Best Photoshop Software For Laptop

Best Photoshop Software For Laptop

Best Photoshop Software For Laptop Windows 7
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop Computer
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop Windows
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop
Best Cheap Laptop For Photoshop
Jun 24, 2019 Everyone can edit photos using a laptop or mobile devices. Photo editing software has to be multifunctional and provide tools for beginners and professional users. Adobe Photoshop may be the best choice among the photo editing programs but it's expensive and needs a lot of learning time.
Looking for more design-focused tools? See our round-up of the best free graphic design software. Alternatively, for art on the go, take a look at our pick of the best drawing apps for iPad. And do remember to check out the best Adobe deals available right now. The best digital art software available now.
Looking for a faster and better alternative to Adobe Photoshop? While Photoshop has been a standard for years, that's starting to change with plenty of new tools for Windows that make easy work of photo editing. Many of these new tools include smart functions that will speed up workflows. 
Shop for photoshop software at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Dec 28, 2020 Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom remains the gold standard in pro photo workflow software. It's a complete package, with top-notch organization tools, state of-the-art adjustments, and all the output.
The best Photoshop alternatives pack in just the features you need without a lot of fluff you won't use. Here's a list of the best Photoshop alternatives for Windows in 2021.
Everyone can edit photos using a laptop or mobile devices. Photo editing software has to be multifunctional and provide tools for beginners and professional users. Adobe Photoshop may be the best choice among the photo editing programs but it's expensive and needs a lot of learning time.
Take note of special features to find the one that's right for you.
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1. PhotoWorksPhotoWorks is a robust alternative to Photoshop for Windows users. It's a powerful photo editor and includes automatic photo editing, so you can get a spectacular photo edit with just a couple clicks. The tool is so intuitive it can even fix photos that you think are no good because of lighting issues or subpar conditions. 
Then there's Portrait Magic. This tool uses an intelligent module to make portraits look amazing. And you won't spend a ton of time tweaking tiny edits. It can make workflows easy and efficient for sure. 
The algorithms for landscapes and portrait corrections are different so you'll get the best content-aware functionality around – and you don't have to do it all manually. 
Other key features:
Neat face sculpting tool to experiment with facial features
Change the background with a couple of clicks
180+ effects and filters that you can use on any image
Perspective and distortion correction
3D LUT color correction that comes with ready-to-use presets (or create your own)
Plenty of professional tools that you'd expect from robust software such as curves, tone mapping, cropping, and more
Cost: Starting at $19.25
Try it: Download from PhotoWorks
2. GIMPGIMP is a program like Photoshop for Windows with developers in mind. It is free and open-source, so you can change the source code and distribute changes. GIMP is designed for high-quality photo manipulation, including retouching images and photo restorations. Users can also use it to create original artwork.
Other key features:
Offers plenty of customization options and plugins
Create design elements and edit photos
 Extensive library of tutorials and learning resources
 Scripted image manipulation (C, C++, Perl, Python, Scheme, and more)
 Color management tools included with Scribus, Inkscape and SwatchBooker
Cost: Free, although you can make a donation toward future development
Try it: Download from GIMP
3. Paint.netPaint.net is a free Photoshop equivalent. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful, and powerful tools, especially for free software.
Other key features:
Replacement for the popular MS Paint
Active online community of users
Plugins available
Cost: Free, donations accepted
Try it: Download from Paint.net
4. PixlrPixlr is a Photoshop replacement that offers plenty of options depending on how you use the tool. It includes a photo editor-only option or full-feature professional tools. What's different about Pixlr is that you don't have to download anything to use it. All the tools are right in your browser and includes tools you'd need for photo work including layer masks, multiple brush options, curve and level adjustments, color and blend modes, effects and filters, and transform and wrap tools.

Other key features:
Ability to draw on photos
Easy retouching
Included photo filters
Light or dark mode options for your workspace
10,000+ photo templates
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop Windows 7Cost: Includes free and paid options (Pro is $5 per month)
Try it: See the Pixlr options 
5. Affinity PhotoAffinity Photo is a newer option when it comes to finding an alternative to Photoshop for Windows because it was once Mac-based. The tool lets you edit and retouch images as well as create multi-layer pieces. The professional corrections and adjustments tools rival any other app out there, and it has a great noise-reduction filter. Retouching options include the usual dodge, burn, clone, patch, blemish, and red eye tools, but there's also an inpainting brush and liquify feature.
