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PhotoCraft vs Photoshop: how much can a free, open-source clone replace?

PhotoCraft is a free, open-source, Photoshop-style editor in early alpha, while Photoshop is Adobe’s paid, mature product. PhotoCraft opens and saves PSD files and copies Photoshop’s menus and shortcuts, but it has no generative AI and no Photoshop plug-in support, and by its authors’ own estimate it covers roughly 25–35% of what a professional needs for daily work. Every cell below names its source; no prices are quoted because Adobe’s change by country and over time.

Last verified: Unofficial resource

Feature comparison

DimensionPhotoCraftPhotoshop
Price and licenseFree and open source, dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. ArtCraft sells a separate subscription with AI credits; those generative features are not in this app (reviewer’s report, early build).
READMEOMG! Ubuntu
Sold as a paid plan, with a free trial. Photoshop on desktop, web and mobile comes with a plan, and the mobile app is free to download. Prices differ by country, so check Adobe’s page.
Adobe product page
PlatformsWindows (x64, arm64, x86), macOS (universal), Linux (x86_64, aarch64), FreeBSD 14, and a WebAssembly build you host yourself.
README
Desktop for Windows 10/11 (Intel/AMD or ARM) and macOS 14, 15 and 26, plus Photoshop on the web and mobile. The requirements page lists Windows and macOS only.
Adobe requirementsAdobe product page
PSD and file formatsOpens, edits and saves layered PSD and PSB, plus layered TIFF, SVG and many flat formats; reads Paint.NET and Affinity files. JPEG XL is unavailable. The project reports that re-saving preserves the render for 307 of 309 psd-tools test files; a re-saved file is not byte-identical.
README
PSD is the native format (up to 2 GB); PSB handles larger files; TIFF goes up to 4 GB. 32-bit formats include OpenEXR, Radiance HDR and JPEG XL.
Adobe file formats
Layers, blending and adjustmentsGroups, clipping, pixel and vector masks, fill layers, 16 adjustment layers, layer styles, smart objects with smart filters, 27 Photoshop blend modes plus six Paint.NET variants (project figures).
README
Adjustment layers and solid, gradient and pattern fill layers. Adobe documents 27 layer blend modes from Normal to Luminosity (counted from its list), plus Behind and Clear for painting tools.
Adobe adjustment layersAdobe blend modes
ToolsThe README lists 53 tools. The roadmap still names missing ones, including Art History Brush, Color Sampler and Perspective Crop.
READMERoadmap
Adobe’s Photoshop on desktop Help has sections for selections, masks, retouching, color adjustment, painting, shapes and paths, and type.
Adobe requirements
Generative AINone. The roadmap grades AI and generative features at about 0% and defers them by decision. Selection tools such as Select Subject run locally with no cloud and no account.
RoadmapREADME
Generative Fill, Generative Expand, Generate Image, Generate Background, Generate Similar, Generative Upscale and Harmonize. These use generative credits.
Adobe generative AI
Plug-insSandboxed WebAssembly plug-ins instead of .8BF. No ExtendScript, UXP or .atn support, per the roadmap.
Roadmap
UXP plugins from the Plugin Marketplace, legacy CEP panels, traditional third-party plug-ins and optional file-format plug-ins.
Adobe plugins
AutomationActions record and replay, a headless CLI with batch mode, a JSON control channel and an MCP server, all driving one registry of 500+ commands.
README
JavaScript scripts (VBScript on Windows, AppleScript on macOS) with UXP for modern scripting, and a Script Events Manager to trigger scripts or actions.
Adobe scripting
Keyboard shortcutsMenus and shortcuts follow Photoshop’s layout, can be rebound in a Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, and Photoshop shortcut sets (.kys) can be imported. A reviewer cautions that matching placement is not the same as matching behavior.
READMEkys.rsOMG! Ubuntu
Customizable under Edit › Keyboard Shortcuts, with categories for Application Menus, Panel Menus and Tools.
Adobe shortcuts
System requirementsMinimum requirements are not stated in the README or its installation page. One reviewer saw memory climb to about 5 GB a few minutes after opening a PSD on a low-end laptop.
READMEInstall docOMG! Ubuntu
Windows: 8 GB RAM minimum (16 GB or more recommended), a DirectX 12 GPU with 1.5 GB of video memory, 10 GB of disk space. macOS: 8 GB RAM minimum, a Metal-capable GPU, 10 GB of disk space. An internet connection is required for activation.
Adobe requirements
MaturityEarly alpha. By the project’s own estimate (2026-10-05), real Photoshop parity is well below 50%, and a professional could switch for daily work at roughly 25–35%.
RoadmapREADME
A shipping product. Adobe’s requirements page covers versions 26.x and 27.x.
Adobe requirements

Chips link to the exact pages each cell is based on. Photoshop details are as Adobe’s help pages stated them on 2026-10-10, and Adobe updates them often.

