20 Best Free Photo Editing Software for Windows PC in 2024

Are you tired of scrolling through social media and feeling envious of others' amazingly beautiful photos? Don't let a lack of photography experience or editing knowledge hold you back. With the right free photo editing software, you can transform your pictures into works of art without spending a fortune.

We've done the research and gathered a list of the 20 best free photo editing software for Windows PC in 2024. These software options range from beginner-friendly to advanced, allowing you to edit pictures to your heart's desire. So why wait? Start sharing your memories on social media with confidence and join the photo editing revolution today!

• Snapshot of Our Top 3 Free Photo Editing Software
• 20 Best Free Photo Editing Software for Windows PC
• How to Choose the Best Software For You
• How Did We Conduct Our Test
• Best Free Photo Editing Software Comparison Chart
• What is the Best Free Photo Editing Software?
• Best Free Photo Editing Software FAQ

Snapshot of Our Top 3 Free Photo Editing Software

20 Best Free Photo Editing Software for Windows PC

1. PhotoDirector Essential
2. MyEdit Image Editing Tool
3. Promeo
4. Pixlr
5. Photoscape X
6. Fotor
7. BeFunky
8. Photopea
9. PhotoPad
10. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer
11. Photo Pos Pro
12. Canva
13. Paint.NET
14. Movavi Photo Editor
15. InPixio Photo Studio
16. GIMP
17. Adobe Express
18. Darktable
19. YouCam Online
20. PhotoFiltre 7

1. PhotoDirector Essential - Best for empowering creators of all experience levels to edit pictures into studio-quality masterpieces

Key Features

1. Harness the power of AI to instantly enhance photos, or use text-to-image tools to generate brand-new content
2. Reshape, repair, and enhance your complexion, figure, and overall appearance with photo retouching tools
3. Animate your photos easily with anchor points and make your own GIFs

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $3.75/month  

PhotoDirector Essential is the best free photo editor for PC and Mac, combining Lightroom’s photo organization with Photoshop's powerful editing tools. This user-friendly editor includes AI-powered tools and Guided modules, enabling beginners to achieve high-quality photo effects quickly.

It offers features like AI object removal and content-aware fill, which seamlessly replaces unwanted items, along with tools to restore old photos, remove blemishes, whiten teeth, apply blur, and create panoramas. Users can also access millions of stock images or generate new ones via AI prompts.

PhotoDirector Essential is ideal for beginners and experienced editors alike, staying up-to-date with photo trends through regular updates. The latest update adds even more AI features, like AI Scenes for transforming images into jungles, industrial scenes, beaches, and more, plus new backgrounds for product photography, making it a versatile tool for photographers, designers, and content creators.

Check out these related topics for photo editing:

• 19 Best Free Photoshop Alternatives in 2024
• The 12 Best AI Software [2024]
• 5 Best Online Cartoonizer Tools | Transform Your Photos into Cartoons for Free

2. MyEdit - Best for generating AI images and profile pics online

Key Features:

1. Convert images to JPG or PNG
2. Automatically transform your images into cartoons using 11 different cartoon/anime styles
3. Accurately remove backgrounds and objects from images with one click
4. Use AI to upscale, enhance, denoise, and deblur images to instantly improve quality and resolution

Compatibility: Web Browser

Overall : 4.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $4/month for Image and $7/month Image and Enhancer

MyEdit is the best free online photo editor, offering powerful AI tools that are easy for beginners. It includes unique AI effects and generative options, You can create new images from a text prompt, or apply a fun cartoon, sketch, or art filter to your current images. allowing users to create new images from text prompts or apply filters like cartoon or sketch effects. Users can even change outfits or transform rooms with AI Room, an interior design tool, and AI Product Background, which generates custom backdrops for merchandise. It’s ideal for profile pics too, with an Avatar and Headshot Generator.

