(Good) Alternative to Photoshop Elements

[Toq]

Can anybody recommend a good alerternative to Photoshop Elements?  I wanted to get 2021, but it doesn't run on my ancient High Sierra Mac.  Unfortunately, Adobe don't offer 2020 anymore, and I don't really want to chance it with a used version.  Has anybody used Affinity?  It seems like it might be as good.  I'm sure there'll be a learning curve, because I've been using Photoshop for many years, but I'll probably figure out Affinity relatively quickly.  Would be interested to hear from people that have used it ... or a different alternative.

[edwinb97216184 · Accepted solution]

If you don't need the organiser, i can definately say that affinity is a very nice piece of software. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and i am impressed. Works very good. 

You can use a free trial to check if it is for you (free trial works fine) and it was 50% of, so the price is definately okay. 

and the software support is way-way-way better than elements. where elements is obsolete within a year, you can update affinity way longer (years now, and there is no time planning for the next major version (v2).). So solong there are updates for the version 1 you can update with it for free. 

I would say (and advice). go and download the trial right away and play with it.

[Toq]

Great. Thanks for the insight. Much appreciated.

[Phil Pickering]

You can still download Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 from Adobe:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 

But I'm not sure if you can still purchase a license for it when the 30-day trial period is over.

Edit: Link working again 🙂

[Toq]

No. You can't.

[Phil Pickering]

Sorry about that. You're absolutely correct - that article needs updating!

Edit: Link working again (but can't verify whether purchase option is available).

[Toq]

As mentioned previously, the purchase is definitely not available.  It sends the user to purchase option for 2020.

[Toq]

Sorry, I meant to say that it sends the user to purchase options for 2021.

[Walter_H]

@Phil Pickering, I can download PSE 2020 here: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/photoshop-elements-downloads.html

[Phil Pickering]

Thanks Walter! Link appears to be working again 🙂

[Toq]

You can download it, but it's a 30-day trial version.  After 30 days, it stops working with no buy option.  Actually, that's not strictly true ... there IS a buy option, but it's only for 2021.

This is the reason that I was asking about Affinity Photo ... because PSE-2020 is no longer available from Adobe.

[Toq]

I downloaded Affinity Photo and just started playing with it.  WOW!  It's really good.  I (genuinely) had no idea.  I'm now grateful to Adobe.  If they'd been flexible, and allowed purchasing of older versions of PSE, I would simply have stayed as a loyal Adobe user and never have thought to buy Affinity Photo.  But now, they've persuaded me to try an alternative option ... and I'm glad that they did.

[imaginaldi]

I'm a designer since 20 years and I tried several Photoshop alernatives. I hate Affinity Designer but I love Pixelmator Pro. The first time I discovered a real alternative to Photoshop. If I wouldn't be using InDesign a lot, I would quit my Adobe subscription completely.

[Toq]

I haven't tried Affinity Designer, so can't comment, but I really like Affinity Photo.  I've been using it for (almost) a full year now, and I really like it.

[SurferAl]

Affinity Photo!

I am so glad to be free of the glitches and nonstandard interface in PSE! Recently, every time I closed it, it wouldn't open again. I've used PSE for over seven years. Sorry, but good riddance.

[Toq]

Yeah.  The more I use Affinity Photo, the more I like it.  At first I thought of it as a Photoshop alternative but now I actually think that it's a superior product.  I love the fact that it runs (fast) on my machine (PSE 2021 won't even load) and I love the fact that it's non-subcription, unlike Photoshop.  I've also noticed that it has updates occasionally, and I've been getting them ... for free.