Alternatives to Photoshop? (for laptop/desktop)

allevolz

Hi Everyone,
Is there a cheaper alternative to Photoshop that you would recommend? The device is a PC laptop, so Procreate isn't an option since I think that only works on tablets. Thanks!

jdubz

@allevolz for photo manipulation, Affinity Photo would probably be the best program that is completely cross platform (Mac, Win, iPad, etc). For painting, I think your best bet for cross platform similarity is probably going to be Clip Studio.

NicolaSchofield

@jdubz Affinity Photo is good for painting too. It's basically the same as Photoshop.

danielerossi

@allevolz Try Photopea.com. It’s an online Photoshop copy that is free to use (due to ads they display).

jdubz

@nicolaschofield I think it has the potential, but I don't think the brush engine has matured enough. Every few updates I'll give it a try and the sense I get every time is "Getting closer!"

CosmoglotJay

Yeah, I've been using Affinity Photo for quite a while now. I also have the Adobe suite, but only because one of my main clients (graphic design) is a large institution that has focused its efforts around Adobe formats. For all my other freelance work, where the client has no preference, I use Affinity products. And you're looking at such a huge price difference over time that the slight limitations of Affinity's brush engines that are mentioned by Josh might be worth overcoming on your own. (When I started digital painting, I did it in Affinity Photo as a way to teach myself that program as I moved over from Adobe.)

NicolaSchofield

@cosmoglotjay yeah, I've used Photoshop for photo based stuff - pimping up architectural renderings, that sort of thing. But I learned digital painting in Procreate and Affinity Photo and I haven't felt like I've been missing out. Perhaps someone who learned to paint in Photoshop first might feel the difference.

Price difference is huge and a subscription based system just didn't make sense for the ad-hoc freelance stuff I was doing. In the last couple of years I've had more clients that also use Affinity which has been really great!