This free photo editor also includes an image converter, basic tools for editing images like rotate, crop, flip, and resize, plus advanced features to remove distractions or upscale photos. We were highly impressed with the background and object remover tools, which were more accurate than in some more extensive paid software.

In addition to basic tools like crop, resize, and rotate, MyEdit provides advanced options like background and object removal, which are impressively accurate. Unlike most free software with limited AI credits, MyEdit’s credits renew daily, and the platform regularly updates with new features, including AI Replace, Image Fusion and a new text editor. While less comprehensive than PhotoDirector, MyEdit is the top choice for online editing with free AI content.

3. Promeo - Best for templated graphic ads for social media

Key Features:

1. Access millions of free stock images
2. Add animated elements to posts with motion titles and stickers
3. Easily remove objects or backgrounds with AI Auto Cutout
4. Choose from a diverse library of color filters and LUTs to instantly change the feel of your image

Compatibility: Windows

Google Play Rating: 4.6/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $2.50/month

Promeo is a top choice for content creators and online businesses, offering an easy way to create high-quality ads and product mock-ups. Simply choose a template, customize it, and share directly to social media. Like MyEdit, Promeo lets you generate images and product backgrounds from text prompts and apply them instantly to merchandise. You can even create templates with prompts like “Clothing 50% off sale.”

With this free photo editor for PC, you can remove objects and backgrounds instantly, or blur and white-out backgrounds to remove distractions. Promeo is unique because you can not only edit pictures but create short video posts as well. You can also add eye-catching animated elements to static posts, ads, invites, and flyers.

This free photo editor for PC includes tools to remove objects, blur backgrounds, and more. Unique to Promeo is its ability to create short videos and add animated elements to posts, ads, and invites. Customizing templates with text, stickers, LUTs, and images is straightforward, and the free version offers 1 million stock videos, 2 million images, and all titles, stickers, and LUTs. While MyEdit is the best online photo editor, Promeo stands out as the best free PC option for marketing, especially for video ads and animated content.

4. Pixlr - Best for beginners to learn layer editing

Key Features

1. Create stunning designs with pre-made templates in a variety of social-media-friendly sizes
2. Generate a product mockup
3. Improve portraits with a range of skin retouch tools

Compatibility: Windows, Web Browser

Get App Rating: 4.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $0.99/month for Plus, $1.99/month for Premium, and $7.99/month for Team

This versatile free photo editor for PC allows you to create graphic designs from templates, edit photos, make product mock-ups, and generate AI images from text. Pixlr has long been a top choice for photo collages, and its new AI-powered Photo Grid Maker automatically arranges images into multiple grid layouts, letting you customize aspect ratio, grid line size, background color, and corner shape.

Pixlr is lightweight, making it suitable for beginners and experienced editors alike. It supports layers, masks, customizable brushes, and visual effects, and includes 10,000+ templates optimized for various platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

While some free tools have been moved behind a paywall and export limits apply, Pixlr still offers many free features, including generative AI, an Avatar Generator, and Product Shot Creator. However, we found some limitations—Pixlr doesn’t support iPhone (HEIC) images, and navigating tools can be challenging since they often require downloading and re-uploading images for further editing.

5. Photoscape X - Best for batch editing images

Key Features

1. Create stunning panoramic photos with ease
2. Quickly remove blemishes, spots, and other imperfections with a spot-healing brush
3. Emulate the look of old film cameras with light leak effects

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

TechRadar Rating: 4.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4.5/5

Price: Free
*Pro version available for $39.99

Photoscape X is ideal for anyone needing to edit multiple images at once, offering batch tools for resizing, renaming, and format changes. More than just a free photo editor for PC, it also serves as a photo viewer, GIF creator, screen capture tool, and RAW converter. It includes automatic effects like color splash, selective color adjustments, and color replacement.

Users appreciate its quick, beginner-friendly interface, though it ranks #5 due to its lack of updates (none in two years) and absence of AI tools. Additionally, it lacks support for many formats and struggles with RAW files.

