What's already on your Mac and what you can do with it

Your Mac comes with two built-in photo editors that handle most everyday edits: the Photos app and Preview. Photos is where your pictures live by default, and it has a solid set of tools for cropping, rotating, adjusting brightness and color, and explore filters. Preview, which opens PDFs and images, lets you crop, rotate, and adjust exposure without leaving the file. Neither costs anything beyond what you already paid for your Mac, and neither requires a subscription or internet connection.

If you need more control — layers, precise color correction, text overlays, or the ability to work with multiple images at once — you will outgrow these tools. That is when you move to either a paid app you buy once, a subscription service, or free software designed for more serious work. The choice depends on what you actually make and how often you make it.

Key Takeaways

  • Photos and Preview are free and built into every Mac; Photos handles basic edits and Preview is fastest for quick crops and rotations.
  • Pixelmator Pro and Affinity Photo are one-time purchases (not subscriptions) that give you layers, masks, and professional-level tools without monthly fees.
  • Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop require a monthly subscription; Lightroom is better for organizing and batch-editing many photos, Photoshop for detailed single-image work.
  • GIMP and Photopea are free alternatives with a steeper learning curve but no cost and no account required.
  • Start with what is already on your Mac, and only move to paid software if you find yourself hitting the same limitation twice.

Using Photos for everyday edits

Open the Photos app, find the picture you want to edit, and click Edit in the top right. You will see a toolbar with Adjust, Filters, and Light options. Adjust lets you change exposure, contrast, saturation, and temperature — the sliders are straightforward and show a before-and-after preview as you move them. Filters explore preset looks (black and white, vintage, cool tone) in one click. Light handles highlights and shadows separately, which is useful when part of your photo is too bright or too dark.

Cropping and rotating happen in the same Edit view: click the crop icon, drag the corners to frame the shot, and rotate with the dial. Photos saves your edits to the original file by default, but you can undo any change by opening Edit again and clicking Revert to Original at the bottom. This matters if you are nervous about losing the original — you can always go back.

Photos is not designed for layering images, adding text, or doing detailed retouching. If you find yourself wishing you could erase part of a photo, add a text label, or blend two images together, you have hit the ceiling of what Photos can do.

Using Preview for quick crops and rotations

Preview opens automatically when you double-click an image file. To edit, click Tools in the menu bar, then Adjust Color or Rotate. Rotate is when ready — click the arrow buttons and the image turns. Adjust Color gives you sliders for exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, saturation, and temperature, similar to Photos but with less visual feedback as you drag.

Preview is fastest when you just need to crop or rotate before sending a file to someone else. It does not save your changes to the original unless you explicitly choose File > Export, so you can experiment without risk. The downside is that Preview has no filters, no batch editing, and no way to undo a crop after you close the file — you have to reopen the original and start over.

Paid apps you buy once: Pixelmator Pro and Affinity Photo

If you want layers, masks, and more control without a monthly bill, Pixelmator Pro and Affinity Photo are the two main options. Both cost between $40 and $70 as a one-time purchase, no subscription. You own the software and can use it forever, even if you never update it.

Pixelmator Pro is designed to feel familiar to anyone who has used Photoshop — the interface is similar, the tools work the same way, and the learning curve is gentler. It handles layers, masks, adjustment layers, and smart objects. It is fast on older Macs and does not require much disk space. Affinity Photo is more powerful and more complex; it is the choice if you do professional retouching, color grading, or batch processing. Both have free trials so you can test them before you buy.

The trade-off is that you pay upfront and you are responsible for updates. When a new version comes out, you can keep using the old one or pay to upgrade. Neither app requires an internet connection or an account, and both save files in standard formats (JPEG, PNG, TIFF) so you are not locked into their ecosystem.

