this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2024
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382
24 of the best free alternatives to the most popular paid software (www.xda-developers.com)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
94 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Note that these are not all FOSS.

  • Photo Editing:

    • GIMP
    • Krita
    • Paint.NET

  • Video Editing:

    • DaVinci Resolve
    • CapCut
    • Shotcut

  • Audio Editing:

    • Audacity
    • Cakewalk
    • GarageBand

  • 3D Graphics:

    • Blender
    • Spline
    • Rumba

  • Office Software:

    • LibreOffice
    • Microsoft 365 Free Apps
    • WPS Office

  • Antivirus Software:

    • Windows Security
    • Avast Free Antivirus
    • Malwarebytes

  • Productivity Tools:

    • Bitwarden
    • VSCodium
    • PDF-XChange Editor
    • 7-Zip
    • OBS Studio
    • LanguageTool
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Thanks for sharing this list of software tools! It's great to see a variety of options, including both FOSS and proprietary software.

Photo Editing: GIMP and Krita are excellent open-source tools, while Paint.NET offers a user-friendly interface. Video Editing: DaVinci Resolve is professional-grade, CapCut is perfect for social media, and Shotcut balances simplicity with features. Audio Editing: Audacity is versatile and open-source, while Cakewalk and GarageBand are great for music production. 3D Graphics: Blender is leading in open-source 3D modeling, with Spline and Rumba offering unique features. Office Software: LibreOffice is a robust open-source suite; Microsoft 365 Free Apps and WPS Office are excellent free alternatives. Antivirus: Windows Security provides reliable protection, with Avast and Malwarebytes adding extra layers of security. Productivity: Bitwarden for password management, VSCodium for coding, PDF-XChange for PDFs, 7-Zip for compression, OBS Studio for streaming, and LanguageTool for writing. This mix offers powerful solutions for various needs and preferences.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Needs more CAD

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

I see this is free as in price, definitely not free as in freedom. Should delete the anti virus section and replace it with Linux lol.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

You forgot vector-graphics stuff.

I believe Inkscape is the current leader of the open-source pack in that department.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Reminder than Tenacity is an open-source fork of Audacity.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Audacity isn't open source? I thought I installed it from the Debian free repo...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Audacity is open source, but they had a few controversies recently.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

It is open source, but had some controversy. Most prominently the addition of telemetry a few years ago, which was never included in the builds managed by Debian or most other distro maintainers. They also added a Contributor License Agreement which lets the Audacity project change its own license (even to a non-foss one, though they promise they won't) without needing to have the change approved by any individual developers.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Ah, monkey business...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Just to know, how do you disable telemetry, if it isn't off by default?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I'm not completely sure but I think they removed it at some point after the public backlash (which was 3 years ago now). For the Windows version at least, there apparently used to be an option during the installation wizard for setting whether telemetry is enabled or not. Most Linux distros never had the telemetry at all. I don't know about Mac.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

your paint-dot-net link is... shouldn't be a link lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

paint.NET

escape the dot

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Lol it's not a link in the markdown so it's just the Lemmy web UI making assumptions. Also it's funny that they don't own that domain.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Take CapCut off because it's more like TikTok editing than video editing.

Divinci has a learning curve but any curve is better than learning solely on a ByteDance owned product.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

also, davinci is industry standard and highly respected

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Throw in KDEnlive for video editors.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I would add FreeCAD to 3d editing software.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Dafuq is freecad? It sounds waaaaaay too good to be true. Maybe above hot singles in your area want to fuck lol. I had a software I was using that let you use it free x amount of times but all you had to do was clear your cache/data each time it was triggered to expire and you had a fresh set of uses. Can't remember the name I'll jave to look it up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

It's not as intuitive as other comparable software, and has a fairly steep learning curve especially for beginners, but it is free. No subscription models that's plaguing the 3d modeling software field.

Check it out! https://www.freecad.org/ https://wiki.freecad.org/

[–] [email protected] -3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

No WinRAR?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

It is not free (which is the main goal of this list) or open source.

https://alternativeto.net/software/winrar/about/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Oh yeah. I forget it's not free after using it for almost 3 decades without paying for it...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I know, it loses on a technicality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I know, it looses on a technicality.

Aside from the comma splice, did you mean 'loses' or 'loosens'?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

My bad. It's lose, as in "not win". In this case, "it does not earn a place on the list due to a technicality". The technicality, being an infinite free trial does not truly count in the spirit of being free.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago

Although not technically free, I would add Reaper to the list for audio editing. It gives you a pop-up asking if you want to buy the program, but it's not required. I know people who have been using it for years without actually purchasing it. (I have since purchased a license because I use it professionally). No features are locked behind the paid license.

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