Nowadays, everyone is a photographer and wants to edit pictures on their own. Who doesn’t want to look good in photographs and there’s no harm in enhancing them. This is where the free photo editing apps come into the picture. Also, if you are into a business then it becomes more important to make your pictures attractive. You can hire someone for clicking and editing photos. However, if you know the best free photo editing programs then you can do it on your own as well. 

All this comes to the topic of choosing the best free photo editing apps. There are tons of free photo editing apps and software in the market. Often it becomes difficult and confusing to choose the best free photo editing app as per your requirement. Especially, if you’re creating images for social media content and email marketing, it’s crucial that image quality shouldn’t be affected by the free photo editing app. 

We will suggest you always opt for a free photo editing app that doesn’t deteriorate your image quality. Here, in this blog, we will provide you with in-depth information about the best 25 free photo editing apps. We are sure that by the end of this blog, you’ll be able to make the selection of a free photo editing app as per your requirement. 

What is photo editing software? 

Photo editing software enables you to make changes or edits to your photographs. These changes are usually made to enhance or manipulate the images. Before the photo editing software came into existence these changes were made manually. Earlier, photo editing software was capable of making alterations to images taken from a digital camera only. 

Now with the advancement of technology, the software has been updated. In the present time, you can make changes to pictures that are taken on a mobile or tablet. This is the reason you can use any of the free photo editing software. 

11 Free photo editing apps for Desktop 

In this section, we will tell you about the best free photo editing apps for desktop that you can use. You can download them for free and start editing your pictures.  

1. Adobe Photoshop Express 

If you love Adobe Photoshop, then this photoshop app free version, Photoshop Express is best for you. The best thing is that you can edit your webcam photos as well. This one of the free photo editing apps has many one-click features like red eye remover, cropping, and the ability to color-correct images. You can create fade and grain effects with just a few clicks. 

In between your editing, you can also check the original photo to see the difference in the edited one. The distinguishing factor of this tool is that it allows you to change the intensity of the image. You can easily alter the vibrance and saturation of the colors in your images.

2. PhotoScape 

The brush feature in PhotoScape allows you to create special effects. The other tools include a clone stamp tool, spot and red eye remover. Additionally, you can manipulate your picture frames by changing their lines & margins and even rounding them. 

3. Paint.Net 

Photoscape is a free photo editing app that provides easy & smooth navigation. There are many editing options like Viewer, Combine, Create GIF and Editor. The best thing is that you can also add your own text & objects or use the existing ones in the software. 

Paint.Net is among the best photo editing apps free that offer a lot of flexibility. You can even manipulate the program’s interface for your ease. It includes a number of tools like a paint brush, text creators, pencil tools, and clone stamps. You can make your pictures eye pleasing by using the different effects and layers available in this tool. 

The free basic version is compatible with TGA, DDS, BMP, and JPEGs. If you download the free plug-ins, you’ll get access to more tools. This also makes the software compatible with different types of photo files. 

4. PhotoDirector Essential 

If you want to edit your photos more professionally, then you can choose PhotoDirector Essential. The PhotoDirector Essential listed among the top free photo editing apps is best for social media marketing. The reason is the fact that it sorts out metadata. This tool uses artificial intelligence which gives it facial recognition capabilities. 

With PhotoDirector Essential you can also create photo slideshow videos along with the background music. This editing software consists of basic to most advanced editing features. There are features like layer filtering, converting 360-degree shots into a panoramic shots, and photo animation. 

5. GIMP 

GIMP is one of the most popular free photo editing apps for desktop. You can download its extensions that offer different file formats and additional editing options. Some of the extensions are created by the GIMP users as they know what other users would want. The software is compatible with GIF, JPEGs, TIFF, and PNG.

GIMP  is easy to use as you can work on the main canvas without brush panes and the toolbox. This way you can get access to all the editing tools with different features you need. Photoshop and GIMP are two well-known free picture editing apps that are often compared due to their similar capabilities. Also, any add-ons that are made for Photoshop are compatible with GIMP as well. 

6. Artweaver Free 

Are you looking for easy to use free picture editing app? If yes, then Artweaver Free is the best choice for you. This software is a good choice for uploading photos from a digital camera to use on your PC. It supports two image formats that are PSD and JPEG. 

Artweaver Free offers features that no other free photo editor software has. You can customize your color palette layouts, build layered photos, and save the edits you use often. The other best thing is that you can edit photos in full-screen mode. 

