The 14 best photo editor apps

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Photoshop is the world's go-to photo editor – so much so that the word has become verbified, like 'Hoover' or 'Google'. This might give the impression that Adobe's photo editor is the undisputed champion, but that all depends on what you use it for – for your purposes it may be a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

There are a wide range of capable alternatives to Photoshop, some of them paid-for and some free (go to page 2 for the free apps), but this list of the best photo editors wouldn't be complete without the ubiquitous Adobe application as well.

• The best laptops for photo editing

Promoted: Adobe Lightroom CC

• Platform: Windows/Mac
• $9.99/£9.98 (per month)

Adobe Lightroom allows you to keep all your photography in one place, and organise, edit and share it from anywhere. Many creatives opt to use Lightroom as it can tackle the complex image management jobs Photoshop is not designed for, making light work of day-to-day enhancements and raw files.

With Lightroom you can store images on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Android device and even transfer photos automatically from your phone into Lightroom as you shoot them. Syncing takes care of itself, so when you make an edit or flag a favourite in one place, it’s automatically updated everywhere else.

Read our Adobe Creative Cloud 2017 review

01. Affinity Photo

Affinity has quickly become the go-to Photoshop alternative

• Platform: Mac, Windows, iPad
• $49.99/£48.99

We will never waver in our love for Serif's Affinity Photo, especially as it's available for Windows PCs and iPad as well as macOS, making it the subscription-free Photoshop alternative that everyone can enjoy.

The latest version boasts plenty of amazing features, including full HDR merge support, 360-degree image editing, recordable macros and batch processing, plus a tone mapping workspace that enables you to turn any image – whether it’s a standard JPG or an HDR photo – into a dramatic scene, bringing out details you never realised were there.

Read our Affinity Photo brings professional photo editing to iPad story

02. PaintShop Pro

Shout out to everyone who used Paint Shop Pro on Windows 3.1

• Platform: PC
• $79.99/£69.99

PaintShop Pro has been the budget Photoshop alternative of choice on PC for over 20 years, and it's still holding its own. The new 2018 version promises to be easiest, faster and more creative than ever. It features ready-made project templates, a built-in screenshot function with a smart capture mode that lets you grab part of the screen, a gradient fill option and improved support for graphics tablets and styluses.

On top of the standard version, you can pay a little extra for PaintShop Pro 2018 Ultimate, which adds professional-grade raw editing, automatic photo corrections and screen recordings to the mix.

Read our PaintShop Pro X9 review

03. Photoshop CC

It's Photoshop. What you gonna do, eh?

• Platform: Windows/Mac
• From $19.99/£19.97 (per month)

Photoshop CC is head-bangingly brilliant, and has too many features to summarise in this small space – but you can read more in our Photoshop CC 2017 review and explore its capabilities further in our Top Photoshop tutorials article.

There's no doubt that the latest Photoshop is a hugely impressive photo editing application; probably the best out there. But it comes at a monthly cost.

04. Acorn

Acorn includes non-destructive filters

• Platform: Mac
• $29.99/£28.99

Image editing software Acorn debuted back in 2007 and has provided hobbyists and artists on a budget with a great, affordable piece of photo editing software. Features include layer styles, non-destructive filters, curves and levels, blending modes and much more.

Acorn 6 features non-destructive filters, which includes a great interface to chain filters together to create unique effects. You can even save and modify your filters after you've closed and re-opened your Acorn image.

05. Photoshop Elements

Somewhere inbetween Photoshop and Touch, Elements is a powerful standalone app

• Platform: Linux/Windows/Mac
• $79.99/£86.56

This is the basic alternative to Photoshop CC, as reflected in its great Quick and Guided Edit modes, but don't think that means it lacks power under the hood. Also, unlike Photoshop CC, Elements doesn't require a subscription.

It's now on the 2018 version, with better organisational tools, intelligent editing tools such as the ability to open closed eyes, options to print your images and features to make it easier to share images via social media.

Read our Photoshop Elements review

06. DxO OpticsPro

DxO is limited in its scope but what it does, it does very well

• Platform: Windows/Mac
• $109/£99 for Essential version
• $167/£159 for Elite version

Things get a bit specific with Optics Pro 11, but what it does, it does very well. Its results are spectacular, but it's a specialised and sometimes complex tool to use. It's arguably the best raw converter of all, but that's just about all it does.

DxO Optics Pro automatically compensates for the different degrees of distortion, chromatic aberration, edge softness and vignetting common to practically all digital camera lenses.

It's also a raw converter, and DxO has applied just as much scientific rigour to this process as its lens corrections. You can browse the images on your computer, folder by folder, then select an image and choose from the default conversion/correction setting or a range of presets

The results are excellent. However, it would never be your one and only image-editing tool.

07. Camera+

Camera+ is adored by iPad users and has subsequently arrived on iPhone - hooray!

