If GIMP Is So Good, Why Does Everyone Use Photoshop?

If you subscribe to a service from a link on this page, Reeves and Sons Limited may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

If GIMP is so good, why does everyone use Photoshop? It’s a fair question, given the fact that GIMP is so often heralded by open source enthusiasts.

GIMP is a free photo editing software often cited as the best open source image editing software on the planet. An offshoot, Gimpshop, features a user interface that mimics the appearance and terminology of Photoshop โ€“ and it’s also free. Why doesn’t everyone use it instead?

First, I make no argument against GIMP as a world-class image editor. What’s more, I have no problem whatsoever with open source โ€“ I’m also an enthusiast and have promoted GIMP in dozens of posts.

What I do wonder is, when the free GIMP is arguably every bit as powerful as the $700 Photoshop, why doesn’t everyone just use GIMP?

This is why:

Marketing – Adobe undoubtedly has a large marketing budget, which they put to good use.

You learned on Photoshop Most design classes use Photoshop; once out of school, why learn a lesser-known software that does the same thing?

Advanced features – GIMP can do more than most hobbyists would ever need, but Photoshop can still do more.

Photoshop is the industry standard Photoshop is the most established photo editing software in the professional world. It’s what’s expected of professional firms.

Photoshop integrates with other Adobe products – From Acrobat to Illustrator, InDesign to Dreamweaver, Photoshop integrates seamlessly with other Adobe Creative Suite products.

Lack of GIMP support and tutorials There are tutorials and excellent forums for GIMP users, yes, but not near the volume you’ll find for Photoshop users, including professional Adobe support.

Mistrust of open source Perception that open source is always distributed with spyware or susceptible to crashes and data loss can turn some users off, whether the perception is valid or not.

Minimal investment For the startup or hobbyist, the price of Photoshop might be a barrier to entry. But for established professional design firms, the price of Photoshop and the entire Creative Suite represents an investment with an expected return. Spending a few thousand dollars on software every few years is anticipated, and minimal given the fact that a single job might pay for the purchase.

What other reasons do designers cite for using Photoshop instead of GIMP? Or are you a designer who uses GIMP instead? Why? Let me know in the comments!

Bogdan Rancea

Bogdan is a founding member of Inspired Mag, having accumulated almost 6 years of experience over this period. In his spare time he likes to study classical music and explore visual arts. Heโ€™s quite obsessed with fixies as well. He owns 5 already.

Comments 37 Responses

  1. Jj says:

    I used Photoshop Since before the web. I used it well and often. Many of my images ended up being printed at 40 feet wide. I had a lot of detail and dozens of layers going. Then I stopped working for an employer who paid for my software. I also switched from theatrical scenery-scapes to mostly underwater work. I really link GIMP. I have more to learn -especially how to adjust the “auto* image adjustments.NTL, I’m going to keep at this. I am getting great results with GIMP. Perhaps, if I take on a more detailed editing job, I’ll miss PS, but that hasn’t happened yet.

  2. Twenty says:

    Photoshop doesn’t “seamlessly” integrate with the rest of Creative Suite. Adobe purchased a lot of other companies and rebranded their different programs as “Adobe” this or that — they’re not developed as a suite, and it shows. In fact, I can’t really tell that active development goes on at all. Adobe seems to abandon development where it counts, but they do change the UI around to justify the constant costs of renting their software.

    I don’t know any pros who are still using this stuff, honestly. For proprietary, industry-standard image editing, Affinity and Clip Studio Pro seem to be the new gold standards.