6. Fotor - Best for creating profile pics

Key Features

1. Improve images instantly with 1-Tap Skin Retouch, 1-Tap Enhance, and AI Enlargement
2. Create the perfect profile pic with AI Avatar Generator and Circle Crop
3. Add depth and focus to your photos with various blur tools, including radial and tilt-shift blur

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.2/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $3.33/month for Pro and $7.50/month for Pro+

Fotor is a top photo editor with AI effects, allowing you to turn profile pics into cartoons, anime, or even comic styles, and landscapes into impressionist or abstract art. It offers tools like Color Splash, black-and-white colorization, and fun options like Face Swap, AI Expand, and a Text Remover. With interfaces for design, editing, collage-making, and AI content, it’s easy to use for beginners.

Fotor is at the cutting edge of AI, but its free version is limited: most tools require a subscription, ads can cause lag, and exports have watermarks. Additionally, free credits for AI content are limited, unlike in PhotoDirector or MyEdit, which refresh daily.

7. BeFunky - Best for editing images with overlays and frames

Key Features

1. Choose from a massive amount of image overlays and textures to customize images
2. Enhance your photos with a variety of unique filters and art effects
3. Access over 1 million free stock images to use in your projects

Compatibility: Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.2/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $5.99/month

BeFunky is one of the best free photo editors for adding personality to your images, with a range of artistic filters, graphics, and text tools. We especially like its themed overlays and frames, which offer more variety and customization than other free editors. Overlays come in categories like Alphabet, Patterns, Hearts, and Halloween, and can be adjusted for transparency, size, rotation, and blur. Frames, such as Art Deco and Filmstrip, allow for color, opacity, and padding adjustments.

BeFunky also includes portrait retouching tools for adding makeup, whitening teeth, and erasing blemishes. With ten editing modules, users can quickly access photo editing, collage-making, and graphic design features. However, many tools are only available in the paid version and aren’t labeled, making it hard to tell if they’re premium. The constant pop-up tips for each tool can also be distracting. For a similar tool with more free features and an AI image generator, we recommend PhotoDirector as an alternative.

8. Photopea - Best for Photoshop users on a budget

Key Features

1. Access a variety of drawing tools including pens/brushes, path selections, and an automatic rectangle tool
2. Remove blemishes and other imperfections with healing/spot brushes
3. Automatically create a lovely ombre effect with one-click gradients

Compatibility: Web Browser

Software Advice Rating: 4.6/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:3.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium version available for $8 for 30 days, $15 for 90 days, or $50 for one year (Teams pricing is also available for teams of 5, 20, and 50)  

Photopea is the best free alternative to Photoshop, especially for users familiar with Photoshop’s interface and tools. It supports Photoshop files and offers a robust feature set, including stock images, templates, filters, and adjustments for both photo editing and graphic design. Although it has a premium version, all tools remain free, with the paid option primarily removing ads, increasing storage, and offering email support.

Photopea is updated annually, with recent additions like the Magic Replace tool, enhanced one-click Background Removal, and a new Blur Gallery for selective blurring. While it’s highly functional, Photopea can be challenging for beginners. Despite the helpful Learn tab, users unfamiliar with Photoshop may find the learning curve steep, especially without real-time effect previews.

9. PhotoPad - Best for resizing images

Key Features

1. Add color to black-and-white images and bring new life to old photos
2. Quickly and easily remove blemishes, spots, and other imperfections
3. Choose from a selection of clipart and fonts to add creative elements to your photos

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

G2 Rating: 4.1/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4/5

Price: Free
*Premium versions available for $60 for Home, $70 for Pro, or $3.88/month for unlimited updates

PhotoPad is an excellent free photo editor, especially for image resizing and upscaling. It uses AI-powered tools to resize images without losing quality, including a liquid resize effect and a Super Resolution tool for lossless upscaling, making it ideal for printing.

