Note: Most designers know about GIMP. This is for the users that do not and need a free image editing tool.
First the Differences between GIMP and Photoshop
Before posting and sharing an interesting photo to a social media site, some people want to edit their photos first. Usually, what you will need is an image-editing program to edit or enhance the quality of a photo. Photoshop and GIMP are two of the most effective and available image-editing programs today. This will surely help you in choosing the right program to use if you want to edit your photo or in anything that you need in relevance to their functions. Each program has its own unique advantages. Read on below to understand these two apps and the differences between them.
GIMP stands for General Image Manipulation Program. It first started as a couple of college student’s project. But, as it began to gain popularity after a community is produced around it and when it was included to the GNU list, its side problems were troubleshoot and improved. At this point in time, its acronym “G” which stands for General has been replaced to “GNU” but still the acronym has not changed until now.
One major difference of the two is that Photoshop is proprietary and could cost a great sum of money to be purchased while on the other hand, GIMP is a software program that is open source which only means it is free for download and for anyone’s use.
In spite of the eagerness of the community which supports GIMP, still, it is not that advanced compared to Photoshop. Even if it is equipped with plenty of professional tools, some of its features necessary for professional level of editing are absent such as the non-destructive editing.
Mostly, professional graphic artists and photographers still prefer using Photoshop because of its powerful tools and ease of use. Even the expensive price of the Adobe Suite for imaging programs in Photoshop did not dissuade people from using Photoshop who need quality and professional kind of photos from it.
The only problem with Photoshop is that it permits 2 OS (Operating System)—Mac OS and Windows which is both restricted for use of professional photographers unless they like substandard images. GIMP, as part of GNU, its source code can easily be acquired and compiled for various operating systems. GIMP has every version for each and every available operating system around, which makes it a good preference for those people who cannot alter their operating system with the two mentioned OS that Photoshop supports.
GIMP is perfect for people whose hobby is photography and who want to enhance the quality of their images without costing them any amount to pay for the software’s use. It is as well suitable for amateurs who would like to learn the concepts and basics of how to maneuver images before they turn pro and acquiring the associated tools.
Main Differences:
- GIMP is open source while Photoshop is proprietary.
- GIMP is best for amateurs and photography hobbyist as a substitute to Photoshop and as a learning tool for photo editing while Photoshop is an expensive program that professional photographers prefer to use.
- GIMP user interface is made up of multiple windows while Photoshop UI is composed of a single window with child windows.
- Versions of GIMP are available on different kinds of operating systems such as UNIX, Linux, Mac and Windows while Photoshop is only available on Windows and Mac OS.
- GIMP is FREE.
Simon is a Product Designer and Front End Dev with over 20 years of experience. He started as a graphic designer and illustrator coding his first website in 1996. He has worked with brands like Publix, Microsoft, and Discovery Channel.