    1. Vilinba says:

      I agree with your observations, because it has to be said that the excellent image program called Photoshop is nothing more than an evolution of Aldus’ Photo Stiler, which was acquired by Adobe. Adobe is a millionaire company that is present in all schools and is currently one of the richest in the world. Everyone who deals with images and videos has learned from Adobe, which grew at the same time as its competitor COREL. However, open source programs were the initiative of technicians all over the world who wanted to exchange information on various aspects and it wasn’t a company aiming for exorbitant profits. The whole initiative of free programs has the possibility of supplanting any saleable program, they just don’t do it to avoid confrontation, and both ADOBE and COREL know this. The programs of these companies are absorbed by the technicians who are part of the development of languages developed by these same technicians, so you shouldn’t make comparisons of programs such as PS or GIMP, each one has its own characteristics of use and depends on the needs of each professional.

      1. Bogdan Rancea says:

        Thanks for sharing your thoght Vilinba!

  3. Joe Weisman says:

    Switched to GIMP for work and home a few years ago – just basic marketing aids work, not pro glamore photography. GIMP felt unintuitive, but to be honest, I still remember my first try at PS a lifeime ago – back then it took a few tutorials just to get started! So, yes, GIMP is nonituitive to us because we’re soooo used to PS. GIMP is really just different. Not harder to use than PS.

    1. Bogdan Rancea says:

      ๐Ÿ‘

  4. Warwick Williams says:

    Why don’t more people use GIMP? In most cases it’s the same old answer to any “why don’t people” question: ignorance.
    I used Photoshop for twenty years, got sick of the CC payments a couple of years ago so went back to CS6. Due to a Mac problem I was upgraded to Catalina and discovered several programs weren’t compatible including Photoshop CS6. Having an important project to complete in desperation I stumbled across GIMP. As far as I am concerned Adobe can keep Photoshop. GIMP is not that hard to use and there are plenty of how to’s on-line if you can’t figure it out. Forcing people into CC is just Adobe’s greed. I make around 200 presentations a year and am often questioned about Lightroom and Photoshop and the alternatives. What do you think I say?

  5. ED-E says:

    I’m no professional photographer, or professional in any field that would justify paying rather high fees for photo editing suite. Nevertheless, I do a lot of photo editing & graphical work, mainly as a hobby and non-paid projects. Practically on daily basis. And I indeed paid for the Photoshop, for multiple years.

    I used to use Photoshop for everything (prior to that, various versions of PSP). However, for the last two years I’ve exclusively used just GIMP.
    Transition from PS to GIMP was by no means a totally painless process – there were some seriously frustrating times just figuring out how everything works, and adjusting to the somewhat different workflow. And for a while I kinda felt that while GIMP is rather powerful, it’s definitely lacking some features and is nowhere near as polished compared to PS. As I learned more & more, I eventually reached the point where I was able to do everything in GIMP. This was somewhat amazing to realize, and GIMP no longer felt lacking in features, or “second class user experience”.
    As I read this article, I realized I haven’t really been missing Photoshop at all, for a long, long time. Now I’m either just blissfully unaware of things I might be missing, or GIMP does indeed fulfill my photo editing needs completely – I tend to believe that the latter is the case here.

    The fact that GIMP is completely free is just stunning, to say the least… And Adobes Photoshop / Creative Cloud with recurring payments were after all the main reason I ended up making the switch. Secondly I got tired of either the CC or PS crapping themselves from time to time (among with more “usual” crashes, at worst the installation got so broken, that nothing but complete re-install helped…). While I’ve seen GIMP crash a couple of times as well, it seems to be much more stable overall compared to PS — though admittedly this is just one users experience, I trust there are plenty of people with just the opposite view and experience on this matter.

  6. Kay B says:

    I tried GIMP many years ago before learning Photoshop CS5/6. I gave it about half and hour, then gave up. I hate the interface and it’s not user friendly. I’ve now used Photoshop for about 10 years, but decided to give GIMP another try today. Gave myself about 5 minutes, and still hated it and uninstalled it. It’s still not user friendly.

  7. David Williams says:

    Couldn’t get started. Gave up.

