Best open-source alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

Graphite is an open source graphics editor and engine aimed at covering a wide range of 2D creative work. It began as a vector editor and has grown into a more general-purpose tool that combines vector and raster workflows in a single nondestructive editing environment. The project is positioned for artists, designers, and graphics programmers who want a modern, extensible creative toolbox. Its node-graph core powers user-facing tools for compositing and generative design, with additional planned capabilities including photo editing, motion graphics, digital painting, desktop publishing, and VFX compositing.

miniPaint is a browser-based image editor aimed at users who want a lightweight, install-free alternative for creating and editing images. It runs directly in the browser and emphasizes local editing with no server-side transfer, making it suitable for quick edits, browser-native workflows, and users who prefer not to install desktop software. The project includes a broad set of editing tools covering file import/export, layer-based composition, image adjustments, filters, and painting utilities. It also supports embedding in other websites and provides build instructions and a wiki for contributors or self-hosters who want to work with the codebase or integrate the app into their own pages.

SnapOtter is a self-hosted image manipulation platform aimed at users who want to process images locally rather than relying on external SaaS tools. It combines a broad set of image utilities with AI-assisted features such as background removal, upscaling, restoration, object removal, face blur/enhancement, and OCR, all described as running on the user's hardware without internet access. The project is designed for deployment as a single container and includes a web dashboard, default login credentials, and reusable pipelines for batch workflows. It also exposes a REST API with API key authentication, making it suitable for automation and integration into other systems. The README emphasizes privacy, local processing, and multi-architecture support for AMD64 and ARM64 systems.

Drawpile is a cross-platform drawing application built for real-time collaboration. It allows multiple people to draw, paint, and animate together on the same canvas, and it runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android. The project is aimed at artists, groups, and communities that want a shared digital canvas rather than a single-user illustration tool. Its README points users to downloadable builds, source compilation instructions, and support channels, and it also notes browser-accessible community chat options for getting help. The client depends on several shared libraries, and the build process includes pinned dependency versions and integrity checks for upstream sources.

BitMappery is a browser-based image editing application aimed at users who want a lightweight alternative to full Photoshop-style tools. It centers on a document-and-layer workflow, where each document contains layers with their own content, transformations, and filters. The README emphasizes that the project is intentionally minimal, while still leaving room for contributions related to more advanced image-editing capabilities. The application is built with Vue and Vuex and uses zCanvas for canvas rendering and bitmap blitting. It supports undo and redo through state history, and it handles rendering and interactions through dedicated renderer and service classes. BitMappery can be run locally from source with npm, or deployed as a Docker-based self-hosted version. It also mentions optional third-party storage integrations for Dropbox, Google Drive, and S3, plus an optional WebAssembly path for improved image-manipulation performance.

Imagor Studio is a self-hosted image gallery aimed at users who want a browser-based way to manage and edit large photo collections. It combines gallery browsing with built-in editing tools, making it suitable for personal libraries as well as small teams that want to organize images without relying on external cloud services. The project emphasizes speed and simplicity: it uses virtual scrolling to browse large sets of images quickly, supports drag-and-drop organization and multi-select bulk actions, and applies edits non-destructively through URL-based transformations. The quick start shows a Docker-based setup with SQLite and a mounted local image folder, and the README points users to hosted documentation for deeper configuration and usage details.