Most of us default to the industry standards (like Adobe Creative Cloud or Microsoft Office), but subscription costs add up fast. I’ve compiled a master grid of the best alternatives across three categories: Free Desktop (for local power users), Free Cloud (for browser-based work), and Low-Cost/Value (for those who want pro features without the subscription). I’ve also included Linux/Ubuntu native replacements for those looking to switch OS entirely.
- Free Desktop (Windows): Software you download and install for free.
- Free Cloud (Web): Tools you run in a browser for free.
- Low Cost / Value: Paid software that is cheaper than the industry standard (often one-time purchases).
- Linux (Ubuntu) Free: Best open-source native Linux tools.
- Linux Paid / Pro: Professional tools that officially support Linux.
LibreOffice is best free desktop and OnlyOffice best desktop/online hybrid but its a bit dated.
PDFGear is the winner as an Adobe PDF replacement for free.
Note: We no longer recommend WPS Office due to unwanted software issues. Do not use.
1. Productivity, Office & Organization
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| Microsoft Word | 1. LibreOffice Writer 2. OnlyOffice Desktop | 1. Proton Docs 2. Google Docs 3. Word Online | 1. SoftMaker Office | 1. LibreOffice Writer 2. OnlyOffice Desktop 3. AbiWord (simple) | 1. SoftMaker Office NX ($30/yr) |
| Microsoft Excel | 1. LibreOffice Calc 2. Gnumeric | 1. Proton Sheets 2. Google Sheets | 1. WPS Spreadsheets 2. Ashampoo Office | 1. LibreOffice Calc 2. Gnumeric | 1. PlanMaker |
| PowerPoint | 1. LibreOffice Impress 2. Calligra Stage | 1. Canva 2. Google Slides | 1. Prezi 2. SlideDog | 1. LibreOffice Impress 2. Calligra Stage | 1. WPS Presentation 2. SoftMaker Pres. |
| Adobe Acrobat | 1. PDFGear * (Editor) 2. LibreOffice Draw 3. OnlineOffice Desk 4. SumatraPDF (view) | 1. ILovePDF.com (Free but limited) 2. TinyWow (Ads) | 1. PDF-XChange Editor ($56once) | 1. OnlyOffice 2. LibreOffice Draw 3. Evince (basic view) 4. Okular (viewer) | 1. Master PDF Editor ($79once) 2. PDF Studio ($139) |
| Teams | 1. Element (Encrypted) | 1. Signal 2. Whatsapp | 1. Rocket.Chat (Self-Hosted) | 1. Element (Matrix) | 1. Mattermost |
| Notion | 1. Obsidian 2. Joplin | 1. MS Loop 2. Anytype | 1. UpNote 2. Evernote | 1. AppFlowy 2. Joplin | 1. Obsidian (Paid Sync) 2. Standard Notes |
| OneNote | 1. Joplin 2. CherryTree | 1. Proton Docs 2. Google Keep | 1. Standard Notes 2. Scrivener | 1. Joplin 2. Zim Wiki | 1. Standard Notes 2. Obsidian |
| Trello | 1. Kanboard 2. TaskCoach | 1. Asana 2. ClickUp | 1. Monday.com 2. TickTick | 1. Planner 2. Kanboard | 1. TickTick (Web) 2. Todoist (Web) |
| Outlook | 1. Thunderbird 2. Mailspring | 1. ProtonMail 2. Gmail | 1. eM Client 2. Postbox | 1. Thunderbird 2. Evolution | 1. Mailspring Pro 2. Hiri |
2. Desktop Publishing
Tools for magazines, brochures, books, and page layouts.
