Online Photoshop Alternatives: Which is Best?

[Music] welcome to another video from explaining computers.com this time we're going to look at online image editors and specifically pixela canva photop Adobe Express and photoshop on the web these will be assessing to see if they offer true Photoshop functionality including the ability to work with layers text and PSD files so let's go and get started right here we are on the website for pixler a great online image editor and I'll press f11 to maximize our screen state the application can be used for free or with a subscription if you want to get rid of the advertising and use lots of AI credits which you can use to do all kinds of exciting AI things we're not going to play with those though I don't tend to use that type of stuff and so we're going to go directly to the main pixler Advanced photo editor which you can use for free without creating an account so let's create a new image here we go we'll use the default of 1920x 1080 and here we are in the pixel editor which has got a very Photoshop feel it's got in the free version a bit of advertising down here on the right I'll just blank that out and as we can see a new image is created to be entirely transparent so let's just drop something into it let's use for example the gradient tool and just do a little gradient like that looks a bit boom too light doesn't it and let's just a scribble on it let's just take a brush from over here lots and lots of brush settings let's just make it a bit bigger perhaps be very exciting oh massive brush we'll give it a color we'll make it for ex example white like that and we'll scribble on another layer so we'll add a layer like this Another Empty layer there we go and we'll scribble like that and we're starting to create something very exciting in pixel and as it's on another layer we can turn it on and off if we wish to we can also change things like it's opacity go down there make it uh less visible if we wanted to and we can also add various effects here which here are in filter we can for example do a drop shadow like that and uh let's again just take the default as I hope you can see pixel is a very nice little package we can also load in existing images let's just open the test image I've got somewhere in pictures here it is a picture of a b always good to have a picture of a b and we go to adjustment we've got all the standard adjustments here brightness and contrast we can play with levels for example I'm always playing with levels no need to here cuz the image is pretty good as we start but we could mess it up a bit like that if we wanted to and we can all see where we've come from by clicking on the little control down there but if we wanted to keep this now oversaturated image we could go to file and either export very rapidly a PNG of the whole image or just of the particular layer or we can go to save and save either as a JPEG a PNG file a webp a PDF or in pixel's Native pxz format however what's noticeable here by its absence is the PSD the Photoshop document format and this gets us to the subject of what Photoshop alternative means when we're evaluating image editing applications does it mean a program that can do some of the things that photoshop can do in which case Windows paint is a Photoshop alternative or does it mean an application that can directly substitute for Photoshop including working with existing Photoshop files and for me at least a Photoshop alternative must be able to do this if it's going to be a working creative tool and so in this video we're going to try loading a test PSD file and to see what this is let's go across to photoshop itself this is photosop 2024 where we're going to load in our test file which is a recent explaining computers thumbnail and as we can see this is a multi-layer document lots of layers going on here I always experiment with different things I'm doing thumbnails as you can see lots of things I can turn on and turn off but the key thing here in terms of this being a test file is that we've got some text in this PSD and we've also got some layer effects so for example we've got a stroke here on the SSD elements so now that we've looked at our test file in Photoshop itself let's return to pixela here we are and load in the test file here we'll just do a new open image like that and in pictures there's the file let's bring it in and there we are and it isn't exactly looking exactly the same as it looks in Photoshop this is what it looked like in phot shop this is what it looks like when it comes into pixel and as we can see specifically the text has not come through accurately colors have changed because I think there was a colorized effect applied there in Photoshop a mask hasn't come through and we haven't got the stroke on the elements and I'm sure we could make a thumbnail looks exactly the same here in pixler but it certainly isn't the case that pixler is a direct substitute for Photoshop now just before we move on to look at our second Contender I'm I'm sure some of you are thinking why not just use you don't have to use these online image editors if you want a Photoshop alternative you can use for gnu image manipulation program and indeed I'm currently running 2.99 one8 which is the latest development version of before we get 3.0 very soon it's going to be very exciting I will be reviewing 3.0 on my channel when it comes out but I do want to show you that 3.0 which will be very very close to what we got here also isn't to direct substitute for Photoshop as we can see if we load in our test file here so let's just do that if I can get it right there we are and here's our test file and uh oh look it comes up with a compatibility notice telling us that the PSD file contains features that are not yet fully supported in specifically the text layers are going to be rasterized it won't be editable text and some of the layer effects are not yet supported so if we click to open the document we have a similar kind of problem to what we just saw in pixler we have got the text looking right but the text here is actually just a bit map we can't edit that text and we haven't got our letter effect and so whilst is a fantastic free image editing program one of the key reasons that I'm looking myself for an online Photoshop alternative is because of the limitations