PhotoCraft: A Free Open-Source Photoshop Alternative Built for AI

Introduction

Hello, this is Easygoing.

Today, I’d like to introduce PhotoCraft, a free open-source image editing app that serves as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop.

PhotoCraft: A Brand-New Image Editing App

PhotoCraft is a desktop image editing application released on October 2, 2026 by the U.S. company ArtCraft.

ArtCraft originally developed a creative app that integrates deeply with image and video generation AI. They have now released a series of Crafting Apps that feature the same user interface (UI) as widely used existing applications — and they’re making them available as free open-source software.

Crafting Apps provided by ArtCraft

gantt
    title Crafting Apps Release Dates
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    tickInterval 10day
    section Adobe Alternatives
        PhotoCraft           : 2026-10-02, 2026-11-06
        VectorCraft          : 2026-10-02, 2026-11-06
        FilmCraft            : 2026-10-02, 2026-11-06
        LightCraft           : 2026-10-02, 2026-11-06
        PdfCraft             : 2026-10-02, 2026-11-06
        DesignCraft          : 2026-10-02, 2026-11-06
        EffectCraft          : 2026-10-05, 2026-11-06
    section Microsoft Office Alternatives
        WordCraft            : 2026-10-07, 2026-11-06
        GridCraft            : 2026-10-07, 2026-11-06
        DeckCraft            : 2026-10-07, 2026-11-06
    section Other Apps
        CADCraft             : 2026-10-07, 2026-11-06
        SoundCraft           : 2026-10-07, 2026-11-06
        FigCraft             : 2026-10-09, 2026-11-06
        ArtCraft Launcher    : 2026-10-09, 2026-11-06

The Crafting Apps lineup covers a wide range of alternatives, including replacements for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Microsoft Office, and even CAD software.

Crafting Apps support Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the company has declared that they do not send usage data (telemetry).

Crafting Apps Are Being Developed with Full AI Support

All Crafting Apps are still in the alpha (trial) stage, but development is progressing at an astonishing pace thanks to the full use of AI.

CEO Brandon Thomas has revealed that the company is primarily using Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 to write the application code. On the GitHub development platform, Claude is listed as a co-author on more than 70% of the commit history.

Built with Rust for Speed and Stability

Crafting Apps are written in Rust, a modern programming language that was officially released in 2015.

Rust offers performance comparable to C++, the long-standing standard for high-speed applications. As a result, Crafting Apps feel noticeably faster in both startup time and processing speed compared to existing software.

In addition, Rust’s strong memory safety helps prevent bugs and security issues caused by memory violations, raising expectations for a more solid and reliable product in the future.

While Rust’s strict requirements can make early development heavier, ArtCraft has maintained an impressive development pace by fully leveraging AI, as mentioned earlier.

The Interface Closely Mimics Adobe’s Apps

Crafting Apps are deliberately designed so that their user interface closely resembles that of existing applications.

Looking at the PhotoCraft interface (which is designed to resemble Photoshop), you can see that everything from the top menu layout to the layers panel on the right and the property settings is almost identical to Photoshop.

Adobe’s product suite has become increasingly difficult for average users to continue using due to repeated price increases. Crafting Apps such as PhotoCraft are likely to become an attractive migration path for users already familiar with Adobe’s tools.

Will Adobe Take Countermeasures?

Is there a chance that Adobe will take some form of countermeasure against Crafting Apps taking users away from its commercial applications?

No Copyright Issues Have Been Raised So Far

First, let’s consider whether Crafting Apps might infringe Adobe’s copyrights.

ArtCraft has stated that it developed Crafting Apps using a clean-room approach.

About clean-room development

Clean-room development is a method used when creating software that competes with another company’s product. It strictly separates the team that analyzes the competing software from the team that develops the new software. Members of the development team never look at the competing product’s code.

There have been several court cases in the past where clean-room development was a key issue. When the clean-room process was judged to have been strictly followed, copyright infringement claims were often rejected.

Past cases where clean-room development was contested

• IBM vs Columbia Data Products & Compaq (1984)
• Intel vs NEC (1989)
• Sony Computer Entertainment vs Connectix Corp. (2000)

Although ArtCraft is using AI for development, recent AI models such as Claude have strong coding capabilities and are believed to be able to write equivalent code without needing to see the original source.

