Photoshop Express

1Photoshop Express is good for simple edits. To use this Flash-based service (not to be confused with Photoshop Elements), sign up for a free account or test drive the service first. Then you can upload a photo (must be a JPG) from your computer.

The layout is simple and grey, and you can edit fullscreen. Basic edits (crop, rotate, resize, auto correct, exposure, red eye, touch-up, saturation), advanced edits (white balance, highlight, dodge, burn, sharpen, soft focus), effects (crystallize, pixelate, hue, tint and others) and graphics (text, bubbles, frames and others) are available. Sharing to Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and others is easy.

Photoshop Express apps exist for Android and Apple, too. Free.

Good for:

• Basic editing
• Beginners

Positives:

• Allows you to view the original as you edit

Downsides:

• Small font selection for adding text
• Requires you to sign up and provide your birthday

Pixlr

2Pixlr is a more advanced, Flash-based editor, which offers most of the basic Photoshop functionality at no cost. You can even layer images on top of one another or use other effects to transform your photos. To use this tool, choose the express version or the advanced one. Both have fullscreen options.

The basic editing tool, Pixlr Express, is simple and easy to use, with big buttons that allow you to make changes with one click. Make adjustments (crop, resize, auto fix, color splash, vibrance, white teeth, touch-up, airbrush and others), add effects (only a few), overlays (space, smoke, vignette and others), borders, stickers and text (only seven font options).

The advanced editor, Pixlr Editor, is quite similar to Photoshop in layout, with areas including navigation, layers and history. Make adjustments (hue, levels, curves, exposure and others), add filters (sharpen, noise, halftone, tilt shift, blur and others) and create layers. A wand tool and a lasso tool are included, as well as a clone stamp tool, red eye reduction and others. Can save in a variety of formats: JPG, PNG, BMB, TIFF and PXD.

Pixlr also offers apps for Android and Apple. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• People looking for cheaper programs similar to Photoshop
• Creating collages (with Pixlr Express)
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Keeps high-res photos the same quality after editing
• Tutorials are available if you’d like to learn more about using Pixlr
• No log-in required to use
• The Pixlr Grabber for Firefox and Chrome allows you to choose online pictures or screenshots for editing using Pixlr Editor

Downsides:

• Pixlr Editor requires editing knowledge or time to learn how to use it
• Pixlr Express doesn’t have the ability to share to social networks after editing your image (the advanced editor does, though)

Pixlr-o-matic

3Pixlr-o-matic is made by the same company as Pixlr and allows you to add filters (a la Instagram), overlays and borders. Images are saved as JPG. This Flash-based service is also has apps for Android and Apple and an Facebook app. And it can be installed as a Chrome Web app. Free.

Good for:

• Adding filters, like retro and vintage
• Adding creative borders

Positives:

• Easy to use, although the buttons are not named

Downsides:

• Doesn’t have a fullscreen option
• Doesn’t offer simple editing, like cropping and resizing
• Can only save to your computer

Splashup

4Splashup is an advanced Flash-based editor that allows you to open an image from your computer, Facebook, Flickr and others. Its layout is similar to Photoshop, with layers and filters (but not as many options as Pixlr). The interface is grey, with moveable boxes. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• People looking for cheaper programs similar to Photoshop
• Multiple saving options: save as a JPG or PNG and choose photo quality. Also shows you photo size.

Positives:

• Allows you to edit multiple photos at once
• Can edit a webcam image

Downsides:

• Navigation is not as easy as other tools
• Opens a new window for editing

FotoFlexer

5FotoFlexer is an editor with basic and advanced options. It can edit fullscreen. Offers basic edits (auto fix, fix red eye, resize, flip and others), effects, decorations (text, draw and others), animations, beautify (fix blemishes, smooth wrinkles) and layers, with a layout that is easy to use, yet different than layers in Photoshop. Edit photos from Facebook, Picasa, your computer and other places, and share to a variety of social-networking sites and email when you’re done. Saves images as JPG or PNG. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced image editing
• Creating collages
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Can upload any size photo
• Has a low-bandwidth interface
• Has a white background (most other tools have boring grey ones)
• Has a large selection of font options

Downsides:

• Takes a minute to save the photo
• Not as easy to use as other tools

Ribbet

6Ribbet is a Flash-based editor built on the same platform as Picnik, which used to be a top online editing tool before it shut down. Most of the options are free, with some only available in Ribbet Premium. Currently, the premium version is free, but it will cost money in the future. Once you upload an image, the layout of interface is very simple and clean, with rounded buttons and colorful pictures.

