The Ultimate list of free alternative to paid applications

Today I prepared something special for you. I gathered a list of free software, which are perfect alternative to applications like Adobe Photoshop / Premiere or Microsoft Office.

Among the others you will find software like VPNs, antiviruses, learning tools, photo and video editing tool, 3D modelling and many many more. And all of that, of course for free.

Unfortunately this list might get obsolete someday therefore if you find any mistake – let me know in the comments. Also if you think that there are some other apps which are missing here and should be on the list – also let me know 🙂

Below you can see the table including list of the software, you can also download it in following formats:
Excel
OpenDocument (.ods)
PDF

CategoryProject NameURLPlatforms supportedAlternative to paid product
3d Modeling / Animation (complex)Blender.orghttps://www.blender.org/Adobe , AutoDesk Maya ($3,675)
3d Modeling (Simple)Sketchuphttps://www.sketchup.com/Corel Draw ?
3d Modelling (Voxel/Brick)MagicaVoxelhttps://ephtracy.github.io/Corel Draw ?
3D Modeling (Digital Clay Sculpting)Sulptrishttps://pixologic.com/sculptris/Corel Draw ?
3D Modeling (In VR)Google Blockshttps://arvr.google.com/blocks/
Human 3D (Model / Armature generator)MakeHumanhttp://www.makehumancommunity.org/
CADFreeCADWindows, macOS, LinuxAutoCAD ($4,195 and up)
Photo Editing / ManipulationGIMPhttps://www.gimp.org/Windows, macOS, LinuxPhotoshop ($19.99 per user per month)
Digital Painting / ComicsKritahttps://krita.org/en/Adobe Ilustrator
Vector Art.Inkspacehttps://inkscape.org/Windows, macOS, LinuxIllustrator ($19.99 per user per month), CorelDraw($429)
Graphic/DrawingDiaWindows, macOS, LinuxVisio Professional($589.99)
StoryBoardingStoryboarderhttps://wonderunit.com/storyboarder/Adobe Ilustrator
Video Game EngineUnityhttps://unity.com/
Visual Novel Maker w/no CodeFungus + Unityhttps://fungusgames.com/
Text Vased Game (Non linear stories)Twinehttps://twinery.org/
Audio / Sound Recording / EditingAudacityhttps://www.audacityteam.org/Apple LogicPro ($199.99), FL Studio Producer Edition ($199)
Sheet Music NotationMusescorehttps://musescore.org/en
Retro Game Music MakerBosca Ceoilhttps://boscaceoil.net/
Retro Video Game Effects GeneratorBFXRhttps://www.bfxr.net/
Audio/Music toolsAmarokhttps://amarok.kde.org/Windows, macOS, LinuxBest open source alternative to: iTunes
Screen capture % recordShareXhttps://getsharex.com/
Screen & webcam recordingOBS Studiohttps://obsproject.com/
Live Streaming (Twitgh / Youtube)Streamlabs OBShttps://obsproject.com/
Video and Audio ConverterHandbrakehttps://handbrake.fr/Windows, macOS, LinuxNero Recode 2
2d Animation (cutout)Opentoonzhttps://opentoonz.github.io/e/
Stick Figure AnimationPivot Animatorhttps://pivotanimator.net/
Stop Motion / ClaymotionStop Motion Studiohttps://www.cateater.com/(mobile only)
Video EditingBlenderhttps://www.blender.org/
Flashcards / Spaced Repetition Learning:Anki Wesome Websiteshttps://apps.ankiweb.net/Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, any device with web browser
Distraction Free WritignWriter (Bighugelabs)https://writer.bighugelabs.com/welcome
Script / PlaywritingAmazon Storywriter
Sound Efect DatabaseFreesound.orghttps://freesound.org/
Music for Film/GamesIncompetech.com/musichttps://incompetech.com/music/
Pixel Art. & AnimationPikselhttps://www.piskelapp.com/
Texture adn HDRIs for 3D – HDRI HavenHDRI Havenhttps://hdrihaven.com/
FontsGoogle Fontshttps://fonts.google.com/
Fonts1001freefonts.comhttp://1001freefonts.com/
Simple Android App MakerAppInventorhttps://appinventor.mit.edu/
Color Palette GeneratorCoolors.Cohttps://coolors.co/
Rhyme dictionaryRhymezone.comhttps://rhymezone.com/
WebBrowserChromehttps://www.google.com/chrome/
WebBrowserBrave https://brave.com/?ref=ngh545
EmailThunderbirdhttps://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/
EmailGmailhttps://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/
Media PlayerVLChttps://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.htmlWindows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
OfficeLibreOfficehttps://www.libreoffice.org/Microsoft Office ($71.88 per user per year and up)
OfficeGoogleDocshttp://docs.google.com/Microsoft Office ($71.88 per user per year and up)
OfficeOpenOfficehttps://www.openoffice.org/Microsoft Office ($71.88 per user per year and up)
AntivirusClamAVhttps://www.clamav.net/Kaspersky Anti-Virus, McAfee AntiVirus Plus
AntivirusClamWinhttp://www.clamwin.com/WindowsKaspersky Anti-Virus, McAfee AntiVirus Plus
PasswordStorage KeePasshttps://keepass.info/Windows, macOS, LinuxRoboForm, LastPass
PDF ToolsPDFCreatorhttps://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreatorWindowsAdobe Acrobat ($381.65)
Compression Tools7-ziphttps://www.7-zip.org/Windows, macOS, LinuxWinZip, WinRar
VPNPsiphonhttps://psiphon3.com/en/index.htmlWindows and AndroidPopular paid VPN clients.
Backup / Restore toolsClonezillahttps://clonezilla.org/Windows and LinuxSymantec Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image
Notes NixNotehttp://www.nixnote.org/NixNote-Home/Windows and LinuxEvernote, Microsoft OneNote
EducationOctavehttps://www.gnu.org/software/octave/Windows, macOS, LinuxMathWorks MATLAB
Clean up ToolsBleachBithttps://www.bleachbit.org/Windows and LinuxCCleaner

Credits:

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Dawid Adach

Co-Founder @ MDBootstrap.com / Forbes 30 under 30 / EO'er

For years I've been working as an IT Consultant in countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Poland or India developing enterprise class systems for the biggest companies within domain.

Since 2016 I'm co-founder of MDBotstrap.com - world class UI Framework used by NASA, Amazon, Nike, Airbus, Samsung, Apple and many other Fortune 500 Companies.

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