02 / 13 · Raster photo editing

PhotoCraft

PhotoCraft is the most-watched project in the suite: a clean-room raster editor covering the layer/mask/curve workflow that retouchers and compositors live in. Upstream ships a large PSD test corpus, which is the honest way to judge layer-compatibility claims.

Replaces: Adobe Photoshop
Licence: Apache-2.0
Latest release: v0.10.0
Released: 2026-10-18
Source: storytold

In the maintainer's words

“PhotoCraft: An open-source, photo editor written by scratch in pure Rust”— repository description, github.com/storytold/photocraft

What PhotoCraft is built to do

Layers, masks and blend modes
Curves, levels and colour adjustments
Filter stack with non-destructive filters
RAW / Camera RAW style import
PSD import backed by an upstream compatibility corpus
Brush engine with tablet pressure

These are the workflow areas the project targets. Implementation status changes release to release — confirm against the repository before relying on a specific behaviour.

What changed in PhotoCraft v0.10.0

Upstream's own scorecard moved from 29 done / 13 partial / 1 missing to 33 / 11 / 0 on tools, including per-control pressure curves and image files as brush tips.
Compatibility floors raised: 188 of 256 Photoshop oracle cases and 249 of 309 psd-tools cases now pass, and PDF save went from missing to partial.
Merging layers keeps pixels that lie outside the canvas; Free Transform stretches solid pixels with edge-repeat sampling.
Gradient Map is driven by the W3C luminosity definition, as Photoshop does it.

Summarised from the release notes upstream published on 2026-10-18. Read the full list on the PhotoCraft v0.10.0 release page ↗.

Download PhotoCraft

PhotoCraft is distributed by its own maintainers through GitHub releases. Nothing here is re-hosted, mirrored or repackaged, which is exactly why these links stay current when a new build lands.

PhotoCraft v0.10.0 · upstream GitHub releases

All release assets ↗

macOS UniversalDMGGet
Windows x64MSIGet
Windows ARM64MSIGet
Windows x86 (32-bit)MSIGet
Windows x64 portableZIPGet
Linux x86_64 AppImageAppImageGet
Linux x86_64 debdebGet
Linux x86_64 rpmrpmGet
Linux x86_64 flatpakflatpakGet
Linux aarch64 debdebGet
Linux riscv64 debdebGet
FreeBSD x86_64TAR.GZGet
Command-line build (macOS)ZIPGet
Browser buildZIPGet
SHA-256 sumsTXTGet

Files are served by GitHub from the upstream repository — this project is not distributed through this site. Verify the download against SHA256SUMS.txt in the same release.

Platforms: macOS Universal · Windows x64 / ARM64 / x86 · Linux x86_64 / aarch64 / riscv64 · FreeBSD x86_64

PhotoCraft vs Adobe Photoshop

Aspect	PhotoCraft	Adobe Photoshop
Price	Free, Apache-2.0	Photography plan subscription
Cold start	Native binary	Known for slow launches
Extensibility	Read the source, send a PR	Mature plugin marketplace
Colour management	Improving	Reference-grade
Privacy	No telemetry reported upstream	Account + cloud sync

Source, licence and building

The repository carries the licence text, issue tracker and release notes. Apache-2.0 permits commercial use, modification and redistribution with attribution notices preserved. If you prefer to compile it yourself, clone the repo and follow its README for the pinned Rust toolchain.

Open repository ↗Official project page ↗Suite-wide comparison

PhotoCraft FAQ

Will my PSD files open?

PSD support is the project's stated compatibility target, and upstream publishes a test corpus (photocraft-corpus) of PSD files used to measure it. Its v0.10.0 scorecard counts 249 of 309 psd-tools cases and 188 of 256 Photoshop oracle cases as passing. Complex smart-object documents are the likeliest to lose fidelity, so verify against your own library before switching.

Is PhotoCraft a fork of GIMP or Photoshop?

No. Upstream describes it as written from scratch in Rust, which is why the licence is Apache-2.0 rather than GPL.

Does it work on Apple Silicon?

Yes — releases ship a universal macOS DMG that covers Apple Silicon and Intel.

Job	Raster photo editing
Targets	Adobe Photoshop
Cluster	Photo & RAW
Licence	Apache-2.0
Version	v0.10.0 (2026-10-18)
Verified	2026-10-19
Languages	Rust
Installer types	DMG · MSI · portable ZIP · AppImage / deb / rpm / flatpak
App icon	upstream artwork · MIT OR Apache-2.0

File formats in scope

PSD (corpus-tested upstream)
PNG / JPEG / WebP
RAW camera profiles
Native project format

Why people switch

Largest contributor community in the suite
No subscription, no account, files stay local
Ships for macOS, Windows (x64, ARM64 and 32-bit x86), three Linux architectures and FreeBSD x86_64

Where it falls short

Plugin ecosystem (Photoshop UXP/C++ filters) does not exist yet
CMYK print pipeline and advanced colour management are still maturing
Some tools that assume Adobe's file behaviour may differ subtly

Also open source, more mature

GIMP ↗
GPL, the longest-established free raster editor
Krita ↗
Strongest for painting and illustration workflows

Continue

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