Choosing the best photo editor is something most people occasionally have to do because we live in a digitally and technologically advanced age where people are constantly sharing digital images and using them for other purposes such as blogging.
With so many photo editing applications out there, it is very important to compare different options and features in order to ensure you end up with the best photo editor for your needs.
Best Overall- Movavi Photo Editor
Movavi photo editor is a full-featured photo editing tool which not only allows you to easily remove unwanted objects or tourists from images, but also enables you to replace image background, add watermarks and captions etc. What’s more, with Movavi photo editor, you can enjoy 1-click photo quality enhancing with its Magic Enhance tool. Cropping, resizing, rotating, straightening tools will help you get more aesthetically pleasing composition. Movavi Photo Editor delivers much more than everyday photo editing apps – try the awesome object and background removal features!
Luminar is a Mac image editor that lets you quickly edit photos. Add stunning looks and find handy Workspaces to edit any type of photo, from portraits to landscapes, with built-in filters. The editing tools are plentiful, and Luminar has everything you need to make your photos shine. Verdict: GIMP is the most powerful free photo editor that can completely replace Photoshop. One of the main advantages, except all of the above mentioned, is that the program supports RAW files. However, to open all the formats, you need to prepare this free photo editor in advance by downloading all the necessary updates.
Below is a list of the top 15 best free photo editor software 2018. The list is divided into three categories to make your selection easier.
1. SOFTWARE
a) PhotoScape
PhotoScape is a package deal kind of software. It includes all the major features you need to edit your pictures. Some of PhotoScape’s capabilities include: blooming, red-eye removal, filters, cropping drawing pictures, text, balloons, frames, backlight correction, white balance adjustment, brightness, color, resizing, raw converter, rename, color picker, screen capture, splitter, print, animated GIF, page combine, batch editor and viewer.
- Beginner friendly
- Easy to use
- It has numerous features and capabilities
- Fast
- Flexible operation
- There are explanations for everything in order to make it easy for a beginner to understand what they are doing.
- It still needs some additional features such as background changing ability. Other than this, this software does not have any other disadvantage.
b) GIMP
GIMP is a free software suitable for photo editing tasks like image authorizing, photo retouching and image composition. GIMP is a very powerful software with features and capabilities you might not find in other similar software. GIMP can be used as a professional photo retouching program, a simple paint software, an image renderer, an image format converter or an online batch processing system among others. This software is extensible, expandable and modular. GIMP was designed to include extensions and plugins that make it possible for you to do almost everything with the software. This software also has a scripted interface that enables you to achieve anything from the simplest task to the most complicated task.
- Great alternative to Photoshop
- It is free
- Easy to use
- IT has numerous features
- Beginner friendly
c) Paint.NET
Paint.Net is one of the best full-featured photo editing software. It has a streamlined and intuitive interface and provides you with all the tools you need to edit your photos. This software supports layers, special effects and unlimited undo among others. It also has a growing active online community that is very friendly and provides plugins, tutorials and any other help you might need. It is perfect for beginners and expert photo editors.
- Fast download
- Small footprint
- Great for basic image manipulation
- Requires some additional features in order for a user to be able to do advanced photo editing.
d) Picasa
Picasa is a great software. You can use it to share, print, organize, find and transfer images. This software organizes all your pictures in one album so as to save you the hassle of going through your files to locate an image you want to edit. Picasa works with PSD, BMP, GIF, movie files and JPEG. Picasa is compatible with most digital cameras and it is able to detect your USB driver to import images into the software. The editing tools included in this software include: color switch to black and white, color enhancing, red-eye removal, custom and standard cropping among others.
- Easy file sharing
- Image import saves you the hassle of going through your files to get images
- Easy to use
- Fast download
- User-friendly interface
- Google no longer supports this software. This means there will not be any more updates for the software.
e) Photo! Editor
Photo! Editor is a basic photo editing tool that you can use to optimize and fix your digital images in just a few clicks. This photo editing software has basic tools such as clearing skin imperfections and wrinkles, red-eye removal and retouching tools such as color optimization. The software also features a cropping utility, lighting effects and a caricature tool that enables you to add hilarious effects to your pictures. Another great thing about Photo! Editor is the fact that it gives you an option to compare your original image with the edited image. This enables you to know whether or not you are moving in the right direction. This software is perfect for beginners and professional photo editors.
- Easy to use
- Numerous features
- Fast download
- Comparison feature enables you to compare your original image with the edited image
- User-friendly interface
- Beginner friendly
- It experiences crashes when used for a long period of time.
f) Raw Therapee
Raw Therapee is a software that is specialized for processing photos in their raw format. This software is more complex compared to other similar programs. Some of the features of this program include: retouching, adjusting exposure, shadows, highlights, white balance, color panels, perspective, sharpness, cropping, resizing, batch editing, raw file editing and filters among others. This software is perfect for hobbyists, professional photographers and anyone who needs a high quality editing software.
- Easy to use
- Has many features and tools
- Can be used for advanced editing
- Batch editing
- Raw file support
- Complex interface
- No pre-set filters
- Harder to learn compared to other photo editing software
2. FREE ONLINE IMAGE EDITORS
a) Pixlr
Pixlr is an online photo editing tool with numerous professional features such as brushes and layering. This photo editing tool has very advanced features that make it a major rival for desktop photo editors. Therefore, if you are looking for an online photo editing tool that would offer you the same service as a desktop photo editor, Pixlr would be a perfect tool. This software is perfect for beginners as well as professional photo editors.