Other key features:
HDR merge feature
Batch processing
Large brush library included
Ability to import and export to and from other tools
Frequent development and updates
Cost: $49.99
Try it: Download the Windows version from Affinity Photo
6. PicMonkeyPicMonkey is an Adobe photoshop alternative that's pretty well-known. While it has some free and lower-cost editing tools – everything you'd expect – more advanced tools (save and export, advanced retouching, effects and overlays, fonts) only unlock with upper-tier plans. Users like how straightforward this tool is. 
Other key features:
Ability to do photo editing and design
Collaboration tools
Templates to start projects from
Tools and effects for photo editing
 Ability to create a photo collage
Cost: Starts at $7.99 per month
Try it: Get started at PicMonkey
7. LuminarLuminar is a piece of software like Photoshop that you can use alone or integrate with Adobe tools. It works as a standalone photo editor and browser with plenty of cool algorithmic editing tools. The best feature may be the included image browser for finding photos fast. 
Other key features:
Add 'instant looks' to photos
Easy to use creative tools
Noise remover filter
Smart contrast tools to help color look better
Extensive video library of tutorials
Cost: Starts at $89
Try it: Get it from Skylum
8. DxO PhotoLab 3DxO PhotoLab 3 is a Photoshop alternative for Windows that's made for working with raw images. The tools include the ability to editing using control points to work on just the parts of a photo you want to edit, there are plenty of brushes for precise work, a graduated filter makes landscape photos look great, and the auto repair mode can remove unwanted elements from images.
Other key features:
Contrast optimization
Denoising tools
Repair tool with a clone mode
Smart lighting tool
Ability to load a large photo library
Cost: $129
Try it: Download it from DxO
 February 10, 2020 
 32 min to read 
Modern digital photography goes hand in hand with post-processing software. Although today the photo editing software market offers an unlimited number of options for photographers of all levels, most of the community sticks to tried-and-true Adobe Photoshop. It indeed is a universal app equipped with tools that a professional photographer would wish for, but it's time to make way for the new. 
For the past decades, a lot of new and worthy photo editors entered the market bringing revolutionary technologies into the mundane editing process making even the most complex editing tasks doable for novices and streamlined for pros. Here we listed some of the best photo editing apps on the market including both old and new for photographers of different needs and skill levels.
1. Luminar 4Completely revamped Luminar 4 is finally here to shake up the world of photo-editing software. Improved to be even more intuitive, Luminar 4 also brings a ton of brand-new AI editing tools designed to speed up the photo editing workflow. 
- AI Sky Replacement automatically changes the sky and relights and recolors the entire photo to match the new sky. 
- AI Skin Enhancer & Portrait Enhancer do all the retouching for you with just one click.
- AI Enhance automatically enhances your photo by making numerous adjustments of different complexity.
- AI Structure brings details up or down depending on your needs.
- Sunrays adds realistic sun rays to your photo that you're free to tweak as you please.
- Smart Contrast was improved to produce a more detailed and textured image.
Luminar 4 can not only be used as a stand-alone app but also as a plug-in for Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom to make the best of your tools.
✅ Pros:
Non-destructive editing
Intuitive interface
Improved performance
In-depth customization
Available as a plug-in as well
✖️ Cons:
Mediocre library functions
Limited exporting options
2. Adobe LightroomAdobe Lightroom has been the app of choice for professional and amateur photographers alike for many years now. It offers a well-thought-out set of features for managing, organizing, processing, and exporting your photos. With the advanced library features, like labels, keywords, collections, and search filters, the app makes it easy for you to keep track of large numbers of photos. Lightroom comes with a good selection of RAW profiles to define colors in your photos for more precise editing. Tweak your photos to perfection with adjustment sliders, perspective and lens correction tools, retouching tools, filters, profiles, and presets to speed up your workflow. 
