Seven free, open source apps from ArtCraft take aim at Adobe’s best known programs, and the pitch is simple: the standard editing tools cost nothing, and you only pay if you want credits for generative image and video features. The catch is the label. The apps reached GitHub in early October 2026, and the developer’s own page calls PhotoCraft “early alpha”.
Seven apps, one Adobe rival each
According to PhotographyTalk, the suite lines up like this:
- PhotoCraft for Photoshop
- LightCraft for Lightroom (not Lightroom Classic)
- FilmCraft for Premiere
- VectorCraft for Illustrator
- PdfCraft for Acrobat
- EffectCraft for After Effects
- DesignCraft for InDesign
The sources do not agree on everything. An unofficial community guide lists 13 apps, and an Italian report calls the PDF app PrintCraft. We stay with the seven named by PhotographyTalk.
The Adobe file angle
PhotoCraft opens and saves PSD and PSB files at 8, 16 and 32 bits, and its GitHub page lists 68 tools and 16 adjustment layers. The project says re-saving keeps the rendered image of 307 of 309 files in a public PSD test set, but the saved files are not byte for byte identical to the originals. ilsoftware.it quoted the developers with a different self reported result, 134 of 135 files. Both figures are the developer’s own, not an independent test. PdfCraft, per the community guide, reads, merges, splits and secures PDFs without an account.
What is free and what is not
All the apps are free to download under MIT and Apache 2.0 licences, with builds for macOS, Windows and Linux. The sources differ on the browser: PhotographyTalk says every app except FilmCraft runs in a tab, while the community guide says all of them do, with files staying on your device.
The paid side is separate. ArtCraft’s pricing page, which quotes USD, sells monthly generation credits: Basic at $10 a month (shown at $8 in a limited-time offer), Pro at $35 (shown at $28) and Max at $60 (shown at $48). The page says ArtCraft can be used without a subscription. Canadian pricing is not stated.
Adobe’s prices, for reference
PhotographyTalk quotes Adobe’s annual plan prices as $22.99 a month for Photoshop, $11.99 for Lightroom, $19.99 for the Photography plan and $69.99 for Creative Cloud Pro. The article does not name the currency, so check Adobe’s Canadian site for Canadian prices.
What it means for you
Treat this as a test project, not a swap. GitHub says PhotoCraft is “not yet a Photoshop replacement for daily professional work”, and early testers cited by PhotographyTalk report lag and frozen tools. The clean-room claim, meaning no Adobe code and a build from public specifications, is the developer’s own, and PhotographyTalk notes that patent questions remain open.
In Canada and the US alike, the safe route is free: download from the official site, try PSD files on copies, and keep your current editor for paid deadlines. Linux users have the most to gain, since Adobe offers no Linux versions of these programs.