Allows for basic edits (crop, rotate, exposure and others), a large variety of effects, touchups (blemish fix, airbrush, sunless tan, mascara, lip color, cloning and others) and creative frames. Can edit images from websites using a Chrome bookmarklet. And saving to your computer, Flickr and Facebook is possible. Save images as PNG or JPG.

Good for:

• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people
• Creating collages

Positives:

• Has a more-pleasing layout with a white background
• Has a large number of fonts for adding text to images

Downsides:

• May charge money for certain features in the future.

PicMonkey

7PicMonkey is a well-designed image editor, with beautiful graphics and a clean layout. Some former Picnik engineers decided to create this tool, which is Flash based and offers basic edits (rotate, crop, sharpen, resize), effects (some good ones like the HDR one), touch-ups (blemish fix, teeth whiten, lip tint and other ones in the paid edition), text (with many font options), overlays, frames and textures. Many features are free, but for $4.99 a month, users get ad-free editing, 40 percent more effects, double the touch-up tools and more.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people
• Creating collages and cards

Positives:

• Beautiful layout
• Simple to use
• Can easily share to social-networking sites, including Pinterest, or save as JPG or PNG

Downsides:

• Advanced features and extra effects cost money
• Free version has ads

LunaPic

8LunaPic is an editing tool with a variety of animations, which could be good for Tumblr images. You can also easily share to social-networking sites, including Tumblr. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• Creating slideshows
• Creating collages
• Making images with animations

Positives:

• Has some unique editing features, including reflecting animation and the ability to create a Twitter image mosaic
• You can see each image in your undo history
• Offers some tutorials within the editing interface
• Can save to many formats: GIF, JPG, PNG, PDF, AVI and others
• Doesn’t rely on Flash

Downsides:

• Layout is distracting and not easy to use
• Lacks cancel buttons

iPiccy

9iPiccy is an online editor that offers basic and advanced edits, with the added ability to upload photos to a photo basket. Offers fullscreen editing, along with basic edits, many effects (pop art, HDR and others), touch-ups (blemish fixer, shine remover, wrinkle remover, hair color, clone tool and others), layers, paint tools, frames and textures. Can save as JPG or PNG. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• Creating collages
• Adding watermarks to your images (using saved photos in your photo basket)
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Layout is simple with colorful buttons

Downsides:

• You have to give iPiccy permission to store files on your hard drive

Sumopaint

10Sumopaint is an online editor with a layout and menus similar to Photoshop. It has a free version with basic editing tools, a $9 version with 35+ more filters and tools and a $19 version with the 35 extra features, along with a desktop app for offline use. This Flash-based tool has a gray interface and layers. You can crop, rotate, use a magic wand or a lasso and many other tools. An iPad app is also available.

Sumopaint also has a strong community of users at Sumo.fm, which allows users to share images and interact with one another.

Good for:

• People looking for cheaper programs similar to Photoshop
• Basic to advanced editing

Positives:

• Can save as JPG or PNG

Downsides:

• Only allows you to open file from computer or a URL
• Doesn’t have any photo-sharing capabilities
• Doesn’t have font preview when adding text
• Doesn’t allow for full-screen editing

Citrify

11Citrify is a basic editing program that allows you to adjust (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, resize, rotate, sharpen), touch up (airbrush, blemish, glare, red eye, toothbrush, wrinkle) and add a limited amount of effects and stickers. Saves images as PNG. Free.

Good for:

• Basic editing
• Beginners
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Easy to use

Downsides:

• Editor opens in a new window
• Can only open a photo from your computer
• Can only resize photos smaller or bigger, not a specific size
• No sharing features