5 Best Paint.NET Alternatives

Paint.Net is an easy and convenient image editor with a clear and well-ordered interface. With Paint.Net you can make some basic editing without deep changes and professional retouch. The software will come in handy for SMM Specialists and Photography lovers who need to put pictures in order fast.

Paint.Net has a similar Adobe Photoshop interface. Tools like a magnifier, crop frame, color picker, and brushes are placed on the bar on the left side, history of editing and layers to work on - on the right side in different windows. All image editing functions are available in the Adjustments menu, including tools of Hue / Saturation and Curves. These tools are usually used by professional photographers and photo retouchers. In this program, you can overlay layers, mix them, for this you need to choose a "Layers" palette tool. You can return to any stage of photo editing. 

Someday you may need more powerful software to bring to life all your creative ideas. We have made a list of 5 Paint.Net alternatives. Choose the right one and enjoy it. 

1. Luminar 4

Luminar 4 makes editing simple, fast and clear due to Artificial Intelligence. Thanks to AI, you can retouch portraits, make perfect sky on the landscapes, fix colors, lights, and shadows in seconds. Luminar 4 makes all manual processes automatic. It aligns the tone and texture of the skin, removes wrinkles and acne. The Golden Hour feature will catch a beautiful sunset and bring a warm and soft light to your picture. Luminar 4 has a special tool for sky editing which calls AI Sky Replacement. It provides an effect that is close to HDR by increasing contrast, works with lights and shadows.

2. Gimp

Gimp is a free and simple photo editor with a good set of tools. GIMP's interface is standard for the graphics-program layout. The toolbox is placed on the left, and the layers, channels, brushes, colors, undo history, etc. are on the right. The tabs display very useful thumbnails of the pictures, rather than just the names as other photo editors do.

Gimp offers you not only basic editing tools but also some advanced special-effect filters; exposure controls, such as levels and curves; and color controls, such as hue/saturation; replace color, bucket fill, paintbrush, eraser, selection tools, and so on. GIMP offers practically no guidance. The Help menu depends on a user manual that has to be installed separately. Though you can access the manual online, that version is difficult to navigate.

3. Fotor 

Fotor is an online photo editor that fits you if you need some fast and simple editing. Fotor aroused a lot of anger among users because of automatic subscription renew. Satisfied users saying that the tool is easy to use and photo filters are amazing. Some of them call Fotor an All-in-one editor. With Fotor you can also add text on your pictures, edit sequences of pictures via batch editing and create collages that are very useful for SMM specialists and beginner designers. Finished works can be saved on the computer, or uploaded to Facebook, Flickr or Twitter.

4. FireAlpaca

FireAlpaca is a free graphic editor mostly for drawing and painting. With FireAlpaca you can draw illustrations, posters, postcards, logos, and many other graphic products. FireAlpaca is a simpler analog of Adobe Illustrator. The software’s toolkit includes brushes, pen, selection and shape tools, gradient and many others to create a full-fledged product. The program is available in 10 languages. it provides unusual perspective tools like multiple perspective views and cancellation lines. It also offers the freedom to swap to 3D objects (e.g., a cube) using the 3D perspective. Impressively, FireAlpaca comes with features crafted for comic book artists. These features include built-in templates and panel layouts.

FireAlpacaprovides plenty of image editing tools including flip, resize, filters, selections, canvas size, rotate, and layer support. These tools allow the user to generate images and keep them organized.

5. Aurora HDR

Aurora HDR was created by Luminar developers special for HDR effect fans. Aurora HDR increases contrast, works with tones, lights and shadows make picture clear and expressive. The main destination of the program is to create an HDR effect without over-the-top, with a good shape and taste. Aurora’s interface is similar to Adobe Photoshop. You have a large workspace in the middle and a set of switchers that controls temperature, exposure, lights, shadows, contrast, etc, on the right side. You can also like Aurora HDR because the software makes the editing process automatic. It allows you to work with RAW images. Aurora has a lot of useful tools like Denoise, Details Boost and Clarity. All of them together can turn even low-fi phone photography into a well-detailed aesthetic picture. 

Free/ Paid Paint.NET Alternatives

Paint.Net may help you to make some basic and simple photo editing. 

But when you need more powerful tools like HDR effect or high-quality retouch - use Luminar 4 or Aurora HDR. Luminar makes editing almost automatic, took all the routine via AI Technology. Aurora giving contrast, expressiveness, and sharpness - an HDR effect without over-the-top. 

You may like a FireAlpaca - straight and clear Adobe Illustrator analog for painting and drawing. Or Gimp - a photo editor with a simple interface and a good set of tools.