Software Alternatives & Reviews

Darktable VS GIMP

Compare Darktable VS GIMP and see what are their differences

Darktable logo Darktable

darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer.

GIMP logo GIMP

GIMP is a multiplatform photo manipulation tool.
  • Darktable Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-18
  • GIMP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

Darktable

Categories
  • Graphic Design Software
  • Digital Drawing And Painting
  • Image Editing
  • Photo Editing
Website darktable.org
Details $

GIMP

Categories
  • Photo Editing
  • Graphic Design Software
  • Digital Drawing And Painting
  • Graphic Design
Website gimp.org
Details $

Darktable videos

Free Lightroom Alternative: Darktable Review

More videos:

  • Review - darktable 3.0 How Good is it in comparison to other editing programs?
  • Review - Lightroom vs Darktable - the Key Difference ? 2019

GIMP videos

Gimp vs Photoshop - Photo Editing Software - COMPARISON 2018

More videos:

  • Review - GIMP 2020 Preview and GIMP 2019 Recap
  • Review - 10 Reasons to Use GIMP in 2020 Over Photoshop

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Darktable and GIMP)
Graphic Design Software
16 16%
84% 84
Image Editing
19 19%
81% 81
Digital Drawing And Painting
Photos & Graphics
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Darktable and GIMP. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Darktable and GIMP

Darktable Reviews

Our 6 Favorite Free Photoshop Alternatives (2022 Update)
Darktable is a free, open-source photo editing software that is used by photographers and editors and is a wonderful alternative to the likes of Photoshop and Lightroom.
5 Best Linux Photo Management Software
Darktable is more of a photo editing application than an organizer. Darktable stands out for its own user interface regardless of the desktop environment you might be using, and of course for its editing capabilities. The basic features include:
Source: itsfoss.com

GIMP Reviews

  1. A great site

    This is a great site for photo editing and the software is supper.

    👍 Pros:    Trusted

10 Best Adobe Illustrator Alternatives
Check out GIMP, one of the best free Illustrator alternatives which is ideal for any creative.
16+ Best Web Design Software in 2022 (Ranked by a Trusted Expert)
GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It’s a free and open-source software for editing images and a valuable tool to have in your arsenal.
10 Helpful Black Background Remover Review
Gimp is a completely free and cross-platform graphics editing software. With a completely free price and an easy-to-understand interface, it can be an excellent alternative to professional software like Photoshop for beginners to work on. It comes with several tools for editing photos, and it certainly works great for removing black backgrounds.
Our 6 Favorite Free Photoshop Alternatives (2022 Update)
If you’re a professional that needs all the tools and QoL features that Photoshop provides, then perhaps Gimp might not be for you, but if you’re a hobbyist to intermediate creative looking for a good free alternative. Gimp is pretty damn good.
15+ Best Web Design Software of 2022 (Ranked and Reviewed)
It provides several tools for high-quality photo manipulation and color management features for high-fidelity colors. GIMP’s high-quality framework also helps you handle scripted image manipulation efficiently. What’s more, it supports multiple languages like C, C++, Python, Perl, Scheme, and more.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GIMP should be more popular than Darktable. It has been mentiond 59 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Darktable mentions (8)

  • Photomator for Mac
    I'm pretty new to photography. I understand a lot of the basics (ex-wife shot as a professional hobbyist for a few years) but never really paid much attention to her editing workflow. Adobe already gets me for $20/mo for Illustrator (because designers) and I looked at alternatives. I've been using darktable http://darktable.org since I got my camera about a month ago and it's nice enough for me. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Nudibranch (Nembrotha cristata), Verde Island, Philippines, April 2023
    Thank you! The shot was gently edited in darktable. More TG-5 / single strobe examples here. Source: 12 months ago
  • I've seen it with Adobe
    No, unfortunately not. But check out the free Darktable app which is similar on darktable.org and also this list https://petapixel.com/best-free-raw-editing-programs/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Exporting a RAW file. Is it possible without the format changing? If I export to another folder on my mac it becomes a .jpeg, to Lightroom it becomes a .jpg, to Photoshop it becomes a .tiff. I want to be able to edit the RAW file, a .dng in another app that is not Apple proprietary.
    It sounds like you might want non-destructive editing. Look at something like darktable.org or Lightroom. You can edit your RAW files in multiple different ways, i.e., effectively keeping multiple copies of edited RAW files around. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Software to edit and enhance Photos (JPG and RAW).
    If you're looking to learn more complicated software without having to rent it while you do, there's Darktable. Rawtherapee is another app in the same category, and usually appeals to people who don't like Darktable's interface. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

GIMP mentions (59)

  • Yurt Calculator
    Image Creative Commons (CC) BY-SA-NC 2005-2017, developed, designed and written by René K. Müller Graphics & illustrations made with Inkscape, Tgif, Gimp, PovRay, GD.pm Web-Site powered by FreeBSD & Debian/Linux - 100% Open Source. Source: 12 months ago
  • I just cannot understand why they did Paint so bad
    Paint.NET for a familiar paradigm with nicer features. Pinta for an old school, simple Paint experience. Krita for more advanced drawing. Gimp for editing/manipulating photos. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Had to make This after seeing all the post over and over again
    If you don't want to pay for photoshop, check out the Gnu Image Manipulation Program at http://gimp.org which is free. It has most of what you'd want photoshop for. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Super, just Super.
    As good as this suggestion is, without proper links and explanation it means nothing. GEGL is a type of plugins for GIMP, which can adjust the settings of already present effects and create new ones. The most notable ones are made by LinuxBeaver. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Useful apps for Ux designers
    GIMP: FOSS alternative to Photoshop. Like Inkscape, it’s not directly related to UI, but might be handy. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Darktable and GIMP, you can also consider the following products

Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Photoshop is a webtop application for editing images and photos online.

Affinity Photo - Affinity is the imaging and design suite for creative professionals exclusively for Mac.

Krita - Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to seaffordable art tools for everyone. Concept art. texture and matte painters, illustrations and comics.

RawTherapee - RawTherapee is a free RAW converter and digital photo processing software.

Pixelmator - Pixelmator is an image-editing application for Mac and iPad.

digiKam - Professional Photo Management with the Power of Open Source