  8. Michael Priest says:

    I have used Photoshop for years and it’s great software. However, I gave GIMP a shot and it’s just as good, at least for my purposes. It only took about an hour to figure the important tools and steps I mostly use. The end results are identical. Actually, if you want the feel of Photoshop, GIMP lets you set shortcuts anyway you want, so you can set the shortcuts up like Photoshop. The lack of tutorials for GIMP is somewhat frustrating, but you can figure most things out by browsing through all the menus and tools. I’m sold on GIMP!

    1. Susie says:

      I wish I had your savvy
      Can’t read the language and I was used to photoshop, but don’t want to pay fees, like some ppl are saying. All I want to do is be able to crop and resize, etc….

  9. Derek says:

    I have found Gimp to be the most frustratingly un-intuitive program I have dealt with since switching to linux. I have to wonder if this is done purposely, just to be “different” than Mac OS and WIndows, Most of the edits I attempt to make have no effect at all to the photo I’m working with. I think that many linux users did not start with Linux but rather one of the other two. So when we finally have had enough of windows and their authoritarian nonsense and make the move to linux there is a learning curve that may of us have limited time to deal with while working and family obligations abound. It just seems that Gimp and many other photo editors are going out of their way to make things difficult- wanting to be so different that it puts people back to those platforms they came from. Is it really too much to ask that some attention be given to the UI since it’s the users using the app? Make it inclusive rather than exclusive?

    1. Volker Kalkau says:

      If you make changes that have no effect you have marked the wrong level or made another fundamental mistake.

      1. GeorgeOR says:

        I’ve tried GIMP every 3 years or so. I’ve been using photoshop since the 90s. No way am I going pay out the nose for yearly access to be locked into Adobe’s system so I’ve been using PS7 since it came out. PS7 still does most of what I need. But there are modern functions it lacks.

        So I gave GIMP 2.x a try recently and they have polished it. It finally has a windowed screen, rather than a bunch of floating little menu windows or whatever it was that made things confusing. And yes, I was and still try to do Adobe photoshop keyboard shortcuts. But once those are learned, it’s not a big deal, some of them make more sense than PS.
        GIMP was hard to learn and didn’t seem to make sense in the old days. This GIMP 2.x has many features I love and it was a matter of learning the new arrangement. I have not bothered with GIMPSHOP. Not sure I want to. The modern PS interface is also different from PS7 and some of the ways GIMP works, I like over PS.

  10. Fontoura m says:

    I am just starting so I thought GIMP is better since is free. I like it and is more than enough for me but yes, there is much more videos about Photoshop, Lightroom that it gives sometime the feeling to switch to them. It could be good if we could find more informations in the Internet about GIMP, how to use it and master it.

  11. sonia says:

    I’ve used GIMP for about 12 years now. It’s free and easy to use. I find PS way too complicated. We all like what we like, there’s no point in arguing.

    1. Susie says:

      I used photoshop for years. I can not read the gimp files in a different language…I do not know what else I’m doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated

  12. Denis says:

    Simple: At work I use Photoshop because it’s not me who bought it !
    Gimp looks like a gas plant, maybe I will retry to use it.
    I have long liked the simplicity of paint shop pro but I don’t know the current version …

  13. Ste says:

    Photoshop is UX/UI development driven
    GIMP is developed by programmers for programmers

    GIMP haters is the evidence that the world need a free photoshop-like app for basic stuff and the GIMP is a problematic non-solution even for the basics stuff

  14. Amber Lennox says:

    What do you reccomend for someone who is NOT computer smart to use to learn photo editing?

    1. Bogdan Rancea says:

      Hey Amber, I would definitely start with Gimp, since it’s free ๐Ÿ™‚

    2. arana says:

      Krita, FREE, lot more intuitive than GIMP, and no longer laking in the Image Editing area (it started more as ART creation, but now I think it beats GIMP), in every area

  15. Jason says:

    My big problem with GIMP is that everything is so unnecessarily complicated. With Photoshop, at least some things are reasonably intuitive. I have intermediate skill with that program, but with GIMP I had to spend a half an hour Googling how to de-select a selection, when it could/should be as easy as clicking off of it…but there isn’t even a simple arrow tool! Everything I try to do with it seems to be like this; even pasting an image into a new layer results in all sorts of strange, inexplicable activity. I’m sure GIMP is capable of virtually everything Photoshop is, but figuring out how to perform the simplest tasks is infuriatingly difficult.

