Free and Open Source Software Powerful Alternatives to Paid Programs

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 17, 2024

Contributions sourced from

70+ Best Free Alternatives to Paid Software

Image Editing

Pixlr Fully functional alternative to Adobe Photoshop. (Web, Windows, Mac)GIMP Another Photoshop alternative. (Linux, Mac)Paint.net GIMP for Windows (Windows)Seashore Basic image editing with layers, textures, gradients and more. (Mac)ImageOptim Image utility that compresses your images for the web (Mac)RIOT Batch image compression for Windows (Windows)InkScape Professional vector graphics editor, replaces Adobe Illustrator (Windows, Mac, Linux)Pinta Another great Illustrator alternative. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Canva Makes design ridiculously easy with templates for infographics, banners, newsletters, and more. (Freemium, web, iPad)Pixlr-o-Matic An app with fun, quick and easy effects thatis a joy to use (Web, Windows, Mac, Chrome, iOS/Android)Photoscape Fun and easy photo editing software. (Windows, Mac)

Photography

Polarr Great alternative for Adobe Lightroom. (Web)Shotwell Photo manager with powerful organizational and RAW support features (Linux)Picasa Googles photo organizer and editor is actually great, if a little bloated (Everywhere)RawTherapee Complete solution for all your RAW needs. (Windows, Mac)FSpot Full-featured personal photo management system (Linux)FastStone Image viewer Fast, stable and user friendly image browser with basic editing featuresIrfanview Lightweight image viewer and editor with batch processing abilities.

Video

Playback & EntertainmentVLC The video editor everyone loves. Super fast, plays almost every video format, and has many other hidden features from video format compression to streaming podcasts. (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)Pluto TV Forget Netflix and cable, Pluto TV is your new best friend. With over a hundred channels from Cats 24/7 to Science to Baseball, Pluto TV combines the variety of web content with the leanback experience of TV. (Everywhere)(Disclosure: I currently work at Pluto TV)Miro Just like VLC and also open source, with a beautiful interface. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Kodi (formerly XBMC) Your personal home theater. (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

EditingOpenShot Fully featured video editor, alternative to Final Cut Pro/Premiere Pro. (Linux)Lightwork Professional grade video editor (Freemium, Windows, Mac, Linux)Miro Video convertor that converts almost any video formatBlender Powerful video and animation editor with exhaustive documentation.Handbrake Indispensable tool that can convert and compress any format (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Productivity

ProductivityToolsWunderlist The best task-management app ever, period. (Everywhere)Pocket Found an awesome article but dont have time to read it? Add it to Pocket with one click and read it later. (Everywhere)OneNote Microsofts free and powerful note manager (Windows/Mac/Android/IOS)Evernote A must have at this point, Evernote is your personal-everything manager. (Everywhere)Trello Project management software that will supercharge your productivity, (Web, iOS, Android, Win 8)Pomodoro One A free time management tool using the famous Pomodoro technique. (Mac)Howl Timer A time management tool with customizable time slots.Sunrise Calendar Beautifully designed with numerous integrations (including Google Calendar and Evernote). (Mac, iOS, Android)

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Office SoftwareGoogle Docs A complete alternative to Microsoft Office in the cloud. Say goodbye to crashes and lost unsaved documents. (Web)LibreOffice Downloadable alternative to MS Office and Google Docs (Windows, Mac, Linux)Atom.io Hackable text editor from our friends at Github. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Sublime Text The best text editor ever. (Freemium, Windows, Mac, Linux)Foxit PDF Reader Great alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro. Create, convert, and edit PDFs. (Windows, Linux)

Messaging

Slack Say goodbye to email. Slack is a one-stop solution to all your messaging needs in and out of the workplace.Adium Cross platform IM client.Pidgin The universal chat client. Works with everything from Google Talk to IRC.Telegram Alternative to WhatsApp. (Android, iOS, Windows Phone)Skype Free video and audio calling.Viber Just like Skype.KarmaBox A tiny utility that sites in your menubar and notifies you when you get new reddit mail. (Mac)

Music

fooBar My favorite personal music player ever. Dont be fooled by the not-too-pretty interace. foobar is the fastest, most lightweight and customizable music player available. (Windows)Spotify Ad-supported free music streaming. (Everywhere)Audacity Create, record, edit and remix music. Your personal home studio. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Pandora Like Spotify for radio.RdioRadio and on-demand streaming, available in more countries than Spotify and Pandora.

