GIMP Photo Editor 2025 Review: Features, Pros, Cons & Alternatives

Photo editing software usually comes with a high price to compensate for its features and overall specialty of it, but the GIMP Photo Editor is an exemption from that. As an open-source platform, the suite of tools provides rivals with expensive software, allowing users to do anything from a simple enhancement to professional image manipulation. If you do not want to break the bank with expensive image editors, you better read this article as we explore more about GIMP and why you should use it than the premium selections in the market.

Part 1. Full Review of GIMP Photo Editor - A Unbiased Take on What Is GIMP

GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, stands as one of the longest-running, powerful, and versatile free photo editing tools available. Intended for those who require open control of their artistic ambitions and choose not to spend money on expensive software, the GIMP editor is as powerful as leading applications as Adobe Photoshop. In any case, if you are a graphic designer or if you just want to give a new look to your photos, installing GIMP will allow you to benefit from a full range of tools that will make this software a great favorite in the field.

Best Features of GIMP:

1. Advanced Photo Manipulation Suite

GIMP provides a vast choice of tools for image processing if it concerns simple enhancement to complex alterations. Color correction is very easy, and one can easily erase backgrounds and adjust the brightness and contrast of an image. Accurate targeting tools comprise a lasso, allowing you to choose specific areas in your picture and scissors for selecting individual pieces for changes. Permission to work with the layers and masks gives you total control over the project in ways that enable you to create complex operations as much as possible.

2. Adjustable & Customizable Interface

The interface of GIMP can be altered in any way that the user wants; the toolboxes can likewise be positioned anywhere on the screen. This makes the software very easy to use, especially for novices, while providing special features to professionals who require more sophisticated tools. To refine what it can do even more, you can also add plugins and extensions; the interface can be made to work to its best.

3. Improved Photo Retouching

A unique feature of the GIMP pic editor is the high quality of the changes and image enhancements it provides. Clone stamps and healing brushes are handy for erasing flaws, making old pictures look new or fixing bent ones. Achieving original results indistinguishable from those produced by high-end software takes little practice.

4. Wide Variety of Support File Formats

GIMP works fine with a variety of formats like PSD of Adobe Photoshop, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF among others. PSD files are convenient to work with, which makes it easier for people who are coming directly from Photoshop or working with others using Adobe tools. Also, the format in which the images are saved can be exported with ease using GIMP, making it very flexible to work with in web design, print and animation.

5. Digital Painting & Illustration

GIMP is not just limited to photo manipulation; it is also a great tool for digital painting and illustration. It offers adjustable paint brushes, sketch pencils, and even a supporting airbrush; thus, it helps artists create some excellent digital artwork. It has pressure-sensitive tablets for controlling brush strokes with pressure, tilt, and hand speed.

6. Open-Source Photo Editor

Being an open-source application GIMP is free to be enhanced by a large number of developers. This translates into updated versions, additions, and simple things like fixing faults or bugs. All the tutorials, plugins, and other resources will provide users with a much more optimal experience. Furthermore, if you are stretching it into programming, you can alter the coding according to your requirements.

Supported System Version:

GIMP image editor is a portable graphic editor compatible with all the leading operating systems. It has good compatibility with all Windows systems, ranging from the older version of Windows 7 to the most current Windows 11. The GIMP current versions support macOS versions starting with 10.9 or Mavericks. It is an open-source application that enjoys support on many Linux technical distributions, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and Debian. Also, GIMP supports FreeBSD as well as other Unix-like operating systems and thus will be available and operable almost in all environments.

Part 2. GIMP vs. Photoshop: A Comparison to the Open-Source & Premium

GIMP vs. Photoshop, which one do you think wins? In terms of industry standards for professional editing, Photoshop surpasses them. However, we can not turn a blind eye to GIMP's impressive offers that are free to use. The choice between these two depends on your needs, budget, expertise, familiarity, and more, but the success of editing images is surely guaranteed with these.

Part 3. How-To Guides for GIMP Users - A Complete Basic Editing on GIMP

GIMP photo editing is a surreal app that offers varieties of day-to-day image transformations you will need. To explain how these works, we have added steps below to help you perform the simple editing it offers.

How to Remove Background in GIMP

For GIMP remove background, you can use the indicated steps that we have added here.

Stap 1Open the GIMP app download on your PC and add the image you want to edit by going to Bestand en Open.

Stap 2After that, right-click the image and tick Alfakanaal toevoegen.

Stap 3On the left side, click the Fuzzy Select Tools and place your cursor on the background you want to remove.

Stap 4Click the background and press delete on your keyboard to remove the selected background. Repeat the process of selecting and deleting until the background is clean. With it, you can also make the background transparent on GIMP.

How to Resize an Image in GIMP

To use the GIMP resize image feature, you will need to go to the Afbeelding bar. Next, click the Afbeelding schalen to open the editing window to rescale the image. After that, change the value of the Width and Height based on your required standard and click Schaal to apply the changes. Aside from this, you can also use other techniques to resize images in GIMP, but this is the simplest method to use.

How to Crop an Image in GIMP

Stap 1If you want to crop an image on GIMP, you can simply right-click the image and open the Hulpmiddelen. Next, select Transform Tools en kies de Bijsnijden amongst the options available.

Stap 2Target the area you want to save inside the box after you click the image and to crop, you need to press Binnenkomen on your keyboard, which will crop the image's size.

Part 4. Great GIMP Alternatives Other than Photoshop to Improve Image Quality

AVAide Image Upscaler is one of the best GIMP graphics editor alternatives that you can use to improve the overall quality with the help of AI. Upscaling an image can improve the overall look of an image to the highest level, and you can access this for free, like the GIMP. Thus, there is no need to download the app before you can use it since it is accessible in any web browser you have access to. Remember to use this if you want to upscale an image before sharing!

Door Jane Pineda op 11 nov. 2024