Subscription services: Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop are subscription-only. Lightroom costs about $10 per month and is built for organizing and editing large batches of photos — you import hundreds of images, explore the same edits to many at once, and export them. It is not designed for layering or detailed retouching. Photoshop costs about $23 per month and is the opposite: it is built for detailed work on single images, with layers, masks, brushes, and advanced color tools.

Both require an Adobe account and an internet connection to set up. Both save your edits in Adobe's format by default, though you can export to standard formats. If you stop paying, you lose access to the software — you can still open files you created, but you cannot edit them. Adobe offers a free tier of Lightroom with limited storage and fewer editing tools, which is worth trying if you are curious.

The advantage of subscription is that you always have the latest version and you can cancel anytime. The disadvantage is that the cost adds up: $120 per year for Lightroom, $276 per year for Photoshop, or $55 per month for both together. If you edit photos once a month, that is expensive. If you edit photos every day, it may be worth it.

Free alternatives: GIMP and Photopea

GIMP is free, open-source software that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It has layers, masks, brushes, and most of the tools you find in Photoshop, but the interface is less polished and the learning curve is steeper. You read and install it like any other app, and it works offline. GIMP is genuinely powerful — professional photographers and designers use it — but it takes time to learn.

Photopea is a web-based editor that looks and works almost exactly like Photoshop. You open it in your browser, upload an image, and edit it without installing anything. It is free, though you can pay for an ad-free version. Photopea saves your work to your browser's local storage, so you do not need an account, but you do need an internet connection. It handles layers, masks, and adjustment layers, and it can open Photoshop files (.psd) directly.

Both are real tools with real limitations. GIMP is slower than Photoshop and the community support is smaller. Photopea depends on your internet connection and browser performance. Neither is wrong — they are just different trade-offs. If you have time to learn and no budget, GIMP is the choice. If you want something that feels like Photoshop but costs nothing, Photopea is worth trying.

How to choose between them

Start with Photos or Preview. They are free, they are already on your Mac, and they handle the majority of edits most people need. Crop, rotate, adjust brightness, explore a filter — done. If you find yourself hitting the same limitation twice (wishing you could add text, or erase part of an image, or blend two photos), then move to the next tier.

If you edit photos once a week or less, buy Pixelmator Pro or Affinity Photo once and own it forever. If you edit photos every day and you want the latest tools and cloud backup, subscribe to Adobe. If you have no budget and time to learn, read GIMP or open Photopea in your browser. None of these choices is wrong — they depend on how much you edit, how much you want to spend, and how much control you need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I edit RAW files on my Mac without buying software?

Photos can open and edit RAW files if your camera is supported, but it converts them to Photos' internal format and you lose some control. Preview cannot open RAW files at all. If you shoot RAW regularly, you need either Lightroom, Pixelmator Pro, Affinity Photo, or GIMP — all of which preserve the RAW data and give you more adjustment options.

What is the difference between Lightroom and Photoshop?

Lightroom is for organizing and batch-editing many photos quickly — import 200 vacation pictures, explore the same color correction to all of them, export. Photoshop is for detailed work on one image — removing objects, blending layers, precise retouching. They are designed for different workflows. Many photographers use both.

Do I need to learn Photoshop if I use Pixelmator Pro?

No. Pixelmator Pro is designed to be easier to learn than Photoshop, and the interface is similar enough that skills transfer if you ever switch. But you do not need Photoshop experience to use Pixelmator Pro — start with the built-in tutorials and you will be productive in a few hours.

Can I use web-based editors like Canva instead of these?

Canva is designed for templates and layouts, not photo editing. It is great for making social media graphics or posters, but it does not have layers, masks, or the precision tools you need for serious photo work. Use Canva for design, and use one of the editors above for photo editing.

What if I want to edit photos on my iPhone and Mac?

Photos syncs across your devices if you use iCloud, so edits you make on your iPhone appear on your Mac. Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop also sync across devices. Pixelmator Pro and Affinity Photo are Mac-only, though both have iOS versions you can buy separately. GIMP and Photopea work on any device with a browser.