“Photoshop transcended being a piece of software to become a verb indicating any kind of image manipulation. The problem is that it costs you money. The cost isn’t quite as extravagant as it was years ago because of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription bundles, but it’s still a decent investment, and many people go out looking for the best Photoshop alternative they can find. Most of the time, that’s the open-source gem GIMP.

So…What Exactly is GIMP?

Before we go any further, understand this: GIMP not as polished as Adobe Photoshop. If you’re used to open-source software, that should come as no surprise. It’s really hard to get UX and UI designers to contribute as much as devs for some reason. If you want the sleek, polished, ultra-professional, modern experience, head to the Creative Cloud page and subscribe. GIMP ain’t gonna work for you. And that’s cool.

But if you’re not scared away by the simple, function UI, there’s a lot of power in this Photoshop alternative.

Read the whole thing here.