Professional photo editing softwares are not always the best choice when you don’t have a single cent to spare. A better option would be to use some free online photo editors that can do the job for you.
I’ve compiled a list of the 10 best free online photo editors with the features of each one.
Canva
One of the better-known free image editing software options, Canva is a simple and effective solution that’s great for all kinds of content creation. Like Taler, Canva has a huge selection of templates to choose from, pre-sized for social media. There are drag-and-drop customization options, tons of stock photos and vectors, and pre-made illustrations.
You can edit your photos using pre-made filters and access things like brightness adjustments, contrast, saturation, and vignettes. There is a premium version available for additional editing options, too.
Features include:
- Huge range of stock images, stickers, and vectors
- Drag-and-drop customizable text
- Filters and effects for your photos
- Image cropping for social media
- Pre-made templates for all kinds of online content
Works on: Web, iOS, Android
Best for: Creating branded images for online channels
Best free online photo editor for collaborating with teams.
Canva is a popular online design and publishing solution, with a free online photo and image editor as part of the package. Canva’s users have created over 1 billion designs since the tool launched in 2013.
Canva’s free service gives you 250,000 templates to customise and 5GB of cloud storage to save your designs.
The online free photo editor requires registration; then, you can apply filters, resize images, and add text overlays.
If you like Canva and opt to pay the $99 annual subscription, you can schedule social media posts, create brand kits, and use 100GB of cloud storage.
Features include:
- Quickly add stickers and drag and drop speech bubbles.
- Straighten photos and apply textures and filters to enhance your images.
- Add photo frames to images
- Add animated text.
- Templates sized for most social media platforms.
- Offers a desktop client for Mac and Windows, plus smartphone apps too.
Link: Canva
Pixlr X and Pixlr E
Pixlr is one of the most popular online photo editing tools out there, and for good reason. It’s a simple and intuitive photo editor that still offers plenty of features. And now, Pixlr has made its offering even better. There are two options you can choose from: Pixlr E is meant for people looking for an advanced set of features for their photo editing needs. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a free photo editor to retouch your photos, or just apply some filters and all, you should check out Pixlr X. You can choose which tool you want to launch from the homepage of the software.
Availability: Windows & Mac
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.
Link: iOS devices Android devices
Taler
Designed primarily for social media image editing, Taler is great for making your brand stand out on social channels. You can search through a host of professionally designed templates and create content already perfectly sized for platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
Taler offers customizable fonts and text designs, uploads for brand colors and logos, and curated templates, so you don’t have to start your designs from scratch. Because it’s built by Shopify, it’s unsurprising that the app also includes designs for online stores or businesses.
Features include:
- Customizable templates for social media
- Excellent drag-and-drop editor
- Text tools for resizing and enhancing your message
- More than 17,000 high-res images
- Free emojis, stickers, and shapes
- Powerful range of overlays and filters
Works on: iOS and Android
Best for: for: Creating stunning designs for online store and social media
GIMP
GIMP is the popular acronym of GNU Image Manipulation Program, which is an open-source app to bring easier photo editing experience in your devices. Some of the notable features of GIMP include the customizable interface it has — which lets you change the layout as per your taste and requirement —, single-click retouching techniques that will help you enhance photographs in no time, availability of really good GIMP Plugins, wide support for various additional devices as well as input & output file formats as well. Despite the customizability, the UI of GIMP is quite professional. Also, you get perks of having an open-source community for clearing doubts and extended support.
Availability: Windows, Mac, Linux
Fotor
Fotor is a free browser-based photo editor where users can create designs, make collages, and edit photos without downloading any complex software. The interface is streamlined and easy to use, with a range of tools for things like Instagram campaigns and product images.
Fotor makes it easy to apply photo editing techniques like filters and remove unwanted distortion from your content. You can banish red eyes, add custom borders, and even include text in any photo. There’s even access to a host of custom photo effects you can’t get on other tools.
Features include:
- One-click batch processing, resizing, and formatting
- 100+ photo effects, 300+ custom stickers, and 30+ frames
- Adjustments for contrast, saturation, white balance, and more
- Flexible text editing tool
- Collage tool for creative designs
Works on: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Best for: Quick and creative photo adjustments
Paint.NET
Don’t mistake it for Microsoft Paint that comes with your Windows PC by default. Paint.NET is an innovative, free, and professional tool to edit your photographs and other images quite easily. When you need something more than normal Paint but not heavy like Photoshop, Paint.NET is the one to use. We have used Paint.NET in low-configuration & high-configuration systems and the performance was superb. Talking of features, Paint.NET comes with layer-support; in-built special effects to enhance a photograph in no time, support for unlimited history that can help you find and fix your mistakes, etc. Paint.NET has grabbed several awards as well, including one from PC World. By the way, Paint.NET weighs only a few MBs, which is quite low when compared to other premium photo editors.
Availability: Windows
Adobe Photoshop Express
Most individuals know about Adobe Photoshop. While the full-sized premium software might be too expensive for some people, the Express version of Photoshop is ideal for editing photos for free. Available for your smartphone and computer, this free image editor offers things like red-eye fixing, cropping, and collage creation.
You can edit and transform photos in various ways, getting rid of the noise or trying out filters before posting on social media. Plus, there’s even a “Discover” feed where you can gain inspiration.
Features include:
- Quick fix tools like blemish healing and perspective adjustments
- Pre-made themes, filters, effects, and fonts
- Edit, retouch and combine photos
- In-app tutorials and editing advice
- Post direct to social media
Works on: Windows, iOS, Android
Best for: Editing photos on the go
Availability: Windows
Instasize
One of the best free online image editors for influencers.
Instasize is the free online photo editor app for working with images before uploading them on social media. While the name hints it’s for Instagram, you can upload your edited image to any social platform.
There is a range of filters to improve your images instantly, and you can use layers to add backgrounds to your photos. What’s more, you can also add text, vintage overlays, and even edit short videos all on your smartphone.
If you don’t have the image you need, there is also a library of stock images to work from. The premium version includes 100+ filters not available in the free app and advanced beauty tools to fix blemishes, remove redness, and whiten teeth.
Features include:
- Over 130 filters grouped by colour and type.
- Apply vintage overlays.
- Add a text layer to photo and video.
- Resize narrow images automatically.
- Hundreds of backgrounds.
- One-click presets to resize your image for different social platforms.
Link: iOS app Android app
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PicMonkey
PicMonkey is a widely-used online photo editor, which is known for the simpler user interface. The user interface of this photo editor has been classified into four sections — Editing, Touch Up, Design, and Collage. All these can be done from the home-page of PicMonkey. You can either upload files from your computer or take from Facebook or some storage services out there. Talking of PicMonkey editing interface, features range from basic editing to overlays and themes. It does not matter whether you’re a professional or a normal user, you will love the quick-to-learn editing interface of it. We really loved the collection of effects and filters PicMonkey offers. Also, if you’re into the Touch-Up section, there are some really practical ones you may love, like the Spray Tan or Blemish Fix. It makes sense, in the long run. Additional sections like Collage and Design are also impressive.
Availability: Online
Conclusion
Whether you need to remove an unwanted object from a photograph, touch up a picture before sharing online, or create a collage, there is a free online image editor that can help you modify your image. A photo editor is important for any casual photographer because it allows you to enhance and modify your photographs so they look professional.