones into graphic tablets or touchscreens, controls mouse, mirrors screens, supports stylus with pressure tilt, and multi-touch on Linux.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Weylus screenshot 1
  13. NAPS2 icon
     Like

    NAPS2 is a document scanning application with a focus on simplicity and ease of use.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    NAPS2 screenshot 1
    NAPS2 screenshot 1
    NAPS2 screenshot 2
    +5
    NAPS2 screenshot 3
  14. Danbooru icon
     Like

    Danbooru is an English language imageboard and image hosting website focused primarily on anime style illustrations. It was launched in 2005 by a programmer known as "Albert" and is frequently described as one of the earliest and most influential "booru"...

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
    Danbooru screenshot 1
    Browsing and Searching Images
    Individual Image View
    +1
    Browsing Pools - Collections of related images or series.
  15. ArtistAssistApp is a web app for artists to accurately mix any color from a photo, analyze tonal values, turn a photo into an outline, draw with the grid method, paint with a limited palette, simplify a photo, compare photos pairwise, and more.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Online
    ArtistAssistApp screenshot 1
    ArtistAssistApp screenshot 1
    ArtistAssistApp screenshot 2
    +7
    ArtistAssistApp screenshot 3
  16. PDF4QT icon
     Like

    Open-source PDF viewer/editor using Qt framework with C++ library, multithreading, hardware rendering, encryption, text layout, and form tools.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    PDF4QT screenshot 1
    PDF4QT screenshot 1
  17. ImageMagick is a software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap images. It can read, convert and write images in a variety of formats (about 100) including GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PNG, PDF, PhotoCD, TIFF, and DPX.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Xfce
    ImageMagick screenshot 1
    ImageMagick screenshot 1
  18. G'MIC icon
     Like

    G'MIC is a full-featured open-source framework for image processing, distributed under the CeCILL free software licenses (LGPL-like and/or GPL-compatible). It provides several different user interfaces to convert / manipulate / filter / visualize generic image datasets...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Krita
    • GIMP
    • C++
    G'MIC screenshot 1
    G'MIC screenshot 1
    G'MIC screenshot 2
    +2
    G'MIC screenshot 3
  19. Okular icon
     Like

    Multi-platform document viewer supporting PDF, EPUB, comics and images with annotation tools, sidebar navigation, signature verification, and text-to-speech.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Snapcraft
    • Linux Mobile
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
    Okular screenshot 1
    Okular screenshot 1
    Okular screenshot 2
    +2
    Okular screenshot 3
  20. DJV icon
     Like

    DJV provides professional review software for VFX, animation, and film production.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    main window
    DJV screenshot 1
    File Browser
  21. mrv2 icon
     Like

    mrv2 is a rewrite of the older mrViewer icon mrViewer application, offering a user friendly interface, python support, native OpenTimelineIO support, solid network collaboration, etc.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Main UI
  22. Game Dev

    This section will feature general and specialized engine.

  23. Capable professional 2D and 3D game engine. Even Sonic Colors: Ultimate was developed using Godot.

    For beginner, this engine doesn't have visual scripting like Construct or GameMaker icon GameMaker, but Godot's GDScript programming script is relatively easy to learn. They remove the visual scripting on previous release, as it needs a better implementation.

    As in May 2023, Godot regularly becomes the top used game engine on itch.io, surpassing Unity icon Unity.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • Epic Games Store
    • Flathub
    • F-Droid
    • Haiku
    • Steam
    • FreeBSD
    • Flatpak
    • itch.io
    • Meta Quest
    Godot Engine screenshot 1
    Fully-dedicated 2D engine
    XR (VR and AR) support
    +6
    Gorgeous 3D graphics
  24. General 3D engine. Compared to Godot Engine icon Godot Engine which only focused on game creation, O3DE has wide support, from robotics, virtualization, and other industry needs.

    Hosted by Linux Foundation and backed by various company, such as Amazon, Huawei, Oppo, and RedHat.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Open 3D Engine screenshot 1
    Open 3D Engine screenshot 1
  25. Wicked Engine is an open-source game engine written in C++. The main focus is to be easy to set up and use, light weight, high performance, and graphically advanced. The full source code is provided with the MIT license, which means, anyone is free to use it for anything without...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Windows Phone
    • Xbox
    Wicked Engine screenshot 1
  26. ct.js icon
     Like

    Despite having .js on their name, you can totally can make games with visual scripting alone. Alternative to GameMaker icon GameMaker.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Room editor
    Code editor
    Code editor
    +4
    Particle systems
  27. GB Studio icon
     Like

