Free or open-source software like GIMP instead of Photoshop, Darktable instead of Lightroom, or DaVinci Resolve instead of Premiere has existed for years, if not decades. Those can do many of the same things as their Adobe counterparts (if not more), and are free. However, Most users don’t want the “switching costs” of learning something entirely new after years of building muscle memory in Adobe’s apps.
Enter Artcraft. Software developer Brandon Thomas and his team first launched these Adobe suite clones in early October. The pitch was that they’re a one-to-one replacement for Creative Cloud apps with a similar user interface, but are “free [with] no subscription, and you own the source code,” the team said on Reddit.
Thomas decided to reverse engineer the Creative Cloud apps after getting “bit by [Adobe’s]… dark pattern ‘cancellation fee‘ one too many times,” he revealed on Hacker News. To do so, he used Claude Opus 5.5 to create “clean room… pure Rust” versions of each that he claims are more performant than the original apps.
I was skeptical when I first heard about Artcraft, but was surprised after trying the developer’s Photoshop replacement, Photocraft. Though it lacks AI and other advanced features, Photocraft can do almost everything I need, like resizing, masking and color adjustments. Better still, all of the menus and controls are nearly one-to-one matches for Photoshop, so I was able to use the app immediately with no steep learning curve. It may not be a substitute for power users, but it could be good enough for many Adobe subscribers.
There are still issues. Users have reported critical bugs in Photocraft, including the app deleting images, randomly merging layers and lacking stability. I also noticed that it can’t open native PSD Photoshop files, which is a huge problem for existing users.
Adobe’s apps aren’t the end of Thomas’ ambitions. “Software is over… AI lets us take back tech and set the clock back to the pre-sh***y era.”