✅ Pros:
Built-in file management system
Face detection and tagging
Color and luminosity masking
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
Not the best choice for beginners
A bit too taxing for Windows
No auto-tagging
Comparatively slow importing
❓
What photo editing software do you use and why? Let us know in the comments, we'd be very interested to know!
3. ACDSee PHOTO STUDIO ULTIMATE 2020Photo Studio Ultimate 2020 is a one-stop photo management and post-processing tool for Windows. It comes with everything you need to handle your files, like categories, keywords, face detection, ratings, color labels, metadata, geolocation, and more. It's quite powerful when it comes to photo editing, too, offering a broad set of tools for a variety of different purposes. It allows you to process your RAW, JPEG and other types of files in a non-destructive way in Develop Mode and perfect them in Edit Mode by adjusting color and lighting, bringing out details, removing flaws, and adding final touches. The user interface is completely customizable to suit your preferences. Acoustic recording software.
✅ Pros:
Excellent built-in file management system
Powerful post-processing features
Fully customizable interface
✖️ Cons:
Available only for Windows
Too overwhelming for beginners
Subscription-based online storage gallery
4. GIMPGIMP is a free and open-source photo-editing tool that has been around for more than 20 years. It boasts a limitless number of state-of-the-art features that you wouldn't expect to see in a free photo-editing app. The interface has been recently updated to be easier to use, however it still can be quite confusing for novices. GIMP offers a broad set of tools suitable not only for basic but for advanced editing, too. Here you can enhance colors, adjust hue and saturation, fix composition, adjust sharpness, reduce graininess, remove unwanted objects, work with masks, layers, and more. 
✅ Pros:
100% free
Open access to the source code
Has a broad selection of tools for different purposes
Plug-in support
Available for the main operating systems
✖️ Cons:
Non-intuitive workflow
Difficult to get the hang of
Lack of HDR support
5. Aurora HDRAurora HDR is a powerful HDR tool that brings innovation and simplicity together. The most recent update introduced a new Quantum HDR engine with AI-powered tone mapping technology which allows for more intelligent photo merging to produce vivid yet natural-looking photos. Whether you're creating an HDR photo from bracketed shots or a single image, the app's neural network enhances the photo and makes sure that no halos or ghosting spoils the final result. The brand-new Smart HDR Structure feature boosts details and sharpness without creating undesired artifacts that can make a photo look unrealistic. With over 80 distinctive Looks, you can make your photo look stunning in just one click.
✅ Pros:
One of the best HDR photo editors
Swift performance
Corrects badly taken single shots
Doesn't create artifacts, halos, or noise
Available as a stand-alone app and plug-in
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
None worth mentioning
6. Adobe Photoshop ElementsDeveloped for beginner and hobbyist photographers, Photoshop Elements' functions are naturally more limited than Photoshop's but it has all the essentials for achieving astonishing results. It offers three editing modes:
The Quick mode includes the simplest tools for straightening and cropping photos, removing unwanted objects, enhancing portraits, and applying filters. 
The Guided mode uses step-by-step wizards to take you through more complex edits like removing objects, replacing the background, merging multiple photos, creating double exposures, and more.
The Expert mode gives you access to more complex Photoshop-like features including layers, masks, and filters.
✅ Pros:
Excellent for entry-level photographers
Simple and straightforward interface
One-time purchase
A bunch of Photoshop-like features simplified for nonprofessionals
Dozens of clear guides
✖️ Cons:
Too limited functionality
Are you a Lightroom, Luminar, or Photoshop user? Then you'd probably want to see our collection of the best free and paid presets for them.
❓

Exposure X5 looks like a refined version of Lightroom that inherited only the features that photographers liked and used the most. Some of the most hated features were eliminated or improved. Thus, there's no time-consuming import process in Exposure X5 - you can get straight to editing by adding a folder with your photos in a few clicks. The interface is very well-organized and can be customized to suit your editing purposes. Besides non-destructive layer-based editing and cutting-edge tools that are crucial for the professional photo-manipulating process, Exposure X5 offers a mind-blowing collection of over 500 presets that you can customize to your liking. 