    1. Hans says:

      Salut Jason

      just 2 comments:
      a) “complicated”: from my point of view, GIMP is not complicated, it’s just “different” (compared to things lke photoshop)
      b) “arrow”: GIMP is not a “drawing-program”. But if you really want to draw arrows, have a look for “arrow.scm” (with that you have MANY various arrows, maybe too many)

    2. ivan says:

      Exactly. It’s SOOOOOOO nonintuitive, it’s crazy. Selection tools are of sadistic origin.

  16. Antoine says:

    Did you really compared Gimp with Photoshop ?

    I prefer Photofiltre over Gimp lol.

  17. Hadewych says:

    I truly HATE what Photoshop is doing to professionals! I illustrate and use Photoshop CS6 to color it in with transparant layers. Painstaking work but so beautiful as a result. I use it artistically. I am not a slick photographer or I don’t work in the ads field, I would get bored tremendously..In this light, now that my CS6 crashed, I am stuck professionally. I have a deadline and I am devastated. I don’t want to pay the high monthly fees to be dependent on programs that are designed for other purposes: slick, speedy, fast, clean pictures to generate a lot of money! What does adobe mean? It is a mixture of straw and clay to build houses with, a very earthy, creative, harmonious system to create. Hello Adobe Photoshop? Where is your core? I want to use you in the most simple basic way? Why not create a special low key formula for creative people like me? There are TONS of us!

  18. Rory says:

    I’ve used gimp forever, and I’m not sure how people mistrust open source software. How could anyone say they’re afraid it’s got spyware when it’s literally open source and you can look and see for yourself? It’s the closed source stuff that I worry about, can’t see the code so anything could be in there.

    Hell, Microsoft makes no qualms about it. The license agreement for Windows LITERALLY allows them to go take stuff off your computer and delete anything they want from your userspace, and everyone using Windows clicks “I agree” without hesitation.

    Windows is telling you it’s spyware, right in the EULA. But no, it’s guys like me who only use open source, we’re the crazy ones.

    That said, Photoshop does have more features than Gimp, but I actually find Gimp far easier to use. Most people don’t _need_ Photoshop, which makes Gimp a great alternative. I just made my book cover for my first book in Gimp, and though I’ve used it forever I’m not a graphics design specialist. But I was about to do everything I needed.

    I will say this, on a side note: I miss the simplicity of Paint Shop Pro 7.

    1. Niall Dunne says:

      Rory, I completely agree…
      I’ve just introduced myself to Gimp, primarily due to the fact that my brother and nephew are newbies to Graphic/Game/Software development and while my brother has a Windows 7 Machine that I built up for him to use, my 12 year old nephew is looking forward to a Raspberry-Pi 4 for Christmas and with dual screen + external HD, that will be his workstation setup.
      While I installed a copy of PSP7 onto my brother’s machine, my nephew won’t have that option. I therefore found the next best option which is Gimp for Raspbian. I played around with Gimp last weekend for a couple of hours and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to quickly find equivalent tools/procedures to my favorite PSP7 tools/procedures that I use on a project-by-project basis. And I’ve used PSP7 for projects on GBC, GBA, PS1, PSP, POCKET-PC, J2ME, UNITY, SCRATCH etc..

      I still use PSP7 for the majority of my Graphic Needs (and I started life on Deluxe Paint and earlier tools), but I’ll definitely be giving more investigation time over to Gimp. It’s a power and relatively easy tool to use,,, and especially as an open source (Free to use) product, it’s an amazing piece of software allowing budding creative artists/engineers work with what is debatable y a professional quality Tool.
      I’m a software engineer who leaves the high end creative graphic content generation up the pro artists. And they will use their own tools of their choice….

