There is no doubt that Photoshop is the best photo editing tool that can convert your raw image into a professional picture within moments. Although you should know about what you are doing with this tool, you can find lots of tutorials to learn to use this software. However, if you do not want to use Photoshop as you think that this is quite complex and you want to opt for a different substitute, you can check out this article. In this article, you are about to find some of the best Photoshop alternatives for Windows. Some of them are available for free. However, you need to purchase the rest of them.

Best Photoshop Alternatives for Windows

1] GIMP

Although GIMP is a free Photoshop alternative for Windows, you might find it quite old because of the user interface. GIMP comes with all the features you might want to have in a photo editing software. However, the drawback of this tool is the UI, which is dragging it behind. It does support almost all standard image formats including JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF< TIFF, XWD, MNG, PCX, PPM and so on. The best thing about this tool is you can edit PSD images without any problem. From doing basic things just color adjustment and all, you can do advanced things such as object manipulation with the help of this freeware. Like Photoshop, you can get rulers, guides, and more other things. However, the setback is there is no Camera RAW filter. That means if you have captured images in RAW format, it would be difficult for you to get started with GIMP. Also, there are many people, who have claimed that the options are not well categorized and hence, they are getting problems finding some option.

2] Paint.NET

Paint.NET is another awesome free Photoshop alternative that you can download on Windows computer. If you can learn using this tool, you might not need any other option so far. Being said that, you can find all the possible options in this tool. However, like GIMP, the user interface looks pretty outdated and hence, you might not be able to find all the options from where you think it is. Performance wise, there is no substitute to Paint.NET. However, people do not like the dated UI at all. On the other hand, you cannot find the Camera RAW option, and that is one big problem for RAW image shooters. One important thing that is missing in this tool is you cannot find the Slice tool. However, editing an image with Paint.NET is pretty straightforward. You can use the color adjustment tool, magic wand, and more others without any issue. As it does support layers with the blending mode, you can create awesome images with ease and within a small patch of time. If you are into game development, you must know that DirectDraw Surface or DDS file type is supported by this tool.

3] Krita

Regarding user interface, Krita is probably the smartest tool out there in this list. Although it comes with some disadvantages, the advantages have fulfilled that, and you should not find any issue due to that. Talking about features, this is more like a painting tool than an image editor. You can edit images with the help of Krita, but you can do painting jobs better using this tool. From coloring comic pages to add more objects and story into an existing cartoon character, you can do everything with the help of Krita. The user interface of Krita has no clutter, and that is a big plus point of using this tool. Krita includes three different ways to smooth and stabilize your brush strokes. There is even a dedicated Dynamic Brush tool where you can add drag and mass. An essential thing is you can import various brushes created by other professional painters so that you can improve your painting with ease. Some of the other tools are mirroring tools, layer management, selections, drawing assistants, layer masks, full-color management, OpenGL enhanced, transform tools and more others. Another awesome feature about this tool is you will be able to edit PSD images. Therefore, if you are migrating from Photoshop to Krita, there would be no problem at all.

4] Affinity Photo

All those tools as mentioned earlier are free. However, Affinity Photo is a paid solution that you can download to your Windows computer. You do not have to worry about anything after downloading this tool. Also, it doesn’t come with any subscription like Photoshop. A one-time play can do the job for you. There are countless professionals who are using this tool on their computer to give their images a professional touch. Some of the best options of this tool are HDR merge, RAW editing, panorama stitching, focus stacking, batch processing, digital painting, 360-degree image editing, multi-layered compositions and more others. As some of the tools above, you would be able to edit PSD files using this Photoshop alternative, and that is the best thing for a mover. Talking about the user interface, Affinity Photo has probably the best UI in this list. You do not have to worry about tutorials to get started since all the options are well managed. If you have a little bit of knowledge on image editing software, you can find all the options quickly and without any problem.

You might not find another Photoshop, but you can certainly download something near to that. In this list, I have mentioned four of the best Photoshop alternatives for Windows. You can download them and use them to check which one is working best for you.