Photoshop is a powerful tool for image editing. It has a long history and a huge fan community. Many years ago, there was a free alternative to Photoshop – gimp. But recently Adobe bought gimp, and now it hardly develops.
There are many online photo editor online that can be used by Windows or Mac users with just a few clicks. Some of them even have advanced editing tools where users with knowledge of Photoshop will feel at ease with their tools.
Photoshop Express
An excellent browser-based online photo editor, Photoshop Express is extremely well-designed (which one should hope, coming from Adobe) and comes with all the features you would expect from image editing software.
Everything is immediately accessible regardless of your previous experience. Another bonus: no plugins are required so long as you have Flash installed, and you can simply drag and drop your images onto to start working.
The downside: Photoshop Express currently only supports JPG files and contains no social media sharing features. This might be a crippling limitation to some now that PNG is a much more commonly used extension.
Best for: On-the-fly editing via any browser; JPG fans.
piZap
Best online image editor for novice users.
piZap is a browser-based free online photo editor. Free online photo editors like PiZap are easy to use and have four quick start icons at the top of the editor. You can work on an image uploaded from your computer, Facebook, or Dropbox. But if you don’t have the image you need, you can select from an extensive range of free stock images.
Once your image loads, you can apply filters, edit the colours, and add text and other overlays.
piZap is free to use for seven days, so you can utilise the tool’s full functionality after a quick registration process. If you want to keep on using the tool, it’s reasonably priced at $2.99 per month.
Features include:
- Themed borders.
- Cut-out tool for removing an image background.
- Templates sized for popular social media platforms.
- Also works on iPad and smartphone.
- Apply text with special effects like glitter.
- Meme editor with a choice of popular templates.
Link: piZap
Download Now -> Free Email Marketing Cheat Sheet
Photopea
Best free online photoshop-style tool.
Photopea is a free online photo editor that offers much of the functionality of a professional photoshop tool.
Free online photo editors like Photopea are ad-supported and free to use, but you will need some advanced photo editing experience to make the best use of the tool.
It is capable of working with .psd files, and you can also open .pdf files too. Plus, if you have a camera that shoots in RAW, Photopea is a good option for editing this format.
There is a paid version, but it only removes the ads and gives you a greater number of undo steps.
Features include:
- Save and work in the file formats of professional photo software.
- Advanced tools like clone stamp healing.
- Work with layers and masks.
- Use smart objects to replicate layers.
- Draw vector graphics.
- Perfect for professional photo editors who can’t access their usual computer.
Link: Photopea
Befunky
Befunky is simple, intuitive, and one of the best options for performance on this list. It features a variety of awesome elements to boost your image quality as well as a nice and simple collage feature. Like Fotor above, Befunky also contains many design elements that allow you to create lovely postcards, brochures, posters, slides for Powerpoint presentations, and invitations with only a few simple steps.
If your goal is social networking posts, printable assets, or a presentation for a client, then Befunky is a good option for you. While it may lack features as wide-ranging as other options on this list you would be hard pressed to find a faster and more efficient option for cranking out simple creatives in a reasonable time frame.
Best for: Bloggers and people looking to create social media assets.
Resizing.app
Best Photo Resizer
One of our favorites is an online image resizer, called Resizing.app. The company has a straightforward website and process to resize images online within seconds. One of the coolest features is the ability to export your newly sized image into a different format.
Resizing.app couldn’t be easier to use. You simply drag and drop your images into the box on the home page. Then you select how you want to resize your image (by width, by height, custom size, by percentage, or by the largest side of the image). You can choose to compress your image for quality assurance and then just pick your new file format (jpg, png or webp). Once you hit the save button, your new image is saved to your computer. Voila’ all done. No frills but also no hassles.
Unfortunately, this online service does not have any additional photo editing capabilities to go along with resizing. But hey! It’s free, and we like free and simple.
If you resize your images and photos regularly, we highly recommend you to add the Resizing extension to your Google Chrome; it is also entirely free.
👆 Special Features:
- Resizing by width, by height, custom size, by percentage, and by the largest side of the image.