    Game engine specifically to create GameBoy games. Yes, actual GameBoy ROM files.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    GB Studio screenshot 1
    GB Studio screenshot 1
    GB Studio screenshot 2
    +1
    GB Studio screenshot 3
  28. Fantasy console with Lua, also usable with external editor (both code and art asset)

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Pixel Vision 8 screenshot 1
    Pixel Vision 8 screenshot 1
    Pixel Vision 8 screenshot 2
    +2
    Pixel Vision 8 screenshot 3
  29. Pyxel icon
     Like

    Fantasy console with Phyton

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Pyxel screenshot 1
    Pyxel screenshot 1
    Pyxel screenshot 2
    +4
    Pyxel screenshot 3
  30. Web

  31. TIC-80 icon
     Like

    Fantasy console with:

    • Lua
    • Moonscript
    • Javascript
    • Wren
    • Fennel
    • Squirrel
    • Ruby
    • Janet
    • Scheme

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    TIC-80 screenshot 1
    TIC-80 screenshot 1
    TIC-80 screenshot 2
    +5
    TIC-80 screenshot 3
  32. GDevelop icon
     Like

    No-code game engine.

    While it is free and open source software, the official software release require you to pay €4.99 or €9.99 per month for more feature.

    For complete comparison, visit: https://gdevelop.io/pricing

    Only use this if you're a complete beginner (learning Godot Engine icon Godot Engine is a better long-term investment if you want to scale up your game design.)

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Flathub
    The new editor interface, which now supports 3D editing.
    GDevelop can now create fully 3D games.
    The Asset Store has hundreds of thousands of free and paid assets.
    +4
    Events to build the logic of a game
  33. Eldiron icon
     Like

    Eldiron is a cross-platform creator for classic retro role-playing games (RPGs). Its primary goal is to enable the creation of RPGs reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s while incorporating modern features such as multiplayer support, procedural content generation, and more.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
    2D Example
    3D Example
  34. Web

  35. Webstudio icon
     Like

    Easy drag-and-drop web builder. Provides commercial supports with good free tier. Has copy-pasting element from Webflow icon Webflow.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
    • Windows
    Webstudio screenshot 1
  36. Comimi icon
     Like

    Open-source library for JS/TS enabling comic content integration, customizable comic-style pages, interactive navigation, and multi-language support.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • JavaScript
    • Typescript
    Comimi screenshot 1
    Comimi screenshot 1
    Comimi screenshot 2
  37. Creative Coding

  38. Coollab icon
     Like

    Coollab is a free, open-source, node-based software for creating generative visuals in real time. It is designed to be very intuitive and easy to use, yet very powerful and flexible!

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Coollab screenshot 1
    Coollab screenshot 1
  39. PraxisLIVE is an open-source, visual programming environment. Experiment with and create projects using a visual patching system coupled with the power of programming in Java, Processing and GLSL.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    PraxisLIVE screenshot 1
    PraxisLIVE screenshot 1
    PraxisLIVE screenshot 2
    +1
    PraxisLIVE screenshot 3
  40. Nodebox icon
     Like

    NodeBox is a new software application for creating generative art using procedural graphics and a new way to approach graphic design.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Nodebox screenshot 1
    Nodebox screenshot 1
    Nodebox screenshot 2
    +2
    Nodebox screenshot 3
  41. TiXL icon
     Like

    TiXL is an open-source solution for creating interactive 3d content and animations. It combines the best aspects of animation, compositing, and coding into a lightweight and intuitive UI. Your designs can be shared as executable or rendered to movies.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    TiXL screenshot 1
  42. Processing is an open source programming environment and library built to handle images, animation, and interactivity. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning to code, prototyping, and producing full applications.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Processing screenshot 1
    Processing screenshot 1
    Processing screenshot 2
    +1
    Processing screenshot 3
  43. Worth mentioning

    ...but I'm not sure regarding the quality, as the last time I used it was probably more than decade ago or probably never.

  44. novelWriter is a Markdown-like text editor designed for writing novels and larger projects of many smaller plain text documents. It uses its own flavor of Markdown that supports a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis and cross-referencing between files.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Qt
    • Python
    Screenshot of older version
    Default system theme
    Dark theme
  45. RapidRAW icon
     Like

    GPU-accelerated RAW photo editor with non-destructive workflow, AI-powered masking, advanced color and tonal tools, batch processing, and cross-platform support.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    RapidRAW screenshot 1
    RapidRAW screenshot 1
  46. Bring Your 3D Models to Life. Mesh2Motion is a FREE & open-source web application to animate your 3D models. Supports humanoid, four-legged, and bird creatures.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Mesh2Motion screenshot 1
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