in when handling PSD files right having established what we're doing let's move on to canva this is an incredibly popular set of online design utilities if not really a Photoshop alternative but I've included it in this video because if it wasn't here I'd have spent the rest of Eternity answering comments asking what about canva to use the software you have to create an account or to share your login from the social media platform and there are both free and paid versions available although here we're going to just use the free version where we can create a design by clicking on create a design what a surprise where we can import files as we'll see in a second we can produce something of a custom size or we can use a preset such as YouTube thumbnail and from here everything is heavily template based we can just click on a template like that and there we are all these elements can now be customized that could be worst for example and we also have a range of tools available to add to the image we've got various elements we can add we can add text with a a reasonable level of control and there's lots and lots of presets again there's what they call branding we can upload files and there's various drawing tools although as we can see canva really is absolutely nothing like Photoshop although it does provide a mass of opportunities to very easily create things that can look pretty cool and we could also import existing files let's just go back and do that let's import a file there let's pick up the picture of a b we had earlier like that there it is and we can now edit the photo if we wish here we are and again there were various filters and templates available or we can use more traditional adjustments we've got here things like changing the color temperature we can change the brightness contrast things like that and when we've done that we can then use the image in design if we wish here we go where we could add things to it we go down for example to text and from here go down and maybe take one of the presets for example we could take what hello hello how are you drop that on the image there we are we've created something exciting in canva when it comes to saving our work this is accessed under share we go to share there scroll down and we go to download where we find a range of output formats jpeg PNG and PDF as we saw previously in pixela but also here in the pro version canva can output an SVG a structured vector graphics format and because you can create all kinds of designs there are also options for outputting MP4 video and gifts and even in some circumstances PowerPoint presentations this said there is no opportunity to Output a PSD a Photoshop document file this said we can import Photoshop files so let's just uh do that let's get rid of this uh we'll just discard that and we'll go to create design and import file back to pictures and if I just click to look at all files we can see our test PSD file so let's uh bring it in there we are I think it's come in although uh no it hasn't yet it's still loading there we go but if we open it up and get rid of the feedback dialogue we can see it's worked a little bit better than pixela it's kept the stroke around the elements but it hasn't got the text right so as I said previously canva is not a direct online substitute for Photoshop next I thought we'd take a look at photo P which is a fantastic online image editor available in free and paid versions and you can use the free version without creating an account and to do so we just need to close down information at the top of the screen like that I'll also press f11 to give us more room on the screen and as we can see we do have advertising in the free version fair enough over here on the right I'll just blank that out but otherwise the free version is completely functional and I'll start out this demo by opening a farar computer straight away I want to open up the Photoshop test file test PSD document like that because as we can see it works absolutely perfectly if we remind ourselves what it looked like in Photoshop like this and then we come back to photo it looks exactly the same everything works the text works the colorize works the mask works the stroke on The ssds Works everything is perfect even the layers that were hidden in the file have come across which they didn't in pixa and canva they're still here if we wanted to add those back in we can definitely say that photop is a true online alternative to photoshop and indeed personally over the past few months when I've been away from home quite a bit I've not been able to use a machine with photoshop on it I've been using photop to create elements for my videos and it's worked absolutely perfectly and indeed if we look at the menu here we'll see this looks just like Photoshop if you're a Photoshop user you'll be going wow we've got the same things available online if we go look at the toolbar here again this is very much like a Photoshop toolbar all the same sort of tools available this really is fantastic I can't speak highly enough about this program and do be aware I've got absolutely nothing to do with the Publishers now one of the reasons this works so well is that all the processing takes place locally and to prove that I'm going to do this there we go what I've just done is remove on that work cable you'll see we're no longer online but uh photo is still running and so what I'm going to do is to go file and open let's open up our picture of a b like that comes in fine let's do something to it what we're going to do image let's do something simple let's do a photo filter like that we can adjust this but actually let's leave it where it was like that and then let's also save the file if we want to save files here we can save as pH shop document we can save to the online facilities if we wish to but we can also export in lots and lots of formats indeed lots and lots and lots of formats let's save it as a for example a PNG like that and we'll just uh save the file back to pictures there we go and I now flick across to that folder we can see there's our Sav picture there we are we did all of this whilst our computer was offline so if you're one of these people who doesn't like to use cloud software because all your data is up loaded to a third party provider it isn't with photo P fin thing to