GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) Reviews

Overall: In terms of what the software has to offer, GIMP prevails in many areas against some of the competition given its plethora of features & ease of use. While there were just a few shortcomings I noticed in the software, they never hindered my overall experience when accomplishing my work.

Pros: Given my last year or so of using GIMP, this is hands down my most preferable image-editing software. For the beginner or novice user such as myself, this program covers all the essentials such as brushes & patterns, selection tools, & edit photos in various formats - free of charge. As a structural engineer, I'd often find myself refining my on-site captured photos via removing residual objects or persons & occasionally adjusting the image contrast before sending them to the client. In my line of work, GIMP is a necessary tool to have.

Cons: One of my main gripes against GIMP is that it's impossible to select multiple layers which can sometimes be cumbersome. Furthermore, I've had a few crashes on some instances when importing high-res, 5K photos.

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): Most of the tools I used on Photoshop were already present on GIMP. Besides, the annual subscription of using Adobe's photo-editing tool felt a tad expensive which wasn't the case with GIMP.

Overall: Poor.

Pros: The software was free and quick to install however it didn't get the job done for my projects

Cons: The app to too old in its functionality and did not have all the features it's competitions has

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): I made the switch as I wanted to try something on my old macbook however I switched back.

Overall: It is smooth from my end.. most of the time many of my juniors fire problems regarding this programme. but when I show them way.. it work fine..

Pros: APNG and GIF are supported and let me tell you.. they work like a great jam.. wonderful and easy to export too.

Cons: Ease of use.. Most of the time I take more time to create some easy things.. but other than this.. who will provide constant updates and Free of Cost.. thank you, developers..

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): Photoshop is not supporting GIF and APNG exports.. GIF is exported but not in good quality as GIMP is doing.. Learn from GIMP Mr Photoshop.

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): Photoshop is not supporting GIF and APNG exports.. GIF is exported but not in good quality as GIMP is doing.. Learn from GIMP Mr Photoshop.

Overall: Just being able to manipulate images and convert between formats or enhance the image or maybe make the background transparent.

Pros: It's got a lot of features and can be extended with plugins, it's also cross platform so can be used on macOS, Windows and Linux. Can handle most common image formats and export others. However if it can't be done within GIMP it probably can't be done.

Cons: Can be a steeper learning curve than other programs and can be complex to use some of the more esoteric features.

Alternatives Considered: Affinity Photo and Adobe Photoshop

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): It's free so why not, updated regularly and works on all platforms

Overall: Before I got experience, I used to work with GIMP like I was playing games cause I didn't have any intention in using the software

Pros: Color tool in of greater importance to me as it help me color my picture which I consider as my world

Cons: Grid is the feature that always put interest in me and I could even miss using this feature

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): It is the software that I always think of while thinking about image manipulation software

Overall: This software has been a godsend to my art. No more making ten versions of something and then extracting outlines by hand, using hundreds of dollars in expensive colored pencils to adjust an unwanted color scheme, wasting all that time and damaging nerves for what is not a quick selection away.

Pros: Quick tools for removing unwanted colors from images for monochrome printing. It's a huge time and money saver in the tattoo industry. I can pull a full color image and have a basic outline stripped in less than two minutes.

Cons: Text on a path. The bane of my existence is the massive effort it takes to print text on a simple curve in GIMP. It's the ONLY thing I dislike about it.

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): Price and better EULA

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): Price point and licensing issues with EULA

Overall: From large outdoor displays to business cards and websites layouts, GIMP has got us covered here at the studio. It is our go to application for graphics manipulation and everytime we need to edit or create an image from scratch, this is where we go for.

Pros: The ease of use and installation make GIMP a no brainer for a small design studio like ours. It is very similar to the Adobe Photoshop Suite, lacking some resources but still very strong for daily tasks.

Cons: The lack of resources would be the most negative part, but there are many workarounds combining other free softwares like Krita and Inkscape that make it well worth a try. The investment is time to learn and get comfortable at using it.

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): The 0 price tag was what won us here. Affinity Suite is very good and I use it for personal projects but at the Studio we use GIMP as our main Image Manipulation Software.

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): It is just better for our workflow as we can all use at the same time in the studio with a free license.

Overall: It's fairly easy to use if you've used and are familiar with Photoshop and the like. We use it for all of our image and graphic manipulation. It's fast, easy and free. For our needs I could never justify paying several hundreds of dollars for Photoshop (industry leader or not).

Pros: Gimp can do almost everything that Photoshop can do for free. I'm not much of a power user but it's amazing what it can do. I often look for features to use just because I can and because the visual effects can be so interesting. It has really evolved over the years with features and improvements in ease of use. With the last update to v2 it runs much faster on Windows 10 and is more efficient with computer resources than it ever used to be.

Cons: Being an open source application means that bug fixes and updates come slower than they would from a for-profit company (like Adobe). But since it's free, who really cares? For a small business like ours it's perfect and it does everything we need to (and more).

