Free software that replaces expensive subscriptions

7

7-Zip

Pick

The archive utility every PC needs

Replaces: WinRAR / WinZip (paid)

A

Anki

Pick

Spaced-repetition learning that sticks

Replaces: Quizlet Plus (paid)

A

Audacity

Pick

The classic audio editor and recorder

Replaces: Adobe Audition (paid subscription)

B

Bitwarden

Pick

Password manager that is open source

Replaces: 1Password / LastPass (paid)

B

Blender

Pick

Full 3D creation suite, completely free

Replaces: Autodesk Maya / 3ds Max (paid)

D

darktable

Pick

Non-destructive RAW photo workflow

Replaces: Adobe Lightroom (paid subscription)

F

FreeCAD

Pick

Parametric 3D CAD for engineering

Replaces: AutoCAD / SolidWorks (paid)

G

GIMP

Pick

The legendary free Photoshop alternative

Replaces: Adobe Photoshop (paid subscription)

I

Immich

Pick

Self-hosted Google Photos replacement

Replaces: Google Photos (paid storage)

I

Inkscape

Pick

Vector design without Illustrator prices

Replaces: Adobe Illustrator (paid subscription)

J

Jellyfin

Pick

Your own Netflix, with no fees

Replaces: Plex Pass / Emby Premiere (paid)

K

Krita

Pick

Digital painting studio for artists

Replaces: Procreate / Corel Painter (paid)

L

LibreOffice

Pick

The free Microsoft Office replacement

Replaces: Microsoft 365 / Word & Excel

N

Nextcloud

Pick

Self-hosted Google Workspace alternative

Replaces: Dropbox / Google Workspace

N

Notepad++

Pick

Notepad on steroids, free forever

Replaces: UltraEdit (paid)

OS

OBS Studio

Pick

Streaming and screen recording standard

Replaces: Camtasia / Wirecast (paid)

O

Ollama

Pick

Run large language models locally

Replaces: Cloud AI subscriptions / API costs

P

Paperless-ngx

Pick

Home document management system

Replaces: FileCenter / paid DMS software

P

Pi-hole

Pick

Network-wide ad blocking, free forever

Replaces: Paid DNS filtering services

R

Rufus

Pick

Create bootable USB drives in seconds

Replaces: Paid bootable-USB tools

T

Thunderbird

Pick

Open-source email, calendar and chat

Replaces: Microsoft Outlook

VS

Visual Studio Code

Pick

The world's most popular code editor

Replaces: Sublime Text / JetBrains IDEs (paid)

VM

VLC Media Player

Pick

Plays everything, everywhere

Replaces: PowerDVD and other paid players

W

WordPress

Pick

The CMS that powers the web

Replaces: Wix / Squarespace (paid plans)

M

Matomo

Pick

Google Analytics without data sharing

Replaces: Google Analytics 360 (expensive)

O

OPNsense

Pick

Firewall OS used by enterprises

Replaces: pfSense Plus / Fortinet firewalls (paid)

S

SageMath

Pick

Open-source Mathematica alternative

Replaces: Mathematica / MATLAB (very expensive)

S

Scribus

Pick

Desktop publishing like InDesign

Replaces: Adobe InDesign (paid subscription)

S

Stirling-PDF

Pick

Self-hosted PDF toolbox (50+ tools)

Replaces: Smallpdf Pro / Adobe online (paid)

AH

AdGuard Home

Ad blocking DNS with parental controls

Replaces: AdGuard subscription (paid)

A

Audiobookshelf

Audiobook and podcast server

Replaces: Audible (for your own files)

A

AutoHotkey

Automate anything on Windows

Replaces: Paid automation tools (PhraseExpress)

C

Calibre

The one-stop ebook manager

Replaces: Paid ebook managers / DRM-free library apps

C

Clonezilla

Bare-metal disk imaging and cloning

Replaces: Acronis True Image (paid)

C

ComfyUI

Node-based AI image generation

Replaces: Midjourney / DALL-E subscriptions

DC

DBeaver Community

Universal database GUI for free

Replaces: Navicat / Toad (paid)

D

Discourse

Modern forum and community software

Replaces: XenForo / Circle (paid)

F

FileZilla

The FTP client everyone knows

Replaces: Paid FTP suites

F

FreeFileSync

Mirror and sync folders in real time

Replaces: GoodSync (paid)

G

GeoGebra

Interactive math for all levels

Replaces: Paid math software

G

Ghost

Publishing platform for newsletters

Replaces: Substack (10% revenue fee)

