So, Apple has jumped on the Adobe bandwagon and is now charging rent for creative tools 😞

Alternatively, you can use free open source alternatives without any subscription:

VIDEO EDITING
@kdenlive

ANIMATION & EFFECTS
@blender@video.blender.org & @Blender@mastodon.social

RASTER ART / PAINTING
@Krita@mastodon.art & @krita@tube.kockatoo.org

VECTOR ART
@inkscape

RAW IMAGE PROCESSING
@darktable

AUDIO EDITING & PROCESSING
@tenacity
@ardour
@zrythm

DESKTOP PUBLISHING
@www.scribus.net.news

#Creative #Art #Apple #Adobe #Alternatives

in reply to FediFollows

p.s. In case you missed it, Apple announced a new subscription package for their creative software and from now on some features will be subscription-only: macrumors.com/2026/01/13/apple…

reshared this

in reply to Gerard Thomas

@iamgerardthomas

You can still buy standalone, but from now on some of the features will be subscription-only: macrumors.com/2026/01/13/apple…

in reply to FediFollows

Black Magic's #davinciresolve is a full blown, professional grade video editor that is free.

The feature I like is you can equalise colors across multiple clips.

*) There are some advanced features NOT enabled the the free package, like composititing and advanced network (keys) operations, but if you need those, you are a professional getting paid pro fees.

in reply to FediFollows

@FediFollows@social.growyourown.service some of those are great, some aren't - I use Inkscape, it's UI leaves a LOT to be desired on OSX but it works. Krita is good at what it does, but mostly for painting/tablet work, not really great at compositing/design.

Darktable tho - nope. Not even close to Lightroom or Capture One. Blender is good if you want 3D but noticeable there isn't a real After Effects replacement. Never has been.

At least you didn't mention GIMP!

There is another way tho - companies who aren't open source but pay once or longterm free tier. Open Source is nice, but not if the tools are really basic like with Kdenlive.

Davinci Resolve - pay once or free version

Affinity - designers hate Canva but it's free now, works WAY better than Krita. Will it stay free?

Reaper - a far better DAW than Ardour, Ardour is OK but fiddly. Reaper has a free model for aeons that never expires, like Resolve.

Pixelmator Pro on OSX - sadly now owned by Apple. If it goes sub tier I will stop using it...cos now we have Affinity free

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