Mastodawn

p.s. In case you missed it, Apple announced a new subscription package for their creative software and from now on some features will be subscription-only: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/13/apple-creator-studio-exclusive-app-features

Some Apple Apps Will No Longer Receive Every New Feature Without a Subscription

If you are not interested in subscribing to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle introduced today, you will officially start to miss out on some new...

MacRumors

@FediFollows eek not Pixelmator Pro. I own that.

That said, it's a silly move cos Affinity is now free. Expect a lot of people to leave for that.

But there really isn't an OS replacement for Pixelmator Pro. .Krita isn't even close, I have used both.

@FediFollows Replacement for Pages I'd say LibreOffice is a better bet.

FediFollows Jan 16

@radioclash

Fair point! I'd mentioned it recently as a replacement for MS Office, forgot to mention it again in this context.

Alex Chapman (moved to new account)Jan 14

@FediFollows I've tried some of these, and as a blind person they don't fully support keyboard navigation and screen readers like NVDA and Jaws, whereas Apple actually takes into consideration that blind people may wanna try and create stuff, and thus they make these tools accessible with VoiceOver.

@alexchapman

Sorry to hear that, thanks for the headsup about these problems.

I hope the developers of the open alternatives pay attention to this as accessibility is vital.

Alex Chapman (moved to new account)Jan 14

@FediFollows Same, I've tried Kdenlive and OpenShot, and they both have serious issues, so I'm either stuck to using Powerpoint for making videos, or relying on my girlfriend @chloehodges to get videos done for me.

Carlos Solís Jan 15

Something that could help in the long run, if you have the time and patience of course, is sending issue reports listing exactly what parts are lacking in accessibility, how do they compare with tools that do cater to accessible workflows, and suggest ways to implement those changes. Many open-source projects lack the perspective of people that require accessibility tools.

Gerard Thomas Jan 14

@FediFollows @kdenlive @[email protected] @Blender @Krita @[email protected] @inkscape @[email protected] @tenacity @ardour @zrythm @www.scribus.net.news And the FULL facts being you can still buy all the apps as standalone: "If you’re not a fan of subscriptions, don’t worry. All apps will remain available as standalone purchases on the App Store, with productivity apps available for free."

Get all the facts before posting incorrect information...

@iamgerardthomas

You can still buy standalone, but from now on some of the features will be subscription-only: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/13/apple-creator-studio-exclusive-app-features/

Some Apple Apps Will No Longer Receive Every New Feature Without a Subscription

If you are not interested in subscribing to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle introduced today, you will officially start to miss out on some new...

MacRumors

Gerard Thomas Jan 14

@FediFollows A lot of companies are doing this and it's almost always tied to 'AI' rubbish, so if you don't want it, don't pay for it. Perfectly acceptable model and means, unlike Adobe, you can still buy the apps outright. So Apple is not following the Abobe model where you have no option but to subscribe.

Karl Auerbach Jan 15

@iamgerardthomas @FediFollows @kdenlive @[email protected] @Blender @Krita @[email protected] @inkscape @darktable @tenacity @ardour @zrythm @www.scribus.net.news I have the paid-for version of Final Cut Pro and I have not seen any of the new tools - nor any upgrade from version 11.2.

Wulfy—Speaker to the machines Jan 14

@FediFollows

Black Magic's #davinciresolve is a full blown, professional grade video editor that is free.

The feature I like is you can equalise colors across multiple clips.

*) There are some advanced features NOT enabled the the free package, like composititing and advanced network (keys) operations, but if you need those, you are a professional getting paid pro fees.

MegatronicThronBanks Jan 14

@FediFollows @kdenlive @[email protected] @Blender @Krita @[email protected] @inkscape @[email protected] @tenacity @ardour @zrythm @www.scribus.net.news

Is the apple kit particularly outstanding any more?

Maki 🔻Jan 14

@FediFollows
Worth noting that zrythm does have a subscription for its higher tiers. There are four tiers listed on the site and the free version only allows up to 25 tracks and access to version 1.0 of the program. See included image (alt text included).

#AltText

kai_klnd (er/ihm)Jan 14

@FediFollows I would like to add Audacity for Audio. Not sure if they are on the Fediverse though..

