PhotoCraft is a free, open-source image editor that works like Adobe Photoshop. It was rebuilt from scratch in pure Rust by the ArtCraft team, and it ships under the MIT or Apache-2.0 license. You get layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, editable type, vector shapes, a real brush engine and support for layered PSD files, in a native app for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD, and in a version that runs in your web browser.
The tool at the top of this page opens that web version right here, so you can try PhotoCraft in a few seconds. When you want the full desktop app, the download buttons pick your system and link straight to the official installer.
What PhotoCraft can do
PhotoCraft is designed so that Photoshop users feel at home. Menus, panels, tools and shortcuts sit where you expect them, from ⌘J (Layer via Copy) to ⇧⌘D (Reselect). Under the hood, a GPU compositor keeps the canvas fast.
- Layers done properly: groups, clipping masks, pixel and vector masks, fill layers, smart objects with smart filters, and 27 Photoshop blend modes.
- 16 adjustment layers: Curves, Levels, Vibrance, Hue/Saturation, Black & White, Channel Mixer, Gradient Map, Selective Color, Color Lookup and more. Your original pixels never change.
- Layer styles: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer and Inner Glow, Bevel & Emboss, Satin, Stroke and overlays, live on any layer including type.
- Selections: marquees, lassos, Magic Wand, Quick Selection, Object Selection, Select Subject and Select and Mask. Smart selection runs on your own machine, with no cloud and no account.
- 68 tools, including Spot Healing Brush, Content-Aware Move, Clone Stamp, Pen and Curvature Pen, Gradient, Dodge and Burn.
- Filters with live preview: blurs, Blur Gallery, sharpening, Reduce Noise, distortions, Oil Paint, Lens Flare, Lighting Effects and more.
- Export As with format, quality, scale and an instant file-size estimate, plus one-click PNG export.
PhotoCraft online: what to expect in the browser
The web build is the same editor compiled to WebAssembly. Everything happens on your device: opening uses your browser's file picker, and saving or exporting downloads a file. Nothing is uploaded to this site or anywhere else.
A few things are different from the desktop app. The web version has no autosave and no crash recovery, so save your work before you close or reload the tab. It ships with two fonts of its own (Inter and JetBrains Mono), because a browser cannot hand your system fonts to the app. It draws with WebGPU in Chrome and Edge and falls back to WebGL2 in other browsers. Our PhotoCraft online guide covers browser support and tips.
Download PhotoCraft for Windows, Mac and Linux
The download section above detects your system and shows the right file first. Here is what each one is:
| System | Recommended file | Other options |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | .msi installer (x64) |
Portable zip, ARM64 and 32-bit builds |
| macOS | Universal .dmg (Apple silicon and Intel) |
Command-line tool zip |
| Linux | AppImage (x86_64) | .deb, .rpm, Flatpak, tarball, ARM64 and RISC-V builds |
| FreeBSD | .tar.gz for x86_64 |
None |
The Windows installers are code-signed, and the Mac app is signed and notarized, according to the project. Step-by-step instructions for every system, including Flatpak and FreeBSD, are in the PhotoCraft download guide.
PhotoCraft vs Photoshop
PhotoCraft copies Photoshop's layout and file format on purpose, so switching is easy. The big differences are price and maturity. PhotoCraft costs nothing and needs no account. Photoshop is far more complete: PhotoCraft's own README says it is in early alpha and "not yet a Photoshop replacement for daily professional work", with AI and generative features, 15 tools, typography depth and plug-ins named as the biggest gaps. Read the full PhotoCraft vs Photoshop comparison.
Real PSD files
PhotoCraft's PSD support was written from Adobe's public specification and is tested against real files. It opens, edits and saves layered PSDs, keeps parts it does not understand yet instead of dropping them, and opens PSB, 16-bit, 32-bit, CMYK and Lab documents. See PhotoCraft and PSD files for what round-trips and what to check.
Built for scripts and AI agents
Every menu item, tool and dialog in PhotoCraft runs a command from one registry of more than 500 commands. The same commands are available from a command-line tool, a JSON control channel and an MCP server, so you can batch-edit a folder of images or let an AI agent drive the editor. The PhotoCraft CLI and MCP guide shows the commands.
Part of the Crafting Apps
PhotoCraft is one of the ArtCraft team's Crafting Apps: free, open-source creative tools written in Rust. Its siblings include VectorCraft for vector illustration, FilmCraft for video editing, LightCraft for photo libraries and raw development, PdfCraft for PDFs, EffectCraft for motion graphics and DesignCraft for page layout.