Photo app without subscription

[Mary H]

I am looking for an app to replace Photoshop Elements. I use it occasionally to make photo corrections, open someone's eyes, blur out a child's face before posting online, and a few other things. For years I was happy with Photoshop Elements until earlier this year when I upgraded my ios it no longer worked. Now I see I can purchase a subscription for the app but the amt I use it does not warrant the subscription price. I can purchase a new Photoshop Elements but it only has a 3 year term and then it ceases to work. I am looking for an alternative to this. What suggestions for a photo app without a subscription are there.

I have a MacBook Pro M1 Tahoe 26.5.1

Thanks,
Mary

 

[maflynn]

Darktable is a popular open source app. Check them out

 

[Herbert123]

Great replacements for Photoshop Elements are:

- PhotoLine | 79 euro perpetual license | pl32.com
- Krita | free | krita.org (free AI plugin at github.com/Acly/krita-ai-diffusion)
- Affinity | free, subscription | www.affinity.studio/
- Photopea | free, web-based | www.photopea.com/
- GIMP | Free | www.gimp.org/

RAW photo developers:
- rawtherapee | free| rawtherapee.com/
- Darktable | free | www.darktable.org/

Pixelmator isn't included, because it is now part of Apple's software suite and paid subscription only.

Most of the image editors listed above do not have an image browser built-in like PS Elements. PhotoLine does offer that option. Rawtherapee and Darktable do have this functionality, and usually after a photo is processed in (for example) Rawtherapee the result is sent to an image editor for specific edits (if required).

 

[MacGizmo]

Affinity (free app, with a free canva account required) is superb. It's about as close to the full Adobe Photoshop experience as you can get. It's probably a LOT more than you need, but it's a fantastic app. That being said, some of the things you mention (opening eyes, etc.) are probably part of the AI aspect of most apps, and thus, will require a subscription.

 

[Herbert123]

That being said, some of the things you mention (opening eyes, etc.) are probably part of the AI aspect of most apps, and thus, will require a subscription.

If you install Krita with the free locally-run genAI extension, no subscription is required for tasks like opening eyes, changing expressions, and so forth. All free - excepting your electricity bill.

Of course, it does depend somewhat on the amount of RAM: 8GB or less may be tight for certain tasks. 16GB or more is preferred.

 

[Mary H]

Thanks everyone 🙂