The project’s own parity estimate

The roadmap contains a section the authors call an honest parity assessment, written to answer “how close are we to Photoshop, really”. Its numbers, dated 2026-10-05:

  • Real Photoshop parity is still well below 50%.
  • Feature surface: roughly 60–70% of what a typical Photoshop user touches exists in some form.
  • “A professional could switch for daily work”: roughly 25–35%.
  • True 1:1 parity is “many months” of focused work, and some areas need product decisions rather than effort.

The same page grades dimensions one by one: menu wiring is high but shallow, PSD rendering fidelity is medium, core editing is medium, AI and generative is about 0% and deferred, and the plug-in and scripting ecosystem is low. The project also publishes a menu-parity report that counts all 627 Photoshop menu items as wired to a command, and it warns that this measures wiring, not behavior. RoadmapParityREADME

What PhotoCraft does not do yet

The README names these as the biggest gaps:

Who should try it, and who should wait

Try PhotoCraft if you

  • want a free, open-source editor and can live with alpha-quality bugs;
  • mostly open, inspect or lightly edit PSD files and can keep backups;
  • want to drive an editor from a CLI, a JSON channel or an MCP server.

Stay on Photoshop for now if you

  • depend on Photoshop plug-ins, ExtendScript or UXP scripts;
  • use Generative Fill, Generative Expand or other generative features;
  • deliver client work that needs typography depth or pixel-for-pixel behavior from Photoshop’s filters;
  • need Photoshop to be the tool every collaborator opens: PhotoCraft’s PSD handling is good but not byte-exact.

One reviewer who knows Photoshop well found the interface convincingly familiar but warned that matching features and names is not the same as matching behavior or output, and that blending modes, filters and content-aware tools are where the differences show. OMG! Ubuntu

How to try it safely

  1. Keep Photoshop. Treat PhotoCraft as a second tool while it is in alpha.
  2. Work on copies. PhotoCraft’s PSD saves rewrite image resources and layer records, so a re-saved file is not byte-identical to its source.
  3. Open the same PSD in both and compare layers, masks and blend modes before trusting it.
  4. Report what breaks with your OS, document size, layer count and a screenshot.

README

Ready to try it? Start with the download page, then learn the shortcuts.

PhotoCraft vs Photoshop: quick answers

Is PhotoCraft as good as Photoshop?

Not yet. The README says PhotoCraft is not yet a replacement for daily professional work, and the project’s own assessment dated 2026-10-05 puts real parity well below 50%, with roughly 25–35% for a professional switching for daily work. It is a promising free alternative for lighter edits.

Is PhotoCraft really free?

Yes. It is open source under the MIT or Apache-2.0 license. ArtCraft sells a separate subscription with AI credits, but a reviewer noted those generative features were not part of PhotoCraft in the early build tested.

Can PhotoCraft open Photoshop PSD files?

Yes. It opens, edits and saves layered PSD and PSB files. The project reports that re-saving preserves the render for 307 of 309 files in the psd-tools test set, and that a re-saved file is not byte-identical to the original.

Does PhotoCraft support Photoshop plug-ins and scripts?

No. According to the roadmap, PhotoCraft uses sandboxed WebAssembly plug-ins instead of .8BF files and has no ExtendScript, UXP or .atn support. It has its own automation through a CLI, a JSON control channel and an MCP server.

Does PhotoCraft have Generative Fill or other AI features?

No. The roadmap grades AI and generative features at about 0% and defers them by decision. Photoshop’s generative features, such as Generative Fill and Generative Expand, use Adobe’s generative credits.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from one of these pages, each opened and read on the date shown. Where a number is the project’s own measurement, the text says so.

  1. PhotoCraft README — ArtCraft Team / PhotoCraft contributors (GitHub). Read 2026-10-10.
  2. PhotoCraft roadmap and honest parity assessment — ArtCraft Team / PhotoCraft contributors (GitHub). Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-10-08. The assessment section is dated 2026-10-05; the page header says updated 2026-10-08.
  3. Photoshop menu parity (generated) — PhotoCraft contributors (GitHub). Read 2026-10-10.
  4. PhotoCraft documentation book: Installation — PhotoCraft contributors (GitHub). Read 2026-10-10.
  5. crates/engine/src/kys.rs (Photoshop .kys shortcut-set import) — PhotoCraft contributors (GitHub). Read 2026-10-10. Pinned to commit 05e0b1f.
  6. PhotoCraft is an open-source, AI-built clone of Photoshop — OMG! Ubuntu (Joey Sneddon). Read 2026-10-10. Hands-on review of an early build (v0.3.0). Observations are the reviewer’s own.
  7. Adobe Photoshop (official product page) — Adobe. Read 2026-10-10.
  8. Adobe Photoshop on desktop technical requirements — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-09-09.
  9. Photoshop file formats overview — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-02-23.
  10. Blending mode descriptions in Photoshop — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-02-23.
  11. Adjustment and fill layers overview in Photoshop — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-02-23.
  12. Generative AI features in Photoshop — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-05-20.
  13. Photoshop plugins and extensions reference — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-10-04.
  14. Automate Photoshop with scripts — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-10-04.
  15. View keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop — Adobe Help Center. Read 2026-10-10; page updated 2026-09-08.