When it comes to productivity software, hearing the term "open-source" can be a turn-off for some. Giving up software capability to save a few bucks or to preserve your privacy is not a trade-off some professionals are willing to take. The good news is, that compromise hardly exists anymore. There are a ton of excellent open-source options out there that rival even the best paid productivity software, and here are my top picks to definitely consider weaving into your workflow.

7 Krita

Photoshop and Illustrator capabilities in one

Krita is an excellent piece of open-source software for creating raster and vector-based art. It works very similarly to Photoshop, though advanced users may have a bit of a learning curve to get acclimated. However, once you make the switch, there's very little you'll miss about Adobe's offerings. Krita's extensive brush engine comes with more options for artists out of the box, and it also supports a wide range of file extensions. You can also create basic GIFs with Krita's animation tools, just as you can in Photoshop.

When used in conjunction with Inkscape, a vector graphics editor, you have a powerful tools for creating digital art that rivals Creative Cloud. For those who might miss the handy AI features that come along with Adobe's suite, you'll be pleased to know that Krita is AI-capable with the help of the Stable Diffusion plugin, found on the community-driven GitHub page.

6 Inkscape

A very capable vector image creator

For the Adobe Illustrator users out there looking to ditch their subscription, Inkscape makes a very strong argument for doing so. Any screen-based designer is going to love what it has to offer in terms of its feature set, compatibility, and extensive plugin ecosystem, which even puts Adobe to shame. It's still in active development, but all the core functionality you'd expect is there and works well, especially alongside the likes of Krita.

This open-source one-two punch is enough to get most illustrators to switch, but if you're doing art for print, Inkscape doesn't support CMYK natively. If you're only doing digital projects, this is a non-issue for you.

5 Darktable

An alternative to Lightroom made by photographers, for photographers

Having a robust workspace for processing photos in RAW is a must for photographers. Darktable offers a free, open-source way to bring your photos to life. It was built to run on Linux but is also compatible with both Windows and Mac. You can get the same results out of Darktable as you could in Adobe Lightroom, and it doesn't cost you a penny.

If you're well entrenched in the Adobe ecosystem and its cloud storage integration, you'll have a harder time switching over. Darktable doesn't offer any kind of cloud sync; your file management is left up to you, which for some is a pro rather than a con. If you're only ever editing photos locally, or if you have your own NAS, you can safely ditch Creative Cloud.

4 Kdenlive

Premiere Pro's open-source match

The world of video editing software is chock-full of options, both paid and free. Video editing workstations like Premiere Pro and VEGAS are lauded for being the industry standard, but if you're not doing any kind of professional work, Kdenlive is absolutely worth a look. It has its share of bugs and is rather limited in its color-grading and built-in effects, but it still packs a punch for being open-source.

The workflow is largely similar to Premiere Pro, but your exporting process may take some tweaking to get right. In my experience with it, it was good enough for stitching together short clips with some voice-over, but it may struggle with any substantial number of tracks.

3 GIMP

The classic open-source Photoshop alternative

GIMP is arguably the most popular open-source Photoshop competitor. It has quite a robust extension library and great compatibility with a large range of file types, meaning it's easy to get up and running with your existing work. The UI might have a bit of a learning curve to it, but once you get used to the quirks, it is just as fast to navigate. Its non-destructive editing capabilities are rather limited compared to those of Photoshop, but there are other open-source options available for that purpose. GIMP can do pretty much everything Photoshop can, it just might take a bit more poking around.

2 Audacity

Tried and true audio recording software

Audacity is the best option for anyone looking to quickly get up and running with audio recording. All the basic functionality is here: recording audio, simple effects, plugin support, and multi-track recording. Eliminating the cost barrier for budding podcasters and musicians is what Audacity does best.

While you can find plugins that can make Audacity perform well in a professional capacity, it's not intended for that. Audacity doesn't support MIDI controllers, although it is possible to pass some basic MIDI data to it. It's no comprehensive DAW, but it's great at getting your analogue audio into a digital format.

1 LibreOffice

Everything you would want in an office application suite

LibreOffice is one of the few true open-source competitors to Microsoft Office. There's no subscription or up-front payment required, and no connection to the internet required. It includes the gamut of tools you'd expect from an office suite: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, and drawing capability are all included.

LibreOffice is mostly compatible with Microsoft Office files, although with more complex documents, you might have trouble. The user interface is a bit less polished than that of Microsoft Office, and it also has some noticeable performance issues with large amounts of data. All that said, LibreOffice is an excellent Microsoft Office replacement.

Open-source is just as capable

While you may have to make tweaks to your workflow for some of this software, being free from the monthly payments and invasive policies of some closed-source tools can be a huge positive. You could take the money you'll save and put it towards bettering your gear. Or, if you're feeling generous, you can opt to donate something to the teams behind these open-source applications.