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| Adobe InDesign | 1. Scribus 2. VivaDesigner (Free ver) | 1. Canva 2. Marq (Lucidpress) | 1. Affinity Publisher 2. QuarkXPress | 1. Scribus 2. Inkscape (For single pg) | 1. VivaDesigner (Linux) 2. Master PDF Editor |
| MS Publisher | 1. LibreOffice Draw 2. Scribus | 1. Adobe Express 2. VistaCreate | 1. Xara Page & Layout 2. Affinity Publisher | 1. LibreOffice Draw 2. Scribus | N/A (Use Web Apps) |
3. Creativity, Design & Multimedia
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| Photoshop | 1. GIMP 2. Krita | 1. Photopea 2. Pixlr E 3. Canva | 1. Affinity Photo 2. PaintShop Pro | 1. GIMP 2. Krita | 1. Pixeluvo 2. Photopea (PWA) |
| Premiere Pro | 1. DaVinci Resolve 2. Shotcut | 1. Clipchamp 2. CapCut Web | 1. Filmora 2. Vegas Edit | 1. Kdenlive 2. Shotcut | 1. DaVinci Resolve 2. Lightworks |
| After Effects | 1. DaVinci Fusion 2. Natron VFX Focus | 1. Cavalry (2D Motion Pro) | 1. DaVinci Fusion | 1. DaVinci Fusion | 1. DaVinci Fusion |
| Illustrator | 1. Inkscape 2. Vectr | 1. Figma 2. Vectorpea | 1. Affinity Designer 2. CorelDRAW | 1. Inkscape 2. Karbon | 1. VectorStyler 2. Gravit Designer |
| Adobe XD / Figma | 1. Penpot 2. Lunacy | 1. Figma (Free Tier) 2. Uizard | 1. Sketch (Mac only) 2. Balsamiq | 1. Penpot (Self-host) 2. Akira | N/A (Web is standard) |
| Audio Editor | 1. Audacity 2. Ocenaudio 3. Wavosaur | 1. Sodaphonic 2. AudioMass | 1. Reaper 2. FL Studio | 1. Audacity 2. Ardour | 1. Reaper 2. Bitwig Studio |
| Lightroom | 1. Darktable 2. RawTherapee | 1. Google Photos 2. Polarr | 1. Luminar Neo 2. ACDSee | 1. Darktable 2. RawTherapee | 1. AfterShot Pro 2. Polarr (Sub) |
| 3ds Max / Maya | 1. Blender 2. Unreal Engine | 1. Spline 2. Clara.io 3. Meshy.ai | 1. SketchUp Pro 2. Cinema 4D 3. 3D AI Studio 4. Luma AI | 1. Blender 2. FreeCAD | 1. Maya (Linux ver) 2. BricsCAD 3. Autodesk Maya (Linux) |
| Spotify | 1. Foobar2000 2. MusicBee | 1. YouTube Music 2. SoundCloud | 1. Tidal 2. Apple Music | 1. Spotify for Linux 2. Rhythmbox | 1. Plexamp 2. Tidal (Web) |
| Streaming Studio | 1. OBS Studio 2. Streamlabs 3. Twitch Studio | 1. StreamYard 2. Restream | 1. XSplit 2. Wirecast | 1. OBS Studio 2. SimpleScreenRec. | N/A |
| Video Converter | 1. HandBrake 2. ShanaEncoder 3. FFmpeg | 1. CloudConvert 2. FreeConvert | 1. UniConverter 2. Movavi | 1. HandBrake 2. FFmpeg | 1. Selene 2. Linux Video Conv. |
| AI Photo Tools | 1. Upscayl (Free Upscaler) | 1. Pixlr (Pixlr E/X) 2. Photopea | 1. Luminar Neo (AI Tools) 2. Topaz Studio | 1. Upscayl 2. Photopea | N/A |
| AI Video Tools / Firefly AI | 1. CapCut Desktop | 1. CapCut Online | 1. Topaz Video AI | 1. DaVinci Resolve | 1. Lightworks Pro |
4. Development, IT & Utilities
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| VS Code | 1. VSCodium 2. Notepad++ | 1. GitHub Codespaces 2. StackBlitz | 1. Sublime Text 2. UltraEdit 3. EmEditor | 1. VSCodium 2. Kate | 1. Sublime Text 2. JetBrains IDEs |
| Zip Archiver | 1. 7-Zip 2. PeaZip | 1. EzyZip 2. Extract.me | 1. Bandizip 2. WinZip 3. WinRAR | 1. 7-Zip 2. Ark 3. PeaZip Linux | 1. RAR (CLI) 2. B1 Archiver |
