A free online photo editor includes all the basic features as well as the extra bells and whistles that most people need to edit and enhance their photos and images.
There’s little reason to download a traditional image editor or spend hundreds of dollars on a full-blown program like Adobe Photoshop when all you need to do are a few touch-ups, crop an object out of an image, or add something extra to your picture.
This list of the best free online photo editors will do all this and more for you, and you don’t even need to download them.
Photopea
Photopea is great if you’re looking for an advanced online photo editor that lets you work with layers, supports popular file formats, and includes many Photoshop-like tools.
Easy-to-use tabbed interface.
Photoshop users will find many familiar operations.
Built-in PSD templates.
Supports Photoshop actions and other Photoshop files.
Ad-supported (premium membership removes them).
Ads take up a large section of the page.
You can start from scratch with a canvas of a custom size, or choose one that works perfectly for a variety of circumstances, like as a Facebook cover photo, Instagram image, iPhone wallpaper, an ad, or YouTube profile image.
There’s a selection tool, move tool, spot healing brush, patch tool, pencil, brush, clone tool, gradient tool, sharpen tool, blur tool, smudge tool, text tool, various shapes, filters, and more.
Photos can be imported from a URL, from a file on your computer, or taken straight from your webcam. When you’re done editing, photos can be saved to a variety of formats including PSD, PNG, JPG, SVG, GIF, PDF, TIFF, PPM, ICO, and others. Their Peadrive storage service lets you take your files anywhere you log in.
Photopea organizes your various projects into separate tabs for easy access, and you can change the theme to quickly adjust the overall color scheme.
You can use this photo editor for free without making a user account if you don’t mind the ads, or you can go with a premium account to remove all advertising and get more “undo” steps.
Pixlr
Pixlr supports tons of tools for a free online photo editor, some of which you normally find only in desktop software.
Lots of useful, easy-to-use features.
Move interface elements to suit the way you work.
Resizing an image can be tricky.
Must download stickers, borders, and fonts before using them.
Ads take up a noticeable portion of the screen.
It provides an interface that’s easy on the eyes, supports fullscreen mode, and is simple to use. The position of the tools, layers, and other settings are flexible so you can create your own custom workspace.
Things like layer styles, filters, and image adjustments are supported with Pixlr as well as tools like a red-eye remover, clone stamp, color fill, magic wand selection, and crop tool, among others.
You can use Pixlr E for advanced editing or Pixlr X for simple changes and quick fixes. Make a new image from a blank canvas, upload one from your computer, transfer it via its URL, or browse the built-in stock photo gallery.
Fotor
Fotor provides an awesome interface for editing photos online. You can enhance an image with one click, or choose any of the specific editing tasks to apply particular changes.
One-click fixes.
Interesting effects.
RAW file conversion.
Ad-supported.
Can’t create an image from scratch.
Basic tools are included like cropping, editing the curves, and altering the temperature/saturation/brightness/tint, and more. Effects can also be applied to an image, such as classic, tile, cool, vintage, black and white, and color splash styles. You can also add borders, stickers, and text to an image with Fotor.
Images can be loaded from your computer or your Dropbox account. Pictures are saved to your computer as a JPG or PNG.
Some of the tools at Fotor work only if you create a free account.
Editor.Pho.to
Edit images quickly online using Editor.Pho.to. All the basics are here so that you can crop, rotate, color, or sharpen the image but there are also some exposure and text settings you can adjust.
Lots of ways to improve and enhance photos.
Import directly from computer or Facebook.
Not as powerful as some other choices.
Ad-supported.
The effects tool lets you instantly apply sepia, black and white, tilt-shift, vignette, and other effects to the picture.
We also like the frames and texture buttons since they can really change the shot without much effort on your part.
Images can be taken from your computer or Facebook and inserted directly into the Editor.Pho.To canvas. When you’re done editing, download your image to your computer or transfer it to Facebook or Dropbox. There are also social media sharing options and a public link you can copy.
piZap
piZap is an image editor and collage maker. You can start with a blank canvas or upload your own image from your computer, Facebook account, or Dropbox.
Several useful tools.
Includes a meme maker.
Exports to the two most popular image formats.
Must sign up for a (free) account.
Lots of tools aren’t free.
Only premium version can export high-quality images.
Add regular and glittered text, stickers, and effects, adjust hue and saturation, overlay multiple images, paint with a brush, crop an image, and add shapes, among other things. There’s also a cutout tool you can use to create your own stickers from images.
Your edited photos can be shared directly over social media sites or downloaded to your computer as a JPG or PNG.
BeFunky
BeFunky is another online photo editor that’s really easy to work with. An image can be imported from the usual places like your computer or Facebook account, but Google Photos and a webcam are some additional options.
Import photos from many sources and export them to social media sites.
Lots of fun effects perfect for social sharing.