7. Movavi Picverse 

Movavi Picverse is among the best free picture editing apps that can help you remove unwanted elements from your pictures. You can manipulate multiple pictures together and take elements from one and put them in another. This software has one-click edit capabilities that enable you to add captions, titles, and different forms of text. 

This free photo editing app allows you to make changes to photos’ colors, and increase or decrease the saturation & color contrast. You can arrange and organize your pictures automatically with this software. 

8. inPixio Photo Editor 

inPixio Photo Editor is one of the top free photo editing apps for creating image content blocks. It has presets and frames that make it a good choice for someone who’s just beginning with editing. It offers various types of editing features like altering the picture’s saturation, color contrast, and cropping it. It supports different image formats such as TIFF, PNG, and JPG. You can also upload the edited images immediately on Twitter. 

9. Pixlr X 

Pixlr X is among the free photo editing apps that aren’t so popular. It has a user-friendly interface which makes it an ideal choice for beginners. This software is mostly used to make quick edits. You can use it to quickly make changes to the lighting and colors of the image. The basic editing tools like brushes and stamps make it easy to do touch-ups. 

10. Krita 

Krita is listed among the top free photo editing apps that are made for Linux, Windows, and Apple desktops. You get all the editing tools at the side of your image which makes it easy to carry out the editing process. You can also click the Tab button and make the image fill the screen. For beginners, it is an easy way to start editing photos. This software provides editing tools like filters, drawing brushes & tools, blending modes, drawing aids, symmetry & masking tools. 

11. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2020 

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2020 is one of the best free photo editing apps for Windows. It has an easy-to-use interface with advanced features. You can import images quickly and select as many as you want to edit. You can edit each image manually and make adjustments. This software comes with one-click features that enable you to do quick corrections. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer works well for landscapes compared to portraits. 

14 Free photo editing apps for editing images 

Now, we will give you a list of 14 free photo editing apps that you can use to edit your photos. We have given detailed information about these free photo editing apps to help you select the best one as per your need. 

1. Snapseed 

Snapseed is a popular free photo editing app created by Google. It can be used both on Androids and iPhones. You can easily edit photos in this app with just a few clicks and taps of your finger. There are many filters that you can choose and apply to your pictures. 

This app comes with many preset styles like a smooth finish, silhouette, and morning lighting. It includes various settings that you can use to transform your pictures like turning them black & white in different intensities. You can also add a grainy look to your photos if you want with this app. 

Snapseed app enables you to add frames and different styles of text to your images. It has many distinct editing tools like perspective, HDR, healing brush, structure, and sharpness. The only setback of this tool is that it only supports DNGs and JPGs. 

2. Adobe Lightroom CC 

Adobe Lightroom CC is one of the best free editing apps for phones. If you run an online business of selling products then this photo editor app free is an ideal choice. It comes with an in-built camera that enables you to control the shutter speed and focus points. It is compatible with RAW files which makes it easy to carry out edits. By using this app, you can get complete control of your image settings. You can also add watermarks of your brand to your images. 

3. PicsArt 

PicsArt is a photo editing app free that comes with tons of editing features. The app is easy to use and enables you to view multiple copies of images at once. It has many editing tools like crop, motion, stretch, clone, and dispersion. If you want to edit portrait photos then PicsArt is a good choice. It offers a variety of portrait editing tools like auto-fix, smooth brush, and face fix. You can also remove blemishes & red eyes and alter skin tone, eye color and whiten teeth. 

4. Lens Distortions 

Lens Distortions is among the picture editing apps free used by many professionals. It has many features that let you add filters and effects to your images like a flash, color filters, and light leak. You can play with numerous elements of pictures like blurriness, shine, and color contrast. 

If you are into outdoor photography then this free photo editing app can help you in many ways. It has overlays which make it easy to edit photos taken in bright sun, rain, fog, and snow. 

5. VSCO 

VSCO is the best free photo editor app that offers easy and trendy photo editing options. This tool offers a wide range of color filters for photos and videos. You can adjust the tone, exposure, and contrast of the images. You can make your photos look clearer, faded, or grainy with this free photo editing app. The excellent LUT filter support and split tone tool make it a good choice for color filtering for photos & videos. You can also save your edits to apply them to different images. 

