Nowadays there are free alternatives to almost all categories of commercial software.

Some free software are comparable in capabilities to commercial ones, and in some categories there are more free software, so you can choose.

I did a little research on the current state and as a result I created this table of alternatives systematized by category:

   • The first column contains the name of the category,
   • The second column contains the names of the most popular commercial software for that category,
   • The third column contains the names of free software alternatives for that category.

 

Free alternatives to commercial software

 

The situation often changes, and maybe I haven't done enough research either, so if you know of a new category or software (commercial or free) that should be added to the table, please let me know, I'll be happy to expand it. I hope this table will help a lot of people and save them a lot of money.

Note: Be patient when you start using a free software, you may spend a little more time while mastering it, but in time the effort will pay off.

 

CategoryCommercial softwareFree alternatives
2D AnimationMoho
Clip Studio Paint
Adobe Animate 
Cartoon Animator
Krita
Synfig
Pencil2D
TupiTube
Glaxnimate
Friction
2D CAD (Computer Aided design)AutoCAD
BricsCAD
IntelliCAD
NanoCAD
DraftSight
ZWCAD
FreeCAD Draft
QCAD
LibreCAD
NanoCAD Free
Solid Edge 2D Drafting
2D and 3D CAD ViewersCAD Exchanger
Kisters 3DViewStation
CADBro
DMU Reviewer
Glovius CAD Viewer
3D FastView
3D Tool
Workxplore
HOOPS
TransMagic
   CAD Assistant
   C3D Viewer
   eDrawings Viewer
   Solid edge free viewer
   Mayo
3D AnimationModo
LightWave 3D
iClone
Houdini
Cinema 4D
MotionBuilder
Maya
3ds Max
Blender
Anim8or
3D CAD (Computer Aided Design)NX
Catia
Solid Edge
Solid Works
T-Flex
ZW3D
Ascon Kompas-3D
Creo
Inventor
IronCAD
Alibre
Fusion 360
KeyCreator
Cobalt
OnShape
Rhinoceros 3D
SketchUp
SpaceClaim
FreeCAD
Salome shaper
SolveSpace
OpenSCAD
FlatFab
3D CAD for Children LeoCAD
Tinkercad
3D Slash
Goxel
3D ModelingAutodesk Maya
Autodesk 3ds Max
Cinema 4D
ZBrush
Design Doll
Houdini
3D-Coat
Cheetah3D
MODO
Poser
Autodesk Mudbox
Blender
Wings 3D
MeshLab
MathMod
TopMod
MakeHuman
Anim8or
Seamless3d
Art of Illusion
SculptGL
Dust3D
3D PrintingCraftware Pro
Simplify3D
KISSlicer
ChopChop3D Slicer
3DXpert
Lychee Slicer
ChituBox
Slic3r
Cura
Repetier Host
MatterControl
OctoPrint
PrusaSlicer
3D RenderingV-Ray
D5*****
3Delight*****
RenderMan
MentalRay
Maxwell Render
3Delight
Chaos Corona
Lumion
OctaneRender
POVRay
CADRay
Kerkythea
YafaRay
LuxRender
Mitsuba
Appleseed
3D Scanning GigaMesh
CloudCompare
Meshroom
ALM (Application Lifecycle Management)TuleapEndeavour Agile
AntivirusKaspersky
Avast
AVG
Comodo
Avira
 
Audio (Record, Edit, and Mix) LMMS
Audacity
Ardour

Audio Players

Music players

MediaMonkey
Jriver Media Center
FooBAR2000
DeaDBeeF
Exaile
JuK
Quod Libet
qmmp
MusicBee
AIMP
Amarok
Audacious
WinAmp
Clementine 
Rhythmbox**
XMMS **

Backup

Synchronization (files and folders)

Syncovery
Acronis True Image 
Image for Windows
MAX SyncUp
Macrium Reflect
FreeFileSync
Amanda
Back in Time**
Bacula
Bup
DirSync Pro
git-annex
Dual Commander (Synch)
Free Commander (Synch)
Unreal Commander (Synch)
Altap Salamander (Synch)

3D CAD (Architecture and Engineering)

BIM (Building information modeling)

Autodesk Revit
ArchiCAD
AllPlan
Tekla Structures
Microstation
Renga
SketchUp
Rhinoceros 3D 
FreeCAD
BlenderBIM
FreeCAD Arch
Sweet Home 3D
Bootable USB, LiveUSB Ventoy
Universal USB Installer
UNetbootin 
Rufus
DasBoot 
balenaEtcher 
Universal USB Installer 
CAD KernelsParasolid
ACIS
ShapeManager
C3D Toolkit
OpenCascade
 
CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)Ansys
Msc Nastran
Msc Patran
ADAMS
Abaqus
Adina
LS-Dyna
FEMAP
Nastran NX
NEi Nastran
Code_Aster
SALOME
FreeCAD FEM
OpenFOAM
Gmsh
ONELAB
Elmer FEM
CalculiX
FreeFEM
ParaView
Project Chrono
SOFA Framework
CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing)GibbsCAM
Esprit
SmartCAM
SolidCAM
SprutCAM
MasterCAM
hyperMILL
and almost all 3D CAD software
FreeCAD Path
BlenderCAM
LinuxCNC
CAMotics
PyCAM
F-Engrave
LaserGRBL
LaserWeb
Grbl
CMS (Content Management Systems)Adobe ColdFusion
Headless CMS
Sitefinity 
Drupal
WordPress
Joomla
TYPO3
django CMS
b2evolution
Backdrop CMS

Computer Algebra System (CAS)

or Symbolic Algebra System (SAS)

Maple
Mathcad
Matlab
Wolfram Mathematica
SMath Studio*
Xcas
Yacas
GeoGebra
GNU Octave
Maxima
SageMath
Scilab
Reduce
Desktop PublishingAdobe InDesign
iStudio Publisher
Affinity Publisher
QuarkXPress
Xara Page & Layout Designer
PageStream
Scribus
Lyx (LaTeX)
Desktop Sharing, Remote AccessGoTo
TeamViewer*
RustDesk*
ThinLinc*
AnyDesk*
NoMachine*
Splashtop
Mikogo
TightVNC
Remmina
DiagrammingConceptDraw DIAGRAM
Edraw Max
Dia
eCommerceSupaDupa
Spree
Shopify
Adobe Commerce
OpenCart
Prestashop
Zen Cart
WooCommerce (WordPress)
VirtueMart (Joomla)
OsCommerce
Drupal Commerce
EDA (Electronic Design Automation)OrCAD
Altium Designer
Eagle
Proteus
DipTrace
CADStar
Fritzing
KiCAD
FreePCB
Pcb-rnd
LibrePCB
Horizon EDA
Electronic Circuit SimulationTinaQucs
Qucs-S
LTspice
Ngspice
KTechLab
SapWin
E-mail ClientCanary Mail*
eM Client*
GroupWise
Mailbird
Mozilla Thunderbird
Claws Mail
GNOME Evolution**
Kontact
SeaMonkey
Geary **
EncryptionBestCrypt
Dekart Private Disk
Cryptomator
AES Crypt
VeraCrypt
GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG)
Engineering OpenVSP
FREE!ship
XFLR5
FlightGear

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning),

Accounting, CRM, SCM...

SAP
Oracle
NetSuite
Sage
Microsoft Dynamics
Tryton
metasfresh
iDempiere
ERPNext
Dolibarr
Apache OFBiz
Files compressionWinZIP
WinRAR
7z
Font EditorsFontDraw
FontLab
TypeTool 3
FontForge
BirdFont

Infographic, 

Scientific Visualization, Data Visuelization

Origin
Matlab
FlexPro
Graphviz
VisIt
ROOT
ParaView
Veusz
Orange  
MayaVi 
LabPlot
gnuplot – samo linux
GNU Octave
Gephi
Interactive Geometry Dr. Geo
C.a.R. 

