# Photopea 84 Hacker News commenters recommended Photopea and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 6 years (4 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free browser-based Photoshop alternative that handles PSD and many formats and feels familiar to Photoshop users. Critics mainly note intrusive ads and a paid premium plan. ## Why people recommend it - Free alternative to Photoshop (5 comments): "Photopea was a solo attempt to offer a free alternative to Photoshop, and it was highly successful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180714)) "an actual open source alternative that functioned and didn't cost the heap of cash Adobe wanted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49974046)) "good, free alternatives to Adobe tools have already existed for many years, such as PhotoPea" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50099158)) - Familiar Photoshop-like interface (4 comments): "It's very similar to PS in terms of UI, and even has the same keyboard shortcuts" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48891319)) "loads super fast and mimics the UI of leading image editing suites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47208395)) "exceeds CS6 but keeps the UI. All sorts of plugins, great project." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47314827)) - Near Photoshop feature parity (4 comments): "It's practically a clone of Photoshop, even has content-aware fill and magic erase." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47918597)) "It has basically fully replaced Photoshop for me for at least a few years now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990407)) "Photopea does a decent enough job for many amateurs and even some pros." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898844)) - Fast and responsive in browser (4 comments): "I'm still amazed about the quality and responsiveness of this web tool compared to the real Photoshop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48891642)) "Unless you're a power user, you should check out Photopea. It runs well as a PWA." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466883)) "If you don't mind using a browser, Photopea is pretty awesome" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46981653)) ## What people warn about - Heavy advertising in interface (4 comments): "Photopea has been extremely obnoxious with giant colorful ads. They take a big portion of the right-side of the screen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50003791)) "the ads have made it unusable. It feels more like browsing ign.com with no adblock" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986033)) "Photopea has ad's though- Photocraft doesn't" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234222)) - Questionable business model or premium price (2 comments): "Photopea somehow is an exception, but its business model is getting questionable which is not a surprise at all." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992153)) "at 8 Euro a month I can't quite justify the Photopea premium plan" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49987340)) - Slows or crashes on large files (2 comments): "only good for smaller edits/files otherwise it starts lagging like crazy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48892753)) "crashing the browser tab so hard that its address bar went blank" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318655)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Adobe Lightroom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/adobe-lightroom.md): 68 recommend - [Pixelmator Pro](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pixelmator-pro.md): 29 recommend - [DaVinci Resolve Photo Editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/davinci-resolve-photo-editor.md): 23 recommend - [PhotoCraft](https://hackerapproved.com/p/photocraft.md): 22 recommend - [DxO PhotoLab](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dxo-photolab.md): 12 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.photopea.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Photopea", https://hackerapproved.com/p/photopea/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).