Very similar Adobe alternatives, the *Craft apps

redhed17

redhed17

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I just saw a video on YT showing alternatives to a lot of Adobe suite programs, that have been recreated, to a seemingly astonishingly degree, the Craft apps. :jawdrop:

There are various different Adobe match ups, PhotoCraft, LightCraft, and FilmCraft are like Photoshop, LightRoom and Premiere. There are other programs too, VectorCraft, DesignCraft, EffectCraft and PdfCraft.

the video says this has seen updates within days of appearing. And the rate of improvement seems massive from the screenshot shown in the video. This could be a major blow to Adobe depending on how these progress. :thinking:

 
This has a good chance of working to a good extent. Replicating firefly functionality is where it will almost certainly get stuck. If you want that is a different question.

Adobe should now not sleep at the wheel, and while it already feels like they are vibe coding the latest version of their apps, they should now take it more seriously.
 
I'm surprised I've not seen much discussion about the *craft apps here. For me, I think there's a lot of potential for them to be disruptive for a significant number of people; that might be new users who already pay for an Adobe subscription or users who didn't want to. As a LightRoom and PhotoShop subscriber, I'm certainly keeping an eye on the apps as they develop over the coming months.
 
DigitalRelish said:
I'm surprised I've not seen much discussion about the *craft apps here. For me, I think there's a lot of potential for them to be disruptive for a significant number of people; that might be new users who already pay for an Adobe subscription or users who didn't want to. As a LightRoom and PhotoShop subscriber, I'm certainly keeping an eye on the apps as they develop over the coming months.
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I think this is the third or fourth thread I've seen on this software package here and I've also seen them on many other pages.

I've had a look at some of the software and the premise they're being offered under is extremely misleading, you're absolutely not getting Adobe packages for free and without subscription - if you look at Lightcraft for example (their alternative to Lightroom), it looks and behaves nothing like Lightroom. There are polished open source processing software packages already and more recently I've seen some concerns over who is the one pushing these supposed Adobe alternative packages.
 
JohnMcL7 said:
I think this is the third or fourth thread I've seen on this software package here and I've also seen them on many other pages.

I've had a look at some of the software and the premise they're being offered under is extremely misleading, you're absolutely not getting Adobe packages for free and without subscription - if you look at Lightcraft for example (their alternative to Lightroom), it looks and behaves nothing like Lightroom. There are polished open source processing software packages already and more recently I've seen some concerns over who is the one pushing these supposed Adobe alternative packages.
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Yep, I installed Lightcraft and, within 10 minutes, I uninstalled it and grabbed a Lightroom / Photoshop 12 month deal on Amazon for £107.
 
I did a quick test using Photocraft and Photoshop this morning, to see how good it's object removal was compared to Photoshop (which I consider to be very good).

So for me, while it's heading in the right direction, it's not yet mature enough for me to consider using it as a complete replacement of Photoshop or Lightroom (using LightCraft).

Original image (or part of it)
2026-10-13 10.25.31.jpg

Photoshop (using the Remove tool)
2026-10-13 10.31.00.jpg

PhotoCraft (using the Remove tool)
2026-10-13 10.31.14.jpg
 
Hanley said:
I did a quick test using Photocraft and Photoshop this morning, to see how good it's object removal was compared to Photoshop (which I consider to be very good).

So for me, while it's heading in the right direction, it's not yet mature enough for me to consider using it as a complete replacement of Photoshop or Lightroom (using LightCraft).

Original image (or part of it)
View attachment 494958

Photoshop (using the Remove tool)
View attachment 494959

PhotoCraft (using the Remove tool)
View attachment 494960
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For software that is a couple of weeks old, and receiving updates all the time, for the cost, ;) I think it is very good.

I have Photoshop and LightRoom, but good to know there may be alternative options available. More alternatives will hopefully affect Adobes pricing, and maybe Adobe's quality of updating, both frequency and quality. :)
 
Hanley said:
I did a quick test using Photocraft and Photoshop this morning, to see how good it's object removal was compared to Photoshop (which I consider to be very good).

So for me, while it's heading in the right direction, it's not yet mature enough for me to consider using it as a complete replacement of Photoshop or Lightroom (using LightCraft).