G

Git

The version control system of the world

Replaces: Paid version control (Perforce)

G

GParted

Graphical partition editor

Replaces: EaseUS Partition Master (paid)

H

HandBrake

The video transcoder everyone trusts

Replaces: Wondershare and other paid converters

J

Joplin

Evernote alternative with end-to-end encryption

Replaces: Evernote / Notion

K

Kdenlive

MLT-powered video editing for everyone

Replaces: Adobe Premiere Pro (paid subscription)

K

KeePassXC

Offline password manager, no cloud needed

Replaces: 1Password / Dashlane (paid)

K

Kodi

The home theater hub

Replaces: Paid media-center apps

L

Logseq

Outliner notebook with local Markdown files

Replaces: Roam Research (paid subscription)

MP

Microsoft PowerToys

Official Windows power-user suite

Replaces: Paid Windows utility suites

M

MuseScore

Free notation software for musicians

Replaces: Sibelius / Finale (paid)

N

Neovim

Vim rebuilt for the modern era

Replaces: Paid IDEs

N

Nginx

The web server behind half the internet

Replaces: Commercial load balancers

O

Okular

PDF reader with annotation superpowers

Replaces: Adobe Acrobat Pro (paid)

O

ONLYOFFICE

Office suite with the best .docx fidelity

Replaces: Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace

OW

Open WebUI

ChatGPT-style UI for local models

Replaces: ChatGPT Plus (paid)

OW

OpenAI Whisper

Open-source speech recognition

Replaces: Rev / paid transcription services

Q

qBittorrent

Clean, no-ads torrent client

Replaces: uTorrent Pro (paid)

S

ShareX

Screenshot and screen-recording beast

Replaces: Snagit (paid)

S

Signal

Private messaging, end-to-end by default

Replaces: Closed-source messengers

SD

Stable Diffusion WebUI (A1111)

The classic local image-generation suite

Replaces: Midjourney subscription

S

Stellarium

Planetarium on your desktop

Replaces: Starry Night (paid)

S

Syncthing

Peer-to-peer folder sync, no cloud

Replaces: Dropbox / Resilio Sync

TP

TestDisk & PhotoRec

Recover lost partitions and files

Replaces: Disk Drill / EaseUS Data Recovery (paid)

UC

UltiMaker Cura

The world's most-used slicer

Replaces: Paid slicers (Simplify3D)

UK

Uptime Kuma

Self-hosted uptime monitoring

Replaces: Pingdom / StatusCake (paid)

V

Ventoy

One USB drive, every ISO at once

Replaces: Paid multi-boot tools

V

VeraCrypt

Full-disk and container encryption

Replaces: Paid encryption suites

V

Vim

Modal editing since 1991

Replaces: Paid editors

W

WireGuard

Fast, modern VPN tunnel protocol

Replaces: Paid VPN solutions

Z

Zotero

Free reference manager for researchers

Replaces: EndNote (paid)

A

Avidemux

Simple cut, filter and encode tasks

Replaces: Paid quick-edit tools

B

balenaEtcher

Flash OS images the easy way

Replaces: Paid imaging tools

B

BorgBackup

Deduplicating backup with compression

Replaces: Paid backup software

C

Caddy

Web server with automatic HTTPS

Replaces: Paid HTTPS/load-balancer appliances

C

Celestia

Real-time 3D space simulation

Replaces: Paid astronomy simulators

C

CherryTree

Hierarchical note-taking with rich formatting

Replaces: OneNote (closed source)

C

ClamAV

Open-source antivirus engine

Replaces: Paid AV suites for servers

C

Cryptomator

Encrypt files before they hit the cloud

Replaces: Boxcryptor (paid, now discontinued)

C

CrystalDiskInfo

Monitor drive health and SMART data

Replaces: Paid SMART monitoring tools

C

Cyberduck

Connect to S3, FTP, SFTP and more

Replaces: Transmit (paid)

D

digiKam

Professional photo library management

Replaces: Adobe Lightroom Classic / ACDSee (paid)

D

Ditto

Clipboard history manager

Replaces: Paid clipboard managers

DC

Double Commander

Dual-pane file manager for power users

Replaces: Total Commander (paid)

D

Duplicati

Encrypted backups to any cloud

Replaces: Acronis (paid)

E

Etherpad

Self-hosted real-time collaborative docs

Replaces: Google Docs (cloud-dependent)

