Pixelmator 2 is the Best Photoshop Alternative for Mac OS X
Pixelmator 2 has just been released and it’s a great update to an already killer photo editing app. I’ll cut straight to the point, Pixelmator is the single best Photoshop alternative for the Mac platform at it’s price point, and at just $29.99 (App Store link) it’s much more affordable for the average joe than Adobe Photoshops whopping $500 tag.
It has all the standard photo editing and drawing tools, and version 2.0 includes tons of new features like content-aware fill, healing, smudge tools, and full OS X Lion support for Full Screen Mode, Auto Save, and Versions. No, it doesn’t include every option from the competition, but at a fraction of the price it’s more than competent for the majority of users needs.
Buy Pixelmator 2 on the App Store for $29.99
Currently on sale for $29.99, the apps price is expected to jump to $60 sometime in the future. Once it’s $60 the competition heats up a bit because Acorn is another great image editor for the Mac and costs $49.99.
The creators of Pixelmator have enough confidence in their app that they offer a full working trial version before you buy it, you can download the free 30 day trial to make sure it fits your photo editing and design needs before you buy. If you’re in the market for an image editor, check it out.
Update: OK I messed around with Pixelmator 2 for the past 10 minutes and most of the app is fantastic, but here are my two complaints: selecting elements within a layer can be challenging as the click often passes through the layers below that have larger elements, and text effects are nonexistent for things like gradients, shadows, etc, they have to be applied manually the old fashion way. Nothing that can’t be worked with, just a little different to adjust to for those coming from a Photoshop background.
Here’s my hideous 10 minute creation in the process of checking this app out:
I think Acorn is better for making quick web graphics, but Pixelmator is better for editing images. It’s a shame they don’t merge because the two combined could probably replace Photoshop, but there’s a few shortcomings for those of us who do this stuff for a living (no layer styles, no text paths, no alpha channels, etc).
Pixelmater is the best alternative to Photoshop Elements, but not an alternative to CS5.
Too bad there’s not an option to ditch the black interface, looks weird.
Acorn is more capable than Pixelmator in general (layer styles and much better typographic controls), although Pixelmator is ahead in a few small areas. If you’re not concerned about a really nice Cocoa UI, Photoline crushes them both like bugs (as does Photoshop Elements, which people often forget).
This is just like Mac vs Windows.
When in doubt… or short in money… get Linux!!!
Or Gimp in this case
Gimp… the jack-of-all-trades, the open-source prince and the best alternative to Photoshop
GIMP is a hideous beast, though. Plus, you need to install X11 to run it in a Mac. Pixelmator, and Acorn are Mac-native.
Agree, for the occasional image editing GIMP is good. And if you are not running X on your MAC you are missing the whole BSD Unix fun of it.
The GIMP is a great application on Linux, but I really don’t want it on my Mac. I want to run nice Mac-native Cocoa-apps on my Mac, so I’m not running ugly X11-apps like the GIMP on my Mac. On a Mac I use Pixelmator.
can somebody share the tree wallpaper in first picture.
and also share the story behind the pic. If it’s for a sci-fy.fantasy novel, I want to read it!
I found it. Used the TinEye Firefox plugin to search for it.
(cropped copy of desktop pic above, opened file in FF, right-clicked pic)
It’s “Tree Walker” by Abdullah Alhourani.
Unfortunately, not novel art, but still a great pic.
Photoshop killer?
Alternative to Photoshop?
Please!! Why always (want to) compare things that you cannot compare?
It is like to compare a Lada and an Aston Martin, and say that the Lada is an Aston Martin Killer
Photoshop is a professional software used by professionals to do professional works.
Pixelmator is just a toy… a very good one, but still a toy…
Graphic Convertor is a nice alternative to Photoshop. Lemke (the Developer) has been actively working on it since the 90s.
How can a program that only supports Apple Raw be the best alternative to Photoshop? It makes absolutely no sense.
Woah nelly, how about them aplpes!
[...] announced, but typically Photoshop is the same price as a new iPad or more. For that reason, many alternatives like Pixelmator or even iPhoto can be good enough for many users photo editing needs. [...]
Biggest problem with PixelMator is it is not really at the pro level yet, until it supports 16bit files or CMYK i do not think it is a real alternative…
Pixelmator definitely looks very polished. Maybe the people behind it have big ideas for it’s future. I would love to see something give Photoshop some competition.