Free software: best alternatives to premium software

There are countless alternatives to most common and expensive software: they cover almost any budget and with similar functionalities. But if you have no budget for the known suites, you can try some of the best free alternatives for Windows and Mac.

Google Drive and Libre Office, perfect substitutes to Microsoft Office

If you have to write many texts, make presentations or work on spreadsheets, Google Drive (formerly known as Google Docs) is the online solution that everybody can use. It has every feature that you’d think of, at least the most used ones, and it can be used as a collaboration tool for multi-user editing. Of course, you can export and share your works. With some free add-ons, you can get an almost professional suite.

If the could is not your cup of tea, or if you’re not allowed to always work online, you can use Libre Office, a suite forked from Open Office and thus open source. You can edit Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides with no worries. It ships with an old-school design, but it’s the more solid alternative to creating and edit documents compatible with Office. Either version is available on Windows and Mac.

GIMP, the free alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud

Subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud is pretty expensive, but GNU Image Manipulation Program – also known as GIMP – has all the features you need to edit images. It works almost exactly like Photoshop does, it is features rich and it allows – with some practice – to get professional results. You can also install add-ons to expand its functionalities. GIMP is ready to install on Windows and Mac machines alike.

DaVinci Resolve, the solid replacement for Adobe Premiere

Finding a reliable and free tool to edit video is not so simple. DaVinci Resolve is by far one of the best choices: developed originally as another tool, a few years ago it was converted to a feature-rich video editing software. It’s rather difficult to dominate, especially if you’re not too much into editing, but it has every feature you’d find in a costlier software. Free for Windows and Mac, it has a premium edition, even richer.

Avira, Malwarebytes, and Sophos: free antivirus and antimalware

To defend your computer from any threats an antivirus is essential to stay safe. The best antivirus is, usually, to be paid for; but there are some solid free alternatives: Avira (for Windows and Mac) and Sophos for Mac. Antimalware software can be found in Malwarebytes for both platforms. Take a look at our reviews.

Inkscape, the substitute to Adobe Illustrator

If you work with logos, graphics and print details, but you have no budget to get Adobe Illustrator, you can take a jump of faith and try Inkscape. Even if Illustrator has more specific features, Inkscape has all the important one, is open source, it works on Windows and Macs and has tutorial and guides to help you get through.

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