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): It's free and works just as well for basic to medium editing jobs. The interface is not terribly different if you've learned on Adobe Photoshop.

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): When searching for a low cost / free app we tried using Canva for awhile. Canva end results look good and it is very super easy to use. However, the end product images and desgins tend to look the same. We wanted to stand out a little and have more options.

Overall: Overall, I have had nothing short of an enjoyable experience using GIMP over the past few years. It is versatile enough that I can use it for everything from making flyers and posters to making thumbnails and title card art for YouTube and Facebook videos. For someone with a limited budget and even more limited technical knowledge when I began, I could not be happier with GIMP and still use it to this day for ninety percent of my projects.

Pros: GIMP offers quite a bit as far as options and competes with some programs out there that can cost sixty dollars or more. When I began using the program, I was brand new to graphic design and generally making artwork and editing visual media on a PC. Through the use of tutorials and other sources that I was able to find on the official forums for GIMP, I was able to learn the program in about half of the time that it has taken me to learn other, lesser programs. Along with great customer support and tutorials, the interface on GIMP is much easier to get the hang of for beginners and the more time that you put into learning the various functions, the more GIMP grows with your skill level and on top of providing various tutorials, the GIMP community is one of the best communities that I have ever interacted with. Amongst the free editing programs that I have used and even amongst ones that I have paid for, GIMP has been by far the easiest and most reliable one. All of the work that I produce with it has a consistent level of quality and a lot of the functions provided by GIMP have been helpful in helping me to understand more about using techniques. All in all, I would say that for the price, GIMP is an amazing program for a beginner or someone on a budget.

Cons: The thing that I like least about GIMP is probably that in a recent update, a few of the features that I had grown to depend on were taken out which resulted in taking the time to figure out how to proceed. It wasn't a deal-breaking feature, just something that I liked to save time but being that I didn't use it outside of one or two occasions months apart, it wasn't anything that I was willing to stop using GIMP over and I found out how to proceed and get what I needed to do accomplished through searching for help amongst the forums that are set up.

Reasons for Choosing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): Mostly the price and the feedback from users of GIMP were the reasons that I chose GIMP. The price point makes it really easy to decide to give it a try and once I began to listen to the feedback from GIMP users coupled with the amount of support that I was given when I first tried it out, there was no question that GIMP would be a program that I turn to for years.

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): I needed something that would allow me to be a little bit faster with editing and creating and GIMP was a program that met me in the middle as far as features and ease of use.

Overall: With Gimp I am creating weekly flyers with products from our company. We can save an enormous amount of money by doing this by ourselves and not some external design company.

Pros: Gimp is an open-source image manipulation program what means it is absolutely free to use. Also, you will receive regular updates which add new features and fixes bugs including security issues. It has all the abilities that for example Adobe Photoshop and other commercial programs have. It can offer even more because it is easily extensible and flexible for every environment with lots of great community plugins and scripts.

Cons: The user interface of Gimp is not the most beautiful one but its function is very good. It has a lot of menus and submenus so for beginners it may be a little harder to achieve some more complex operations such as retouch of a face or double exposure. Also, compatibility with Adobe file formats exists but don't except that it works perfectly. Most of the time it works flawlessly if you are opening the document from older versions of Photoshop because newer version needs some updating and updates occur approximately every 2 months which is still faster than what Adobe is doing with their Photoshop.

Reasons for Switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): I made the switch mainly because of price. Gimp is free while Adobe Creative Cloud is a monthly based subscription which offers you a lot more software - a complete design package and access to everything you will ever need if you are at least a little in design.

Overall: Generally, GIMP is an excellent alternative open-source editing platform for professionals. It's free availability on all operating systems enable users to work seamlessly.

Pros: I have been using GIMP for a few years now. Earlier on, my experience with this software was not quite right. Now that I am more advanced in graphics and photo edits, I have come to appreciate this open open-source image editing platform. Believe me, when I say this software is excellent, it is because the results are impeccable. GIMP has it all! Its excellent array of features are so good that they can rival adobe photoshop capabilities. These features allow you to tune photos, images and create an artwork of your own. As a graphic designer, you will be able to seamlessly crop images, make colour adjustments, customises brushes and adjust gradients among others editing. Here are some of the advantages of using Gimp over other image editing software. 1.It has incredible, and quality features making it the best among open -source programs 2.Single-window mode operation which is great for single pc operation. 3.GIMP is 100% free. 4.It supports plenty of image formats such as GIF and PDF. Additionally, GIMP is customizable such that you can add and remove menus or icons on the fly. 5.It is easily extensible to ease image manipulation with the third party. 6.Last but not least, GIMP works efficiently on all major operating systems. Whether you choose Linux or windows, results are always impeccable.

Cons: the script-fu is not user-friendly. GIMP lacks intuition on new users and can make their experience pretty cumbersome. Some filters and effects don't explain or guide how the image should be modified. It would be awesome if it would support PSD photoshop images. It does not open some files such a JPEG.

