Description
GIMP is a free, open-source photo editor and image creation program for Windows, macOS and Linux. It crops, corrects colours, cuts out shapes, works with layers and masks, paints and draws.
It began in 1995 as a student project by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis at the University of California, Berkeley, and is released under the GNU GPL. Volunteers develop it, a few of them funded through Patreon and Liberapay, and donations go through the GNOME Foundation, a US non-profit. There is no subscription, no account and no advertising. Version 3.0 (March 2025) brought non-destructive filters and multi-layer selection, and 3.2 (2026) vector and link layers; the current release is 3.2.8, from November 2026. GIMP also opens and saves Photoshop (PSD) files.
For print work it handles CMYK only by splitting an image into channels, not as a native mode, and its developers suggest combining it with Scribus and Inkscape.
Strengths
- All tools free, without subscription, account or ads.
- Layers, masks and more than 150 filters cover most editing needs.
- Opens and saves PSD files to work with Photoshop users.
Weaknesses
- A steep learning curve, especially for Photoshop users.
- No mobile app or web version.
- No native CMYK mode for print, and RAW photos need an extra plug-in.
Who it is for
People who often edit photos or make visuals (posters, logos, montages) on a computer and don’t want to pay for Photoshop.
Sources
- GIMP: Home, About, News, Donating, checked November 2026
- Wikipedia: GIMP