✅ Pros:
Beginner-friendly
Well-organized and customizable interface
No power-draining import process
Non-destructive layer-based editing
A broad selection of free presets
No subscription

Other key features:
Ability to draw on photos
Easy retouching
Included photo filters
Light or dark mode options for your workspace
10,000+ photo templates
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop Windows 7Cost: Includes free and paid options (Pro is $5 per month)
Try it: See the Pixlr options 
5. Affinity PhotoAffinity Photo is a newer option when it comes to finding an alternative to Photoshop for Windows because it was once Mac-based. The tool lets you edit and retouch images as well as create multi-layer pieces. The professional corrections and adjustments tools rival any other app out there, and it has a great noise-reduction filter. Retouching options include the usual dodge, burn, clone, patch, blemish, and red eye tools, but there's also an inpainting brush and liquify feature.
Other key features:
HDR merge feature
Batch processing
Large brush library included
Ability to import and export to and from other tools
Frequent development and updates
Cost: $49.99
Try it: Download the Windows version from Affinity Photo
6. PicMonkeyPicMonkey is an Adobe photoshop alternative that's pretty well-known. While it has some free and lower-cost editing tools – everything you'd expect – more advanced tools (save and export, advanced retouching, effects and overlays, fonts) only unlock with upper-tier plans. Users like how straightforward this tool is. 
Other key features:
Ability to do photo editing and design
Collaboration tools
Templates to start projects from
Tools and effects for photo editing
 Ability to create a photo collage
Cost: Starts at $7.99 per month
Try it: Get started at PicMonkey
7. LuminarLuminar is a piece of software like Photoshop that you can use alone or integrate with Adobe tools. It works as a standalone photo editor and browser with plenty of cool algorithmic editing tools. The best feature may be the included image browser for finding photos fast. 
Other key features:
Add 'instant looks' to photos
Easy to use creative tools
Noise remover filter
Smart contrast tools to help color look better
Extensive video library of tutorials
Cost: Starts at $89
Try it: Get it from Skylum
8. DxO PhotoLab 3DxO PhotoLab 3 is a Photoshop alternative for Windows that's made for working with raw images. The tools include the ability to editing using control points to work on just the parts of a photo you want to edit, there are plenty of brushes for precise work, a graduated filter makes landscape photos look great, and the auto repair mode can remove unwanted elements from images.
Other key features:
Contrast optimization
Denoising tools
Repair tool with a clone mode
Smart lighting tool
Ability to load a large photo library
Cost: $129
Try it: Download it from DxO
 February 10, 2020 
 32 min to read 
Modern digital photography goes hand in hand with post-processing software. Although today the photo editing software market offers an unlimited number of options for photographers of all levels, most of the community sticks to tried-and-true Adobe Photoshop. It indeed is a universal app equipped with tools that a professional photographer would wish for, but it's time to make way for the new. 
For the past decades, a lot of new and worthy photo editors entered the market bringing revolutionary technologies into the mundane editing process making even the most complex editing tasks doable for novices and streamlined for pros. Here we listed some of the best photo editing apps on the market including both old and new for photographers of different needs and skill levels.
1. Luminar 4Completely revamped Luminar 4 is finally here to shake up the world of photo-editing software. Improved to be even more intuitive, Luminar 4 also brings a ton of brand-new AI editing tools designed to speed up the photo editing workflow. 
- AI Sky Replacement automatically changes the sky and relights and recolors the entire photo to match the new sky. 
- AI Skin Enhancer & Portrait Enhancer do all the retouching for you with just one click.
- AI Enhance automatically enhances your photo by making numerous adjustments of different complexity.
- AI Structure brings details up or down depending on your needs.
- Sunrays adds realistic sun rays to your photo that you're free to tweak as you please.
- Smart Contrast was improved to produce a more detailed and textured image.
Luminar 4 can not only be used as a stand-alone app but also as a plug-in for Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom to make the best of your tools.