Utilities

Everything Search The fastest search for your computer, ever. Find anything in miliseconds. (Windows)Flux Protect your eyes by automatically adjusting your screens brightness according to the time of day. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Dashlane The best password manager ever made it is an even better alternative than its many paid counterparts. Nothing is stored in the cloud and everything is encrypted and the best part, its all cross-platform. (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)Ccleaner The best tool to clean your computer, manage startup programs, and so much more. An essential. (Windows, Mac, Android)BetterTouchTool This will change your life. Open apps, close tabs, dock windows, delete files all without lifting a finger from the touchpad. If you had to get only one app for the Mac, let it be this one. (Mac)TreeSize Scans your computer and visualizes exactly where and which apps are using up your disk space. (Windows)DaisyDisk Like TreeSize, except for Mac. (Mac)Alfred Search files and web, open apps and so much more. (Mac)7-Zip Zipping and unzipping software that is truly free no nagging trial periods.(Windows)The Unarchiver 7-Zip for Mac. (Mac)Calibre Complete e-book manager, convertor and reader. (Windows, Mac, Linux)App Cleaner Completely uninstall apps and their hidden files with one click. (Mac)Rocketdock Get a Mac OSX-like dock for your Windows computer. (Windows)Rainmeter Completely customize and transform your desktop with skins, weather forecast, app launchers, quotes, and more. (Windows)FileZilla The best FTP client. (Windows, Mac)Dropbox The essential filebackup solution. (Everywhere)Memory Clean Keep your RAM use under control with one click. (Mac)coconutBattery Track your Macbooks battery health. (Mac)Jing Capture screencasts or screenshots and share them instantly. (Windows, Mac)FastStone CaptureImage capture with a full-page (scrolling) screen capture feature. (Windows)

Image Editing

Pixlr Fully functional alternative to Adobe Photoshop. (Web, Windows, Mac)GIMP Another Photoshop alternative. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Paint.net GIMP for Windows (Windows)Seashore Basic image editing with layers, textures, gradients and more. (Mac)ImageOptim Image utility that compresses your images for the web (Mac)RIOT Batch image compression for Windows (Windows)InkScape Professional vector graphics editor, replaces Adobe Illustrator (Windows, Mac, Linux)Pinta Another great Illustrator alternative. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Canva Makes design ridiculously easy with templates for infographics, banners, newsletters, and more. (Freemium, web, iPad)Pixlr-o-Matic An app with fun, quick and easy effects thatis a joy to use (Web, Windows, Mac, Chrome, iOS/Android)Photoscape Fun and easy photo editing software. (Windows, Mac)

Photography

Playback & EntertainmentVLC The video editor everyone loves. Super fast, plays almost every video format, and has many other hidden features from video format compression to streaming podcasts. (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)Pluto TV Forget Netflix and cable, Pluto TV is your new best friend. With over a hundred channels from Cats 24/7 to Science to Baseball, Pluto TV combines the variety of web content with the leanback experience of TV. (Everywhere)Miro Just like VLC and also open source, with a beautiful interface. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Kodi (formerly XBMC) Your personal home theater. (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Productivity

Messaging

Slack Say goodbye to email. Slack is a one-stop solution to all your messaging needs in and out of the workplace. (Everywhere)Adium Cross platform IM client. (Everywhere)Pidgin The universal chat client. Works with everything from Google Talk to IRC. (Everywhere)Telegram Alternative to WhatsApp. (Android, iOS, Windows Phone)Skype Free video and audio calling. (Everywhere)Viber Just like Skype. (Everywhere)KarmaBox A tiny utility that sites in your menubar and notifies you when you get new reddit mail. (Mac)

Music

Utilities

Everything Search The fastest search for your computer, ever. Find anything in miliseconds. (Windows)Flux Protect your eyes by automatically adjusting your screens brightness according to the time of day. (Windows, Mac, Linux)Dashlane The best password manager ever made it is an even better alternative than its many paid counterparts. Nothing is stored in the cloud and everything is encrypted and the best part, its all cross-platform. (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)Ccleaner The best tool to clean your computer, manage startup programs, and so much more. An essential. (Windows, Mac)BetterTouchTool This will change your life. Open apps, close tabs, dock windows, delete files all without lifting a finger from the touchpad. If you had to get only one app for the Mac, let it be this one. (Mac)TreeSize Scans your computer and visualizes exactly where and which apps are using up your disk space. (Windows)DaisyDisk Like TreeSize, except for Mac. (Mac)Alfred Search files and web, open apps and so much more. (Mac)7-Zip Zipping and unzipping software that is truly free no nagging trial periods.(Windows)The Unarchiver 7-Zip for Mac. (Mac)Calibre Complete e-book manager, convertor and reader. (Windows, Mac, Linux)App Cleaner Completely uninstall apps and their hidden files with one click. (Mac)Rocketdock Get a Mac OSX-like dock for your Windows computer. (Windows)Rainmeter Completely customize and transform your desktop with skins, weather forecast, app launchers, quotes, and more. (Windows)FileZilla The best FTP client. (Windows, Mac)Dropbox The essential filebackup solution. (Everywhere)Memory Clean Keep your RAM use under control with one click. (Mac)coconutBattery Track your Macbooks battery health. (Mac)Jing Capture screencasts or screenshots and share them instantly. (Windows, Mac)FastStone CaptureImage capture with a full-page (scrolling) screen capture feature. (Windows)