@kai_klnd

Audacity went down the toilet when a company bought them out, but fortunately a community fork was made called Tenacity and they are on the Fediverse at @tenacity

Roc Jan 15

@FediFollows @kai_klnd @tenacity I believe they backtracked most of the stuff that brought the worries

@FediFollows @kai_klnd @tenacity Audacity is fine and wiļl continue to be fine despite all the hiccups at the beginning of being under the new management. Tenacity will have to either rebase against v4 or continue with the aging tech that's broken in many ways

Crovanian Jan 15

@FediFollows I’m currently holding onto my precious #Affinity 2 suite until Canva pries it out of my cold dead hands.

@FediFollows @kdenlive @[email protected] @Blender @Krita @[email protected] @inkscape @darktable @tenacity @ardour @zrythm @www.scribus.net.news

ShadowPlay Jan 15

I use Lunapic for some editing... They have some good filters and tools...
https://www1.lunapic.com/editor/

LunaPic.com Photo Editor Load tool

Free and Easy to use online image effects. Try the Load effect.

Lunapic

David W. Jones Jan 15

@FediFollows @kdenlive @[email protected] @Blender @Krita @[email protected] @inkscape @[email protected] @tenacity @ardour @zrythm @[email protected] I use Rawtherapee for RAW processing.

@[email protected] some of those are great, some aren't - I use Inkscape, it's UI leaves a LOT to be desired on OSX but it works. Krita is good at what it does, but mostly for painting/tablet work, not really great at compositing/design.

Darktable tho - nope. Not even close to Lightroom or Capture One. Blender is good if you want 3D but noticeable there isn't a real After Effects replacement. Never has been.

At least you didn't mention GIMP!

There is another way tho - companies who aren't open source but pay once or longterm free tier. Open Source is nice, but not if the tools are really basic like with Kdenlive.

Davinci Resolve - pay once or free version

Affinity - designers hate Canva but it's free now, works WAY better than Krita. Will it stay free?

Reaper - a far better DAW than Ardour, Ardour is OK but fiddly. Reaper has a free model for aeons that never expires, like Resolve.

Pixelmator Pro on OSX - sadly now owned by Apple. If it goes sub tier I will stop using it...cos now we have Affinity free

@radioclash You cannot be possibly directly comparing a general image editor against an application for painting and claiming it works better

@prokoudine which one? I mention many apps.

I suspect you are responding to OP who said Krita was a option to replace Pixelmator Pro (it isn't) but Affinity is closer.

It wasn't my initial comparison.

@radioclash Affinity vs Krita

@prokoudine are you saying that Krita can do what Affinity and Pixelmator Pro can do? That was the point here (and partly not a point of my making).

Not that I am saying Affinity or Pixelmator are great at painting.

Go argue with OP.

@radioclash "Affinity - designers hate Canva but it's free now, works WAY better than Krita." - Why would I argue with the OP if you wrote that? :)

I can't for the life of me imagine how Affinity "works better" than Krita given that they are targeted at two slightly overlapping groups of users.

@prokoudine really you are just arguing for the sake of arguing at this point.

Mastodon has limited chars, so I can't always pedant-proof my comment. we knew what features we were comparing and I don't know nor care about how triggered you are about something so random and pedantic.

I only compared Krita to Affinity in the scope of this post AS A PIXELMATOR PRO REPLACEMENT.

I am guessing you work on Krita. This is exactly the kind of weird interaction that means FOSS stays niche.

TL;DR No one cares but you.

Muted.

@radioclash You guessed wrong :) But thank you for clarifying

@FediFollows @kdenlive @[email protected] @Blender @Krita @[email protected] @inkscape @darktable @tenacity @ardour @zrythm @www.scribus.net.news

Robert Smith Jan 15

Agree! All good alternatives, all have a bit of a learning curse but well worth it!

I've used @kdenlive for video editing, has everything I need for that.

Surprised @gimp and @audacity didn't make the list. @gimp is the goat for photo/image editing, @audacity great for sound and music editing!

Greg Burrell

🦞🚴🥔Jan 15

@FediFollows Any good FOSS alternatives for Acrobat yet? I check in once in a while and it seems like there are a bunch of apps that all do some of the things Acrobat does well, but fail completely at others.

FediFollows Jan 16

@ivanvector

I'm not sure, at least I'm not aware of such projects being on the Fediverse. Sorry!