✅ Pros:
Non-destructive editing
Intuitive interface
Improved performance
In-depth customization
Available as a plug-in as well
✖️ Cons:
Mediocre library functions
Limited exporting options
2. Adobe LightroomAdobe Lightroom has been the app of choice for professional and amateur photographers alike for many years now. It offers a well-thought-out set of features for managing, organizing, processing, and exporting your photos. With the advanced library features, like labels, keywords, collections, and search filters, the app makes it easy for you to keep track of large numbers of photos. Lightroom comes with a good selection of RAW profiles to define colors in your photos for more precise editing. Tweak your photos to perfection with adjustment sliders, perspective and lens correction tools, retouching tools, filters, profiles, and presets to speed up your workflow. 
✅ Pros:
Built-in file management system
Face detection and tagging
Color and luminosity masking
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
Not the best choice for beginners
A bit too taxing for Windows
No auto-tagging
Comparatively slow importing
❓
What photo editing software do you use and why? Let us know in the comments, we'd be very interested to know!
3. ACDSee PHOTO STUDIO ULTIMATE 2020Photo Studio Ultimate 2020 is a one-stop photo management and post-processing tool for Windows. It comes with everything you need to handle your files, like categories, keywords, face detection, ratings, color labels, metadata, geolocation, and more. It's quite powerful when it comes to photo editing, too, offering a broad set of tools for a variety of different purposes. It allows you to process your RAW, JPEG and other types of files in a non-destructive way in Develop Mode and perfect them in Edit Mode by adjusting color and lighting, bringing out details, removing flaws, and adding final touches. The user interface is completely customizable to suit your preferences. Acoustic recording software.
✅ Pros:
Excellent built-in file management system
Powerful post-processing features
Fully customizable interface
✖️ Cons:
Available only for Windows
Too overwhelming for beginners
Subscription-based online storage gallery
4. GIMPGIMP is a free and open-source photo-editing tool that has been around for more than 20 years. It boasts a limitless number of state-of-the-art features that you wouldn't expect to see in a free photo-editing app. The interface has been recently updated to be easier to use, however it still can be quite confusing for novices. GIMP offers a broad set of tools suitable not only for basic but for advanced editing, too. Here you can enhance colors, adjust hue and saturation, fix composition, adjust sharpness, reduce graininess, remove unwanted objects, work with masks, layers, and more. 
✅ Pros:
100% free
Open access to the source code
Has a broad selection of tools for different purposes
Plug-in support
Available for the main operating systems
✖️ Cons:
Non-intuitive workflow
Difficult to get the hang of
Lack of HDR support
5. Aurora HDRAurora HDR is a powerful HDR tool that brings innovation and simplicity together. The most recent update introduced a new Quantum HDR engine with AI-powered tone mapping technology which allows for more intelligent photo merging to produce vivid yet natural-looking photos. Whether you're creating an HDR photo from bracketed shots or a single image, the app's neural network enhances the photo and makes sure that no halos or ghosting spoils the final result. The brand-new Smart HDR Structure feature boosts details and sharpness without creating undesired artifacts that can make a photo look unrealistic. With over 80 distinctive Looks, you can make your photo look stunning in just one click.
✅ Pros:
One of the best HDR photo editors
Swift performance
Corrects badly taken single shots
Doesn't create artifacts, halos, or noise
Available as a stand-alone app and plug-in
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
None worth mentioning
6. Adobe Photoshop ElementsDeveloped for beginner and hobbyist photographers, Photoshop Elements' functions are naturally more limited than Photoshop's but it has all the essentials for achieving astonishing results. It offers three editing modes:
The Quick mode includes the simplest tools for straightening and cropping photos, removing unwanted objects, enhancing portraits, and applying filters. 
The Guided mode uses step-by-step wizards to take you through more complex edits like removing objects, replacing the background, merging multiple photos, creating double exposures, and more.
The Expert mode gives you access to more complex Photoshop-like features including layers, masks, and filters.
✅ Pros:
Excellent for entry-level photographers
Simple and straightforward interface
One-time purchase
A bunch of Photoshop-like features simplified for nonprofessionals
Dozens of clear guides
✖️ Cons:
Too limited functionality
Are you a Lightroom, Luminar, or Photoshop user? Then you'd probably want to see our collection of the best free and paid presets for them.
