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Article: The Best Free Grafix Programs
Do you really get what you pay for?
Electric's guide to the best free and trial graphics software.
You can make web graphics in anything from huge fancy programs like Photoshop, to Windows freebies like MS Paint.
With literally thousands of free, and free-to-try graphics programs available to download from the net, where should you start
to look?
Perhaps a good place to begin is by considering what you need a graphics program for. Do you intend to make lots of animated
banners? Is it essential that you can save your files as highly compressed gifs for quick download? You might need to make images
with transparent backgrounds so they work well on any web page, or perhaps all this sounds a bit over complicated to you, and you
just want something that's easy to use.
So lets get reviewing...
Paint.net is a new addition to this review suggested by a visitor. It's a completely free program for Windows XP SP2 or later.
This is a nice small download that comes in zip format, and has an easy to use installation wizard. Better still you don't have to
sign up to anything in order to download it.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | No |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png, tiff & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows XP SP2 or later |
| Easy to Install/Use | Very Good (9/10) |
I like this program a lot. It's very simple to install and use, and has a whole range of cool effects and styles which make it suitable for
both graphic artwork and photo editing. It's not dissimilar to a simple version of Photoshop. You can save files in all the usual formats, and best of
all it's completely and permanently free. The only drawback is perhaps that it has no support for Linux, Mac OS's or earlier versions of Windows
[ see system requirements ].
Next up, Photoshop, the program that does everything. Unfortunately it isnt free, but you can try it free for 30 days.
This program is massive, so if you have a low spec computer or a dial up connection its not for you. Even on broadband expect
it to take a while, and you have to register at the Adobe site to access the free downloads.
| Free/Trial | Trial- 30 days |
| Animation | Yes |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows/Mac OS |
| Easy to Install/Use | Awful (2/10) |
So is it worth it? Well the experts certainly seem to rate it. Myself Id say if you dont have much experience with graphics
programs you should probably steer clear of it. It is a really good program that does indeed do it all, but the sheer number of
options makes it insanely complicated to use, and I certainly wouldnt recommend it to a novice.
This one is completely free and doesnt take too long to download. There is no registration to go through on the site, but when
you open the program you have to register it with an email address before you can use it.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | Yes |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Fair (6/10) |
I found some elements of this one a bit hard to get to grips with. One or two of the tools behave in unexpected ways, and the animation
section is a bit more complicated than it need be.
You do however get a lot of options, some pretty shapes, and several cool effects to play with. You can even apply effects to
animations to create a sort of transition. Overall I thought this program was really good.
Also completely free, but again you need to enter an email address to register it before you can use it. This program is
designed for creating simple graphics and animations, not photo editing.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | Yes |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Excellent (9/10) |
I think as a basic graphics and animation program this one is fantastic. Its brilliantly simple to use, the tools are where you expect
them to be, and do precisely what they say on the tin, you even get cute little popup hints the first time you use a tool explaining
how it works. You have built in images, built in backgrounds and textures, and a few shapes and such things. Animation options are
clear and easy to work with. The only drawback is the lack of more advanced features and effects. This is a great program to start
To access this trial download you haveto register with the coral site and give them a correct email address. Even once you manage
this, the program is quite big and takes some time to download and install.
| Free/Trial | Trial - 30 days |
| Animation | No |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Poor (3/10) |
This one has a fun little feature called the picture tube that spits out cool looking things like the butterfly in the pic above.
It has a multitude of options, a full collection of image optimisers and a nice looking graphic interface with a handy little help
panel over to one side. As a photo editing program this is pretty good. Its comprehensive, and therefore naturally a little
complicated, but the help panel changes to offer information about each tool as you select it, which helps a lot.
At first glance I didnt like this one, and couldnt understand the enthusiasm surrounding it. It is far from easy to install requiring
a seperate runtime enviroment to be installed first, and when you do finally manage it, youre met with an odd looking 3 window setup
rather than the more traditional everything in one. However...
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | Yes |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows/Linux/Mac OS |
| Easy to Install/Use | Quite Poor (4/10) |
Although it may require you to read the instructions, GIMP possibly has the most options of any free image manipulation program Ive
ever seen. The tools are clear and big and easy to use. For more animation options you can also download GAP (Gimp Animation Package)
available at:
[ ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/plug-ins/v2.2/gap ].
For such a complicated looking program, GIMP is suprisingly easy to get the hang of, and has plenty of features to keep you
amused!
Brush Strokes is a very simple image editor. The features are limited and animation capability practically none existant. It does
have a cool camera capture feature, allowing you to grab an image directly from your webcam to work on, but when I tried this it
crashed the program every time. Brush strokes is a small program, and easy to install and use.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | Only very basic
animation possible |
| Transparancy | No |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, & bmp. |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Very Good (8/10) |
Pixia is brilliantly easy to install... and only a little harder to use. I thought that one or two of the tools could have
behaved in more predictable ways, but most of them are pretty good, and the interface is pleasantly colorful and graphic.
Pixia has a couple of interesting brushes and backgrounds, a small selection of built in images, and some interesting effects.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | No |
| Transparancy | No |
| Can Save Files As | jpg, png, psd & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Good (7/10) |
Overall not a bad little program, but definatly a little one- without options to animate or create transparancy, or even gifs
this program may be better suited to specific projects than general use.
This one is small and easy to download and install, and you dont need to register or enter an email address. Its nice and simple
to use, and all the basic tools are clearly visible and work how youd expect. You also get a few effects, backgrounds, and
little stamp-on images.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | No |
| Transparancy | No |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Good (7/10) |
All in all a nice little program for making simple static graphics.
You can actually download this one without entering your email (click on the link above the form). Its nice and simple to install.
The tools are clear, easy to find, and do what you expect, and theres a few pretty effects to play with. As a free version though,
this program has fairly limited functionality without even the option to save your images as a gif unless you buy a upgrade.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | No |
| Transparancy | No |
| Can Save Files As | jpg, png & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Good (7/10) |
This program is really easy to install, but the shortcut it adds to your start menu doesnt work (which means you haveto go
into your program files to launch it again)! Whilst the fancy effects arent too hard to use, simple stuff like getting the basic
tools to do what you want is more of a challenge. The program doesnt support the standard keyboard shortcuts (undo/delete), and
even saving a file isnt all that simple, requiring you to actually type the extension you want as part of the filename.
| Free/Trial | Free |
| Animation | No |
| Transparancy | Yes |
| Can Save Files As | gif, jpg, png & more. |
| Supported OS's | Windows Only |
| Easy to Install/Use | Poor (3/10) |
Infuriating as I found the lack of clear, properly functioning tools, I actually quite liked playing with this program, it does
some interesting, and quite original things, including screen captures, and "gadgets" allowing you to stick little labels and
buttons to your images.
...So which do I rate?
Certainly any of these programs are worth a look, but my top three favourites would be:
1. GIMP
[ download it ]
The free program with the most options of all! Whilst it may not be the best program to start with, its functionality
definately makes it the best all rounder. I'd definately recommend taking the time to play around with this one.
2. Paint.Net
[ download it ]
This is an inspired little piece of work, rated second only because of it's lack of support for OS's other than Windows XP SP2 or later.
It's simple enough for novices, but contains enough effects and tools to amuse more advanced users, and everything is easy to find and use.
3. Serif Photoplus
[ download it ]
Again lots of options, quite a few tools that I was suprised to find on a free program, and overall not too hard
to get the hang of. The interface is fairly similar to photoshop, and while some bits are a bit hard to get the hang of, overall
its a nicely arranged little program.
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