10 Excellent Photoshop Alternatives for Social Media Managers

Photoshop isn't for everyone.

If you are a social media manager however, creating quality content for your clients' social channels is a must. The reality is that you don't always have access to a professional graphic design team.

What do you do then? You take the lead!

You will need some sort of graphics program to create impromptu images, enhance an image and layout and create your client's social media images,

If you aren't comfortable using Photoshop, or you need a tool that is free, you will need to find good Photoshop alternatives to be able to create images. Side Note: You might need more than one tool.

What are two main reasons people shy away from Photoshop?

• Knowledge aka Learning Curve
• Cost

We understand that learning a seemingly complicated graphics program isn't for everyone. It scares away many of us, and we aren't going to judge anyone for asking for Photoshop alternatives, read: easier, less complicated, ways to create images for their clients.

In this article, you will find 10 Photoshop alternatives. These are tools to create graphics for social media; tools social media managers report using on a daily basis.

Check Out These 10 Photoshop Alternatives Busy Social Media Marketer Use.

Canva

If you are not a graphic designer, yet you are looking for an easy way to create graphics for all your social media headers, flyers, ads and more, check out Canva. Canva offers free templates in many different sizes and has a design school with video tutorials.

No matter what ‘work’ means to you, Canva for Work has all the tools you need to design graphics for projects big and small. No design skills necessary: simply drag and drop.

Canva

Gimp

Gimp is free software you download to your computer to create images. Gimp offers a large library of tutorials to get you started.

Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

Gimp

Gravit

Gravit does more than create images. It is a cross-platform graphic design tool and is a full-featured vector graphic design app right at your fingertips. They currently offer 13 tutorial videos on their YouTube channel to get you started.

Create graphics, design logos and icons, edit images, photos & presentations, all for free. Online professional vector graphic design tool

Gravit

Easil

Easil is the DIY drag-and-drop design tool for those social media managers who need things to be easy and uncomplicated. They have a gorgeous blog with many design ideas, inspiration, templates and tutorials.

We are your DIY Design Secret Weapon. Visual Content SO good it looks like a Pro designed it.

Easil

Photopea

Photopea is a free online design editor and it is free to use. No need to download anything and can be used on all devices, including desktop, laptop, tablet, phone or any other computer. We found a tutorial section to get started.

We offer an advanced image editor, which can work with both raster and vector graphics. You can use it for simple tasks, such as resizing images, as well as complex tasks, such as designing webpages, creating illustrations, processing photographs and more.

Photopea

PicMonkey

The PicMonkey tool is a photo editor and graphic design tool and is available for mobile editing via their apps (iOS and Android) and offers a robust resource center to learn more about their tool.

PicMonkey gives you the power to make images that are anything but, well, basic. Unleash your creativity with our user-friendly photo editing and design tools.

PicMonkey

Stencil

Stencil is another tool social media managers use to create branded images, fast. Their tool is focused on fast image design. We found a helpful social image sizing chart.

The fastest way to double your social engagement. Ridiculously simple image creation for social media marketers, bloggers and small businesses.

Stencil

InkScape

Inkscape is a vector graphics software which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. It is used by design professionals and hobbyists worldwide, for creating a wide variety of graphics such as illustrations, icons, logos, diagrams, maps and web graphics. There are a ton of (YouTube) videos available to learn how to use this tool.

Draw Freely. Inkscape is a professional vector graphics editor for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It's free and open source.

INKSCAPE

Pixlr

Pixlr is an online photo editing tool available to use both on web and mobile. Visit their active blog for inspiration, design ideas, photography tips, tutorials and videos.

Make Every Moment Beautiful

Pixlr

RelayThat

Last but not least, check out RelayThat. This is the tool for you if you own multiple franchises, are working with a large team or need to create many similar looking, branded images in different sizes. Their help desk is a great place to start learning about how the tool works.

Elegant Design. Fast and Easy.Instantly make on-brand images for every channel.

RelayThat

Creating Images for Social Channels Never Was This Easy!

We encourage you to check out each tool and depending on your comfort level, current skills, budget and needs, you will be sure to find a favorite!

Also, let us know if you have a tool you love that we should have mentioned in this article! We will be happy to include it in a follow up article.

Dorien Morin-van Dam

I am a Certified Social Media Manager, Strategist, International Keynote Speaker, Organic Specialist and Agile marketer! Blogging is my creative outlet. Running, hiking and skiing are how I recharge. You'll recognize me on stage and online by my always present orange glasses, a nod to my Dutch heritage.