Even as a child, I heard the wonderful phrase “Free cheese only comes in a mousetrap,” and almost with every passing year I became more and more convinced of the correctness of these wise words. And indeed - for almost everything really good in this life you haveto pay. Unless it’s friendship, love or free software…In fact, among the tons of freeware that can be found on the internet, there are genuine masterpieces that are not only comparable in interface and capabilities to the best examples of commercial applications, but sometimes even surpass them. This collection fromBored Panda, based on this viralonline thread, is dedicated to precisely such apps and programs.More info:RedditThis post may includeaffiliate links.
Even as a child, I heard the wonderful phrase “Free cheese only comes in a mousetrap,” and almost with every passing year I became more and more convinced of the correctness of these wise words. And indeed - for almost everything really good in this life you haveto pay. Unless it’s friendship, love or free software…
In fact, among the tons of freeware that can be found on the internet, there are genuine masterpieces that are not only comparable in interface and capabilities to the best examples of commercial applications, but sometimes even surpass them. This collection fromBored Panda, based on this viralonline thread, is dedicated to precisely such apps and programs.
More info:Reddit
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Nobody on here talking about Audacity? Really solid audio editing with a billion plug-ins for formats, opening videos, new filters, etc.
Ublock origin.
7-Zip, VLC Media Player, Vocal Pitch Monitor and Calculator.
Some ofthe programspresented here work exclusively on a freeware basis, some provide only part of their functionality for free (but quite enough for convenient and effective work). But they all have one thing in common - these are truly decent tools, and people in the original thread are really surprised. What is the reason for such selflessness and altruism?In a nutshell, why do you have tofork outsome hefty money for sometimes less functional and ergonomic programs, when these are available completely for free?
Some ofthe programspresented here work exclusively on a freeware basis, some provide only part of their functionality for free (but quite enough for convenient and effective work). But they all have one thing in common - these are truly decent tools, and people in the original thread are really surprised. What is the reason for such selflessness and altruism?
In a nutshell, why do you have tofork outsome hefty money for sometimes less functional and ergonomic programs, when these are available completely for free?
Firefox.
Notepad++.
Blender. It became an insane 3D modeling tool, that can also handle animation, rigging etc..There is a big community always ready to help, create plug-ins etc.. After using 3ds Max and Maya for years i’ve switched to Blender and it feels so much better(maybe not for riging, Maya is still the goat here ^^).
Calibre.
Krita - Best alternative to photoshop.
LibreOffice.
Paint.net.
Visual Studio Code. I use it on my Mac - and while I have a full blown paid for version of Visual Studio on my work PC, the fact that I have almost all of the same features of an IDE for free makes me so happy. I’m always waiting for them to start charging me for it - because methinks one day they will. Till then I’ll keep using this wonderfully free bit of software. Thanks Microsoft.
Rom emulators. Imagine having all the nintendo games, even the rare stuff that wasnt imported.
Be that as it may, there is always strength in variety and diversity, and as long as there are free options for performing this or that task, this will also encourage commercial developers to release moreeffective solutionsand not raise the prices of their products to the skies. At least that’s what we believe. And we also believe that this collection may come in handy to you - after all who knows, maybe one of the programs listed here will be a real useful find for you?
Shazam.
Winamp, it really whips the llama’s a*s.
DaVinci Resolvevideo editing, free tier.
QGIS. So this is massively nerdy, but for most imagery, mapping and geospatial analysis tasks, it s***s on its thousands-of-dollars-per-year competitors, and comes with a global community of users and plugin-makers.
UbuntuGimpInkscapeWikipedia.
Wireshark. Insane what it can it do to analyze network traffic. Best packet sniffer out there.
Cutlist Optimizer. Sets up optimal cuts for plywood and other sheet goods. Saves me so much headache trying to figure out the best and most economical ways to cut pieces for cabinetry while keeping waste to a minimum. It can even account for blade kerf which is a huge plus, and the cut diagrams are labeled and color coded in a way that’s very easy to read.
See Also on Bored Panda
OBS and inkscape.
HomeAssistant.If you’ve ever tried using “Smart Home” products from Google, Amazon, Samsung, or others - there are probably a long list of ways that you end up disappointed, wishing it just did more, or just did it better.Home Assistant is the answer. It does Smart Home very well. Far better than any of the commercial offerings.
Handbrake for videos.
Plex Media Server.There are paid tiers, but the free one is more than enough for a large portion of users.
Musescore.
Bulk Rename Utility. Renames batches of files with excellent utility, including regex and preview.
Python. It’s mind blowing that it’s free given how powerful it is.Also QGIS.
Vlc, qtorrent, kdenlive.
Vim. I basically live in it (because I can’t figure out how to exit it, badoom tish).ImageMagick. Practically anything you could want to do to an image, you can do from the command line. Of course, you’ll probably have to Google for the correct recipe first, but my god are there a lot of them out there.
Google mapsChatGPTGoogle docs.
Wolfram alpha together with photomath. Literally learning mpvs.
Sketchup free version is pretty great. And the paid version is is not too expensive either when compared to Autodesk prices.
If your working with pdf documents and dont wanna pay for bs adobe subscription you can use the pdf24 toolbox has helped me with lots of documents has a lot of fixes for your pdf issues.
There is this app simply called “invoice maker”. The logo is purple with a piece of paper on it. I own a business and use it whenever billing client. Mind boggling how clean the invoices are, how easy the interface is, how there are no ads. I would pay good money for it, maybe up to $100/year.Also, Anki is the most unspoken technological revolution in the history of learning and memorization. I truly, truly, cannot believe everyone doesn’t know about flash cards with spaced repetition systems (SRS). Almost printing press level power in this technology.EDIT: people kept asking for links:invoice maker on google playinvoice maker on apple(this might be for mac, just search your iphone app store instead for iPhone)Anki(this is the web version for your computer. there are apps too, but they tend to cost money. I bought the $30 or so iPhone app, which may sound expensive, but hey, no ads, amazing product)
FfmpegI do a lot of video processing (concatenating/encoding raw video and making clips from larger files). It utilizes my whole pc and is run from the command line (I use python scripts to batch things)Couldn’t live without it.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
Science & Technology
