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Open-source alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud

Includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign, Acrobat, Acrobat Pro.

Adobe Creative Cloud does 7 jobs: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat). Most projects replace one or two of them, so pick the job you actually need.

Quick answer

Facts checked 16 Oct 2026

Open-source alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud that run locally, allow commercial use and need no paid API include PhotoCraft (photo editing (Photoshop); MIT OR Apache-2.0), Graphite (vector design (Illustrator); MIT OR Apache-2.0), LightCraft (raw photo editing and library (Lightroom); MIT OR Apache-2.0) and FilmCraft (video editing (Premiere Pro); MIT OR Apache-2.0). None of the 13 projects we track covers all 7 Adobe Creative Cloud jobs, so most people combine two or more.

Your requirements

Where will it run?
Can I use it commercially?

Checks code and model licences. Includes projects with conditions, such as share-alike or revenue limits, marked amber. Unknowns are hidden.

Paid services needed?
What hardware do you have?
Operating system

13 projects

darktable

darktable-org/darktable
★ 13k active today

Photography workflow app and non-destructive raw developer with a lighttable library and darkroom editing.

Replaces Raw photo editing and library (Lightroom) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Partial: Conditions · GPL-3.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Confirmed: CPU works
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
8 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

DesignCraft

storytold/designcraft
★ 4.1k active today

Clean-room, InDesign-style page layout and publishing editor written in Rust, with threaded text frames and styles. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces Page layout (InDesign) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

EffectCraft

storytold/effectcraft
★ 6.9k active today

Clean-room, After Effects-style motion graphics and compositing tool written in Rust, with keyframes, effects, expressions and 3D. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces Motion graphics and compositing (After Effects) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0 code, Apache-2.0 weights
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked today GitHub ↗ View details

FilmCraft

storytold/filmcraft #3 TRENDING
★ 14k active today

Clean-room, Premiere Pro-style non-linear video editor written in Rust, with colour, audio, titles and captions. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces Video editing (Premiere Pro) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

GIMP

GNOME/gimp
★ 6.5k active today

Long-running free raster image editor (GNU Image Manipulation Program) for photo retouching, compositing and image authoring.

Replaces Photo editing (Photoshop) (partly) Not: vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Partial: Conditions · GPL-3.0-or-later
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

Graphite

GraphiteEditor/Graphite
★ 28k active today

Node-based, nondestructive vector and raster graphics editor written in Rust, available in alpha as an offline-capable web app.

Replaces Vector design (Illustrator) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Partial: Partly
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

Kdenlive

KDE/kdenlive
★ 5.9k active today

KDE's free non-linear video editor built on the MLT framework, for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Replaces Video editing (Premiere Pro) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Partial: Conditions · GPL-3.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

LightCraft

storytold/lightcraft #5 TRENDING
★ 13k active today

Clean-room, Lightroom-style photo library and non-destructive raw developer written in Rust. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces Raw photo editing and library (Lightroom) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

PdfCraft

storytold/pdfcraft #2 TRENDING
★ 15k active today

Clean-room, Acrobat-style PDF reader and editor written in Rust, for viewing, organizing, commenting, forms, signing and redaction. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces PDF editing (Acrobat) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

PhotoCraft

storytold/photocraft #1 TRENDING
★ 64k active today

Clean-room, Photoshop-style image editor written in Rust, with layers, masks, adjustment layers and PSD support. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces Photo editing (Photoshop) (partly) Not: vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

Scribus

scribusproject/scribus
★ 639 active 1d ago

Long-running open-source desktop publishing app for page layout, with complex-script text and print-ready PDF output.

Replaces Page layout (InDesign) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Partial: Conditions · GPL-2.0-or-later
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked today GitHub ↗ View details

Stirling PDF

Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF
★ 94k active today

Open-core PDF platform with 50+ tools (edit, merge, split, sign, redact, convert, OCR) as a desktop app, browser UI or self-hosted server.

Replaces PDF editing (Acrobat) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Partial: Conditions · Custom licence
Paid services
Partial: Optional only
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Medium
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

VectorCraft

storytold/vectorcraft #4 TRENDING
★ 9.3k active today

Clean-room, Illustrator-style vector illustration app written in Rust, with SVG, PDF and .ai (PDF-compatible) files. Part of the ArtCraft suite.

Replaces Vector design (Illustrator) (partly) Not: photo editing (Photoshop), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign), PDF editing (Acrobat)
Runs locally
Confirmed: Yes
Commercial use
Confirmed: Yes · MIT OR Apache-2.0
Paid services
Confirmed: None required
Hardware
Unknown: Unknown
Setup
Confirmed: Easy
7 of 8 facts sourced · checked 1d ago GitHub ↗ View details

Common questions about Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives

Is there a free, open-source alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud?

Yes. darktable, Stirling PDF, PhotoCraft, Graphite and EffectCraft are free to download and run on your own computer without paid API keys. Each covers only part of what Adobe Creative Cloud does, so check which job you need.

Can I do photo editing (Photoshop) locally without an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription?

Yes, with PhotoCraft (MIT OR Apache-2.0) and GIMP (GPL-3.0-or-later). Check the hardware notes and licence conditions on each page before you start.

Can I do vector design (Illustrator) locally without an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription?

Yes, with Graphite (MIT OR Apache-2.0) and VectorCraft (MIT OR Apache-2.0). Check the hardware notes and licence conditions on each page before you start.

Which Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives can I use commercially?

Confirmed: DesignCraft, EffectCraft, FilmCraft, Graphite, LightCraft, PdfCraft, PhotoCraft and VectorCraft. With conditions: darktable, GIMP, Kdenlive, Scribus and Stirling PDF. This is not legal advice; read each licence.

Does any open-source project replace all of Adobe Creative Cloud?

Not as of 2026-10-16. Photo editing (Photoshop), vector design (Illustrator), raw photo editing and library (Lightroom), video editing (Premiere Pro), motion graphics and compositing (After Effects), page layout (InDesign) and PDF editing (Acrobat) are covered by different projects.

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