F

FFmpeg

The engine of the media world

Replaces: Paid media encoders and converters

F

FreshRSS

Self-hosted RSS reader for everyone

Replaces: Feedly Pro (paid)

G

GCompris

Educational games for ages 2–10

Replaces: Paid kids' learning apps

G

Gitea

Painless self-hosted Git service

Replaces: GitLab Premium (paid)

GD

GitHub Desktop

Git without the command line

Replaces: Paid Git GUIs (GitKraken Pro)

G

GPT4All

Local chatbot for everyday hardware

Replaces: ChatGPT Plus (paid)

G

Greenshot

Simple, fast screenshot tool

Replaces: Snagit / paid capture tools

H

HeidiSQL

Lightweight MySQL/MariaDB admin tool

Replaces: Paid SQL clients

I

ImageMagick

Command-line image processing powerhouse

Replaces: Paid batch image processors

J

Jan

Offline ChatGPT alternative

Replaces: ChatGPT (cloud-dependent)

K

KeePass

The original encrypted password safe

Replaces: Paid password managers

K

Kopia

Backups with client-side encryption

Replaces: Paid backup platforms

L

LibreCAD

2D CAD drawings made simple

Replaces: AutoCAD (paid)

L

LMMS

Free DAW for electronic music production

Replaces: FL Studio (paid)

L

LosslessCut

Cut video without re-encoding

Replaces: Paid lossless video cutters

M

Mixxx

DJ software that costs nothing

Replaces: Serato DJ Pro / Traktor Pro (paid)

M

mpv

Minimal player with maximal quality

Replaces: Paid players

MP

MusicBrainz Picard

Tag your music library perfectly

Replaces: Paid tag editors

M

MyPaint

Fast sketching and painting canvas

Replaces: Corel Painter (paid)

N

Natron

Node-based compositing like Nuke

Replaces: The Foundry Nuke (very expensive)

N

Navidrome

Self-hosted Spotify for your library

Replaces: Spotify (for your own files)

O

OpenSCAD

CAD through code

Replaces: Paid parametric CAD tools

O

OpenShot

The easy video editor for beginners

Replaces: Paid beginner editors

PA

PDF Arranger

Merge, split and reorder PDFs

Replaces: Paid PDF splitter/merger apps

P

PeaZip

Archive manager with 200+ formats

Replaces: WinZip (paid)

P

Pencil2D

Traditional 2D animation, simplified

Replaces: Adobe Animate / Toon Boom (paid)

P

PhotoPrism

AI-powered photo management server

Replaces: Google Photos / paid photo servers

PA

Plausible Analytics

Lightweight, cookie-free analytics

Replaces: Google Analytics / Mixpanel

P

PrusaSlicer

Advanced 3D-printing slicer

Replaces: Simplify3D (paid)

R

RawTherapee

Deep RAW processing engine

Replaces: Capture One (paid)

R

Rclone

Swiss-army knife for 70+ cloud storages

Replaces: Paid cloud migration tools

R

Restic

Fast, secure, deduplicated backups

Replaces: Paid backup services

S

Shotcut

Free cross-platform video editor

Replaces: Filmora / Premiere Elements (paid)

SN

Standard Notes

Encrypted notes with no nonsense

Replaces: Evernote / Notion

S

Strawberry

Music player and collection organizer

Replaces: Paid music players

S

SumatraPDF

The lightest PDF reader for Windows

Replaces: Paid PDF readers

T

Tailscale

Zero-config VPN built on WireGuard

Replaces: Traditional paid VPN setups

T

Timeshift

System restore snapshots for Linux

Replaces: Paid restore tools

TP

Tux Paint

Drawing program for children

Replaces: Paid kids' drawing apps

U

Umami

Simple, privacy-first web analytics

Replaces: Google Analytics

V

VSCodium

Fully open-source VS Code builds

Replaces: Paid editors

W

WinDirStat

See what is eating your disk space

Replaces: TreeSize Pro (paid)

W

WinSCP

Windows SFTP, FTP and SCP client

Replaces: Paid SSH/SFTP clients

X

Xournal++

Handwrite and annotate PDFs with a stylus

Replaces: Paid annotation apps

Z

Zed

High-performance collaborative code editor

Replaces: Paid editors

Z

ZeroTier

Software-defined networks between devices

Replaces: Paid SD-WAN products

Z

Zettlr

Markdown editor built for academic writing

Replaces: Scrivener (paid)