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24 of the best free alternatives to the most popular paid software

Note that these are not all FOSS.

  • Photo Editing:

    • GIMP
    • Krita
    • Paint.NET

  • Video Editing:

    • DaVinci Resolve
    • CapCut
    • Shotcut

  • Audio Editing:

    • Audacity
    • Cakewalk
    • GarageBand

  • 3D Graphics:

    • Blender
    • Spline
    • Rumba

  • Office Software:

    • LibreOffice
    • Microsoft 365 Free Apps
    • WPS Office

  • Antivirus Software:

    • Windows Security
    • Avast Free Antivirus
    • Malwarebytes

  • Productivity Tools:

    • Bitwarden
    • VSCodium
    • PDF-XChange Editor
    • 7-Zip
    • OBS Studio
    • LanguageTool
asbestos ,
@asbestos@lemmy.world avatar

Avast? Bruh

NateNate60 ,

I always recommend Windows Defender and a good sense of Internet security to anyone who uses a computer.

If you're dumb, no antivirus can protect you. If you're reasonably intelligent, any antivirus will protect you.

airglow ,

Avast should not be recommended.

In late 2019, Avast browser extensions were found to collect user data, including browsing behavior and history, and send it to a remote server. The discovery led to the extensions of the Avast and AVG brands being temporarily removed from the Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera extension stores, however, they returned a short time later as there was no concrete evidence that demonstrated a breach of private data of the users.

In January 2020, a joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag found that the Avast Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free version were collecting user data, which was being resold to personalize advertising through a subsidiary, Jumpshot. The leaked documents showed that Jumpshot offered to provide its customers with "Every search. Every click. On every site." from more than 100 million compromised devices. In response, Avast announced on January 30, 2020, that it would immediately shut down Jumpshot and cease all operations due to the backlash of its users' data privacy.

On the basis of the information revealed, on 11 February 2020 the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection announced that it had initiated a preliminary investigation.

In February 2024, the Federal Trade Commission fined Avast $16.5 million for collecting user data and reselling that data. The collection was done under their program to ensure that such collection of user data was not happening.

lepinkainen ,

Blender is hardly an alternative, it’s the clear #1

neme ,
@neme@lemm.ee avatar

Avast is virus itself

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Yeah, just use the one built-in to Windows, or don't use Windows.

jeena ,
@jeena@jemmy.jeena.net avatar

I'd like to add KdenLive to the Video Editing point.

jabathekek ,
@jabathekek@sopuli.xyz avatar

I successfully edited a video with it having never done so before, which I think speaks to how well it's designed. There's definitely a tiny learning curve, but it's a kiddy coaster.

xenspidey ,

KDEnlive is way easier then divinci

theonyltruemupf ,

I love KdenLive!

auzas_1337 ,
@auzas_1337@lemmy.zip avatar

How’s the performance, size and features compared to Premiere?

I find Premiere to be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes and pretty slow, but I didn’t like Davinci + I’m paying for Adobe anyway.

net00 ,

I recommend Okular for PDF reading. No ads, no upsells, no BS. It also has native dark mode

Telodzrum ,

Gwenview has always worked well for me.

PenisWenisGenius ,

I like Atril too. It has easier and more fluid zoom in/out capabilities than Okular but Okular has a dark mode. I keep both installed because they're both really good.

ThePowerOfGeek ,
@ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world avatar

I only discovered Krita recently, but holy shit does it fill the Photoshop void very well. The UI isn't the same as PS, obviously. But I find it much easier to navigate than Gimp's UI. And Krita is surprisingly feature-rich.

variants ,

I've just found out about kitra right now but from the site it says it's mostly focused are drawing and stuff like that so would photo editing be netter with something like rawtherapee?

KISSmyOSFeddit ,

If you're working with RAW files, neither Gimp nor Krita are the tool for you.
I use Darktable to adjust global things like brightness, contrast, white balance and so on, then export to Krita or Gimp for more granular local modifications.

altima_neo , (edited )
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

Yeah it's definitely more of a souped up Paint app than photo editor.

altima_neo , (edited )
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

If you don't mind paid, Affinity is pretty nice too.

tobbue ,

Desperately needs Linux support though.

AnActOfCreation OP ,
@AnActOfCreation@programming.dev avatar

Didn't they recently get bought by Canva? Not saying that's a good or bad thing, but it's something to keep in mind.

altima_neo ,
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

Yeah but it's also a one time purchase

Plopp ,

...for now.

Adderbox76 ,

I like Krita. But to be honest, after years and years of using GIMP, I ironically have nothing but trouble trying to rewire my brain to do things any other way. The same problem that many people have when moving from Photoshop to GIMP.