- Compress a photo
- Crop an image
- Convert an image to JPEG, PNG, WEBP
- Optimize a picture
✅ PROS:
- Free
- Easy to use
- Online
- Convert TIFF and HEIC files into JPEG, PNG or WEBP
- Has extention for Google Chrome
⛔️ CONS:
- Doesn’t have any additional photo editing capabilities
inPixio
Another app we tested looking for the best free photo editor was inPixio. In reviews, inPixio earns high marks for usability, features, support, speed, and pricing. It has some fantastic tools to fix perspective (straighten buildings), image correction, dehaze, and you can even edit metadata right within the app to add headlines, captions, and copyright details.
inPixio also offers a free tool to remove the background from an image. It works pretty well if the photo has a clear color distinction between what you want to remove and what you want to keep. inPixio is fun to use, although it may not rank as the best free photo editor on the block, it is worth checking out.
To purchase the full program, you will need to select either the inPixio Photo Studio 10 for $49.99 or inPixio Photo Studio Professional version for $59.99. The price is for the full software you can install and use on your Mac or Windows PC.
Looking for one for your Mac? Read our review of the best mac photo editor.
👆 Special Features:
- Eraser
- Correction Patch
- Cloning stamp
- Cutter
- Retouching and Correction
- Perspective correction
- Film grain module
✅ PROS:
- Tools for retouching photos, resizing, removing backgrounds, cropping, fixing sharpness, trimming, and adding filters.
- Share images within the app.
- Erase objects easily from photos.
- No ads.
- It doesn’t “push” you to upgrade.
- Special effects to enhance your images.
⛔️ CONS:
- The background removal tool doesn’t always yield perfect results.
- Some users complain that it does not work as advertised.
- Puts watermarks on images with the free version.
- Cannot batch edit.
- Works by installing multiple modules.
Fotor
For batch processing
Fotor is feature-heavy but still sports a clean, flat, simple design that’s sure to be inviting to newcomers.
In addition to all the basic online editing capabilities, Fotor offers vast functionality for special effects, face and body enhancement, frames, stickers, and text. You can put artistic touches on your images with the pro-level special effects like Lens Flare, Film Grain, Color Splash, and Tilt-Shift. And a handy Snapshot features lets you keep track of multiple edits.
The free version has plenty of choices to get you started, including the ability to create photo collages and template-based graphic design projects for promotions or social media. It also offers batch processing and the ability to save to the cloud. But if you’re feeling fancy, Fotor’s premium HDR module, which lets you use three bracketed photos to create an original HDR image, is worth the price of admission. The paid version also gives you access to the premium features sprinkled throughout all the modules, removes the ads and watermark, and offers more cloud storage and a larger canvas.
Fotor pricing: Free; premium subscriptions for $8.99/month or $39.99/year ($3.33/month)
PicMonkey
PicMonkey’s best feature is its ease-of-use compared to more advanced options on our list. It’s straightforward and the UI is friendly and intuitive (so much so that my eight-year-old can handle it in a few short moments), laid out logically and without clutter. Featuring a great collage maker that outshines most other simple photo editors, PicMonkey is accessible to everyone.
It also has all sorts of really useful templates that help speed up your workflow as well as facilitate the creation of headers and banners for blogs, websites, and marketing materials. While PicMonkey can only process one file at a time, it is still a great option for an online photo editor app.
As with several other entries on this list, PicMonkey has additional features hidden behind a paywall. You can still ride out a 7-day free trial to access the added functionality but are required to select a billing option to do so.
Best for: Web designers and bloggers.
Google Photos
A recent replacement for Picasa, Google Photos is extremely simple and intuitive and allows you to edit your photographs with very little fuss. You can easily browse your photo library and organize your work without headaches. It has a limited feature set for actual photo editing, but does provide the key functions you would expect (crop, redeye, auto contrast, color correction, etc.).
That isn’t to say it can’t do anything fancy—with Google Photos you’re able to make animations, photo booth-style photo arrangements, holiday-themed effects, interactive stories, and apply frames and filters to your photos.
Google Photos can be accessed via your Google account literally anywhere with internet. With one-click sharing options for Google+, Blogger, and YouTube, and integrated sharing with Facebook, Flickr, and other social networks, you’ve got a lot of flexibility at your fingertips.
Best for: Hobbyists.
Conclusion
With most of these free editors, you just have to upload your photo or pick one from the given sample photos. There are also features like magic background removal, color correction, pinhole remover, etc. to help you make your photographs look better than ever!