• Platform: iOS
• $2.99/£2.99 for iPhone
• $4.99/£4.99 for iPad

The Camera app that comes on the iPhone by default is not brilliant: yes, you can use it to take some decent shots, but it doesn't offer you much creative control.

This is where Camera+ excels. The app has two parts: a camera and a photo editor, and it truly excels at the latter, with a huge range of advanced features. Camera+ doesn't just limit you to editing new pics – you can quickly import your existing photos into the Lightbox where you can breathe new life into them.

08. Pixelmator

Workflow is often much quicker using Mac tool Pixelmator

• Platform: Mac
• $29.99/£28.99

Pixelmator uses Mac OS X libraries to create fast, powerful image editing tools, which allows the software to integrate seamlessly with the likes of iPhoto and Aperture, as well as iCloud. There are also built-in export tools for Facebook and Flickr.

Colour correction tools such as Hue/Saturation, Shadows/Highlights and Contrast are all present and correct, and Pixelmator supports filters and comes with a collection of 150 to play with. You can also open and save images in many of the popular formats, including PSD, TIFF, PDF and PNG.

When saving or opening Photoshop documents, layers are preserved allowing you to collaborate effectively with colleagues using Adobe's software.

09. Handy Photo

Handy Photo is all about the interface and photo editor tools

• Platform: iOS/Android
• $2.99/£2.99 for iOS
• $2.85/£2.89 for Android

The selling point of photo editor Handy Photo is its interface, which uses the corners of the screen to cater for rotating menu options. It's all designed to keep the central area of the screen clear, allowing you to use swipe gestures to tone your effects up or down.

It's a powerful photo editor; the UI isn't for everyone, but this is an amazing price for the effects you get. The 'Move Me' tool enables you to clip out objects and move, resize or flip them.

Next page: Free photo editors

10. Pixlr

Pixlr's mobile photo editing software comes with more than 600 effects

• Platform: iOS, Android
• Price: Free

Pixlr claims to be "the most popular online photo editor in the world", which may have something to do with the fact that it's free. But it also boasts more than 600 effects, overlays, and borders and lets you do all the main things you'd expect from a photo editor, from cropping and re-sizing to removing red-eye and whitening teeth.

And if you're used to using Photoshop you'll find Pixlr's user interface easy to pick up quickly, as it's very similar.

11. GIMP

GIMP is a popular open-source photo editing software

• Platform: Linux/Windows/Mac
• Price: Free

An open-source photo editor that debuted on Unix-based platforms, GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Today it's available in versions for Linux, Windows and Mac. GIMP offers a wide toolset – everything you're accustomed to is within easy reach, including painting tools, colour correction, cloning, selection, and enhancement.

The team that oversees development has worked hard to ensure compatibility too, so you'll be able to work with all the popular file formats without any trouble at all. You'll also find a very capable file manager built in, along similar lines to Adobe's Bridge.

12. Paint.net

For photo editing, free Windows tool Paint.net is an excellent option

• Platform: Windows
• Price: Free

Paint.net is a surprisingly capable and useful tool, available completely free of charge. The focus is on ease of use, and there's a definite tendency towards photo editing rather than artistic creation.

That said, there are a range of special effects available, allowing you to easily create fake perspective, blend and push pixels around the canvas, tile and repeat selections, and so on.

A good range of selection tools, support for layers, and adjustments such as curves and brightness/contrast mean that Paint.net is a great alternative to Photoshop for photo editing, especially if you can do without some of the more recent additions to Photoshop's toolset.

13. Sumo Paint

Sumo Paint works in the browser, and requires Adobe Flash to use

• Platform: Web browser (requires Adobe Flash Player)
• Price: Free for basic online version

Sumo Paint is a highly capable browser-based image editor. All the standard features you'd expect from a desktop tool are present and correct and by buying the Pro version for $19 you can install a desktop version of the app if you prefer. You need the Adobe Flash Player to use this tool, so you're not going be using Sumo Paint on your iPad.

The standard range of tools and adjustments you'd expect are all included. Brushes, pencils, shapes, text, cloning, gradients and so on are all quickly accessed from the Photoshop-esque floating toolbar. It can also open saved documents from your hard drive, making Sumo Paint a perfectly viable option for editing and reediting.

There are, however, limitations that will put off some users. The most important of these is that the editor appears to be RGB only, limiting its use to screen-destined artwork only. No CMYK, Lab or other colour models to be found here.

14. Photo Editor by Aviary

Aviary strikes a balance between serious photo editor and playful app

• Platform: Web browser/iOS/Android
• Price: Free

Aviary is a pleasantly designed app that strikes the perfect balance between serious photo editing (with blemish removal, tooth whitening, resizing and adjustments) and playful photo-decoration functions (such as stickers, coloured overlays and the ability to add mem-style text) without looking bland or childish.

Related articles:

• Top Photoshop tutorials
• The 5 best laptops for photo editing
• 15 inspiring photographers to follow on Instagram

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