Overall: The fact that GIMP is freely available on all major operating systems ensures that you can work seamlessly from any computer in the native format provided (XCF) or any other supported format. I have used GIMP many times to edit PDF files, either to add annotations or to conceal confidential information, which is easy to accomplish with a filter such as "Pixelize". For certain programming tasks, it came handy to create paths with the Bezier tool, exporting the information to the SVG format, which can be read with a programming text editor in a breeze. I have also benefited from its great stability, once creating more than a hundred layers on a single image. Since it can handle as many layer groups and layer masks as you wish, it is possible to iterate over one idea over and over again, discarding only specific modifications. There is also a useful "Undo history" tab that takes a visual snapshot of the state of the image at each particular point in time and gives a meaningful name to each step, facilitating the retrieval of a desired state.

Pros: GIMP really has it all: apart from being open source (free) to start with, it supports a plethora of image formats, including animated GIF, PDF, PS, RAW, TIFF and even text (TXT). It features a single-window mode, which is convenient when working with only one monitor, while the multi-window mode is incredibly useful to divide any work being done on two different monitors. It offers many filters and third-party extensions to ease some more tedious aspects of image manipulation. If you are into programming, then you can even take advantage of the exposed libraries, which allow you to programmatically modify images with any tool available in GIMP using Python or Scheme as programming languages. It is also customizable to the core: you can add and remove menus and icons on the fly; you can define the exact resource consumption of the application by specifying details for memory usage and even the number of CPU threads to use; you can have completely distinct configurations for normal mode and full-screen mode; you can create brushes or import from existing creations available online, the same being true with textures; you can configure and add keyboard shortcuts for almost any action you may require to perform and configure many settings to correspond to the default behavior you want in most situations.

Cons: GIMP wasn't made to work with Photoshop images (PSD). It does support them, but the experience isn't as good as with Photoshop. Some types of filters apply many different steps and can't easily be undone, which is sometimes frustrating. Unless you are an expert, the Script-Fu Console is not intuitive at all for newcomers and makes it hard to guess what you can actually do. Some filters and effects won't have a complete description immediately available explaining how the image is expected to be modified. This can be inconvenient when trying out new things, as a few filters take a long time to run and may cause the system to hang for a while depending on how the system allocates priority to the application. On the same subject of filters, it is also hard to guess how long a specific effect may take to render as many filters apply a number of steps in a row, resetting the progress bar at each step. Some filters may also have corner cases to consider, for instance when working on a very large image resolution: when rendering a pattern, it can show signs of incongruence if the image isn't scaled down a bit first.

Overall: Overall, GIMP is a fine open source replacement for PhotoShop and some of the other expensive creative suites. For a layperson who occasionally designs a banner or image for their website, GIMP is probably overkill and downright daunting. But for a graphics design artist or someone who likes to dabble, the toolset is robust, with elements to rival its commercial counterparts. I don't mind dabbling and doing my own simple graphics. As an open source proponent, I like using tools that give you the freedom to do with them as you please. For example, I use GIMP on both Windows and Linux platforms. GIMP has been a staple in my toolchest for many years. Its a solid choice for heavier graphics work; I use it alongside simpler tools (like screenshot utilities) and in conjunction with snazzier tools like Canva.

Pros: powerful punch: The GNU Image Manipulation Program.) GIMP is software you install on your computer. To my knowledge there is no SaaS (online software-as-a-service) counterpart. As a regular Linux user one huge benefit for me is that GIMP was initially created for the Linux environment. But unlike many Linux programs, GIMP has a true Windows version that is not poorly ported over. It's as elegant on Windows as it is on Linux. There are no penalties for installing GIMP on each and every computer you own and I've never encountered problems when mixing and matching the files from different flavors (i.e., Windows or Linux). It's rock steady; I don't remember a time when GIMP actually crashed. And if you are ready to exit, GIMP always reminds you to save any unsaved changes to your designs. GIMP has a simple uncluttered interface. "Simple interface" is relative; many menu items have dockable windows (like its commercial counterparts) so managing the various docking windows is what will keep it simple and uncluttered. One of the first things I ever used GIMP for was to import and edit some graphics saved in PhotoShop. I'm not a designer so I don't understand what half the tools do; I use only a few of the many features on a regular basis. Primarily I use it for quick web graphics, banners and graphics for blog articles, converting images to different formats, and sometimes to take screenshots (but others screenshot tools are quicker and more intuitive).

Cons: It would be nice to have a few "modes" that hide or reveal tools based on your anticipated usage. For example, a "novice" interface mode would be nice. The help system is decent but is a bit cryptic and designed for the designer (not a layperson). I would love to see better intuitive context-sensitive help. For example, hovering over a tool would give a much more understandable explanation. The screenshot tool could be more accessible (when not working in GIMP).