The best free photo editors for Windows

1. GIMP — Image Editor

Best for: The most complete free photo editor

• Open source
• Free
• Graphics

GIMP has been developed by volunteers since 1995 and covers the full toolkit: a layer stack with masks, blend modes and groups, paths and foreground selection, healing and clone tools, and scripting in Python or Script-Fu. Since the 3.x series, many filters are non-destructive, so you can change or remove them after applying. It opens PSD files with their layers and is free for commercial use.

Coming from Photoshop, expect to relearn some habits, and very complex PSD files with Photoshop-only effects may not look identical. It is not built for a full CMYK print workflow. If GIMP feels like too much, Paint.NET is much quicker to learn.

2. Affinity — Design and Photo Editor

Best for: Professional photo, vector and layout tools for free

• Freeware
• Free
• Graphics

Affinity began as three paid apps from Serif, Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher. After Canva bought Serif, they were merged into one free app with Pixel, Vector and Layout studios working on the same document. It imports PSD, AI, IDML and DWG files with their layers and opens files from Affinity V1 and V2.

You must sign in with a Canva account, and the AI tools such as Generative Fill need a paid Canva plan. Files saved in the new app do not open in Affinity V1 or V2. If you do not want any online account, GIMP is the most capable alternative.

3. Paint.NET — Photo Editor

Best for: Quick edits that are easy to learn

• Freeware
• Free
• Graphics

Paint.NET sits between Windows Paint and full editors like GIMP. It has layers with blend modes, curves, levels and hue adjustments, effects, unlimited history and hundreds of community plugins, and it renders on the graphics card, so even large images stay responsive. It is not Microsoft Paint but a separate, much more capable app by Rick Brewster.

The download on paint.net is free; the paid Microsoft Store version is the same app sold to support the developer. It runs only on Windows, is closed source and needs a free plugin to open PSD files. For professional retouching or print work, GIMP or Affinity go further.

4. PhotoDemon — Photo Editor

Best for: A portable editor that runs from a USB stick

• Open source
• Free
• Graphics

PhotoDemon packs more than 200 tools into a 22 MB download that you unzip and run, with no installation and no registry changes. It has layers and editable text, content-aware fill and noise removal, opens PSD, PaintShop Pro PSP, GIMP XCF and major camera RAW formats, and a macro recorder with a batch processor applies the same edits to whole folders.

It is Windows-only and a 32-bit app, so images larger than about 2 GB cannot be opened, and as a portable app it creates no Start menu shortcut. It is open source under a BSD license with no paid version.

5. Pinta — Image Editor

Best for: Beginners who outgrew Paint

• Open source
• Free
• Graphics

Pinta is a simple open-source editor modeled on Paint.NET, with layers, live effect previews, selection, crop, clone stamp, magic wand and unlimited undo. Unlike Paint.NET, it also runs on macOS and Linux, so the same tool works on every computer you use.

It lacks the advanced tools of GIMP or Krita: there are no masks, no raw photo editing and no CMYK support. For drawing rather than photo editing, Krita is the better free choice.

6. Adobe Photoshop — Photo Editor

Best for: The industry standard, if you work with PSD files daily

• Free trial
• $19.99, per month, annual Photography plan
• Graphics

Photoshop is still the reference tool for retouching and compositing. Adjustment layers, masks and smart objects keep edits non-destructive, Select Subject finds people and objects automatically, Generative Fill uses Adobe Firefly to add or remove content from a text prompt, and Camera Raw opens RAW photos from most cameras.

There is no one-time purchase: Photoshop costs US$22.99 per month alone or US$19.99 per month in the Photography plan with Lightroom, both on annual plans. The 7-day trial needs an Adobe account and a payment card and turns into a paid plan unless you cancel. Annual plans charge a fee if cancelled early.

7. Corel PaintShop Pro — Photo Editor

Best for: Photoshop-style editing without a subscription

• Free trial
• $79.99, one-time license (PaintShop Pro 2023 Standard, list price; often on sale)
• Graphics

PaintShop Pro covers what most home users want from Photoshop: non-destructive layers, masks, retouching, RAW editing through the built-in AfterShot Lab for more than 800 camera models, AI upsampling and denoise, and scripts for batch watermarks or resizing. It reads and writes PSD files and supports Photoshop plugins and brushes.

It is sold as a one-time license: PaintShop Pro 2023 Standard lists at $79.99 and Ultimate at $99.99, both often discounted. The full 30-day trial needs no card, but the program stops working when it ends. It is Windows-only, still on the 2023 release, and the installer promotes other Corel products.

8. Luminar — AI Photo Editor

Best for: Striking landscape and portrait edits with AI

• Free trial
• $129, one-time license (Desktop Only)
• Graphics

Luminar, renamed from Luminar Neo in 2026, gets dramatic results in a few clicks: Sky AI replaces and relights the sky, Light Depth adjusts foreground and background light separately, and portrait tools retouch skin and faces automatically. It also runs as a plug-in inside Photoshop and Lightroom.

The Desktop Only license costs US$129 once and covers two computers. The core AI tools keep working, but GenErase, GenSwap, GenExpand, Restoration and the AI Assistant are included only for the first year and then need a Luminar Prime subscription. The 7-day trial is requested with an email address, and its photo library features are basic.