Original image (or part of it)
View attachment 494958

Photoshop (using the Remove tool)
View attachment 494959

PhotoCraft (using the Remove tool)
View attachment 494960
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Have a look at this for removal options
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDfwoyEyDsQ
 
redhed17 said:
For software that is a couple of weeks old, and receiving updates all the time, for the cost, ;) I think it is very good.

I have Photoshop and LightRoom, but good to know there may be alternative options available. More alternatives will hopefully affect Adobes pricing, and maybe Adobe's quality of updating, both frequency and quality. :)
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Don't misunderstand me, I agree completely, it's not that bad against a very mature product.

Incidentally, I also downloaded the Word, Excel and PowerPoint equivalents, and so far only tested the Excel but it's bloody impressive, I was messing around with a few of my spreadsheets, testing formulas etc. and it handled everything, so I can see me ditching my £100+ annual MS plan when it expires next year :)
 
Hanley said:
Don't misunderstand me, I agree completely, it's not that bad against a very mature product.

Incidentally, I also downloaded the Word, Excel and PowerPoint equivalents, and so far only tested the Excel but it's bloody impressive, I was messing around with a few of my spreadsheets, testing formulas etc. and it handled everything, so I can see me ditching my £100+ annual MS plan when it expires next year :)
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The AI tools are so good at coding, it's a wake-up call for Adobe and the like. I can imagine a big industry shake-up is coming. Adobe probably have only a few months left before *craft apps are effective replacements.

And it's quite feasible to build your own. My most recent examples are culling and camera prep tools which have gone from an idea, to a working prototype in minutes, and with a few hours effort fully functioning Mac apps and for culling a browser based version that works on any platform Chrome works on.
 
My eldest son an IT guy tells me it's not just Adobe. Loads of others like Windows have had the same treatment.
I'm hearing the Philippines ( no idea why there) have copies off all sorts of things dirt cheap. Apparently these are just full blown working copies.
 
Hanley said:
Don't misunderstand me, I agree completely, it's not that bad against a very mature product.

Incidentally, I also downloaded the Word, Excel and PowerPoint equivalents, and so far only tested the Excel but it's bloody impressive, I was messing around with a few of my spreadsheets, testing formulas etc. and it handled everything, so I can see me ditching my £100+ annual MS plan when it expires next year :)
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On that note, why not just use a mature product libreoffice? If you need cloud and ai integration then google docs become hard to beat.
 
My Adobe runs out in January and I shall not be renewing as I really only use it to crop, adjust exposure, etc. basically anything that could easily have been achieved in a home darkroom in the film era; it just won't be worth the money, no matter what deals there are. I will definitely be looking for a replacement that is either free or can be bought outright, so I will follow these developments with interest.
 
artyman said:
I use Libre Office swapped from MS Office a few years back
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Me too. I had Apache Open Office for quite a long time but it is largely unsupported now so I've moved on to Libre.

I've often wondered what the people at Libre get out of giving away such a fully-functional piece of software, I mean, there are no adverts, no requests for money. My suspicious nature makes me wonder if they are spying on the things I write/draw/calculate/etc.
 
GetBusyLiving said:
Me too. I had Apache Open Office for quite a long time but it is largely unsupported now so I've moved on to Libre.

I've often wondered what the people at Libre get out of giving away such a fully-functional piece of software, I mean, there are no adverts, no requests for money. My suspicious nature makes me wonder if they are spying on the things I write/draw/calculate/etc.
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It is open source so you could download the code and inspect at any time, or ask your favourite si tool to do so for you.

I believe it is mostly goodwill and charitable effort. Writing a piece may also qualify you for a paid job opportunity, and I suspect they also had some grants
 
LongLensPhotography said:
It is open source so you could download the code and inspect at any time, or ask your favourite si tool to do so for you.

I believe it is mostly goodwill and charitable effort. Writing a piece may also qualify you for a paid job opportunity, and I suspect they also had some grants
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Not sure how I've never heard of it before, will definitely take a look :)
 
Libre office is good, but isn't a like-for-like swap for Microsoft office, and there can be a steep learning curve plus not everything looks the same. I still use LO occasionally, but not professionally.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Libre office is good, but isn't a like-for-like swap for Microsoft office, and there can be a steep learning curve plus not everything looks the same. I still use LO occasionally, but not professionally.
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Obviously, when used for work and income, MS Office would be the way to go, but for amateur pratting about, Libre is fine.
 
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