❓

Exposure X5 looks like a refined version of Lightroom that inherited only the features that photographers liked and used the most. Some of the most hated features were eliminated or improved. Thus, there's no time-consuming import process in Exposure X5 - you can get straight to editing by adding a folder with your photos in a few clicks. The interface is very well-organized and can be customized to suit your editing purposes. Besides non-destructive layer-based editing and cutting-edge tools that are crucial for the professional photo-manipulating process, Exposure X5 offers a mind-blowing collection of over 500 presets that you can customize to your liking. 
✅ Pros:
Beginner-friendly
Well-organized and customizable interface
No power-draining import process
Non-destructive layer-based editing
A broad selection of free presets
No subscription
✖️ Cons:
The interface design looks a bit outdated
Lack of panorama and HDR tools
8. Capture One ProCapture One Pro is a full-fledged pro photo editor created for experienced photographers and serious hobbyists. Originally designed for tethered shooting, Capture One Pro is the fastest and most flexible tethering tool for photographers of all genres. It also offers top-notch RAW photo-editing functionality, smart photo organization tools, layer support, powerful adjustment tools, and plenty of other features you're looking for in professional-grade photo software. 
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop Computer✅ Pros:
Exceptional rendering of RAW files
Numerous adjustment tools for different needs;
Layer-based editing
Industry-leading tethering features
Fast and smooth spot removal
 Annotations feature
✖️ Cons:
Lack of third-party plug-in support;
Lack of panorama and HDR tools
Limited organization features;
Absence of history panel
9. Affinity PhotoEven though Affinity Photo can't boast any organization or management tools, it's well-packed with all kinds of editing features for photographers of all levels. The workflow includes several Personas, or modes, focused on different editing stages. Develop Persona focuses on RAW file processing, Photo Persona is used for boosting your photos using layers, lighting and color adjustments, curves, LUTs, etc. Tone Mapping Persona is for HDR editing, Liquify Persona for bending photos, and Export Persona for exporting finished photos. 
✅ Pros:
Layer-based editing
RAW editing tools
Panorama, HDR, and focus stack merging tools
No subscription
✖️ Cons:
No lens-based corrections
Lack of organization tools
No ability to save custom workspaces
Poor noise reduction
10. PixlrOne of the most powerful online photo tools, Pixlr has become a popular choice when it comes to making quick photo corrections. Since it's a web app, it doesn't take up any room on your computer and is compatible with all operational systems. Pixlr features a clean and intuitive interface with many tools for cropping, selecting, transforming, removing objects, retouching and adjusting your photos using numerous sliders for brightness, contrast, vibrance, saturation, shadows, and more. It also offers a vast collection of filters and effects that will enhance your photos in a snap!
✅ Pros:
Beginner-friendly
Great for quick editing
Online
100% free
Has a clean interface
Offers a nice collection of filters and effects
Mobile version available
✖️ Cons:
Limited functionality
Advertising can be annoying
Can be laggy sometimes
11. Paint.NETDeveloped to replace the iconic Microsoft Paint, Paint.NET has grown into a full-featured yet simple photo-editing tool for WIndows. The app offers a user-friendly interface that's very easy to navigate. Paint.NET is packed with a nice set of tools for making your photos look beautiful in the most effortless way. Here you can play around with various adjustments, such as levels, curves, contrast, brightness, saturation, and more, selecting and removing objects, resize and crop your photos, and so much more!
✅ Pros:
100% free
Unlimited history
Layer-based editing
Tons of creative filters and effects
Suitable for beginner and intermediate users
User-friendly interface
Plug-in support
✖️ Cons:
Best Photoshop Software For Laptop WindowsOnly for Windows
Interface design looks a bit outdated
Limited functionality
❓
Do you agree with our opinion in this article? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
FAQ:Q: Which one is the best photo editing software?A: Luminar 4 is the best photo editing software because it offers the most powerful collection of features and tools for different editing needs. 
Q: What is the easiest free photo editing software?A: Paint.NET is the easiest free photo editing software, however, it has a very limited number of features suitable only for basic editing. 
Q: Which photo editing software is the best for HDR photo editing?A: Aurora HDR is the best HDR photo editing software with a broad set of tools for creating and correcting HDR images.
Q: How can I edit pictures on my computer for free?A: GIMP free photo editor is the best way to edit pictures on your computer for free. It's well-packed with features and is suitable for beginners and pros alike. 