note here is that if you click on account which of course we can't do because I'm offline let's just put my network cable back in there we go I should now be able to click on account we can you can see we can go to a premium version it costs from $5 a month which gives us a bit of online space now adverts various credits for AI functionality and if we click on Go premium we can see the options which range from a $8 for 30 days up to a $50 for 365 days and so there we are photo p a fantastic application that works perfectly with PSD files now you may be wondering do Adobe themselves make any online Photoshop Alternatives and the answer is yes they have two of them the first of which is Adobe Express which is free to use providing you create an account although you don't have to give Adobe any payment details when you create that account so let's have a go with this let's click on the start from your content and we'll upload a picture let's upload again our B got two versions of the B now let's take the original B at that and load it in and we'll create new and keep the original aspect ratio there we go and I'll press f11 to give us a bit more space on the screen screen and if you haven't guessed already Adobe Express it's very much like canva we have various templates across here on the left we can add a text with again lots and lots of presets we've got various elements we can add and also if we click on the image itself we can make various changes we can add effects lots of wacky things available here if you want that kind of stuff but we've also got the normal kinds of adjustments down here we can do saturation we can do sharpening we can change uh brightness Shadows like that all that kind of thing and if you're wondering how does Adobe Express handle our PSD test file let's try that let's go back here and start from your content again and load in our test PSD document here we go unlike in photop P which clearly is being uploaded online so we'll speed on through and there we go it's been uh converted which is a little bit scary but we'll open it up like that and um it's pretty good but it's not perfect for start it's got rid of the Hidden layers if we wanted those they've gone and the text although it showed fine in the preview is in the wrong place isn't it we have to move it down again a bit like that put it where it needs to be and it's now also the wrong color we can presumably make it the right color again something like that but we really shouldn't have to do this and to be honest like canva Adobe Express isn't really a photos shovel alternative but I did want to show it you before we move on to our second online Adobe application greetings here we have our final application which is adobe's photoshop on the web sadly this is only available as part of a standard Photoshop or wider Creative Cloud subscription and currently Photoshop cost $22.99 a month or $9 99 a month as part of the photography plan but of course this is the price for both a full local version of Photoshop as well as this online version oh and there is a 7-Day free trial but this does require payment details to be supplied if we click on create we can of course create a new image but let's go straight to loading in our test PSD file like that there it is and open it up very exciting and guess what this is going to work perfectly hardly a surprise we are after all running the online version of Photoshop here all of our Lads have come across both visible and hidden the text is correct the stroke is correct everything's working just fine and indeed across on the left of the screen we've got a toolbar which looks pretty familiar if you're a Photoshop user and also if we look to the hamburger menu here we have what Adobe describe as access to photoshop's most commonly used image editing features this said if we go across to the full version of Photoshop and got it running over here we do see it looks a little bit different for start we have a top menu here in the full version of Photoshop we don't have that in the online version and also if we go across for example to a layer over here and right click it we can open up the blending options panel to control things like the stroke effect that's been applied however if we go back to the online version and we rightclick the same layer you'll discover we can't open the blending options panel and we can have the effects for the stroke as we can see that is there and that's added here using this little effects control rather than blending options and this is all fine this works very well except for the fact that if we go across to photo P which I've got open over here and if I go over here and right click a layer we can open a blending options panel and indeed this is far more like Photoshop photop than Photoshop online this is a photop let's go across to photoshop itself this is a Photoshop back to photop photoshop very similar but now I'll go across to photoshop online and it is uh somewhat different and I personally cannot understand why photop provide a better online version of a standard Photoshop interface than Adobe and this is why as you may have noticed if I go across to photo P I've now subscribe to this service I've got rid of the advertising down the edge so that I can now work with images including PSD files on any computer including those running Chrome OS and Linux all of the applications we've looked at in this video offer useful tools for editing images online however for me personally as a longtime Photoshop user it is photo P which is the standout application in terms of both price and functionality and it's therefore going to be photo I'll be using on computers in the future that don't or cannot have Photoshop installed but now that's it for another video if you've enjoyed what you've seen here please press that like button if you haven't subscribed Please Subscribe and I hope to talk to you again very soon [Music]

Channel: ExplainingComputers

Views: 37,544

Keywords: Online Photoshop, Photoshop online, Photoshop on the web, Canva, Photopea, Pixlr, Adobe Express, Photoshop alternative, PSD, PSD compatible, PSD compatibility, online version of Photoshop, cloud image editor, cloud Photoshop, Barnatt, Christopher Barnatt

Id: w1iAatWudkk

Length: 20min 45sec (1245 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024