It might meet your needs but isn’t the polished hero that Photoshop is.Adobe’s Photoshop Elements has plenty of rivals that are less expensive, but it’s been the leader in this category for many years because it manages to combine powerful editing tools with easy-to-use ‘guided edits’ that can help even beginners create impressive results. If you’re looking for a free all-around option, try GIMP. If you think that your needs might allow more flexibility, check out Krita or Corel Painter, which are both less resource-intensive, have a shorter learning curve, and offer more specific features than Photoshop. Users should bear in mind, however, that not everyone needs an all-around app or powerful photo editor. In terms of an all-round image editing app or photo editor, no: Photoshop is the best. This version of Photoshop runs on Mac, version 10.12 or later (Sierra). It will be easier on your brain and your computer.

If you’re not an enthusiastic photo editor or you typically use a smaller number of editing tools, the fact that Photoshop takes so much practice and is so intensive on your computer’s resources (older and less powerful Macs will have a hard time keeping up), it might be more practical to look towards another app that isn’t quite so focussed on all-round greatness. Luckily, people have been having a similar problem for decades, so modern users will be able to take advantage of the huge quantity of user-generated and official support documents, videos, and tutorials that have grown over the years.īear in mind, however, that Photoshop has been updated many times in this period and older material might be difficult to relate to if you’re using a recent version of the app. It typically takes users dozens of hours to learn how to use Photoshop and even longer to learn how to use it well. Now, harnessing these powerful features isn't an easy task.

If you are specifically looking to edit photos or you regularly need to carry out a wide variety of assorted edits to images, Photoshop offers exactly the features, power, and control you’ll need. It’s never been considered accessible and other apps have sought to take advantage of this by launching competing software offering specific Photoshop features (and the occasional app trying to recreate all of Photoshop’s features.Īs a result, for many people, the question is: do I opt for Photoshop or do I save effort and money by trying out one of the many alternatives? One thing that is undeniable: Photoshop is the photo editing and all-round image editing app par excellence. It’s paid off, as few people would deny that Photoshop is the app of reference when it comes to image editing. Hands-down the best all-round image editing appĪdobe Photoshop is a powerhouse of an app and has had many years on the market to refine and improve its features.

Macbook free photo editor