Ditching Photoshop: a week with PhotoCraft, the free open-source browser editor
Ditching Photoshop: a week with PhotoCraft, the free open-source browser editor
For the past week I did all of my image work - thumbnails, banner crops, social assets - in a browser tab instead of Photoshop. The tool: PhotoCraft, part of the OpenCraftTools suite (the ArtCraft project). It is free, open source, and asks for no account. Here is the honest rundown.
What it is
OpenCraftTools is a suite of free open-source AI creative tools that run entirely in the browser: 13 “Craft Apps” plus 12 browser editors. The headliners are PhotoCraft (photo editing - think Photoshop replacement), VectorCraft (vector graphics - think Illustrator replacement), and the ArtCraft launcher that ties the suite together. Everything opens instantly; no installs, no signups, no “create a free account to continue” walls.
What surprised me
Layers, masks and blend modes actually work. This is where most “free online editors” fall apart. PhotoCraft handles layered compositions well enough that I finished two real thumbnails start to finish without missing Photoshop.
PSD files open. Importing an old PSD from a client project and having the layers survive was the moment it earned a bookmark. Their guide on PSD handling documents what transfers and what does not.
It is genuinely open source. The ArtCraft project behind the suite blew up on GitHub earlier this month (PhotoCraft alone crossed 50k stars). If the hosted version ever annoys you, you can self-host.
Where Photoshop still wins
Heavy RAW workflows, CMYK print prep, and very large panoramas - PhotoCraft is a browser app, and it shows. For web graphics, social assets and quick retouching, I did not hit a wall.
The bigger picture
There is a longer write-up of the whole suite as a free Adobe alternative here: free open-source Adobe alternative guide. Between PhotoCraft for raster, VectorCraft for vector, and the rest of the Craft Apps, this is the closest thing I have seen to a credible free creative suite that runs in a tab.
Verdict after a week: Photoshop stays installed for print work. For everything that ends up on a screen, PhotoCraft is my default now.
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