Ever needed to edit some photos, whether professionally or simply to spice things up a notch? You probably know about photo editing software for pc free download, but wouldn’t it be useful to learn about free photo graphics software too? That way, you will be able to create amazing graphics without spending precious money on expensive software.
Have you ever tried to search for the best free photo editing software for windows? There are just so many of them that searching can be hard. Most of them aren’t very good, and it won’t be easy to find a good one on your own. I am going to make this search easy for you by taking away all of the leg work. Below you will find some of the best free photo editing software for windows currently available on the market.
Paint.NET
Best for: Beginners and limited devices
Paint.NET was initially created by a Washington State University student as a replacement for Microsoft Paint. But the original drawing program has developed into an intuitive free photo editing software aimed at those looking for an easy-to-use free image editing software that offers high-quality results.
The software has a clear and straightforward interface that supports hotkeys functions, making it a great option for inexperienced users who don’t want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how the program works. Plus, this simplicity makes it possible to smoothly run Paint.NET on less powerful devices, such as notebooks.
Despite being targeted to novice users, Paint.NET offers a wide array of photo editing tools including brightness, contrast, hue, curves, levels, layers, gradients, and unlimited undos. On top of that, the software supports plugins created by the ever growing community of developers on the software’s forum. These plugins can be used to access more advanced features, such as the popular 3D rotate/zoom tool for image recomposition.
The + : Intuitive interface, great for slow devices, full history access
The – : Limited tools, not as powerful as other alternatives, no advanced features
Platforms: Desktop only (Windows)
Paid version: No, but you can support the project by purchasing Paint.NET for $6.99
GIMP
When it comes to free photo editors, GIMP is king. Short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP is the closest you can get to Photoshop without paying a dime. It comes equipped with an impressive number of professional-quality functions, a completely configurable interface, allows fine-tuning of images, and contains a fully-integrated toolset that allows the creation of professional quality original artwork.
If you can do it in Photoshop, you can almost certainly do it in GIMP. If you want even more options, you can also use Photoshop plugins, which provide you with unmatched flexibility compared to any other free photo editor. GIMP is also open-source, which means that if you have the know-how, you’ll be able to add your own filters and features should you desire.
If you are experienced in image editing software you should get the hang of GIMP relatively quickly, but those not well versed in image editing software may find the interface cluttered or non-intuitive. A fair compromise for the sheer editing power you get at no cost!
Best for: Experienced users and those wanting powerful processing and art tools for a zero dollar price tag.
Taler
Best free online photo editor with free graphic design templates
Taler is a scrappy new social design and photo editing tool that’s free forever and perfect for launching a new business, brand, or store. With Taler you can customize templates for Instagram Stories, t-shirt mock ups, and social banners for Facebook and YouTube.
New templates are being added every week, with more design sizes for all social platforms coming soon. Think of Taler as a sandbox for creating your digital branding with some great starter styles to help entrepreneurs grow their Shopify stores faster.
Features include:
- Hundreds of customizable design templates tailored to size requirements for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more.
- Drag-and-drop editor for easily customizing visual content to match your Shopify theme.
- Powerful suite of filters, overlays, and photo editing tools for carefully refining and adjusting your header template design.
- Text tools to move, resize, and color text to amplify your message.
- Over 17,000 high-resolution, royalty-free images to use in your design.
- Free stickers, shapes, emojis, and graphics.
Available for: iOS and Android
Price: Free
Pixlr Photo Editor
Pixlr gives you a choice of an advanced or “Playful” editor, as well as an older editor (which uses Flash), which has a lot of tools that someone who knows their way around Photoshop would be very used to seeing. It even features layer masks and several filters including Gaussian Blur, unsharp Mask etc. You can create a new image from scratch or open images you have already produced to tweak. You save as you do in all editing software by going to File>Save where you can then choose various places to save your image to which includes on your hard drive and on sites such as Flickr. It’s easy to use, quick to load and something well worth of making a note for next time you’re using a computer away from home that doesn’t have any photo editing software on it apart from Paint!
Adobe Photoshop Express
Best free online photo and image editor for mobile.
Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard in image editing. So good that the name is used as a verb to describe image enhancement. Alongside their premium product, Adobe also offers a free smartphone image editor called Adobe Photoshop Express for editing on the go.
It’s free to download, and you can access the tool with a Google or Facebook account. The
Adobe Photoshop Express app lets you quickly improve your images using filters it calls ‘looks’. Plus, you can also add text, correct image faults like red-eye, and use textures to add that finishing touch.
A premium subscription package is available, which has more advanced tools like cloning and RAW image editing.
Features include:
- Stich photos together to create a collage.
- Artistically blur parts of your photo.
- Straighten images with perspective correction.
- Blend your photos with creative textures.
- Remove haze and fog using an easy slider.
- Add captions to create meme style images.
Photoscape X
For a free program, Photoscape is actually quite impressive—it’s fantastic for editing and managing your personal photo archive. While Photoscape is a bit lacking in the interface department (it can be somewhat confusing), it contains an image viewer, batch processing, a screen-capture tool, and a great selection of filters and effects to take your photographs to the next level.
The photo editing portion of this app is where it truly shines, and even new users will be able to produce exceptional, professional-looking shots in moments. Photoscape even has some handy little functions to make your photographs look like analog shots, a decent cut-out feature, image transformation capability; it also gives access to over 240 figures, frames and borders, and more than 1000 patterns to use in your creatives.
Best for: Batch processing and experimentation projects.
Fotor
Best free photo editor online for beginners
Free photo editor Fotor is a browser-based option with an interface that makes it easy for creatives, photographers, and marketers to edit photos. Unlike other web-based programs, Fotor is fast and won’t slow up your computer while using it.
Fotor makes advanced photo editing techniques achievable for less-technical people. You can easily apply filters, add effect, and edit images on the go. It’s intuitive and simple application helps you do more with your photos even without a background in photo editing and graphic design. Fotor is one of the best free photo editors out there, though for a small monthly fee you can upgrade to Pro for added features.
Features include:
- One click batch processing for Scenes, Effects, and Borders.
- State-of-the-art photo processing engine for adjusting exposure, brightness, contrast, white balance, and saturation, removing red eye, and more.
- Flexible text editing tool for adding text to any photo.
- Collage tool with over 80 templates and up to nine photos per collage.
- Batch resizing, renaming, and file format conversion.
- 100+ exclusive photo effects, 30+ photo frames, and 300+ custom stickers.
Available for: Web, iOS, Windows
Price: Free, ($4.99 per month for Pro)
Conclusion:
When you start taking photos, chances are you don’t notice at first how they could use a touch of editing. A little brightness work, maybe some color correction and maybe a little sharpening will do wonders for your photo’s quality. But what photo editing software to choose? This is the question every beginner faces and it can be daunting as there are so many programs out there that can do amazing things to your pictures. That’s why in this post we put together a number of top free photo editing software downloads that everyone should know about.