Best Windows 11 photo editing apps

Adobe Photoshop on Windows
(Image credit: Future)

While phones and other devices have gotten better at taking and editing photos, sometimes you still need a PC to get some proper photo editing done. Whether you're looking for a lightweight app to recolor an image or a professional-grade app that you can use in the creative industry, this list has you covered with the best Windows 11 photo editing apps. In addition to working on the latest version of Windows, all of these applications also support Windows 10.

Adobe Photoshop | From $20/ month

<a href="https://www.prf.hn/click/camref:1101lr4vm/pubref:hawk-custom-tracking/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adobe.com%2Fcreativecloud%2Fplans.html%3Fplan%3Dindividual%26filter%3Dall%26promoid%3DPYPVPZQK%26mv%3Dother" data-link-merchant="adobe.com"">Adobe Photoshop | From $20/ month

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for creative professionals. It can handle extremely complex multi-layer editing and can make all the edits and manipulations you need to make to your images. Additionally, Adobe Photoshop works seamlessly with the Adobe Suite of apps, including Lightroom, After Effects, and Premiere Pro.

GIMP | Free

<a href="https://www.gimp.org/" data-link-merchant="gimp.org"">GIMP | Free

GIMP is a powerful open-source photo editor. It has a wide variety of built-in tools and can be further enhanced by third-party plug-ins. And best of all? It's free.

Polarr | Free*

<a href="https://www.polarr.com/windows/" data-link-merchant="polarr.com"">Polarr | Free*

Polarr allows you to do several distortions and edits without having to break out your mouse and keyboard. You can make edits easily with touch or a stylus on your device. You can also use Polarr with your mouse to do everything from global adjustments to refining touches. Polarr is free, but Polarr Pro features require a subscription that's either $7.99 per month or $47.99 per year.

Microsoft Photos | Free

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The Photos app that's built into Windows 11 isn't as powerful as the other apps on this list, but it's extremely easy to use, and it's convenient. You can use it for basic filters, cropping and rotating images, and other light edits.

Picking from the best Windows 11 photo editing apps depends largely on your workflow. In many jobs in the creative sphere, you have to use Adobe Photoshop for file compatibility. It's robust, feature-packed, and it's easy to find classes on how to use it to complete your work.

Luckily, all of these apps have free trials or are free themselves, so you can try out each to find out which best meets your workflow.

Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.