Open Source Software Alternatives for Professionals Finding Free and Powerful Alternatives to Paid Programs for Specific Needs

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 17, 2024

Contributions sourced from

MakeUseOf

Don't waste money on software for personal use! Not only do free alternatives exist, they most likely offer all the features you need and may be easier and safer to use.

Every single day, you are using a diverse mix of software and you may have come to believe that you need a commercial product for one of your tasks. Did you know that -- for personal use -- high quality, free, and open source alternatives are available in virtually any software category? Sounds good, doesn't it? I've highlighted 14 different applications that are either free or open source and can keep your wallet from going on an unwanted diet.

Why Open Source?

What exactly is free and open source software? While the concept of free software is easy to understand in a financial sense of the word, software can also be free in the sense of freedom. Open source software is well known to give you freedom while using the program. An open source program is defined as an application whose code is readily available for anyone who wants it. This gives people the freedom to use it, to share it, to modify it for their own needs, and to study it. This also makes programs arguably more secure because, since anyone can study the code, people can report issues they find so that the developers can fix them rather than have those issues go undiscovered.

$69.99+/year for 3 PCs vs. FREE

The most common misconception about antivirus software is that you have to buy one for it to be any good. There are a lot of options for paid antivirus programs, but a lot of people will end up going for solutions like Symantec/Norton or Kaspersky. Reasons for using these include:

Guaranteed support (and often cheaper upgrades for next year's version)
Includes other services, such as malicious website detectors, secure password generators, and other "Internet security" tools

While antivirus software is important to have, I don't think you need to pay for it. Instead, you can grab the free version of Avast! or AVG and practice some common sense while browsing the Internet. Reasons for using the free version include:

Get the same level of virus protection as the paid product
Speed up your system with a leaner antivirus program
You can easily follow common safe Internet browsing practices to replace the "Internet security" features

For more great free antivirus applications, check out this list of the 10 best free antivirus programs.

Free (Proprietary) vs. FREE and Mostly Open Source

The browser is arguably the most important piece of software on your computer, as most computer users use the Internet today -- a lot. Everything online is done in your browser, so it's important to make sure it works well and provides the features you need and want. The "paid" software in this category is Internet Explorer. Reasons for using it include:

Good system integration with Windows (example: Internet Options can be found in the Control Panel)
Legacy web applications and older websites may still require its compatibility mode.

Instead of Internet Explorer, I recommend that you try using Google Chrome. It's based off of the open source Chromium project, but it isn't an entirely open source application because it includes a few extras from Google on top of Chromium. It is completely free, and there are many reasons to use it:

Strong standards support for modern websites
Allows synchronization of personal data by logging into your Google account
Very speedy thanks to components such as its V8 Javascript engine
Uses a secure model to proactively reduce the amount of potential attacks on your system
Offers a vast extension library full of popular names

Besides Chrome, I can also recommend Firefox. It offers many of the same features as Google Chrome (with slight adjustments or substitutes, such as Mozilla-based synchronization feature and a different security model) and is a viable replacement for both browsers. Unlike Google Chrome, Firefox is completely free and open source, no questions asked.

$109.99+ vs. FREE

Traditionally speaking, people have resorted to an email client to manage all of their email accounts. The preferred email client has always been Outlook, which costs $109.99 by itself or $219.99+ when bought with a version of Office which includes Outlook. Reasons for using it include:

It can connect to any email account, including Exchange accounts
Sync's perfectly with Exchange-based calendar, tasks, memo, and more
Very customizable and offers extensive security settings
Because of the above three points, it is very good for enterprise environments

If you don't need enterprise-level features (which are confusing and don't translate into an enjoyable email experience anyway), then use something meant for you, the regular user/consumer. For non-enterprise environments, I recommend using Gmail. Reasons for choosing to use it include:

Powerful filters
Sorts email based on algorithmically-computed importance
Email is accessible on any computer with a browser and internet connection, so no more downloading emails or synchronizing them
Easy to connect to your Gmail account on mobile devices

Gmail really is a joy to use, but if you'd still prefer an email client, I'd recommend Thunderbird. It's completely free and open source, and offers most of the same features as Outlook (minus the Exchange support, primarily). In fact, Ryan recommends five extensions for Thunderbird that could make it better than Gmail.

$139+ vs. FREE and Open Source

Virtually everyone needs to install an office suite in order to access documents, presentations, and spreadsheets sent to you by friends, classmates, colleagues, and others. If you're looking for a paid product in this category, the only way to go is Microsoft Office. The reasons for using it are:

Contains the most features, such as highly capable macros and advanced spelling and grammar checker
Often comes pre-installed on your system
The standard formats used worldwide are Microsoft Office formats; they offer guaranteed compatibility

If you're not so keen on spending that much money on an office suite (or $99.99/year or $9.99/month for the new Office 365 subscription service), the best alternative would be LibreOffice. Reasons for using it include:

Includes basic and mid-level features (the more advanced it gets, the more likely it's not supported or not compatible with Office)
Familiar interface which looks more like Office 2003 (before the Ribbon was introduced)
Compatibility is decent, even on the newer .docx, .pptx, .xlsx formats.