In addition to basic editing tools like frames, color correction, and cropping, PhotoPad offers advanced features such as blur, drawing tools, and creative effects like warp and paint, typically found in premium software.

User-friendly and equipped with helpful resources like tutorials and support, PhotoPad is perfect for beginners. However, it lacks extensive customization options and photo organization features.

10. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer - Best for correcting perspective distortions

Key Features

1. Add a touch of drama to your photos with implosion/explosion effects
2. Fine-tune the tonality of your images by adjusting brightness, contrast, and more
3. Easily crop and rotate your photos to perfect composition

Compatibility: Windows

CNET Rating: 4.1/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4/5

Price: Free
*Premium version available for $12/year or $15

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer is ideal for correcting perspective distortions in landscapes or tall buildings with just a click. It also enhances photos by optimizing colors, contrast, and exposure, with manual adjustments for precise editing.

The software offers a clean UI, with tools easily accessible in two clicks or less. Version 10 includes 30 built-in LUTs and supports downloading additional LUTs. While the auto-optimization tool is useful, it can be inconsistent, and the software lacks advanced features like layer editing.

11. Photo Pos Pro - Best for text effects for graphic designs

Key Features

1. Remove and replace unwanted backgrounds
2. Choose from a variety of frame and collage templates
3. Quickly and easily remove red eye from your portraits

Compatibility: Windows

TechRadar Rating: 4/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4/5

Price: Free
*Premium version available for $49.99

Photo Pos Pro is a great free photo editor known for its stunning text effects and a variety of font styles, including gel, chrome, and metal. It offers two modes: Novice for beginners with one-click solutions, and Expert for manual editing tools.

The software includes special effects like dispersion, pencil sketch, and motion effects, along with professional tools such as Layers, Masks, Brushes, and more. While it's versatile, Novice mode lacks some features, and Expert mode has a steep learning curve with a different layout. For ease of use, PhotoDirector may be a better option.

12. Canva - Best for graphic design

Key Features

1. Add text and graphics to your photos to create memes
2. Edit any element of a design in a variety of ways
3. Create mockups or logos with the transparent image background tool

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Web Browser

PCMag Rating: 4.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:3.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium version available for $119.99/year

Canva is a free photo editor for beginners, perfect for creating marketing materials and social media posts. It offers customizable templates for various platforms, along with thousands of filters, frames, graphics, stickers, and text options. The software includes an easy image enhancement tool to brighten and sharpen photos, plus adjustment sliders for finer edits. You can also create projects like calendars, flyers, and memes.

While Canva has millions of design assets, the best ones are reserved for premium users. Its new Magic Studio includes AI-powered tools for generating content and editing images. However, many of these tools, like background removal and object manipulation, are only available in the Pro version. Magic Edit is a free option, but it’s difficult to find or access without a Pro subscription.

13. Paint.NET - Best for layer editing

Key Features

1. Copy and paste pixels from one part of an image to another with the clone stamp tool
2. Draw smooth, precise shapes and lines with drawing tools for Bezier curves
3. Add depth and dimension with powerful gradient tools

Compatibility: Windows

FixThePhoto Rating: 3.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4/5

Price: Free

Paint.NET is a free photo editing software that offers multi-layer editing, a feature usually found in paid tools. It tracks every edit, allowing you to easily undo changes. You can adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and more, as well as apply effects like sepia, black-and-white, blur, or sharpening. Unique features include a 3D Rotate/Zoom effect for perspective changes.

While not a replacement for professional software, Paint.NET is great for beginners learning advanced editing. The main drawback is its limited text editing—once text is added, you can’t make changes to it, unlike most other free editors.

