Open Source Photoshop Alternatives for Linux

Adobe Photoshop is not available for Linux but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on Linux with similar functionality. The best open source Linux alternative is GIMP. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Adobe Photoshop and 19 are open source and available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Linux alternatives to Adobe Photoshop are Krita, MyPaint, LazPaint and PhotoGIMP.

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Adobe Photoshop alternatives are mainly Image Editors, but if you're looking for Digital Painting Tools or Photo Editors you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Mac, Online, Windows, Linux, Free and Windows + Free. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Adobe Photoshop.
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Alternatives list

  1. GIMP icon
     4731 likes

    GIMP delivers powerful functionalities for photo retouching, image composition, and format conversion. As a versatile tool, it serves as both a simple paint program and a high-end retouching suite, and offers batch processing for mass image tasks in an accessible open-source platform.

    190 GIMP alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    • Flatpak
    • AmigaOS
     
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    111
    Comments about GIMP as an Alternative to Adobe Photoshop
    Top Positive Comment
    Conner Vieira
    4

    If you're used to Photoshop, GIMP will feel very unusual, since it has very different ways of doing things. That being said, its more than capable of keeping up with Photoshop on a technical level, and well exceeds Photoshop's abilities (if at the cost of intuitiveness) in my opinion

    Top Negative Comment
    Marek
    24

    Irritating, totally unintuitive, completely unthought-out interface. It may have a lot of possibilities, but a lifetime is not enough to discover them and understand the twisted logic of this program.

    Mike-Fulton
    Negative
    0

    On paper, GIMP would seem to match up quite well against Adobe Photoshop, but when you actually try to use it, it's got a user interface that not even a mother could love. Most features are implemented in a very non-intuitive fashion. Want to crop an image? In Photoshop you enter the desired size and then drag a rectangle around the portion of the image you want to keep. It automatically constrains the selection to the aspect ratio of the size you entered. Gimp offers a variety of options for the crop tool but none of them is as simple and quick to use as PS. I've tried using GIMP several times over the past few decades and it always makes me want to tear my hair out.

    3 of 111 comments
    GIMP icon
    GIMP icon
    • GIMP is Free and Open SourceAdobe Photoshop is Paid and Proprietary
    • GIMP is Customizable, Privacy focused and LightweightAdobe Photoshop is not according to our users
  2. Krita icon
     1414 likes

    Free, open-source painting software designed by artists for artists. Offers customizable UI, 9 brush engines, color management, tablet support, non-destructive editing, and privacy features. Portable and available on major platforms, supporting seamless texture creation.

    142 Krita alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android Tablet
    • KDE Plasma
    • Epic Games Store
    • PortableApps.com
    • Steam
    • F-Droid
     
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    46
    Comments about Krita as an Alternative to Adobe Photoshop
    Top Positive Comment
    Atoshi
    18

    It's kinda more intuitive to use than GIMP (which is a briliant PS alternative too) interface-wise, and supports CMYK out of the box if one needs it. As of version 3.1 it has pretty advanced support for animation, including opacity curves (GIMP fails completely in that field, animathing anything is a major PITA in it)

    Top Negative Comment
    Soul Rain
    36

    photoshop is a photo editing software; krita is a painting and sketching app

    Tomás Barão
    Positive
    0

    I often use complex layer layouts. From my experience, Krita offers ways of combining and compositing layers much more powerful than Photoshop. Some things Krita can do non-destructively that Photoshop can't.

    Krita is often branded with an anime and cartoons focus, but I use it in my professional work for raster processing in general.

    3 of 46 comments
    Krita icon
    Krita icon
    • Krita is Free and Open SourceAdobe Photoshop is Paid and Proprietary
    • Krita is Lightweight, Customizable and Privacy focusedAdobe Photoshop is not according to our users
  3. MyPaint icon
     387 likes

    MyPaint is a fast, distraction-free, and easy painting tool for digital artists. It supports graphics tablets made by Wacom, and many similar devices.

    128 MyPaint alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com
     
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    5
    Comments about MyPaint as an Alternative to Adobe Photoshop
    Top Positive Comment
    uhada
    2

    If you're looking for a painting app, MyPaint may be a good alternative to Photoshop. It has infinite canvas, good, natural brushes and overall good tools.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    20

    MyPaint is only a drawing program, but it can't edit images. Adobe Photoshop can do both.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    sedeti
    Negative
    0

    My paint is not a image editor

    3 of 5 comments
    MyPaint icon
    MyPaint icon
    • MyPaint is Free and Open SourceAdobe Photoshop is Paid and Proprietary
  4. LazPaint icon
     45 likes

    Raster & vector graphic editor with many tools and filters, written in Lazarus. Portable, 32bit & 64bit versions, ORA format & 16384x16384 image support. In app 3D import & rendering.

    43 LazPaint alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
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    1
    Comments about LazPaint as an Alternative to Adobe Photoshop
    maurosoft391
    Negative
    -2

    the software is poorly designed

    LazPaint icon
    LazPaint icon
    • LazPaint is Free and Open SourceAdobe Photoshop is Paid and Proprietary
    • LazPaint is LightweightAdobe Photoshop is not according to our users
  5. PhotoGIMP icon
     20 likes

    A Patch for GIMP 3+ for Photoshop Users.

    15 PhotoGIMP alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    1
    Comments about PhotoGIMP as an Alternative to Adobe Photoshop
    John Gringo
    Positive
    2

    It's a good way for Photoshop users to be able to use GIMP.

    PhotoGIMP icon
    PhotoGIMP icon
    • PhotoGIMP is Free and Open SourceAdobe Photoshop is Paid and Proprietary
    • PhotoGIMP is Privacy focusedAdobe Photoshop is not according to our users
  6. miniPaint icon
     30 likes

    miniPaint is free online image editor using HTML5. Edit, adjust your images, add effects online in your browser without installing anything. You can use the Electron based version of the editor if you like.

    37 miniPaint alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  7. Glimpse is an open source image editor based on the GNU Image Manipulation Program. The goal is to experiment with new ideas and expand the use of free software.

    164 Glimpse Image Editor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  8. Pixelitor icon
     28 likes

    Pixelitor is an open source image editor with an intuitive interface and with a special emphasis on non-destructive editing.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  9. Ayin icon
     9 likes

    Ayin is a free and open source photo editing software available on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  10. GPS (aka Gimp Paint Studio) is a collection of brushes, patterns, color gradients, accompanying tool presets and dynamics. Tool presets are a simply saved tool options, highly useful feature of the GIMP.

    76 Gimp Paint Studio alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • GIMP
     
  11. Luminance HDR icon
     38 likes

    Luminance HDR is a graphical user interface (based on the Qt5 toolkit) that provides a complete workflow for HDR imaging.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  12. showFoto icon
     14 likes

    You can use it to view your photographs and improve them. Showfoto is the standalone image editor of the digiKam project.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • KDE
     
12 of 19 Adobe Photoshop alternatives