GIMP has been around for over two decades and development has been stable over the years. The newest update for GIMP gives a slew of new features and a glimpse into the future for this incredible open source image editor.

Features

All the features of GIMP are still present. You can create your own images with tools for airbrushing, penciling, cloning, and creating gradients. Power users can create their own brushes and patterns to use later. GIMP also allows users to manipulate images imported into the program. You can crop, add text, resize, and create nested layers. There is even a way to animate your creations.

New additions

GIMP has now been updated with many user interface tweaks to make the application accessible to newbies. The biggest interface addition is the ability to edit in a single-window. GIMP versions of the past drew criticism for their confusing interfaces, but the developers are addressing many of these issues in this newest version. While single-window mode is great, it is also disappointing that there is no way to view multiple projects side by side.

Other updated features include easier text editing, nested layer groups, and a shift to using the Generic Graphics Library (GEGL), which is a more sophisticated image processing framework. GEGL was introduced a couple of years back in a developer version and has now made its way into the sable, consumer version. GIMP developers hope to move entirely to GEGL by version 2.10. One of the major advantages of GIMP using GEGL is the ability for non-destructive editing and high bit-depth images.

GIMP now only saves to its own XCF format to retain layers and other file manipulation information. Users can still choose to save in formats like JPEG and PNG but will have to "export" the project instead of saving. This follows in the footsteps of Adobe Photoshop.

Mac users will be happy to know that GIMP 2.8.2 is the first version of the program to run natively in OS X, without requiring the installation of X11. This takes one annoying step out of the installation process.

The latest GIMP is better than ever. Its developers are taking the user experience into serious consideration and are speeding up development for this already great photo editor.

Download GIMP 2.8.4 in Softonic

This means you shouldn't expect Pinta to be some kind of open source Photoshop clone. It does include some interesting features like support for layers, unlimited undo and redo, and a bunch of special filters and effects to spice up your images – but its nothing like a serious photo editor. It does, however, include a nice selection of drawing tools that can make Pinta a good choice as photo editor.

According to Pinta's developer, the program is still at an early stage of development – which may be the reason why some of its tools are not available yet. In any case, Pinta does look promising, so we'll keep an eye on this handy little editor as it grows.

Pinta is a simple drawing utility and image editor with a clean interface and an interesting set of tools.

Download Pinta 1.4 in Softonic

You may ask why would you need more printer drivers for your Mac when OS X comes pre-installed with plenty, thank you very much. Well, the difference with Gutenprint drivers is that they rival or exceed the default drivers in quality and functionality. This means that not only do you get more out of your printer, but the quality of print output could be much better.

Gutenprint could be of particular interest to those using cheaper inkjet printers as the developers have focused on producing drivers which can squeeze enough quality out of them to print at nearly photographic output quality. Not only this, but Gutenprint provides many drivers for printers that are usually otherwise unsupported on Mac OS X, especially Epsons. Many users have found it useful for finally being able to clean their Epson print heads when no default utility was previously available.

Although Gutenprint comes with an installer, it can be difficult to remove manually which is why you'll probably need a separate installer (which comes with the program) and is also available here.

If you want to get more out of your printer, or are desperately seeking a driver, Gutenprint may well be the solution.

Download Gutenprint 5.2.7 in Softonic

SeaShore is an open source image editor based on GIMP. It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It also supports multiple layers, alpha channel editing and uses the same native file format as GIMP. And due to Cocoa, it sports a much slicker OS X friendly user interface that definitely looks better than GIMP.

The beauty of SeaShore is that it's a lot simpler than GIMP and feels a bit closer to Photoshop in the way the menus are laid out. The downside of this, however, is that it's not as powerful as GIMP and lacks certain advanced editing features. In fact, even basic features such as Color Balance and Levels are missing from SeaShore. Stability can also occasionally be an issue but it usually manages to carry out most functions without any problems.

A slick OS X Cocoa style interface and a simpler GIMP style functionality will make SeaShore popular with anyone who has struggled with GIMP.

Download SeaShore 0.1.9 in Softonic

All of the functionality of The GIMP remains the same with the bonus of a much easier to use Photoshop style interface. One of the biggest complaints of people switching from Photoshop to The GIMP is the unintuitive GUI of it which is why the developer designed GIMPshop.

GIMPshop features menu layouts, dialogs and naming conventions that all Adobe Photoshop users will be familiar with. However, there are a few issues to be aware of when trying to install it on Mac. Firstly, you'll need Apple's X11 to run GIMPshop.

Secondly, the main problem that Leopard and Snow Leopard users will have is getting GIMPshop to remain stable. Although GIMPshop is supposed to officially support Leopard and Snow Leopard, the reality is quite different. However, it can easily be made to do so by modifying a library file. Instructions of how to do so are here and the libraries you need to make it work are here.

Of course, GIMPshop isn't a replacement for Photoshop but it's probably the closest thing you'll ever get for free.

Download GIMPshop 2.2.11 in Softonic

CinePaint is an open source painting program used by motion picture studios to retouch images in 35mm films. It was formerly called Film Gimp.

Download CinePaint 0.22.1 in Softonic

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted. This is a self contained application bundle of the GNU Image Manipulation Program for OS X.

Download Gimp.app 2.2.10 in Softonic