By Published Oct 21, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Yadullah Abidi is a Computer Science graduate from the University of Delhi and holds a postgraduate degree in Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. With over a decade of experience in Windows and Linux systems, programming, PC hardware, cybersecurity, malware analysis, and gaming, he combines deep technical knowledge with strong editorial instincts. Yadullah currently writes for MakeUseOf as a Staff Writer, covering cybersecurity, gaming, and consumer tech.

He formerly worked as Associate Editor at Candid.Technology and as News Editor at The Mac Observer, where he reported on everything from raging cyberattacks to the latest in Apple tech. In addition to his journalism work, Yadullah is a full-stack developer with experience in JavaScript/TypeScript, Next.js, the MERN stack, Python, C/C++, and AI/ML. Whether he's analyzing malware, reviewing hardware, or building tools on GitHub, he brings a hands-on, developer’s perspective to tech journalism. Most Photoshop alternatives start with the same pitch: they're free (or cheaper), simpler, or built for people who want to break free from Adobe's lifelong subscriptions.

But these programs often suffer from one of two problems: the interface is either so different from Photoshop that it feels like learning a whole new software, or the alternative just doesn't have as many features as Photoshop. Yes, you can make GIMP feel like Photoshop by installing a patch, but there's still a fundamental gap between the two programs. PhotoCraft is here to challenge that gap, with nothing except Opus 5.5 and the power of vibe coding. PhotoCraft isn't a browser demo wearing a Photoshop costume Native Rust, a GPU compositor, 500+ commands, and an MCP server for agents PhotoCraft is not just a browser demo with a Photoshop-like skin.

It's a native, GPU-accelerated photo editor available for Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and the web, with the browser edition compiled to WebAssembly. The desktop version doesn't use Electron and web views, while its compositor targets Metal, Vulkan, DirectX 12, and WebGPU. The feature list is also rather ambitious for an open-source project in early-alpha stages. PhotoCraft includes layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors, brushes, smart objects, live-preview filters, ICC color management, and support for 8, 16, and 32-bit documents across RGB, CMYK, Lab, and greyscale workflows. It can also open and save layered PSD and PSB files.

The project claims that 307 of 309 files in the public psd-tools test set preserve the same rendered appearance after being resaved, although that narrow test doesn't guarantee flawless interchange with complex production documents. It also does something Photoshop doesn't do natively. More than 500 commands are exposed through the graphical interface, command line, a JSON control channel and an MCP server. That means an AI agent can operate the same editing engine a person controls with a mouse, either via the running app or headlessly.

Photoshop is increasingly putting AI inside the editor, while PhotoCraft has made the editor itself operable by AI. Looking like Photoshop is the easy part 45 percent ready, 22 of 25 budgets missed, and PSDs Photoshop may refuse When you first open PhotoCraft, it looks a lot closer to Photoshop than you'd imagine, mostly because it copies the structure and interface you already understand. Moving between the two programs doesn't require relearning where common commands live. This is one of the biggest advantages PhotoCraft has over other editors that may offer the same fundamental features but organize them around a completely different interface. But this resemblance is a bit deceptive.

PhotoCraft's own roadmap classifies it as roughly 45 percent ready for real work in mid-October. While core workflows such as opening images, painting, selecting, adjusting, filtering, typing, and saving can run just fine, the project still lists more than 950 open issues, missed 22 of its 25 performance targets, and warned that PSD files created by PhotoCraft may not reliably work with Photoshop. Despite being built in Rust, performance also leaves much to be desired. This confession matters more than similar-looking menus or checkboxes. A command can exist and still behave differently, produce less accurate or even entirely different results, run slowly, or fail to run at all.

Safe to say, the program isn't ready to be your daily-driving Photoshop replacement just yet. Photoshop's advantage is depth accumulated over decades. Its selection, retouching, color, typography, raw-processing, automation, and plugin workflows have been fine-tuned and tested against decades of professional edge-cases.

PhotoCraft can imitate the visible functionality and shape of those systems, sure, but it doesn't have the decades of testing and fine-tuning Adobe put into those systems, none of which shows on the surface. AI built PhotoCraft, but only Photoshop has AI editing tools Local-first and free beats $22.99 a month, until you need Generative Fill Credit: Ruby Helyer / MakeUseOf PhotoCraft may be built with AI, but Photoshop currently offers the more complete AI editing experience. Adobe offers cloud-based Generative Fill, Generative Expand, text-to-image generation, reference images, and model choices directly into its selection menus. PhotoCraft, on the other hand, has no equivalent generative tools to offer.

Its local-first, offline design is better suited for privacy, but it also means there's no drop-in replacement for AI-assisted edits as Adobe does with Firefly. You might be able to control the program with an AI, but that doesn't give you any extra AI-editing capabilities that the program doesn't have. Price and ownership also pull in opposite directions. PhotoCraft is free, open-source, and usable without an account or subscription.

Photoshop, as you know, stays subscription only. Adobe's US standalone plan for Photoshop is listed at $22.99 per month on an annual plan. For the occasional editor, Linux users, students, and anyone who values inspectable code or offline operation, PhotoCraft's compromises may be acceptable. For professionals though, whose work depends on plugins and deadlines, Photoshop remains the superior tool. PhotoCraft isn't Photoshop's replacement, it's proof of how fast clones arrive Interfaces copy overnight; trust and polish still take decades PhotoCraft is not a Photoshop replacement, at least not yet, so I'd hold off on canceling that Adobe subscription.

It's an alpha-stage program that looks dramatically closer to Photoshop than its functionality suggests. If you're sending any files in, treat them as expendable copies because this is a test bed rather than a production replacement. There are better Photoshop replacements out there at the moment, but if you want a Photoshop clone, PhotoCraft is an interesting program to watch. A small team could reproduce the broad functionality of one of the most complex desktop applications in a remarkably short period, with the help of publicly available AI models that anyone can use — that is the real significance here. PhotoCraft shows that interfaces, file-format support, and feature breadth can now be copied almost overnight.

Fine-tuning, behavior, trust, ecosystem, and overall software polish however, remains difficult to replicate. Photoshop's newest rival isn't significant because it has beaten the giant; it's significant because AI has changed how quickly a credible challenge could appear.