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GIMP vs Photopea

Two free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, side by side.

Side by side

GIMP vs Photopea: facts
FactGIMPPhotopea
LicenseLicense: Open sourceGPL-3.0-or-laterLicense: Free tier
MaintenanceStatus: ActiveStatus: Verified
WindowsYesNo
macOSYesNo
LinuxYesNo
WebNoYes
Self-hostableNoNo
Works offlineYesYes
No account neededYesYes
Parity with Adobe Photoshop50%63%

License classes: Open source and Free tier. Status rules: Active means a commit in the last 90 days. See the methodology.

Feature parity with Adobe Photoshop

Feature parity with Adobe Photoshop
FeatureGIMPPhotopea
Editing
Layers, masks and blend modesYesYes
Adjustment layers and smart filtersPartialNote 1YesNote 2
Selection
Subject selection and edge refinementPartialNote 3PartialNote 4
Retouching
Healing, clone and content-aware fillPartialNote 5PartialNote 6
AI
Generative fill and expandNoNoNote 7
Design
Editable type and vector shapesPartialNote 8Yes
Photo
RAW development (Camera Raw)PartialNote 9PartialNote 10
Output
CMYK and print color managementPartialNote 11PartialNote 12
  1. GIMP, Adjustment layers and smart filters: Non-destructive filters since GIMP 3.0; no adjustment layers yet
  2. Photopea, Adjustment layers and smart filters: Adjustment layers, smart objects and smart filters
  3. GIMP, Subject selection and edge refinement: Foreground Select and paths; no AI subject selection
  4. Photopea, Subject selection and edge refinement: Quick Selection, Magic Wand and Refine Edge
  5. GIMP, Healing, clone and content-aware fill: Heal and Clone are built in; content-aware fill needs the Resynthesizer plug-in
  6. Photopea, Healing, clone and content-aware fill: Spot Healing, Healing Brush and Clone Stamp
  7. Photopea, Generative fill and expand: AI tools run on credits that come with Premium
  8. GIMP, Editable type and vector shapes: Text layers; no editable vector shape layers
  9. GIMP, RAW development (Camera Raw): Opens RAW files through darktable or RawTherapee
  10. Photopea, RAW development (Camera Raw): Opens DNG, CR3, NEF and other RAW files with basic adjustments
  11. GIMP, CMYK and print color management: Soft-proofing and CMYK export since 3.0; editing stays in RGB
  12. Photopea, CMYK and print color management: Limited CMYK and print color tools

All free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

File formats

GIMP vs Photopea: file formats
FormatGIMPPhotopea
.psdOpens and savesNote 1Partial fidelityOpens and savesNote 2Partial fidelity
.psbOpens and savesNote 3Partial fidelityNoNote 4
.tiffOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
.pngOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
.jpgOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
.webpOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
  1. GIMP, .psd: Layers, groups, masks and CMYK carry over; adjustment layers and smart objects do not
  2. Photopea, .psd: Keeps layers, adjustment layers, smart objects and styles; some newer Photoshop features are lost
  3. GIMP, .psb: PSB import since 3.0 and export since 3.2
  4. Photopea, .psb: PSB is not among the formats Photopea lists