7 free alternatives to Adobe's apps

ArtCraft's Crafting Apps are a family of free, open-source desktop apps. Seven of them each follow one of Adobe's tools. Here they are one at a time: what each is for, and what to know first.

The seven at a glance

What ArtCraft says about all of them

From ArtCraft's own apps page (getartcraft.com/apps):

• Familiar from day one. "Layouts, tools and shortcuts that working professionals already know, so there's nothing to relearn."
• Your files, your machine. "Everything runs locally on your own files. No cloud round-trips between you and your work."
• Agent-ready. "Drive every app from a CLI, a JSON control channel or an MCP server, built for automation and AI agents."

01. PhotoCraft, the Photoshop alternative

ArtCraft calls it the open-source image editor you already know how to use. It has layers, adjustment layers such as Curves and Levels, layer styles on live type, selections and masks, and real PSD files.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Open a photo, add a Curves adjustment layer, then a text layer with a drop shadow.

02. VectorCraft, the Illustrator alternative

Vector illustration with the pen and direct-selection tools, live blends, gradient mesh, envelope distort, a perspective grid and Pathfinder shape operations.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Draw two overlapping shapes and try a Pathfinder cut.

03. PdfCraft, the Acrobat alternative

Read, organise, combine, split and secure PDFs. It also handles forms, layers, threaded comments and redaction, and its command line tool has an audit command that finds fake redactions.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Combine two PDFs and reorder the pages.

04. DesignCraft, the InDesign alternative

Page layout and publishing: text frames that flow across columns and pages, and spreads.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Start a two-page spread, flow a long text across both pages, and add a pull quote.

05. FilmCraft, the Premiere Pro alternative

A multi-track timeline with video scopes, effect controls, keyframes and export presets. Caption tracks import and export as SRT, WebVTT and SCC, speech to text is optional and off by default, and filmcraft-cli run builds a timeline from a script file of commands without opening the app.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Drop three clips on a sequence, cut one with the razor, and export H.264 for the web.

06. EffectCraft, the After Effects alternative

Compositions, layers, keyframes, expressions and 3D cameras and lights. ArtCraft lists hundreds of effects and 38 blend modes. It exports video, image sequences and Lottie.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Make a title, keyframe its position and opacity over one second, and render H.264.

07. LightCraft, the Lightroom alternative

A photo library and raw developer that runs on your machine: exposure, highlight and shadow sliders, colour grading wheels and masking.

Screenshot: ArtCraft press kit.

Try it: Import a few photos, develop one, and compare it with the original.

Where ArtCraft's AI studio fits

ArtCraft also makes an AI studio: you block a scene in simple 3D, and AI generates images and video from it. Per ArtCraft's pricing page, generation runs on credits (plans from $10 a month) or on your own compute and third-party subscriptions. ArtCraft presents the studio separately from the seven apps above, which are free.

Let an AI drive them

ArtCraft says every app can be driven from a command line tool, a JSON control channel or an MCP server, built for automation and AI agents. Each app's command line tool includes an mcp command, for example photocraft-cli mcp. PhotoCraft's can also bridge to a running app started with --control <port>, so an AI works in the open window and you watch the layers appear.

Get them

Download from ArtCraft's own pages: PhotoCraft, VectorCraft, PdfCraft, DesignCraft, FilmCraft, EffectCraft and LightCraft. The full list of ArtCraft's apps is at getartcraft.com/apps.

Things to take note of

• These are young apps. Keep a copy of anything important in a format you already use.
• They update constantly, so what works today can change. Check each app's page for its latest build.
• VectorCraft draws the named colour rebeccapurple as black. Hex codes such as #663399 draw correctly.
• PhotoCraft cannot save AVIF. PNG, JPEG and WebP work.
• After redacting in PdfCraft, check the document's metadata. The title can still hold the phrase you redacted.
• Check each app's page before you rely on a file format.
• The AI studio is a separate product with paid credits. The seven apps are free.
• Screenshots marked "ArtCraft press kit" come from ArtCraft's own press page.