Photon Studio, the Free Photoshop Alternative: Layers, PSDs and Background Removal on Your Own Computer
A free desktop editor does most of what people pay Photoshop $22.99 a month for: layers and masks, retouching, design tools, and it opens and saves PSD files. Even subject selection and background removal run offline. What it does, where it falls short, and how to set it up on Mac, Windows or Linux.
Photoshop costs $22.99 a month on Adobe's annual plan, whether you open it that month or not. A small studio has released a free desktop editor that covers most of what people pay that for: layers and masks, retouching, design work, and Photoshop's own PSD files, opened with their layers intact.
There's no account to create and nothing to upload. Every edit happens on your own computer, and so do the two AI tools people reach for most: selecting the subject of a photo and removing its background.
What it does
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Layers, groups and masks | Stack, group and mask the parts of a design, with adjustment layers, smart objects and layer effects. |
| Retouching | Curves and levels with a live preview, healing brushes, the clone stamp, content-aware fill and Liquify. |
| Design | Editable text, vector shapes and Pen paths, brushes, colours and gradients. |
| Subject selection | Selects the subject of a photo in one click. |
| Background removal | Cuts the background away in one click. |
| PSD files | Opens Photoshop documents with their layers intact and saves back to PSD. |
| Shortcuts | The familiar Photoshop shortcuts, plus a search box that finds any command by name. |
The AI behind subject selection and background removal runs on your machine, so your photos never leave it, and both still work with the Wi-Fi off.
Photon Studio vs Photoshop
| Photoshop | Photon Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $22.99 a month (annual plan) | Free |
| Account | Adobe account required | None |
| Select subject, remove background | Yes | Yes, on your computer |
| PSD files | Its own format | Opens and saves them, with limits |
| Mac, Windows, Linux | Mac and Windows | All three |
Where it falls short (for now)
- It's new. It launched in mid-September 2026, and the version on its download page on 1 October was 0.1.37. Expect rough edges and frequent updates.
- PSD files open with their layers, but not every Photoshop feature survives a save back to PSD. Photon lists what won't be preserved before you save, so read that list before you send a file back to someone on Photoshop.
- It isn't connected to Adobe's cloud, so there are no Creative Cloud libraries or Adobe Fonts. If your work depends on those, keep Photoshop for that work.
- It's free and funded by donations, so there's no company support plan behind it.
Free, for your email
Get the full setup steps + the copy-paste setup prompt
The rest of this guide (4 more sections) opens right here. The setup prompt, one paste into Claude that sets it all up, comes by email only. Use your real address.
Unlocks: Step 1: download Photon Studio · Step 2: open your PSD files · Step 3: remove a background in one click · Step 4: retouch and design
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