- Easy to use
- Advanced features
- Numerous tools
- Free
- User-friendly
- Pixlr gets very slow at times especially when you are using editing tools like smudge tool. This is caused by the complexity of the editing tool.
b) PicMonkey
PicMonkey has all the basic features you need to edit your photos like brushes, effects and filters. Apart from this PicMonkey includes a number of design features like whole themes, textures and overlays among others. If you are looking for a photo editing tool that you can use to do basic enhancements and add text to your images, PicMonkey is the best software for you.
- It is free
- It has numerous features
- Can be used for basic photo enhancement
- User-friendly interface
- Easy to use
- It cannot be used for very advanced photo editing.
c) Fotor
Fotor is a powerful online photo editing tool with great usability. With Fotor, you can achieve very good photo editing results in a very short time. This photo editing tool has a variety of functionality tools that you can use to edit your photos. These include: brushes, layering, rendering for HDR and automatic enhancement algorithms among others. Fotor also has an easy design functionality that enables you to complete editing tasks quickly. This photo editing tool can be used for both basic and professional photo editing.
- Beginner friendly
- User-friendly interface
- Easy to use
- Numerous editing features and tools
- Can be used for both advanced and basic photo editing
d) BeFunky
BeFunky is probably the easiest online photo editor you can use. This online photo editing tool has a very intuitive and simple interface which makes it perfect for beginners who might not have any experience in editing. It has all the basic features you need to perfect your pictures. Some of these features include: layering, brushes and preset filters among others. Apart from this, BeFunky also gives you the option of adding graphics, texts and overlays to your pictures.
- It is very easy to use
- Intuitive interface
- Numerous features
- Fast
- Beginner friendly
- BeFunky can only be used for basic photo editing. This is is because it lacks advanced features which are required for professional photo editing. Therefore, if you are looking for a professional photo editor, BeFunky is not the photo editor for you.
e) Adobe PhotoShop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is an online photo editing tool offered by Adobe. The funny thing about this online photo editing tool is the fact that it looks nothing like PhotoShop. This is odd considering that both editors are offered by Adobe. Nonetheless, Adobe PhotoShop Express has a very intuitive interface and covers all the basics very well. One of the best features of this online editing tool is the film strip view that is provided at the bottom of the editor page when you are using a number of adjustment tools. Instead of using a slider to adjust the white balance, saturation and other subjective tweaks, this photo editing tool displays the changes incrementally allowing you to choose your favorite from the different options provided. Adobe PhotoShop Express also has advanced tools like distortion, sketching and tinting.
- Free
- Great for advanced and basic editing
- Easy to use
- Great PhotoShop alternative
- Numerous tools and features
- You have to create an account to use this online editing tool.
3. MOBILE
a) Adobe PhotoShop Mix ( Available on Android and iOS)
Adobe PhotoShop Mix is perfect for cutting out, combining and seamlessly blending different pictures to create high-end multi-layered images. This application has numerous features and tools that you can use to transform your basic images to look like professional images. Adobe PhotoShop Mix is only compatible with android, iPhones and iPads and it is free.
- This app can be downloaded for free
- It is very easy to use
- Fast
- Numerous tools and features
- Can be used for basic and advanced photo editing.
- Great PhotoShop alternative
b) AirBrush Easy Photo Editor(Available on both Android & iOS)
Airbrush Easy Photo Editor is the best application if you want to make your pictures perfect. This app has all the features you need to achieve perfect results. Some of the features include: blemish and pimple remover, perfect skin, teeth whitening, eye brightening, retouching effects, photo lengthening, real-time editing and radiant filters among others. With this application, you can transform a very basic and dull picture to look like a professional picture. It is free and it is compatible with both android and iOS.
- Very easy to use
- Constantly being updated
- Numerous features
- Free
- Compatible with both android and iOS
- Saves edited images in separate folders
c) Cupslice (Android only)
Cupslice is among the most trending apps on social media. This app has numerous powerful features that enable you to transform your pictures. This app features numerous filters that you can use to tweak your photos to make them appear brighter and unique. The best thing about the filters is the fact that they leave your picture looking very natural. This way, it is very hard to tell that you have edited your picture. The app is very easy to use and it is only available for Android phones.
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- Easy to use
- Free
- Powerful features
- Natural filters
- Doesn’t take up too much space
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d) Fotor Photo Editor (Available on Android and iOS)
Fotor Photo Editor is a one stop app for editing, sharing and selling pictures. Fotor has evolved from being one of the most user-friendly photo editing applications to a growing photography community platform. Apart from editing pictures on this app, you get the opportunity to connect with numerous photographers around the world. This enables you to get inspiration, make new friends and learn new photography skills. It is a great platform for photography enthusiasts, hobbyists and professional photographers. This application provides you with all the photo editing tools you need to transform your pictures. Whether you want to edit your picture to post on social media or use it for professional projects, Fotor will work very well for you.
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- It is free
- Photography community platform
- User-friendly
- Fun
- Numerous editing tools
- Perfect for beginners and professionals
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- It does not have a delete option for pictures. This leads to a lot of memory use up which is not great if you have a limited amount of space on your phone.
Conclusion
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In conclusion, if you love sharing pictures on social media or you are a professional photographer, you will really benefit from these photo editing tools. They are easy to use and you can find one for all your devices. Test them out to find out which one works best for you.
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