If you pay Adobe every month mostly to crop, mask and retouch a handful of photos, a new free Photoshop alternative Mac users can download today could take that charge off your card. It is called PhotoCraft, it opens real layered PSD files, it runs natively on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs, and it costs nothing.
The catch is printed right on the label. Version 0.7.0 is tagged early alpha, and its own developers say it is not ready to stand in for Photoshop in daily professional work. That makes it a fun option for hobbyists and a risky one for anyone with a client waiting on files.
What PhotoCraft is, and who is behind it
PhotoCraft comes from ArtCraft, an open-source group that has put out a family of twelve free “Craft” apps written in the Rust programming language. Besides the image editor, the lineup covers vector drawing, video, raw photos, PDFs, motion graphics, page layout, documents, audio, slides, CAD and spreadsheets. Only PhotoCraft and PdfCraft carry the early alpha label; ArtCraft lists the other ten as still in development.
The project’s GitHub page describes PhotoCraft as “an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop.” The code is published under the MIT or Apache-2.0 license, your choice, and the repository has already passed 52,000 stars, so plenty of developers are already poking at a free Photoshop alternative Mac users can inspect line by line.
What a free Photoshop alternative Mac owners get in version 0.7
- Editable layers. Sixteen adjustment layers, among them Curves, Levels, Vibrance and Color Lookup, plus masks, smart objects with smart filters and more than 70 filters you can preview live.
- Photoshop files. PhotoCraft can open, edit and save layered PSD and PSB documents, which matters if friends or coworkers send you work in Adobe’s format.
- Familiar selection tools. Magic Wand, Quick Selection, Object Selection, Select Subject and Select and Mask are all there, and subject picking happens on your Mac instead of in a cloud service.
- Serious color. Documents can be 8, 16 or 32 bits per channel in RGB, CMYK, Lab or Grayscale, with ICC profiles and soft proofing for print.
- A real Mac app. The canvas draws through Metal rather than a wrapped web page, and the developers say the universal macOS download is signed and notarized.
Tinkerers also get a command-line version and an MCP server that lets AI agents drive the editor. Everyone else will notice that menus, panels and keyboard shortcuts follow the Adobe playbook closely.
Where it still falls short of Photoshop
The developers are upfront about the gaps. Their own notes list no AI or generative tools, fifteen tools not built yet, thin support for advanced typography and pro workflows, and limited plug-in support. A menu item named like its Photoshop cousin will not always act the same way, either.
PSD handling is the make-or-break test for any free Photoshop alternative Mac owners consider. The product page claims 134 of 135 real-world test files survive a round trip byte for byte, yet the GitHub notes caution that files you save again will not match the originals exactly. The practical lesson is simple: edit a copy and keep the source file safe.
HEIC, the default format for iPhone photos, is read-only, and even that reader is listed as an optional feature. AVIF works for export only, JPEG XL is missing, and Affinity documents open read-only. ArtCraft also has not listed a minimum macOS version.
Who gets the most out of it
The sweet spot is someone who needs layers and masks a few times a month and resents a subscription for it. Students learning the Photoshop way of working fit well, since the skills carry over and the bill is zero. Parents fixing family photos, small shop owners building social graphics and anyone who occasionally receives a PSD should give this free Photoshop alternative Mac setup a spin.
Intel Mac owners get a nice surprise. Because the download is universal, an older iMac or MacBook Pro is treated as a first-class citizen, which is not a given for every free Photoshop alternative Mac owners come across.
Who can skip it for now
If you lean on Generative Fill, third-party plug-ins or heavy type work, PhotoCraft has little to offer yet. The same goes for anyone billing clients by the hour, because an alpha can crash or change behavior between versions. And if most of your library is iPhone HEIC files, expect to convert them before doing much. For now, this is not the free Photoshop alternative Mac professionals can bet a project on.
Scenario by scenario
Here is how this free Photoshop alternative Mac setup stacks up in everyday situations.
| Your situation | Our call |
|---|---|
| Touching up family photos and social posts | Worth trying |
| Opening a PSD someone sent you | Good fit, but work on a copy |
| Learning layers and masks without a subscription | Strong fit |
| Paid client retouching on a deadline | Stay with Photoshop |
| Generative fill and AI cleanup | Not available yet |
| Older Intel Mac | Supported by the universal build |
What it costs and how to install it
PhotoCraft is free on every platform it supports, with no subscription. ArtCraft’s separate AI image and video studio is only described as free to start and has its own pricing page, so do not mix up the two. Getting it onto your Mac takes a few minutes:
- Visit the PhotoCraft page on ArtCraft’s site or the project’s GitHub repository.
- Download the file named photocraft-0.7.0-macos-universal.dmg.
- Open the disk image and install the app like any other Mac download.
- To try more Craft apps, use the ArtCraft Launcher (version 0.2.1), which installs the whole set and keeps it updated.
Bug reports go through ArtCraft’s Discord server. If you followed Apple’s purchase of Pixelmator, you know how quickly a scrappy editor can grow up. Want to stay in Adobe’s world for less? We covered its lighter option when Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2025 arrived.
Frequently asked questions about PhotoCraft
Is PhotoCraft safe to download on a Mac?
The developers say the macOS disk image is signed and notarized, and the full source code is public on GitHub. It is still early alpha software, so keep backups of any file you edit with it.
What are the ArtCraft Adobe clones?
ArtCraft lists twelve free apps, including PhotoCraft for images, VectorCraft for illustration, LightCraft for raw photos, FilmCraft for video and PdfCraft for PDFs. Only PhotoCraft and PdfCraft are in early alpha.
Can I use PhotoCraft in a web browser?
Yes. The editor also compiles to WebAssembly, and ArtCraft lists the web as a supported platform for PhotoCraft alongside macOS, Windows and Linux.
Should you swap Photoshop for PhotoCraft yet?
Hobbyists, students and occasional editors should download it this week; as a free Photoshop alternative Mac users can test at no cost, it already covers the layer-and-mask basics. Professionals should install it on the side, watch the release notes and keep paying Adobe until the missing tools land. Free software that opens your PSDs is a gift, as long as you treat the alpha label like a wet paint sign.
