Best Free Alternatives to Paid Software

Read (
Words) Add Comment

Best Free Alternatives to Paid Software


Don’t waste money on software for personal use! Not only do free alternatives exist, they most likely offer all the features you need and may be easier and safer to use.

Every single day, you are using a diverse mix of software and you may have come to believe that you need a commercial product for one of your tasks. Did you know that — for personal use — high quality, free, and open source alternatives are available in virtually any software category? Sounds good, doesn’t it?



I’ve highlighted some applications that are either free or open source and can keep your wallet from going on an unwanted diet.



Here It is:-


Photography

  1. Polarr – Great alternative for Adobe Lightroom. (Web)
  2. Shotwell – Photo manager with powerful organizational and RAW support features (Linux)
  3. Picasa – Google’s photo organizer and editor is actually great, if a little bloated (Everywhere)
  4. RawTherapee – Complete solution for all your RAW needs. (Windows, Mac)
  5. FSpot – Full-featured personal photo management system (Linux)
  6. FastStone Image viewer – Fast, stable and user friendly image browser with basic editing features
  7. Irfanview – Lightweight image viewer and editor with batch processing abilities.

Image Editing
  1. Pixlr – Fully functional alternative to Adobe Photoshop. (Web, Windows, Mac)
  2. GIMP – Another Photoshop alternative. (Linux, Mac)
  3. Paint.net – GIMP for Windows (Windows)
  4. Seashore – Basic image editing with layers, textures, gradients and more. (Mac)
  5. ImageOptim – Image utility that compresses your images for the web (Mac)
  6. RIOT – Batch image compression for Windows (Windows)
  7. InkScape – Professional vector graphics editor, replaces Adobe Illustrator (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  8. Pinta – Another great Illustrator alternative. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  9. Canva – Makes design ridiculously easy with templates for infographics, banners, newsletters, and more. (Freemium, web, iPad)
  10. Pixlr-o-Matic – An app with fun, quick and easy effects that is a joy to use (Web, Windows, Mac, Chrome, iOS/Android)
  11. Photoscape – Fun and easy photo editing software. (Windows, Mac)

Video


Playback & Entertainment

  1. VLC – The video editor everyone loves. Super fast, plays almost every video format, and has many other hidden features – from video format compression to streaming podcasts. (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)
  2. Pluto TV – Forget Netflix and cable, Pluto TV is your new best friend. With over a hundred channels – from Cats 24/7 to Science to Baseball, Pluto TV combines the variety of web content with the leanback experience of TV. (Everywhere) (Disclosure: I currently work at Pluto TV)
  3. Miro – Just like VLC and also open source, with a beautiful interface. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  4. Kodi (formerly XBMC) – Your personal home theater. (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Editing

  1. OpenShot – Fully featured video editor, alternative to Final Cut Pro/Premiere Pro. (Linux)
  2. Lightwork – Professional grade video editor (Freemium, Windows, Mac, Linux)
  3. Miro – Video convertor that converts almost any video format
  4. Blender – Powerful video and animation editor with exhaustive documentation.
  5. Handbrake – Indispensable tool that can convert and compress any format (Windows, Mac, Linux)


Productivity

Productivity Tools
  1. Wunderlist – The best task-management app ever, period. (Everywhere)
  2. Pocket – Found an awesome article but don’t have time to read it? Add it to Pocket with one click and read it later. (Everywhere)
  3. OneNote – Microsoft’s free and powerful note manager (Windows/Mac/Android/IOS)
  4. Evernote – A must have at this point, Evernote is your personal-everything manager. (Everywhere)
  5. Trello – Project management software that will supercharge your productivity, (Web, iOS, Android, Win 8)
  6. Pomodoro One – A free time management tool using the famous Pomodoro technique. (Mac)
  7. Howl Timer – A time management tool with customizable time slots.
  8. Sunrise Calendar – Beautifully designed with numerous integrations (including Google Calendar and Evernote). (Mac, iOS, Android)

Office Software

  1. Google Docs – A complete alternative to Microsoft Office in the cloud. Say goodbye to crashes and lost unsaved documents. (Web)
  2. LibreOffice – Downloadable alternative to MS Office and Google Docs (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  3. Atom.io – Hackable text editor from our friends at Github. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  4. Sublime Text – The best text editor ever. (Freemium, Windows, Mac, Linux)
  5. Foxit PDF Reader – Great alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro. Create, convert, and edit PDFs. (Windows, Linux)