Of course, the big issue with LibreOffice is that it isn't perfectly compatible with Microsoft Office -- nor will it ever be. Three other options include WPS Office, Google Drive, and SkyDrive. WPS Office is a separate office application suite which emulates the Ribbon interface, but it's compatibility is subpar and doesn't even cover the newer formats. Google Drive and SkyDrive don't offer much past the basic features, but at least you have all of your work online so it won't get lost and you can work on any computer with a browser. At least with SkyDrive, you'll have better document compatibility.

You can also check out even more alternatives to Microsoft Office.

If compatibility is absolutely crucial for all possible features, then you'll have to stick with Microsoft Office.

$19.99+/month vs. FREE and Open Source

I highly doubt that anyone hasn't heard of Photoshop yet, and there are many reasons why this is the case. It's an excellent tool, and Adobe definitely asks for a good chunk of your money to use it. Despite its expensive price, some reasons for using it include:

Simplified workflows
Innovative features such as content-aware resizing
De facto tool used by the professionals

Despite the many things that Photoshop has going for it, you can use GIMP to virtually replace Photoshop (especially if you don't have professional-level needs). Reasons for using GIMP include:

Provides virtually all of the same features
Features not included can be accounted for via plugins
Decent compatibility with PSD files
Cross platform

As mentioned above, in order to make up for some of the shortcomings of GIMP, you can install certain plugins that can provide some additional functionality such as RAW image processing or content-aware resizing. It's not a perfect replacement, but it is capable of doing a whole lot. There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts, and tutorials on how to cartoonify your photos, swap faces, create speech bubbles, and more. I'd recommend GIMP for everyone except professionals that really need to use every advanced feature on Photoshop.

Besides GIMP, there is also Paint.NET, a free application that provides similar functionality. Although it's an excellent application, Photoshop and GIMP tend to be preferred over Paint.NET.

$19.99+/month vs. FREE and Open Source

While this isn't quite something that everyday people might dive into, vector graphics editing is still interesting to mess around with (with the right tutorials, of course). For those who don't know, vector graphics are similar to regular graphics created in Photoshop and similar applications, but these use vectors instead of pixels so they are much more scalable without sacrificing quality at any resolution level. The preferred paid application for this category would be Adobe Illustrator, and here are some reasons why you would use it:

Offers advanced features such as:
Edit SVG source directly
Clones, tiled clones, edit clones on canvas
Keys to move/rotate/scale by screen pixels
Shapes as objects
Edit gradients with handles on-canvas
Edit nodes with keyboard
One-click paint bucket fill
Color painting over objects
As an Adobe product, Illustrator is seen as the professional standard. If you are interested in going into this field, having Illustrator is a must (as well as CorelDraw).

If spending $20 every month just for Illustrator is too much on your wallet, you can take a look at Inkscape instead. Besides being free and open source, here are a few reasons why you would use it:

Provides most SVG features besides the Illustrator-specific ones listed above
Cross platform, so you can share your work with any other person -- they can install Inkscape!

Noticing two Adobe products on here? You can also continue replacing the rest of the Adobe creative suite.

$29.95 vs. FREE and Open Source

Finally, we look at media playback. If the default Windows Media Player just isn't cutting it for you, some popular paid media players such as Splash Pro EX Player may be on your wishlist. Reasons for using it include:

Plays back most audio and video formats
You can export media to different formats
Uses acceleration technologies such as NVIDIA CUDA and Intel QuickSync
As a paid product, you get customer support if there are any issues

Despite this feature list, I really recommend that you go with VLC Media Player. This free and open source media player offers more than enough reasons for you to use it:

Plays virtually any format imaginable
Offers hardware acceleration which should be enough to play 1080p videos or even 4K videos
Lightweight and cross platform

Although VLC doesn't provide export functionality, I wouldn't necessarily think that a media player should be able to do that. In case you do want that feature, you can also use Handbrake for video transcoding. It allows you to move between practically any format, so it'll get the job done for sure.

Conclusion

There are plenty of other open source alternatives for various paid applications, but these are the main ones which most people can and will want to use. Additionally, there are other open source applications that could apply for the categories mentioned above, but I've chosen to exclude them because they're simply not among the top choices.

For more great applications, check out our Best Windows Software page!

What open source applications do you use in place of paid software? Would you consider replacing the entire operating system itself? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Joybot

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)