14. Movavi Photo Editor - Best for quick and easy object removal

Key Features

1. Enhance clarity and detail with sharpness adjustments
2. Easily remove objects and backgrounds with AI
3. Correct light and color by adjusting exposure, brightness, contrast, and more

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

FixThePhoto Rating: 3.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:4/5

Price: First 10 images are free, then $49.95/year or $69.95 for a lifetime license

Movavi Photo Editor is a user-friendly tool, originally designed for object removal, which it does effectively using AI to replace removed objects with natural backgrounds. It also offers automatic editing tools with sliders for adjusting color, brightness, contrast, and saturation, plus a Magic Enhance feature for lighting improvements.

In addition to basic editing, Movavi includes fun elements like stickers, overlays, and text for customized photos. It also features AI tools like portrait retouching, black-and-white colorization, and extra color presets. However, while it’s great for beginners, some AI features may not meet expectations. Movavi offers a free trial with watermarks on up to 10 edited photos but lacks a free-forever version like some competitors.

15. InPixio Photo Studio - Best for adding and editing frames

Key Features

1. Replace skies and backgrounds with ease
2. Improve image quality by removing noise and grain
3. Remove unwanted objects from your photos with object removal

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

Capterra Rating: 3.9/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:3.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $49.99/year for Studio, $59.99/year for Studio Pro, and $99.99/year for Studio Ultimate

InPixio is a free photo editor for PC known for its one-click AI editing and a wide selection of 100+ customizable frames for various occasions. The free version also includes filters, textures, and vignettes, with options for manual control over cropping, brightness, contrast, and adding text.

While the program’s more advanced tools are reserved for the paid version, InPixio Photo Studio is suitable for basic tasks like cropping, adjusting, or applying frames and filters. However, its premium versions are not as competitive as other options on the market, which is why it ranks lower on our list.

16. GIMP - Best for advanced editors and illustrators

Key Features

1. Improve the dynamic range of your photos with tone mapping
2. Enhance your designs with a variety of graphic design elements like shapes and textures
3. Create original artwork with tools designed for digital painting and illustration

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:3/5

Price: Free

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a powerful, free photo editor with advanced features like layer editing, masking, and color management, rivaling paid software like Photoshop. It also supports creating original artwork with brushes such as Paintbrush, Pencil, and Airbrush, and you can extend its functionality with free plugins. GIMP is ideal for editors, illustrators, and graphic designers on a budget, and works well with other open-source software like Scribus and Inkscape.

However, GIMP has a steep learning curve and lacks some user-friendly features, like a magnetic lasso tool, making object selection difficult. Its complex interface can overwhelm beginners, and there's limited support outside of community forums. This is why it ranks #16 on our list.

17. Adobe Express - Best for social media

Key Features

1. Easily crop your photos to achieve the perfect composition
2. Remove unwanted backgrounds with one click
3. Add AI textures to text using a descriptive prompt

Compatibility: Web Browser

PCMag Rating: 3.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:3.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $9.99/month

Adobe Express greets you with templates for creating social media posts like YouTube banners, TikTok ads, Instagram posts, and Facebook Stories. Its instant resize tool is perfect for influencers who need to repurpose content across multiple platforms. The Premium version adds branding kits and a content scheduler.

This all-in-one tool includes photo editing, graphic design, video editing, and PDF editing. The free version offers limited Adobe Stock images and fonts, but its strength lies in its polished, fully customizable templates.

While similar to Canva, Adobe Express falls short in photo editing features and lacks layer editing. It only accepts JPG files, which is why we placed Canva above it on the list.

18. Darktable - Best for Lightroom users on a budget

Key Features

1. Easily retouch your photos with tools that can fix exposure, color, and more
2. Add location data to your photos with geotagging support
3. Reduce noise and improve image quality with denoise tools

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

FixThePhoto Rating: 3.5/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools:3.5/5 

Price: Free

Darktable is a free, open-source photo editor for PC, ideal for Lightroom users. It supports tethered shooting and RAW image processing for over 400 cameras, and offers photo management tools like geotags, stars, and color labels for up to 10,000 images. While its cataloging features aren’t as robust as Lightroom’s, Darktable provides more advanced editing tools.