Office Productivity Software - Word Processor, 

Spreadsheet, Presentation, Database

Microsoft Office
WordPerfect
OnlyOffice
Office Suite
Ability Office
Group Office
SoftMaker Office
WPS Office
LibreOffice
Calligra
Apache OpenOffice
OS - Operating systemMicrosoft WindowsFreeBSD
Ubuntu Linux
Debian Linux
MX Linux
Mint Linux
Fedora
Manjaro
EndeavourOS
and many more
Orthodox file managerTotal CommanderFree commander
Unreal Commander
Double Commander
Altap Salamander
Multi Commander
File Commander
Mind MappingXmindFreePlane
Machine LearningKnime*Shogun (toolbox)
Weka
Torch
Orange
mlpack 
Messenger, Instant MessagingThreema
Messagenius
Wickr
WhatsApp
Asterisk
Telegram
Element
Jami
WeChat
Tox
Signal
Note-taking SoftwareMicrosoft OneNote
Obsidian *
Standard Notes *
EverNote
Roam
TagSpaces***
Xournal++
LogSeq
Joplin
QOwnNotes
Zettlr
RNote**
GNote**
TiddlyWiki
Password ManagerRoboForm****
Kaspersky Password Manager
LastPass****
Bitwarden*
1Password
Password Safe
KWallet
KeeWeb
KeePassXC
GNOME Keyring
PDF Editors and CreatorsPDF-Xchange Editor
Nitro PDF Pro  
Acrobat
PDFCreator
Foxit PDF Editor
DoPDF
CutePDF
ABBYY FineReader PDF
PDFill 
PDF reDirect
PDF24 Creator
PDFtk Free 
PDFill PDF Tools 
LibreOffice
Calligra
PDF Viewers, Document ViewerABBYY FineReader PDF
Foxit PDF Reader
doPDF
XpdfReader
MuPDF
Evince**
Acrobat Reader
Okular
STDU Viewer
Sumatra PDF
Personal Accounting SoftwareMoneydance 
Moneyspire 
MoneyWiz
Quicken
HomeBank
KMyMoney
GNUCash
PhotogrammetryRealityCapture
Pix4D
PhotoModeler
Metashape
3DF Zephyr
 

PDM (Product Data Management)

PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)

TeamCenter (Siemens PLM)
WindChill (PTC)
Pilot-ICE (Ascon)
T-FLEX DOCs
Enovia (Dassault)
 
Project ManagementConceptDraw PROJECT
Microsoft Project
TeamPage
RillSoft
OpenProject*
OnePager
FastTrack
Calligra Plan 
TaskJuggler**
Taiga
ProjeQtOr
ProjectLibre
GanttProject
Raster Graphics Editor Adobe PhotoShop
Affinity Photo
PixelMator Pro
Clip Studio Paint
Corel PaintShop
GIMP
Krita
Paint.NET
MyPaint
Pinta
LazPaint
PhotoDemon

Raster Graphics

Image Organizer

 digiKam
KPhotoAlbum**
Geeqie**

Raster Graphics

Image Stitching and Panorama

PTgui
i2k Align
Panoweaver
Affinity Photo
Photoshop
Hugin

Raster Graphics

Image Viewer

IrfanView *
FastStone *
XnView *
ACDSee
PhotoQt
ImageGlass
PicView
Shotwell **
qView
KPhotoAlbum**
Gwenview**
gThumb**
Gonvisor

Raster Graphics

Raw Photo Editor

Adobe LightroomRawTherapee
DarkTable

Raster Graphics

ScreenShot Software

 ScreenToGif
GreenShot
ShareX
Screencasting SoftwareSnagit
Camtasia
FlashBack Screen Recorder
BandiCAM
ActivePresenter
OBS Studio
VLC media player
SimpleScreenRecorder**
ShareX
ScreenToGIF
CAM Studio
StatisticsStatsDirect
Statistica
Statgraphics 
Stata
SAS
Rguroo 
Minitab
Genstat
SPSS
NCSS
JMP
EViews
SOFA Statistics
Simfit
Mondrian
JAMOVI
ADMB
Gretl
Epi Info 
Vector Graphic EditorAdobe Illustrator
Affinity Designer
CorelDRAW
DrawPlus
WinFig
Linearity Curve
Xara Designer Pro+
Inkscape
Karbon
SK1
Synfig Studio
Knotter
LibreOffice - Draw
Xfig**
Pencil2D
Video compositingAdobe AfterEffects
Davinci Resolve
Avid
Lightworks
Hitfilm Express
Olive (prototype)
Video EditingAdobe Premiere
Corel VideoStudio
Camtasia
ShotCut
Natron
VSDC Free Video Editor
Kdenlive
Avidemux
Flowblade**
LosslessCut
OpenShot
Pitivi **
Video PlayersWinDVD
RealPlayer
PowerDVD
PotPlayer
JRiver Media Center
JetAudio
VLC Media Player
mpv media player
SM Player
MPlayer
ALLPlayer
KMPlayer
Kodi
MediaPortal
WinAmp
GNOME Videos
Web Browsers Chrome
Safari
Firefox
Opera
YaBrowser
Tor
Maxthon
SeaMonkey
Brave
Edge
Konqueror**

Web Conferencing

Video Conferencing

GoTo
Microsoft Teams
Zoom***
Mikogo
TeamViewer*
BigBlueButton
Jami
Jitsi
Apache OpenMeetings

 

* - Free for personal or non-commercial use

** - Only for Linux OS

*** - Free for a limited number of users

**** - Free for a single device

***** - Free under certain conditions