Photopea: Edit Your Photos Free and Online (Alternatives to Photoshop)

Is it difficult for you to use Photoshop with the plethora of options, menus, buttons and settings it has? Does it seem complex and also expensive? Would you like to be able to edit your photos with a free, easy-to-use tool that doesn’t require payment? A free online photo editor. We introduce you Photopea.

It is the most complete free alternative to Photoshop. Let’s see how it works, how it differs from Adobe’s program and what its advantages and disadvantages are.

I am going to try to make it the most complete article of Photopea in Spanish, so that you have no doubts and when you finish reading it, you will be wanting to use it.

What is photopea

Photopea is a free online photo editing and retouching service. It can be used for image editing, illustration creation, web design or simply as a converter of different image formats. It is the online application that most resembles Photoshop in terms of tools, operation and interface.

(By the way, it’s actually Photo Pea, but we all know it as Photopea because of its web address: photopea.com).

Photopea has been running since 2013 although its popularity has increased in recent years and it is available in more than 40 languages ​​(yes, Photopea is in Spanish, breathe 😜) .

It was created by Ivan Kuckir, who decided to create an online editor to practice what he had learned in some courses and because β€œI had a lot of free time ahead of me”. After several months of work the first version of the program was ready.

His idea was to create a photo editor that was snappy to open for those situations where you want to make a quick edit in a snap (for example, resizing a photo).

I wanted it to be free for those who couldn’t afford Photoshop, and also to be compatible with minor operating systems like Linux.

If you come from the Adobe world it will be like walking home, but without scratching your pocket.

How much does Photopea cost?

Photoshop is free. The user can use it with all its features and options without paying anything. In the free version you have no limit on the use of tools, or downloads and there are no watermarks. There is also a version premium that you can get for 9 euros per month (no need for an annual subscription). The differences with the premium version are in the advertising and the number of steps you can undo in editing.

The prices depend on the type of account or subscription, if you contract several months at the same time it will be cheaper.

Prices Photopea Premium version

In addition, you can choose the option for a single user or for a team of 5, 20 or 50 people. Of course, this is designed for companies, not for individuals.

How photopea works

As I have mentioned before, its operation is similar to that of Photoshop but you do not have to download it.

The files used are not uploaded to the network unless you decide. Therefore, you can open Photopea in the browser and continue to use it offline (that is, if you run out of Internet).

It offers a wide variety of editing tools (correction, cloning, etc.), in addition to working by layers, supporting filters, text layers and much more.

Let’s see step by step how to use Photopea.

  1. Open Photopea page here. You’ll come across this interface (ads appear on the right, but I’ve cut them out for now).
  1. Select the option you prefer. As you can see, you can start a new project from scratch, open an image or use one of their templates (there are a lot of possibilities: posts for social networks, to make memes or even to make a resume). In this example we are going to choose the option to edit an image, which is what most of the readers of this blog are most interested in (open from computer). You can also do this by dragging the file to the center of the interface.
  2. Do a basic first edit (if you want). You have the option to regulate the exposure and temperature, among others, before opening the photo in the interface with all the tools. Once done (or not), press Open (and continue to step 4). If you think it is to your liking, you can click and directly download the file at JPG. And you would already have your image (yes, without the option to choose the resolution). As a RAW to JPG converter it is quite fast and automatic.
  1. Start editing with all the tools. You already have your image open and all the options available, to work by layers, make corrections with a brush or whatever you want.

As you can see, the menu is also very similar to that of Photoshop (I leave you an example of the Image section and its options); Clicking on each tool with the right button also displays all the options of that tool. In addition to being able to add texts, with a lot of fonts and the possibility of loading new fonts, for example:

Image menu options Options within the Fonts tools

  1. Export your image. Once you have your final image, whatever type of project it is, it’s time to export. These are all the export options that Photopea offers, choose the one that suits you best from the path File > Export As.

In step 1 we have seen that there was no option to select anything with the quick export. Here you can choose dimensions and quality, even format. When you have it, click on Save and ready!

By the way, if what you want is to learn to use Photoshop and/or Photopea in more detail, looking through the magnifying glass on the top right you will find a lot of articles dedicated to editing with Photoshop. We also recommend our Photoshop Masterclass, which includes Beginner and Advanced levels.

Photopea vs. Photoshop

If we compare Photopea with Photoshop, there are more similarities than differences.

In addition to price and the aspects of compatibility or online access that we have mentioned, the biggest difference is that Photopea has a smaller number of tools (although they are not few).

The interface, as I was saying, is very similar, the basic tools are practically the same, even the shortcuts are the same as in Photoshop, which makes it quite easy if you’re used to Adobe’s.

It may be that for the professional field, some people fall short, however, for personal and amateur use, I assure you that it is more than enough.

Advantage

It is intuitive and easy to use.

There are other free editors like GIMP, however, their interface is not as comfortable as Photopea’s.

It works on all kinds of devices and operating systems; with most browsers and with all types of files: PSD, JPG, PNG, RAW, PDF, Sketch, XCF, SVG, TIFF, GIF, TGA

Its premium version is not annual, like the Adobe subscription, but you pay month by month, only when you need it.

drawbacks

This all sounds fantastic and wonderful, so why would anyone want to pay for Photoshop when Photopea is around?

Simply because what is said to be perfect is not perfect. starting with all the banner of advertising. And it is understandable because I say that its developer has to live on something, right?

If you don’t want to see ads, you have no choice but to go through the checkout, although the ads appear on the right and are not too annoying.

It’s not like those times when to see something or work you have to be closing tabs because they put you ahead of what you’re doing or reading. You can check it in the following image.

What do I think of Photopea? That is a program to have very close at hand.

If you don’t know much about editing or you’ve never used Photoshop, you may get a little lost, but if you’ve used it and it’s no longer worth paying for it, or you want to learn how to use it, it’s certainly a highly recommended option. for both photographers and designers.

And, if for whatever reason, this is not your option, here are more editing programs, both for personal and professional use.

I hope this article has been useful to you. Feel free to share it if you think it might help someone else. I will be very grateful to you.