6. Apple Photos 

Apple Photos is a free photo editing app for iOS users. It has got a live photos feature that lets you snap the pictures you want and adjust the exposure levels. It has also got many filters that you can apply to your images. With an iPhone Pro, you can manage the white balance of pictures and eliminate the shadows as well. There are various edit options that you can utilize to make changes to your pictures. 

7. Photolemur 3 

Photolemur 3 is one of the best photo apps free that can help you edit your photos effortlessly. This free photo editing app uses artificial intelligence to manipulate images as you want. The most advanced feature of this tool is face editing which allows you to change faces in photos. You can set this app to analyze each picture you upload. It can correct over-exposure and recover any photo elements that might be missing from the image.

8. Darktable 

Darktable is a free photo enhancer app that you can use for both simple and professional editing. This free photo editing app has similar tools to Lightroom. You can upload images to the program directly from the database. The best thing is that you can get the most out of your photos by using non-destructive tools.

This app consists of many powerful tools like lens and perspective corrections. It might be technical to some extent but you get plenty of features in this tool. Its similarity to Lightroom might make you forget that you aren’t using Lightroom. You can use Darktable in macOS, Linux, Solaris, macOS, and Windows operating systems. 

9. Photo Pos Pro

Photo Pos Pro is a photo editing software that can help you get professional editing results. It has a simple, smart, and user-friendly interface. You get many one-click filters and image-enhancing tools in this software. It has advanced editing tools like adjusting tone curves and levels, layer masks, gradients, and selection tools. This free Photoshop app is great for beginners as it has a quick start guide and distinct image-enhancing tutorials. Photos Pos Pro is available for Windows and Mac users.

10. BeFunky 

BeFunky is an online free photo editing app that can be used by beginners as well as professionals. You can see the editing effects on the photos in real-time. The undo and redo modifications allows you to see the image history. You get several editing tools like resizing, cropping, and adjusting tone, exposure & contrast. There are portrait touch-up tools, textures, and background remover. This app is a perfect tool for anyone who’s in digital marketing. You get access to free stock images and templates for creating posts, cards, and invitations. 

11. Inshot 

Inshot is among the best free photo editing apps for Android and iOS users. It is quite similar to Photoshop in terms of editing capabilities. This app uses artificial intelligence to offer editing options that you won’t get in other tools easily. There are various filters and edit options that you can use to enhance your images. You can manipulate the brightness, color contrast, saturation, hue, etc of a photograph. The app comes with a user-friendly interface which makes it good to use by beginners or new editors. 

12. Bonfire 

Bonfire is one of the top free photo editing apps for Android. This app comes with 110 filters from which you can choose the one you like for your picture. It has many advanced filters that can help you add a creative element to your photographs. For example, it has a filter that can make an original picture look like painted in watercolor. You can view the original and edited photo right next to each other. This can help you observe the changes before saving the image. 

13. Prisma 

Prisma is counted as the best free photo editing apps as it provides AI art effects. You can use it to transform your pictures into artwork with filters and effects. It has an easy-to-use interface that can be used by both beginners and experienced editors. The drawback of this tool is that you can’t view the before and after of the images. Also, it only supports square images. You can install this app for free and transform your photographs into creative artwork. 

14. Instasize 

Instasize is a free photo editor app that can help you post full-sized photos on Instagram without cropping. This app offers various filters that you can apply to your images to enhance them. You get many image adjustment options with add text, collages, and decorating frames. To get access to some of the most advanced features of this app you need to buy their subscription. This free photo editing app works well both for images and videos. 

The Bottom Line 

In this blog, we have listed the 25 best free photo editing apps that you can use to edit your images. These apps are a good option if you’re thinking of investing your money into Photoshop. You can create professional editing effects by using any of these free photo editing apps. Most of the apps given above are good for social media content creation. 

WebMaxy eGrowth is an all-in-one eCommerce customer management platform. It has a social media scheduling feature that can help you plan, manage, and schedule your different social media posts. You can analyze how your posts are performing and how much customer engagement they are getting. 

Not only this, WebMaxy eGrowth comes with a plethora of features like a KPI dashboard, conversion dashboard, audience segmentation, email marketing, WhatsApp campaigns, marketing automation, customer loyalty, help desk, and retargeting ads. 

Schedule a demo with our experts on call to learn more about WebMaxy eGrowth or email us at info@webmaxy.co.