Q: Which photo editing software can be used as a plug-in for Photoshop/ Lightroom?A: Luminar 4 is the best Photoshop/ Lightroom plug-in that allows you to use its unique features in your go-to photo editor. 
Whether you take photos for fun or business, it's not an easy task to find a photo editing software that can best fit your photo editing needs with so many different options on the market. We believe that it's easier to find something when you know what you're looking for, so we came up with three criteria that you should take into account when looking for your one and only photo app. So, we recommend you to make your choice based on the features you want your app to have, the platform you're going to use it on, and the price that you're ready (or not) to pay for it. This will help you to filter out the irrelevant options and narrow your choices down to a few most suitable ones. 
FeaturesWe believe that all photo editing apps can be divided into several categories based on what they have to offer to users of different levels and needs. These categories are:
Best Photoshop Software For LaptopPhoto editing software for beginners. If you're just starting out in photography or need to apply quick corrections to your photos once in a while, you should opt for a beginner-friendly photo editor like Paint.NET or Pixlr. Such editors usually have a clean and straightforward interface without too many tabs and icons, and a decent set of tools for applying basic corrections. 
Professional photo editing apps are designed for professional photographers and advanced hobbyists and give more control over photo processing and editing. Their use requires more specialized knowledge of photography and high photo-editing skill. Pro-grade photo editors like Adobe Lightroom or Capture One Pro often come with an in-build photo management system, provide support for RAW files, tethered shooting, and presets.
Software for creating and editing vector graphics. As you probably know, there are two types of graphics: raster and vector. Raster graphics represent images as a pixel grid, while vector graphics use lines and curves. Vector software can't change pixels and thus is ineffective for photo correction. However, you can use vector software to add graphics to your photo such as text, shapes, lines. Many raster photo editors include a handful of vector tools, like GIMP or Photoshop. 
AI photo software uses AI-based technology that allows reducing manual photo editing to a minimum - even the most complex editing tasks such as retouching or removing objects can be done with just a few clicks. Such apps are a popular choice among beginners and pros alike as they substantially speed up the editing process without affecting the quality. Luminar 4 is one of a few decent AI photo editing tools on the market. 
Open source photo editing apps are apps for which the source code can be viewed and changed by any user, like GIMP. It means that any user can interact with the program code to correct bugs, improve the exciting features and add new ones. Open-source software is usually completely free and for this reason much beloved by users of different levels of expertise. 
PlatformThere is another thing you should take into account when looking for your perfect photo-editing app - the platform you're going to use it on. If you're a Mac or Windows user, you've got a wider choice of options unlike, for example, Chrome OS users, who have a much more limited choice. Let's take a closer look at what we have here.
Windows is the most compatible with most of the photo software you're going to want to use. If you're a Windows user, you have a great number of options to choose from including most widely-used apps like GIMP, Luminar 4, Lightroom, Paint.NET, and more. 
As Mac is the second most popular operating system, you won't have any troubles finding a photo app compatible with it. Here you still have a vast number of options including Lightroom, Aurora HDR, Luminar 4, etc. The popular GIMP, however, isn't compatible with Mac. 
If you're a Chromebook user, your choice is limited to Google Play apps. Those, however, include a pretty good number of options, such as GIMP, Photoshop, Lightroom, and others. If you have strong programming skills, you could try installing external apps as well. 
It doesn't matter what platform you're using if you choose to work in an online photo editor. It runs in a browser and doesn't need installing. 
Best Cheap Laptop For PhotoshopIf you're looking for an app for your Android or iOS device, you should check what your app store has to offer. Some web and desktop apps, like Pixlr or Lightroom, however, have mobile versions. 
PriceNo matter how good the software is, its price can be a real dealbreaker. Luckily, not all photo editing software is paid for. There are such apps as GIMP and Paint.NET that are completely free. Paid options include subscription-based (Photo Studio Ultimate 2020, Lightroom) and one-time-fee (Luminar 4, Photoshop Elements, Affinity Photo) software. Some paid apps though have free trial versions, so you can test an app for free for several days to see if it's worth the money. 