October 15, 2008
16 Free Alternatives To Expensive Brand Name Software
When you’re starting up and money is tight, it can be oh so very painful to dish out money for a $300 or $400 piece of software. Sure, it is an investment and you need it to make your money… but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Even established businesses could do with a little savings in the software department, especially in uncertain times. The good news is, you can save a ton on licensing fees. Check out these alternatives to common - and expensive software.
Office Suites
OpenOffice - consistently one of my favorite replacement applications for Microsoft Office. It comes with a word processor, spread sheet, drawing application which is great for flow charts and presentation builder to replace PowerPoint.
The best thing is, you can save and open Word, Excel, Powerpoint files with no problems. I get Word documents from partners and assistants all the time, and have had no issues opening them.
Image Editors
Paint.Net - Windows only alternative to PhotoShop. Okay, I’ll admit it is not quite as advanced as PhotoShop. But still a very good start with an active community and tons of free tutorials online.
Gimp - Another one in the photo editor department. Works on Windows and Linux.
Inkscape - not an image editor per se but a vector image illustrator. Alternative to Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw or Xara.
Web Development
Here are several alternatives to Dreamweaver, Expression Web or the older FrontPage.
Amaya - from the W3C consortium. Available for Windows, Mac and Unix systems
Kompozer - another WYSIWYG editor available for Windows, Mac and Unix as well.
FileZilla - Alternative FTP software to CuteFTP or WS_FTP.
PDF Readers and Creators
PDFCreator - create PDF’s. Works like a printer. Just print to it. Open source, Windows only.
Foxit Reader - alternative to Adobe Acrobat reader. Granted, Acrobat Reader is free, but have you seen how much space it hogs on your computer? I’ve used Foxit for about 2 years now. Love it. Fast, quick and easy. I also don’t run into too much trouble opening PDF’s unlike Adobe where it sometimes can’t even open its own files.
Desktop Publishing
Sribus - Alternative to QuarkXpress. I’ve used Sribus to create some sharp looking PDF documents.
Antivirus
ClamWin for Windows or Clam AntiVirus for Unix systems. ClamWin also has a portable version you can carry on your USB stick.
Encryption
TrueCrypt - encrypt your hard drive or even USB drives. This can be very helpful when carrying company information on your USB drive or your laptop. Lock it down, keep your data away from prying eyes.
ZIP Utility
7-Zip - open source alternative to WinZip. Opens a bunch of different compression formats too.
Desktop Project Management
Open Workbench - Alternative to Microsoft Project.
Password Manager
KeePass - alternative to RoboForm. Although I have not found KeePass to be as intuitive and easy to use as RoboForm and not giving up, this is a good alternative if you need some way to manage your passwords securely.
Almost all of the software listed here are opensource. Which means (usually), support is a hit and miss and it is always a work in progress. Your mileage may vary with some of these. I’ve had no problem with them on my computer. Keep in mind, I run Windows XP and try to keep the computer as squeaky clean as possible, which may account for the reason why I don’t encounter much problems.
However, software like FileZilla, OpenOffice and 7-Zip have been installed on more than one computer over the years. It’s usually a smooth ride. So if you’re willing to try things out and save some serious cash at the same time, go for it.
Free Marketing Course
FreePDFCreator
Here’s another one:
http://www.freepdfcreator.org
100% free, and it can create ISO compliant PDF/A-1b files.
If you have used PhotoShop in the past there is a version of Gimp called Gimpshop which makes the application more like Photoshop. It doesn’t change the functions of Gimp but (in theory) at least makes it more intuitive for PhotoShop users.
Thanks for the links. I’m going to check these out.
Here’s another company that offers several awesome free programs like a photo editor(which you can make banners with) and several other equally nice and easy to use programs.
http://www.serif.com
Plus, most of their upgrades are not very expensive either.
Oh, and I have to recommend Filezilla as well. We are currently using it with our FTP.
Hey all, thanks for the additional suggestions.
@Aimee: I too consistently use Filezilla. Love it.