Many of the effects and borders require paid version.
There are labels, emoticons, tons of textures and frames, a text tool, several effects like oil painting and cartoonizer, and all the basic editing and touch up tools.
Quick Picture Tools
Quick Picture Tools provides just that: a quick way to edit images online. However, if you require it, there are very specific advanced settings for each of these tools.
Tools come with lots of advanced options.
Includes text tool.
Easy to use.
Missing editing features found in similar tools.
There are several editing tools provided by this site, including one to combine images, round corners, blur edges, add text, and create neon objects. Start by choosing one of them and then upload an image from your computer.
Say, for example, you’re using the Rounded Corners tool. There are tons of settings like whether you want all four corners to be rounded or just some. You can change the corner percentage to create a less round effect, it lets you define a color for the background behind the corners, and you can resize the whole image.
Similar settings are present for all the other tools. JPG and PNG are the output formats.
BatchPhoto Espresso
BatchPhoto Espresso is another simple photo editor. You can crop, resize, and rotate a picture. It also lets you touch up the photo with contrast, brightness, hue/saturation, noise reduction, and a sharpening tool. Finally, you can add a whole-image effect like oil paint.
Supports many formats for importing and exporting.
Handy preview function.
Excellent for converting between image formats.
Uploads can only come from your computer.
Several formats are supported when uploading the file, including JPG, TIF, PNG, BMP, GIF, JP2, PICT, and PCX. When you’re ready to save back to your computer, even more options are available, including unique ones like PSD and WMF.
Sumopaint
Sumopaint provides a condensed but well-organized interface for performing many basic and advanced image editing tasks.
Supports use of layers.
Lots of advanced tools and adjustments.
Large online community.
Some features require paid version.
Layers are supported as well as manipulations like cropping, rotating, and flipping. Basic adjustments like changing the brightness/contrast, desaturating, equalizing colors and tones, and more are available, too.
There are even advanced tools like a clone stamp, gradient, color fill, brush, lasso and magic wand selection, text, and blur tool. You can also add a number of shapes to an image.
Several filters can be chosen such as 3D effects, blur, texture, sharpen, and stylize filters.
Images can be saved to your computer in a few file formats, including PDF and one specific to this editor so you can re-upload it later to finish editing.
LunaPic
There are many tools you can use with LunaPic but accessing them isn’t as intuitive as some of the above websites. Menus are available for adjusting and drawing on images as well as adding borders, effects, and animations.
Offers browser integration.
Decent variety of formats for saving.
Several upload options.
Less intuitive than other choices.
Ad-heavy site.
You can load an image from a URL, your computer, or a number of online accounts like Google Photos, Imgur, or Dropbox. A browser extension is also available so that you can open images straight into LunaPic without having to first download them and then upload them to the site.
Images can be saved to various places like Imgur or your computer, and in several file formats like GIF, ICO, JPG, PNG, and video formats if you’ve made an animation.
ImageBot
ImageBot is another great online photo editor. Instead of providing tools like a brush, pencil, or clone stamp tool, it includes tons of stickers, shapes, and logos that you can import on to photos.
Ability to add lots of graphic elements to photos.
Supports layers.
Import from Facebook and other websites.
No scaling or warping tools.
Outdated features (e.g., FB import doesn’t work).
In addition to importing images from your computer, it lets you add files from a Facebook album or URL.
Because this editor supports layers, you can add and manipulate multiple images at once, which can be very handy.
All the menus you use in ImageBot are easy to use because you can drag them around on the screen to create a custom interface that fits you best.
You can post your edited images to your Facebook page or download them to your computer.
Online-Image-Editor.com
Online-Image-Editor.com is another free online image editor. You can upload images from your computer or a URL, and you can even resize or convert one while you’re uploading it.
Helpful explanations of each tool.
Import photos from both local and online sources.
No support for layers.
Lots of tools are included, such as animation support, image converting, and image overlaying, and there are brief descriptions accompanied by each of them to help you understand their editing purpose.
Also, layers aren’t supported, which means if you are using multiple images, you can’t edit their position, transparency, etc. once you’ve submitted the initial changes.
Ribbet
Ribbet is a free online photo editor that provides an intuitive and easy to use interface to have simple access to all the tools, and drag and drop is even supported.
Upload photos in bulk.
Works quickly and smoothly.
Supports layering.
Some features available only with premium account.
Must log in.
Saves only to your computer (not cloud services).
Limited export resolution for free users.
You can upload from your computer other websites like Google Drive, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Or you can build an image from scratch with a blank canvas, stock photo, or webcam image.
All the basic editing tools are present as well as stickers, effects, text, and frames, among other things.
You can save to your computer as a PNG, JPG, or PDF.
Other Photo Editing Options
In addition to the site above, there are also free photo editing apps and free collage makers, as well as free image hosting websites if you need a place to store them.
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