Messaging

  1. Slack – Say goodbye to email. Slack is a one-stop solution to all your messaging needs in and out of the workplace.
  2. Adium – Cross platform IM client.
  3. Pidgin – The ‘universal chat client’. Works with everything from Google Talk to IRC.
  4. Telegram – Alternative to WhatsApp. (Android, iOS, Windows Phone)
  5. Skype – Free video and audio calling.
  6. Viber – Just like Skype.
  7. KarmaBox – A tiny utility that sites in your menubar and notifies you when you get new reddit mail. (Mac)

Music
  1. fooBar – My favorite personal music player ever. Don’t be fooled by the not-too-pretty interace. foobar is the fastest, most lightweight and customizable music player available. (Windows)
  2. Spotify – Ad-supported free music streaming. (Everywhere)
  3. Audacity – Create, record, edit and remix music. Your personal home studio. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  4. Pandora – Like Spotify for radio.
  5. Rdio Radio and on-demand streaming, available in more countries than Spotify and Pandora.

Utilities
  1. Everything Search – The fastest search for your computer, ever. Find anything in miliseconds. (Windows)
  2. Flux – Protect your eyes by automatically adjusting your screen’s brightness according to the time of day. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  3. Dashlane – The best password manager ever made – it is an even better alternative than its many paid counterparts. Nothing is stored in the cloud and everything is encrypted – and the best part, it’s all cross-platform. (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)
  4. Ccleaner – The best tool to clean your computer, manage startup programs, and so much more. An essential. (Windows, Mac, Android)
  5. BetterTouchTool – This will change your life. Open apps, close tabs, dock windows, delete files – all without lifting a finger from the touchpad. If you had to get only one app for the Mac, let it be this one. (Mac)
  6. TreeSize – Scans your computer and visualizes exactly where and which apps are using up your disk space. (Windows)
  7. DaisyDisk – Like TreeSize, except for Mac. (Mac)
  8. Alfred – Search files and web, open apps and so much more. (Mac)
  9. 7-Zip – Zipping and unzipping software that is truly free – no nagging trial periods. (Windows)
  10. The Unarchiver – 7-Zip for Mac. (Mac)
  11. Calibre – Complete e-book manager, convertor and reader. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  12. App Cleaner – Completely uninstall apps and their hidden files with one click. (Mac)
  13. Rocketdock – Get a Mac OSX-like dock for your Windows computer. (Windows)
  14. Rainmeter – Completely customize and transform your desktop with skins, weather forecast, app launchers, quotes, and more. (Windows)
  15. FileZilla – The best FTP client. (Windows, Mac)
  16. Dropbox – The essential file backup solution. (Everywhere)
  17. Memory Clean – Keep your RAM use under control with one click. (Mac)
  18. coconutBattery – Track your Macbook’s battery health. (Mac)
  19. Jing – Capture screencasts or screenshots and share them instantly. (Windows, Mac)
  20. FastStone Capture – Image capture with a full-page (scrolling) screen capture feature. (Windows)

'; } else{ var nextsum='
'+newtitle+'
'; } $('a.newer-link').append(nextsum); console.log(nextsum); }); $.get(olderLink.attr('href'), function (data) { var thumbdefault='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UyFwSZ-wbvI/VlbUBUjp6CI/AAAAAAAACy8/5rhxkInOod8/s450/girl-996824_1280.jpg'; var oldertitle = $(data).find('.post h1.post-title').text(); var oldfirstimage=$(data).find('.item-post img').first().attr("src"); if(oldfirstimage){ var cutoldnext= oldfirstimage.replace(/s\B\d{2,4}/,'s' + 350); var prevsum='
'+oldertitle+'
'; } else{ var prevsum='
'+oldertitle+'
'; } $('a.older-link').append(prevsum); }); /* $.get(newerLink.attr('href'), function (data) { newerLink.html('Next '+$(data).find('.post h1.post-title').text()+''); },"html"); $.get(olderLink.attr('href'), function (data2) { olderLink.html('Previous '+$(data2).find('.post h1.post-title').text()+''); },"html"); */ })(jQuery); //]]>

CONVERSATION

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )