GIMP vs Photoshop

Cluster centers on debates criticizing GIMP's UI/UX, feature gaps, and inadequacy as a Photoshop alternative, with users preferring Photoshop despite its flaws or suggesting other tools like Krita.

📉 Falling 0.4x Open Source
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Comments
20
Years Active
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Top Authors
#7957
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Keywords

UX NET CIE PS roadmap.txt GIMP InDesign Paint.Net girinstud.io NOT gimp photoshop ui interface ux blender adobe ve used inkscape ps

Sample Comments

Joeri Apr 19, 2012 View on HN

Sorry, but no. Photoshop's interface is not particularly easy to use (discoverability issues), nor is it efficient (too much modifier key usage). Photoshop users are overtrained on a suboptimal way of working. What we need is something with photoshop's engine (which is very powerful), but a better UI. Gimp is not that though, and it never will be (good UI must be designed like a cathedral, and gimp will always remain a bazaar of features).

atoav Apr 18, 2022 View on HN

As someone who uses Photoshop since version 6 I think GIMP is totally capable as a software in what you can actually do with it.Many grievances with GIMP stem from the way how things are done. Where Blender had a weird, but rationally thought out and consistent UX, GIMPs user interface feels weird and inconsistent — as if the way it ended up looking was the only way someone managed to get it to work using default GTK widgets.This might seem like a luxury problem, but it is really no

Kye Oct 31, 2025 View on HN

GIMP doesn't do 1% of what this does even if you don't have a problem with GIMP's UX. It's not comparable.

fbdab103 Dec 9, 2023 View on HN

GIMP seems actively hostile to giving people what they want: a Photoshop clone. Even projects which would revamp the interface to be more Photoshop like were given the cold shoulder.At this point I have fully switched to Krita. I am not a real artist and am only ever making little doodles for my apps, but the developers seem more in tune with what users need.

nvictor Jul 19, 2011 View on HN

please please please GIMP can't still be compared to Photoshop.

deviner Sep 15, 2021 View on HN

gimp is not even close to ps, unfortunately

nr2x May 27, 2021 View on HN

Ah yes, replace photoshop with gimp, why has nobody thought of that before?

smrtinsert Feb 8, 2014 View on HN

yes. thank you for explaining so well how tiring gimp is. I feel like they actively reject any good ui idea if its photoshop like.

cameronh90 Nov 29, 2024 View on HN

Photoshop's UX is poor, but everyone is used to it. GIMP's UX is even worse, and nobody is used to it. And based on those screenshots in the article, it has, if anything, got even weirder and less intuitive.I'd probably try and power through if there was even close to feature parity, but it's only just now catching up with where Photoshop was in 1994.

Peaker Nov 12, 2012 View on HN

People say Gimp has a different/worse UI, but roughly similar capabilities. Do you have a citation/basis to claiming Gimp is so much weaker?