| TeamViewer | 1. RustDesk 2. UltraVNC | 1. Chrome Remote 2. DWService | 1. AnyDesk 2. Remote Utilities | 1. Remmina 2. RustDesk | 1. AnyDesk 2. RealVNC |
| VMware | 1. Hyper-V 2. QEMU | 1. AWS Free Tier 2. Google Cloud | 1. Parallels 2. Workstation Pro | 1. KVM / QEMU 2. VirtualBox | 1. VMware Workstation 2. Crossover |
| WinDirStat | 1. WizTree 2. TreeSize 3. SpaceSniffer | N/A | 1. TreeSize 2. Disk Space Fan | 1. Baobab 2. QDirStat | N/A |
| Docker | 1. Podman 2. Rancher | 1. Play w/ Docker 2. Google Run | N/A | 1. Docker Engine 2. Podman | N/A |
5. IT Infrastructure, Server & Security
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| Windows Server | 1. Ubuntu Server | N/A | N/A | 1. Debian 2. Ubuntu | 1. RHEL (Red Hat) 2. Cloud Linux |
| MS SQL Server | 1. PostgreSQL | N/A | 1. MariaDB | 1. PostgreSQL | 1. Oracle Database |
| VMware Workstation | 1. VirtualBox | N/A | N/A | 1. KVM 2. QEMU | 1. VMware Workstation Pro |
| Bitlocker | 1. Veracrypt | N/A | 1. Cryptomator | 1. LUKS (Native) | 1. Veracrypt |
| Visual Studio | 1. VS Code | N/A | 1. JetBrains IntelliJ | 1. VS Code | 1. JetBrains IDEs |
| Backup Solution | 1. FreeFileSync | N/A | 1. SyncBack Pro | 1. Rsync 2. FreeFileSync | 1. Arq Backup |
6. Internet, Security & Gaming
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| Anti-Virus | 1. Defender 2. Malwarebytes 2. Spybot | 1. VirusTotal 2. Hybrid Analysis | 1. Malwarebytes 2. HitmanPro 3. Emsisoft | 1. ClamAV 2. Chkrootkit | 1. ESET NOD32 2. Bitdefender |
| VPN | 1. Proton VPN (safest) 2. Windscribe (risk) | 1. Hide.me 2. CroxyProxy | 1. ProtonVPN 2. NordVPN 3. PIA | 1. Proton VPN 2. OpenVPN (service) 3. Wireguard (service) | 1. Proton VPN 2. Mullvad 3. AirVPN |
| Password Manager | 1. Proton Pass | 1. Proton Pass 2. Bitwarden Web | 1. Proton Pass 2. 1Password | 1. Proton Pass 2. Bitwarden 3. KeePassXC | 1. Proton Pass 2. 1Password |
| Chat/Groups | 1. Discord 2. Element | 1. Discord Web 2. Stoat | 1. TeamSpeak 2. Mumble | 1. Discord Linux 2. Mumble | 1. TeamSpeak 2. Matrix |
| BlueStacks | 1. LDPlayer 2. Google Play | 1. Now.gg 2. BlueStacks X | 1. Genymotion 2. AMIDuOS | 1. Waydroid 2. Anbox | 1. Genymotion 2. Android Studio |
| Edge Browser | 1. Chrome (Updated) 2. Firefox (Balance) 3. LibreWolf (Privacy) 4. Vivaldi (Privacy) | N/A | N/A | 1. Chrome (Updated) 2. Firefox (Balance) 3. LibreWolf (Privacy) 4. Vivaldi (Privacy) | N/A |
7. 3D Printing & CAD Design
| Target Software | Free Desktop Alternative | Free Cloud / Web Alternative | Low-Cost / Value Alternative | Linux Free Replacement | Linux Paid / Pro Alternative |
| Fusion 360 / SolidWorks | 1. FreeCAD (Parametric) | 1. Alibre Atom3D (One-time) | N/A | 1. FreeCAD | 1. BricsCAD |
| Artistic / Sculpting | 1. Blender | N/A | 1. ZBrush Core Mini | 1. Blender | 1. 3D Coat |
| Beginner CAD | 1. Tinkercad (web) | 1. Tinkercad (web) | 1. Plasticity (CAD for Artists) | 1. Tinkercad (web) | 1. Plasticity (Linux Ver) |
| Code-Based CAD | 1. OpenSCAD | N/A | N/A | 1. OpenSCAD | N/A |
| Slicer Software/Design | 1. Bambu Studio 2. Ultimaker Cura | 1. Tinkercad (Basic Design only) | 1. Simplify3D | 1. PrusaSlicer 2. Bambu Studio 3. OrcaSlicer | 1. Simplify3D |
