GIMP

When moving on from Adobe to consider Photoshop alternatives, the first name that's almost always mentioned is GIMP.  And for good reason.  As I wrote in an earlier post, GIMP is for all intents and purposes a reverse-engineered shareware version of Photoshop CS6.  It is a totally free GNU software offering that can be downloaded from the web via FTP.

The GIMP interface isn't quite as attractive as Photoshop's and tools and menus are arranged somewhat differently, but these are small matters.  Essentially, everything that is included in CS6, even the native filters, is available here.  And at no cost.  The learning curve is not that steep and the few tools, such as Apply Image, that are missing can easily be worked around.  The one great drawback is that the app does not support third-party plug-ins, meaning that another vehicle, such as the relatively inexpensive Photoshop Elements, must be used to access them if one wishes to have all the options available in CS6.

The current stable release version of GIMP for Windows is 2.10.30 and can be downloaded here either directly or via Bit Torrent.  There's really nothing to lose by installing it and trying it.