GIMP
Free image editor with layers, masks and retouching tools. The usual stand-in for Photoshop on Linux.
Our verdict
GIMP is what most people land on when they want Photoshop without the monthly fee. Layers, masks, selections, clone stamp and healing are all there, and for cropping, touching up and combining images it does the job.
Coming from Photoshop the friction is vocabulary and muscle memory rather than missing features. Things sit in different menus and are called different names, and the first week is slower than you would like. It will open your existing .psd files, though anything using the newest Photoshop effects may arrive flattened.
Two honest limits. Preparing artwork for a commercial printer in CMYK is not really GIMP's job, and it does not manage a photo collection, so pair it with digiKam or darktable if you shoot a lot. For everything a home user typically did in Photoshop, it is enough.
What's good
- Layers, masks, clone and heal tools cover most of what home users did in Photoshop
- Opens Photoshop .psd files, including layers in most cases
- Completely free with no subscription
- The version 3 release brought a much tidier interface than older GIMP
What to know first
- Tool names and menu placement differ from Photoshop, so you relearn where things live
- No proper support for CMYK print colour
- Some .psd files with newer Photoshop effects come in flattened or wrong
- Not a photo library, so you still need something else to organise your pictures
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (GPL-3.0)
- How you install it
- App store (Flatpak), AppImage download, App store (Snap), .deb installer, .rpm installer, Built-in app store
Windows apps it can replace
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