Advertising disclosure: Empire Reviews is reader-supported. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This never affects our rankings. The honest best product is always shown first, even when it earns us nothing. Full disclosure & FTC policy.
Check current priceWe do not currently hold an affiliate link for this product. It is reviewed and ranked purely on merit.
Reviewed by The Empire Reviews Editorial Team — Product testing & research.
We are a small in-house team that buys, uses and stress-tests every product before it is ranked. We have no sponsored placements: brands cannot pay for a higher position. When a cheaper or unaffiliated product is genuinely better, we say so and rank it first. How we test →
Updated June 2026
GIMP: The Best Free Photoshop Alternative
GIMP is a free, open-source raster image editor. Honest look at what it does well and where it still trails Photoshop.
What it is
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a mature, free, open-source image editor for photo retouching, compositing and graphic design, available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
It has a steeper learning curve than Photoshop and weaker CMYK/print support, but for most photo and web work it is fully capable -- at zero cost and with no subscription.
What you get for free
100% free and open-source. No subscription, ever.
Who it is for
Hobbyists, students and anyone unwilling to pay a monthly Adobe fee.
Our take
Not as polished as Photoshop, but it costs nothing and it is genuinely good. We recommend it first for anyone price-sensitive.
Check current priceWe do not currently hold an affiliate link for this product. It is reviewed and ranked purely on merit.
Reviewed by The Empire Reviews Editorial Team — Product testing & research.
We are a small in-house team that buys, uses and stress-tests every product before it is ranked. We have no sponsored placements: brands cannot pay for a higher position. When a cheaper or unaffiliated product is genuinely better, we say so and rank it first. How we test →