Perfect for professional-level color adjustments, hot pixel fixes, masking, and blending, Darktable also lets you add grain for an analog film effect, create monochrome images, or demosaic photos.

Although it has helpful resources like forums and tutorials, Darktable has a steep learning curve, and its slow performance can be frustrating for professionals, which is why it ranks #18 on our list.

19. YouCam Online - Best online tool for beauty edits

Key Features

1. AI Hairstyle generator
2. Impressive AI photo colorizer

Compatibility: Windows

AI Tools Rating: 3.8/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4.1/5 

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available starting from $2.50/month for 40 credits

YouCam Online is a versatile photo editing platform offering a wide range of tools to enhance and transform your images. Among its standout features are AI-powered beautification tools that let users try new hairstyles, apply makeup, or refine facial features effortlessly. These tools are ideal for those looking to personalize their photos with high-quality, creative edits.

In addition to these advanced features, YouCam Online also offers basic tools like a photo enhancer to improve image quality, cropping functions for better framing, and filters to add unique visual effects.

One of its most powerful features is the 'Generative AI' module, which includes an image generator and an avatar creator, perfect for users who want to create custom digital characters or unique images from scratch.

However, the platform offers only a limited number of free credits. Once these are used up, users will need to purchase more credits to continue using the features. Subscriptions start at $6.67 per month for 200 credits, which may be a drawback for those seeking long-term access without recurring costs.

20. PhotoFiltre 7 - Best for total beginners

Key Features

1. "PhotoMasque" tool for advanced effects of contour and transparency with preset masks
2. Layers for text, color, transparent effect, etc.

Compatibility: Windows

AlternativeTo Rating: 4.7/5

Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5 

Price: Free

PhotoFiltre 7 is a fantastic free photo editing software available exclusively for Windows. With its intuitive interface, predefined filters, and user-friendly features, it’s an excellent choice for all your editing needs. Whether you want to adjust brightness, rotate your image, or apply a filter, PhotoFiltre makes it easy.

The software is also highly efficient on low-power computers. We’ve tested it on older machines and experienced no bugs or slowdowns. However, its outdated interface and lack of advanced features may not satisfy more experienced editors.

How to Choose the Best Software For You

We’ve narrowed the field of suitable free programs you can use to edit pictures, but how do you choose the very best for your needs? Below are a few things to look out for in a free photo editor for PC:

Features

The photo editing tools on our list cover everything from social-media-friendly templates to layer editing and basic tools. Explore each option to ensure your favorites are included.

Budget

Some of these editors are completely free, while others offer limited free versions or trial options. If you’re looking for free tools, ensure they include your essential features. If you plan to upgrade, verify the premium version fits within your budget before investing time in learning the software.

Skill Level

Choose software that matches your skill level. Beginners should look for user-friendly options to avoid frustration, while experienced users may prefer advanced tools with greater creative control.

How Did We Conduct Our Test

Why Trust Our Recommendations? We thoroughly test and rank software to bring you the 20 best free photo editors for PC.

Test Key Features

We evaluate each program's basic features for direct comparison, then explore tools unique to each editor for a comprehensive review.

Compare Versions

We compare both free and premium versions to clarify which features are included at no cost and which require a subscription.

Analyze Reviews

We analyze both critic and user reviews from trusted sources to validate our findings and ensure well-rounded rankings.

Best Free Photo Editing Software Comparison Chart

What is the Best Free Photo Editing Software?

Whether you’re a casual photographer or a pro, demand the best from your free photo editor. PhotoDirector, available for Windows and Mac, offers advanced features like photo animation, background removal, and stunning special effects.

It includes beautification tools, trending AI features, and remains user-friendly with guided edits and tutorials. With everything from one-click corrections to advanced layer editing, PhotoDirector provides a powerful yet accessible editing experience.

Download PhotoDirector by clicking the link below and get started editing images for free today!