Adobe Photoshop has set the standards for digital image processing for decades. But your entry to the world of Adobe software comes at a price. Photopea is a comparatively new web-based free photo editing tool that mimics many of the functionalities of Adobe Photoshop. But can Photopea rival the Adobe classic? Let’s dive into what Photopea offers. At first: For those of you who only need everyday editing capabilities without the cost for Photoshop, Photopea emerges as a compelling alternative. But read on before waving good bye to your Adobe account.

What is Photopea?

Czech software developer Ivan Kuckir designed Photopea as a seamless experience for users who want to edit images without the need to install software. It supports a huge variety of file formats, including PSD, the native file format for Photoshop. Photopea is free to use.

While there is a premium version available that removes ads and provides you with additional features, the free version is surprisingly feature-rich and should be sufficient for most users. The premium version costs $5 a month, which is still a lot less than Photoshop. I chose the premium version to support the project.

Photopea Screenshot adjusting layer
Photopea screenshot: adjusting layer

Feel at home in Photopea

Many users value the interface of Photopea as strikingly similar to that of Photoshop. If you’ve ever used Adobe’s software, you’ll feel right at home. The layout includes familiar tools, layers, and panels, allowing for an intuitive editing experience. This ease of use is a major draw for users transitioning from Photoshop.

Photopea offers all necessary tools to cover everything from basic edits (cropping, resizing, and adjusting colors) to more advanced features like layer styles, blending modes, and filters. Tools like the lasso, brush, and clone stamp allow users to perform detailed and intricate editing tasks. Photopea even has tools for editing RAW files, if only very basic editing. It’s not on a par with RAW processing tools like my preferred Rawtherapee.

Photopea in a Photoshop world

One of Photopea’s standout features is its ability to open and edit PSD files, along with a host of other formats including JPG, PNG, GIF, and even Sketch files. The ability of processing PSD is a major strong point in favor of Photopea compared to GIMP for example – the more common recommendation as an alternative to Photoshop. The native Adobe file format is the choice among designers and creatives collaborating in a Photoshop world. In Photopea I can fully edit PSD files by colleagues, save them as PSD and send them back. I couldn’t ever do that in GIMP.

Photopea is Photoshop to go

Being a web-based tool, you can access Photopea from any device with an internet connection. Dear fellow chromebook users take note: This is our solution for image processing. You can edit your photos or design projects on the go, without the need for high-spec hardware or installations. It works seamlessly on ChromeOS, MacOS, Windows, Linux and so on – even on mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. The only thing you need is a browser. 

And Photopea is blazingly fast. You don’t need to start any software. Just drag and drop an image into the browser window and you’re good to go. Neither Photoshop nor GIMP can provide this kind of speed.

Who should consider Photopea?

Being free of charge, Photopea is a cheap entry to photo editing for students or hobbyists. For that case it’s a welcome alternative to GIMP.

Photopea can be an interesting tool for freelancers or small businesses, who don’t need image processing on a regular basis. With Photopea they can solve basic image processing by themselves and are free to cooperate with experts by exchanging PSD files.

It should be interesting for those looking to learn photoshopping without the cost, and for anyone strapped for cash who wants to list Photoshop experience in their resumee. And last but not least: Photopea comes as a salvation for chromebook users.

Limitations of Photopea

While Photopea is an impressive tool, it does have its limitations compared to Photoshop:

  • Performance: Being browser-based, performance can vary based on your internet connection and browser capabilities. Large files may load more slowly than they would in dedicated software.
  • Advanced Features: If you’re using high-end features as advanced 3D capabilities or AI-driven tools in Photoshop, you will miss them in Photopea. 
  • Support and Resources: Adobe has a vast array of support resources and a large community. Photopea does have a growing community and there are many useful tutorials on YouTube. But this is not as extensive as the Photoshop realm. So you may run into trouble finding tutorials for very special tasks.

Photopea vs. Photoshop in a nutshell

Photopea may not be the much desired Photoshop for free. It’s major strength is its protability. Adobe itself set the stage for a tool like Photopea. Photoshop is a software dinosaur, consuming acres of memory space, and it runs only an Widows and Apple. The mobile world needed a tool like Photopea for a long time. From that point of view Photopea is more an add on than a surrogate for Photoshop. And it fits in this gap very well. Thanks to its PSD ability.