Photos & Graphics

Adobe XD is Adobe's UI/UX design and prototyping tool, built to fit naturally into workflows already using Photoshop and Illustrator. It supports vector-based screen design, auto-animate transitions for prototypes, and voice prototyping for testing voice-driven interfaces. XD integrates with Creative Cloud Libraries, allowing shared colors, character styles, and assets to flow between XD and other Adobe apps, which is useful for teams with an existing Adobe-centric design pipeline. While Adobe has shifted investment toward Figma-style collaborative tools industry-wide, XD remains actively used by teams already standardized on Creative Cloud.

✦ Best for existing adobe creative cloud users

Pixelmator Pro is a polished, Mac-native image editor that pairs an approachable interface with machine-learning features like super resolution and smart selection. It is a one-time purchase popular with Mac users.

✦ Best for mac users seeking a pro editor alternative

Figma is a collaborative web application for interface design, with additional offline features enabled by desktop applications for macOS and Windows.

✦ Best for product teams and collaborative design projects

Adobe Photoshop is the definitive tool for raster image editing, photo manipulation, and digital painting, used by photographers, designers, and artists worldwide. It now includes powerful generative AI (Generative Fill) via Adobe Firefly.

✦ Best for professional designers and artists

Canva is a browser-based graphic design tool built around drag-and-drop simplicity, aimed at people without formal design training. Thousands of templates cover social media posts, presentations, resumes, and marketing materials, letting users produce polished visuals in minutes. Canva's Magic Studio adds AI-powered features like text-to-image generation, background removal, and Magic Write for on-brand copy, extending the platform beyond static design into broader content creation. Brand Kit lets teams lock in logos, fonts, and color palettes so that every design produced across an organization stays visually consistent, making Canva popular with marketing teams and small businesses alike.

✦ Best for non-designers and small businesses

Affinity Photo is a professional raster editor that rivals Photoshop’s core features but is sold as a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. It is known for fast performance and a polished, pro-level toolset.

✦ Best for designers on a budget

Adobe Lightroom is a photo organization and editing app built around a non-destructive, catalog-based workflow ideal for managing and processing large photo libraries. It syncs edits and originals across desktop, mobile, and web.

✦ Best for pros with large photo libraries

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free, open-source raster graphics editor offering many Photoshop-like capabilities at no cost. It is fully scriptable and runs on every major platform.

✦ Best for budget-conscious editors and hobbyists

Image Toolbox is a powerful app for advanced image manipulation. It offers dozens of features, from basic tools like crop and draw to filters, OCR, and a wide range of image processing options. Whether you're a professional designer or just starting out, Image Toolbox has the tools you need to take your images to the next level.

✦ Best for ambitious graphic designers and digital artists

Easy3D is an open‑source library that provides a simple, efficient API for handling point clouds, meshes, and other 3D data structures. It supports both C++ and Python, making it easy to integrate into research prototypes or production pipelines. The library focuses on performance and ease of use, offering built‑in visualisation tools, file I/O for common formats, and utilities for geometry processing, all while keeping the dependency footprint minimal.

✦ Best for researchers needing fast c++/python 3d processing without heavy dependencies

PaintShop Pro is a comprehensive image editing suite that combines advanced photo retouching tools with graphic design capabilities. It offers a familiar Photoshop‑like interface while remaining more affordable for hobbyists and professionals alike. The software includes AI‑driven enhancements, RAW processing, batch editing, and a wide range of creative filters, making it suitable for everything from quick touch‑ups to complex compositing projects.

✦ Best for windows photographers and designers

SnapX is a free, open-source, cross-platform tool that lets you capture or record any area of your screen and instantly share it with a single keypress. It supports uploading images, videos, text, and more to multiple supported destinations.

✦ Best for casual content creators and developers