Free And Cheaper Options To Photoshop, Illustrator, And Other Adobe Creative Software

Freelance illustrator, artist, and author Michael Sexton has compiled a list of free and cheaper (single purchase) alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Animate, Lightroom, Dreamweaver, After Effects, and Audition. Michael created the list after Adobe’s recent price hike of its photography plan from $9.99 to $19.99. After an outcry from creatives, the price was reverted back to $9.99.

But Michael believes a price rise is inevitable as Adobe has roped enough people into subscriptions. He created this handy little graphic (in Affinity Designer) to help out fellow designers.

We’ve added links to the mentioned programs below the graphic.

Adobe Photoshop alternatives

Affinity Photo (single purchase)
Clip Studio Paint (single purchase)
Krita (free)
GIMP (free)
FireAlpaca (free)
Medibang Paint (free)
Photopea (free)
PaintTool SAI (single purchase)
MyPaint (free)
Paint.NET (free)

Adobe Illustrator alternatives

Affinity Designer (single purchase)
Inkscape (free)
Boxy SVG Editor (free)
Vectr (free)
Clip Studio Paint (single purchase)

Adobe InDesign alternatives

Affinity Publisher (single purchase)
VivaDesigner (free / single purchase)
Scribus (free)
Canva (free)
SpringPublisher (free / single purchase)

Adobe Animate alternatives

CACANi (single purchase)
TVPaint Animation (single purchase)
Toon Boom Harmony (single purchase)
Clip Studio Paint (single purchase)
OpenToonz (free)
Krita (free)
Pencil2D Animation (free)
FireAlpaca (free)

Adobe Lightroom alternatives

RawTherapee (free)
darktable (free)

Adobe Dreamweaver alternatives

WebStorm (single purchase)
Aptana Studio (free)

Adobe After Effects alternatives

DaVinci Resolve (free / single purchase)
Blender (free)

Adobe Audition alternatives

Fairlight (free / single purchase)
Audacity (free)

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