Moreover, Crafting Apps are written in Rust, while most of Adobe’s application code is thought to have been written before Rust’s release in 2015. In the author’s view, the likelihood that Crafting Apps infringe Adobe’s copyrights is low.

Adobe’s Patented Features Cannot Be Copied

On the other hand, Adobe holds a large number of patents in the image-processing field. Crafting Apps cannot implement the same features that are covered by those patents.

Example of advanced retouching using Photoshop

Photoshop is particularly strong in professional photo-editing workflows. At present, the general consensus is that PhotoCraft’s image-processing capabilities have not yet reached Photoshop’s level.

Nevertheless, in just over a month since the public release, a large number of developers have joined the open-source development of Crafting Apps. The GitHub repository already has more than 450 contributors, and active development continues.

By combining advanced AI coding capabilities with the expertise of many developers, it is expected that features will gradually be implemented in ways that work around Adobe’s patents, eventually bringing image-editing functionality closer to Photoshop’s level.

AI Integration Favors PhotoCraft

Adobe Photoshop has been around for more than 30 years and is very stable. However, its relatively weak integration with the latest AI features has been pointed out as a shortcoming.

Photoshop still carries legacy implementations needed to maintain backward compatibility. This can make adding new features more complicated and can also put it at a disadvantage in terms of performance.

In contrast, Crafting Apps were developed from the start with AI integration as a core premise.

PhotoCraft is essentially a completely different application that simply looks like Photoshop. Its seamless connection with AI tools gives it the potential to become a next-generation standard tool.

Installing PhotoCraft

Now let’s look at how to install PhotoCraft.

Installing on Windows

First, here’s how to install it on a Windows PC.

Start by visiting the Crafting Apps launcher download page on the ArtCraft website.

Click “Download Launcher.” The installer appropriate for your system will be downloaded. Run the downloaded file to install the launcher.

Next, launch the launcher app. A list of Crafting Apps will appear. Scroll down, select PhotoCraft, and start the installation.

That’s all it takes to install PhotoCraft on Windows.

Installing on Linux

To install PhotoCraft on Linux, it is convenient to add ArtCraft’s OCI repository and install the app in Flatpak format. This allows the application to update automatically when new versions are released.

On Ubuntu / Debian-based distributions, run the following commands in the terminal:

# Install Flatpak if it is not already installed
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y flatpak

# Add ArtCraft’s OCI Flatpak repository
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists artcraft-oci https://getartcraft.com/artcraft-oci.flatpakrepo

# Install the launcher
flatpak install --user artcraft-oci ai.storyteller.artcraft-launcher

Once the installation succeeds, ArtCraft Launcher will appear in your application list, and you will be able to install PhotoCraft from there.

Be Cautious of Security Issues with Adobe Apps

Finally, let’s consider some security concerns surrounding Adobe’s applications.

In March 2026, it became a topic of discussion that Adobe’s Creative Cloud Desktop application was adding entries to the hosts file (which requires administrator privileges on both Windows and macOS) without notifying the user.

In general, modifying the hosts file is behavior typically associated with malware that seeks to control a target PC. There is also concern that this functionality could be exploited by malicious attackers.

The author believes that continuously granting Adobe applications administrator-level system modification rights carries risk. Therefore, when Adobe software is necessary, it is advisable to limit the number of machines on which it is installed and, after uninstalling Adobe applications, to perform a clean installation of the OS.

Summary: Give PhotoCraft a Try!

• ArtCraft is a startup that provides AI services
• PhotoCraft’s UI closely resembles Photoshop
• Adobe applications rewrite OS system files

In this article, I introduced PhotoCraft.

ArtCraft’s bold ideas and willingness to challenge large corporations head-on give a strong sense of the challenger spirit unique to AI startups.

Crafting Apps are still in the alpha stage of development, but watching them improve at such a remarkable pace is fascinating in itself.

There is a possibility that Crafting Apps may eventually be commercialized or have telemetry enabled. At present, however, they remain completely open-source and clean applications.

Why not take this opportunity to try PhotoCraft and the other Crafting Apps for yourself?

Thank you for reading to the end!