Thank you, Lynette, for the good suggestions. Here’s a tiny free program I have been using for about seven years, called Absolute Shield File Shredder (or Cute Shield File Shredder). It installs simply, and puts itself on your context menu. Instead of the usual delete (to the Recycle Bin etc) you can now over-write a file with this file “shredder” to protect your privacy. It has never failed me! You can also set the number of over-writing passes you want. Kindest regards, Bob.
@Bob: Thank you! That sounds like a sweet little program. Something I definitely want.
Great tools Lynette!
We also use many of the Google applications as well. Things like Google Docs, Google Notebook, Google Reader and Google Groups. We use most of these almost daily.
Thanks for sharing this list… there are a few I’ll be looking into.
You may also want to add the free pdf editor http://www.pdfescape.com
Unlike FoxIt Reader, it actually allows you to edit PDF files, fill out forms, etc. all for free.
-J
Great resources! One of my favourites is Jing Project. It is the free version of Camtasia. It is nowhee as good as Camtasia but you can make great quick (5 minutes max) videos for your blog, clients, friends etc.
http://www.jingproject.com/
enjoy!
Don’t bother with FileZilla. Simply get the Free FTP plug-in for Firefox. Works great.
I love OpenOffice. Who needs Microsoft?
Thanky Lynette for your suggestions. I already use some of them and will definetly have a look on others you mentioned.
Great post!
Wow, I knew about some of these leads, but some others I didn’t - this is great! Thanks!
Hey, I like poMMo (”Post Modern Mass Mailer”), a php script you can install on your website, with double-opt-in confirmation and lots of nice features, like throttling delivery if you have a very large list so as not to abuse your hosting service. Beats paying an external e-mailing service month after month. A GNU (free) license.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pommo/
I’d like to recommend FireFTP, a great FREE addition to Mozilla Firefox that works great, and I actually like it better than Filezilla
Mmmmm, yummy! Thanks Lynnette and Alice!
=>Donna
Lynette and Alice,
Thank you for posting information on all these neat alternatives to expensive software. I use OpenOffice, but many of the others are new to me. The prior comments also list some other alternatives. So, thanks Alice for creating this post so others can share their thoughts and we can avoid making Mr. Gates richer!
The 2007 Pricelessware list (the 2008 list should be out soon) has some excellent free programs on it, in many categories. Some are free for personal, non-commercial use only, but there are others that are totally free.
Although neither as comprehensive nor as objective, Elite Freeware is another good place to find free software. For those who don’t know where to look, or aren’t sure what they’re doing, these sites are valuable for three reasons: 1: although any file on the Web can be compromised, the titles recommended are not in themselves adware, spyware, or any other form of malware; 2: they have been tested by others and found to work; they may still not work for you, since systems vary, but you will avoid the worst problems; 3: both sites provide you with a reasonably central place to look.
LifeHacker also features many free Windows downloads which can be interesting and useful. However, I’d add a caveat: these are not as carefully vetted, and while some are great, and I’ve never found any type of malware, some are not for the novice user or the faint of heart.
I like Google Apps, as someone else mentioned. The Google Sites has a great appeal as a resource for collaboration.
I recently discovered Gimp and Paint.net and like them as well.
Wow great suggestions folks.
I too use and like GoogleDocs and some of the ones you guys mentioned. But somehow I still like something on my Desktop especially for working offline and getting away from shiny new things on the web
Thanks for all of this. I am constantly spending $1,000’s of dollars on software.
Oh my, my readers are gonna go NUTS! Beginners needing to start slow and low
Thanks!
A little surprised to not see NVU in there?
I have yet to try KeePass and that’s because I actually love the RoboForm software myself. I use it all of the time and it takes all of the menial everyday tasks that I have to perform on my computer daily and shortens them extremely! What once took me fifteen minutes to complete now takes me only one second because RoboForm does the same task with just one click.
Hi Lynette,
Thanks for the great article. I am currently use OpenOffice and 7-zip. Check out the new version of open office 3.0. Enable users to draw graph, etc. Works well!
I just checked some of the softwares mentioned above and they are good as well.