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Alternative to Adobe Photoshop: GIMP
GIMP is a free program very similar to Photoshop, which has always been considered the only open-source alternative to a really powerful program like the one produced by Adobe. GIMP has almost the same functions, an interface designed to be very similar to Photoshop, and a whole host of tools for editing, processing, converting, and working on images and photographs.
GIMP also allows you to edit PDFs and save them in the same document format, so you can edit images in PDFs on the fly or edit parts of the file without having to use an alternative program like Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
Alternative an Adobe Lightroom: Lightzone o RawTherapee
For a photographer, Photoshop may not be the most suitable application than Lightroom, in many ways irreplaceable in the professional field. In any case, we can always try valid free alternatives to Lightroom such as LightZone, which was born as an open-source alternative for Lightroom, for editing photos in the RAW format. Another valid program is RawTherapee, available for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux, with an easy-to-learn interface, even if it lacks some features.
From this point of view, the alternatives to Lightroom are not up to the original program, so it is better to work with GIMP whenever we have photographs to edit.
Adobe Illustrator alternative: Inkscape
It often happens that the free alternatives of expensive programs are much inferior and not as good. This is not the case with Inkscape, a complete and professional program to be considered as good as a paid program like Adobe Illustrator.
Inkscape, as already described in another article, is an open-source reference point for creating or modify vector graphics, i.e. the graphics used to create images to print, to create websites, to generate logos or infographics.
Alternative an Adobe Premiere Pro: Lightworks o Openshot
Professional video editing has often been seen as a more Mac-friendly activity (with iMovie), although now everything works fine even on a Windows PC. Without using Adobe Premiere, you can use it on both Windows PC and Linux Lightworks, a great professional program used to make films such as The Wolf of Wall Street and Pulp Fiction. Lightworks can be used for free in a limited version or purchased for around 300 euros. The paid version unlocks all the functions and can export videos with a resolution of up to 4K. Another powerful free program suitable for professional use that replaces Premiere is DaVinci Resolve.
If we are looking for a completely free video editor to use for our amateur (unpretentious film house) projects, we recommend that you try Openshot, a really interesting program. Other alternatives are on the list of best programs for video editing.
Alternativa an Adobe After Effects: Blender
One of the most complete and powerful programs in the Adobe suite is undoubtedly After Effects, a point of reference in animated cinema and in the creation of special effects in films. Despite all this power, the free alternative defends itself very well: we are talking about Blender, downloadable from the official website.
Blender offers numerous tools to make every kind of special effect conceivable, it can be used to make quality cartoons and it can even edit videos to add new effects or to make them much more cinematic, just like in After Effects. To learn more we can also read our guide Draw 3D objects, graphics, and three-dimensional animations.
Alternative to Adobe Animate: Synfig
Animate is the new platform that has taken the place of Flash Player, so as to be able to create content similar to Flash but compatible with HTML5 (now the only true standard for website animations.
Synfig is today the open-source alternative, free and still updated to the Adobe program since 2005 and is still the best choice for those who want to create 2D vector animation projects without spending money. Synfig uses its own animation file format but can export to AVI, MPG, GIF, SVG, PNG format.
Alternative per Adobe Audition: Audacity e LMMS
Audition is not as popular software as Photoshop or Premiere Pro are, but it is still a great professional program used for digital audio processing. Audition is mainly used by podcasters and those who want to record and mix their own music.
Talking about free programs to edit audio, music, and recordings, there are Audacity and LMMS.
LMMS, formerly known as Linux MultiMedia Studio and which I had already described in the article on best programs to mix and create professional DJ music on your pc, is available for Windows PC and Linux and works very well. The interface is a bit tricky at first and it will take some effort to learn how to use it, but the features are all there. For audio processing, Audacity is also a very good alternative, as seen in the guide Download Audacity 3 free in English, best mp3 audio editor.
Alternate with Adobe InDesign, Acribus
Scribus, already mentioned among the alternative editorial printing programs to Microsoft Publisher, can be used to create brochures, newsletters, posters, and even books and also to create animated and interactive PDF files.
To learn more about this topic we can also read our guides App to create flyers, brochures, flyers, posters and booklets, free and online e How to create a brochure in Word.
Conclusions
Adobe programs really cost a lot, but we find ourselves faced with the most complete professional programs that exist in circulation, real standards in their sectors. If we are a beginner or still want to work on the same projects, we can very well use the free programs seen above, so as to still have good software to work from home or in the office without thinking about license costs.
If you want we can also free download the original Adobe Creative suite programs, at least older and no longer supported by Adobe versions; if interested we suggest you read our guide free download Adobe Photoshop.