Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better. This golden rule applies perfectly to free software that successfully competes with its renowned, pricier predecessors. Fortunately, there are plenty of talented developers out there who believe paid computer programs should always have a free alternative.
Open source software refers to thousands of computer programs distributed under a free, open license. Their creators have built counterparts to popular paid programs that are just as good — and sometimes even better. AdmiGram.com has gathered the best free alternatives to paid computer software that will save you money.
7 Free Alternatives to Popular Paid PC Software
Full-Fledged Office Suite: LibreOffice
If your work involves word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, you can skip Microsoft Office entirely and use its completely free counterpart instead. LibreOffice is a powerful office suite for professional text editing, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases. It’s worth noting that LibreOffice takes up roughly 10 times less disk space than Microsoft Office — a real, tangible saving.
Text Scanning and Recognition: Cognitive OpenOCR (CuneiForm)
There are plenty of good text-recognition services online these days. But what if you don’t have internet access, and a FineReader license is out of your budget? Enter Cognitive OpenOCR (CuneiForm) — one of the fastest optical character recognition systems in the world. The software may be a bit dated, but it still runs flawlessly, like a Swiss watch. It supports 23 languages.
Graphics Editor: GIMP
Adobe Photoshop’s total hegemony is finally over. GIMP is the best free raster graphics editor out there, letting you easily create and manipulate raster images — and in recent versions, it has even picked up vector graphics support. Its interface might look a little unfamiliar at first, but remember how confusing Photoshop’s buttons seemed the first time you saw them? Getting comfortable with GIMP is just a matter of practice.
Non-Linear Video Editor: DaVinci Resolve
Whether you’re doing simple home-video edits or chasing an Oscar for Best Film Editing, we strongly recommend this tool over Adobe Premiere Pro. DaVinci Resolve is a fast, non-linear video editor for cutting video, audio, and graphics together. It supports most video effects, along with all major modern video and audio formats.
Audio Editor: Audacity
For sound editing, there’s no need to weigh your computer down with software like Sound Forge or Adobe Audition. Audacity is a simple, intuitive audio editor that supports multitrack work. It comes with a solid set of filters and processing tools that let you work at a professional level.
Vector Graphics Editor: Inkscape
When it comes to vector graphics, you don’t need to look to giants like Adobe or Corel. Inkscape is an excellent choice for technical or artistic illustration, as well as general-purpose drawing. Today it supports a huge number of languages, tools, operations, and import formats — so you’re unlikely to run into any creative limitations.
3D Modeling, Animation, and Visualization: Blender
Since we’re on the topic of graphics, it would be a shame not to give a nod to Ton Roosendaal’s legendary creation. He and his fellow developers truly pulled off the impossible. Blender is, without exaggeration, the best free 3D tool available today. It supports all the latest visualization technologies and is used for everything from professional 3D modeling to movies, animated films, and graphics.
image on top: junaidrao / Flickr