Also, i fundamentally need DDS files, which Krita (AFAIK) doesn't handle.

morriscox ,

Maybe https://krita-artists.org/t/python-plugin-dds-support-windows-only/73488

Adderbox76 ,

Windows only sadly. I'm on Linux

Churbleyimyam ,

You should totally get on some PS forums and start bitching about its UI being 'backward and unusable' compared to GIMP :)

nerdschleife ,
@nerdschleife@lemm.ee avatar

*Tenacity, not Audacity

capt_wolf ,
@capt_wolf@lemmy.world avatar

Gonna share this, because I had no idea... I think the last time I updated Audacity was, like, 10 years ago...
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/7dca550e-1910-4533-94fe-8676b33246a5.png

Here's Tenacity, which I'll be checking out shortly...

wagesj45 ,
@wagesj45@kbin.run avatar

Doesn't that apply to every project hosted in America, too, though? Every project is subject to the jurisdiction in which it is hosted. And I know they're not the only project that accepts error reports and in-app updates. Unless there is more telemetry involved or tracking of out-of-app activity, I'm not seeing cause for alarm here. Though I'm open to evidence that there is.

capt_wolf , (edited )
@capt_wolf@lemmy.world avatar

From what I've seen on their site since is that they're saying they are now GDPR compliant. And I suppose, since they are still open source, that anyone finding anything seriously malicious would have pointed it out by now. Maybe just a bit of bad press and people jumping to conclusions because "Russia bad."

I do still plan to check out Tenacity though and see if it's a better project.

Vorticity ,

As someone who contributes to FOSS projects, I think you put too much trust in the ability of the community to police such things. There simply aren't enough people reviewing project code to ensure it's safety and compliance if a maintainer or team decide to follow bad local laws or act explicitly in a malicious way. Some things get caught but I'm sure there are things thst slip through.

PM_Your_Nudes_Please ,

Yeah, it’s actually a major issue with FOSS in general. It’s essentially the bystander effect in code review; When everybody is reviewing the code, nobody is.

jabjoe ,
@jabjoe@feddit.uk avatar

Some of us use FOSS because of access to the source and the benefits of an all FOSS system. Not because it's zero cost. This list is just zero cost and some happen to be FOSS.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

Gratis rather than libre.

PM_Your_Nudes_Please ,

They aren’t even free. CapCut, for instance, requires a subscription to access most of the features.

lud ,

Some of us like free stuff though and the post never said that it was supposed to be a list of FOSS projects.

jabjoe ,
@jabjoe@feddit.uk avatar

I guess this is Technology not Linux or FOSS, but feels like the difference is often mixed up and it's not all about cost. Anyway, looks like there is now a added note they aren't all FOSS.

lud ,

looks like there is now a added note they aren't all FOSS.

The post hasn't been edited.

jabjoe ,
@jabjoe@feddit.uk avatar

Well then I missed that the first time.

I'd have put in bracket with each list item if it was FOSS, shareware, free trial, free for non corp use, etc.

lud ,

Yeah that would have been nice but it would be time consuming for the poster.

jabjoe ,
@jabjoe@feddit.uk avatar

Yeh

Voroxpete ,

Throw in KDEnlive for video editors.

Freuks ,
@Freuks@lemmy.ml avatar

+1

chraebsli ,
@chraebsli@programming.dev avatar

you forgot linux as an alternative to windows and mac;)

kennebel ,

2D/3D Simulation/Game creation
Godot :)

Lombaxter_Stockman ,

Although not technically free, I would add Reaper to the list for audio editing. It gives you a pop-up asking if you want to buy the program, but it's not required. I know people who have been using it for years without actually purchasing it. (I have since purchased a license because I use it professionally). No features are locked behind the paid license.

mal3oon ,

Reminder than Tenacity is an open-source fork of Audacity.

Churbleyimyam ,

Audacity isn't open source? I thought I installed it from the Debian free repo...

zarenki ,

It is open source, but had some controversy. Most prominently the addition of telemetry a few years ago, which was never included in the builds managed by Debian or most other distro maintainers. They also added a Contributor License Agreement which lets the Audacity project change its own license (even to a non-foss one, though they promise they won't) without needing to have the change approved by any individual developers.

Kess8a ,
@Kess8a@lemy.lol avatar

Just to know, how do you disable telemetry, if it isn't off by default?

zarenki ,

I'm not completely sure but I think they removed it at some point after the public backlash (which was 3 years ago now). For the Windows version at least, there apparently used to be an option during the installation wizard for setting whether telemetry is enabled or not. Most Linux distros never had the telemetry at all. I don't know about Mac.

Churbleyimyam ,

Ah, monkey business...

quissberry ,

Audacity is open source, but they had a few controversies recently.

BigPotato ,

Take CapCut off because it's more like TikTok editing than video editing.

Divinci has a learning curve but any curve is better than learning solely on a ByteDance owned product.

mojofrododojo ,

also, davinci is industry standard and highly respected

Joelk111 ,

These are alternatives? This is essentially a list of software that I use.

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