    2. IngridG says:

      I am still using PSP 7! Yes, yay for simplicity and I am a pro, doing art for a living. I still prefer a pencil and paintbrush in rl jobs too, some things don’t need improving. I have to admit now I need abr brushes so I am going to try GIMP. Too many options is just a big waste of time and scrolling through endless options makes my head hurt.

  19. Zach Petch says:

    As a newbie, trying both, I found photoshop to be WAY easier to learn and use. In photoshop, it took me less than an hour to figure out how to extract a bunch of individual parts from one photo, put them on another photo and get them all resized, rotated, and positioned the way I wanted it. In GIMP, I spent an entire, very frustrating, day trying to figure out those same steps. There is a LOT more helpful information on the internet for how to use Photoshop, and the various basic features are a lot more intuitive.

    1. Bogdan Rancea says:

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts Zach!

    2. Reality_Check says:

      Are you sure about that? It is exactly the same procedure in both programs. Select an area with your preferred selection tool, then go to the edit tab>copy then paste wherever you want to. I mean IT LITERALLY IS THE EXACT SAME THING! How can you say it is way harder in gimp to do the same procedure?

      1. Yves says:

        I’ve been using GIMP exclusively for at least 10 years, and v2.8 was a huge improvement.

        That being said, I still sometimes have to google how to do operation that should have been simple in GIMP because the interface is all but intuitive. Usually, I’m like that “Nope, not possible, there must be a way, an easy way to do that function… Not giving up!”, and, eventually, have to resort to Google to get some help.

        I agree with a previous comment: made by devs for devs.

        1. GeorgeOR says:

          I am still learning GIMP as my old PS still does most of what I need, even thou it crashes more, it’s old.

          I know what you mean by devs for devs and its a way to really harm a well made product. Back in the 90s there was perhaps the most powerful word processor I’ve ever used. It was rather slick and I’d say comparable to MS Office 2000~2003. It was called Final Writer for Amiga compters. And one of the amazing features that MS Office still cannot do is that Final Writer didn’t work off typo-list, but it looked at what the user type. I could write out a word somewhat phonetically and it will show me the option to choose the correct spelling! Meanwhile with today’s word processors, if your typo is one letter off it’s list, it won’t show a list or it’ll list words that aren’t even close!

          Amiga used a cross-application communication language called AREXX. Imagine the ability to use three or so programs to control each other’s actions to get a job done. Thus, a database, a word processor an image editor can run on a script, pretty powerful. Final Writer’s use of AREXX was top notch. The program’s function, UI and output was top notch. But with all of that, it was missing a sorely needed feature.
          UNDO. Yep, no UNDO! If you accidentally deleted a sentence, a paragraph, a page or a whole chapter to something you were working on, it was GONE forever! We had a text editor that had an undo history of 20 or so levels back then, so this was not excusable!

          They came out with an updated version, like 3.0 and sent me a letter or something that said I get a bunch of fonts by upgrading for $30. I called up the company and talked to the president as such companies were small, even Adobe. “I love your program, it’s awesome. But does 3.0 have UNDO or will it?” I asked him.
          He said “Not as far as he knows. It’s whatever the programmers decide to add to it.”
          I told him, I would not be upgrading even tho I want the new version with new functions, but a word-processor should have multi-undo functions.

          Devs are Devs, that’s fine. But many times they do not think like end-users, especially those who just use everyday non technical programs.

          GIMP could use some UI improvements, but many of those functions are likely established that expert GIMP users would be thrown for a loop if they were changed.
          I’ll give GIMPSHOP a try, it’s free. Too bad the site is a bit messy with as many “click to start downloads” banners that its a bit hard to see which button is for DLing the actual program.

          1. Bogdan Rancea says:

            Thanks for sharing George!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rating *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.