The Best Free Software for 2024

While it seems like most video editing today takes place on phones, at least one big video editor has jumped to the desktop: ByteDance’s CapCut is now on Windows (even in the Microsoft Store). In our review of the mobile version, we called it fast, easy, powerful, and mobile-focused. Now you can drop that last one since you can use the free CapCut just as easily on your computer screen. 

How on earth does Blackmagic Design make DaVinci Resolve so capable as a video editor yet still offer a free version? It’s an enticement, with the hope that as users get better at making videos, they’ll buy the full suite for the extras, even if it costs $395. Meanwhile, the free version for Windows, Mac, and Linux can handle almost any 8-bit format up to 3,840 by 2,160 pixels for editing, color correction, VFX, motion graphics, and audio.

Windows, macOS, Linux

No one would call HandBrake simple, but it's hard for any other video transcoder to compete in power and comprehensiveness. Transcode means to convert; Handbrake will turn almost any video format into another video format. It's free, it's open-source, and it has years of practice.

Windows, macOS, Linux

Open-source and multiplatform, the Pencil 2D Animation tool is exactly what it says: a way to quickly create two-dimensional animations where you pencil in each frame. The site is full of video tutorials to help you get the gist, Chuck Jones.

Windows, macOS, Linux

While it lacks the slick interface found in most other video editors, Shotcut's got lots of other powers, and you don't have to pay anything for them—you have nothing to lose but time in trying it out. You can undock panels as you work, customizing the editing on screen, which is great on multi-monitor setups.

Windows, Web, iOS, Android

Stream your video gaming with Logitech's Streamlabs Desktop directly to YouTube, Twitch, or Facebook. You can even switch between gameplay and your webcam to make some commentary. There may be a learning curve because of the power it wields, but you can find plenty of help online.

PCMag’s Editors’ Choice Award winner for secure messaging (for mobile or desktop) is Signal. It does it all: group chat, voice chat, video chat, and mandatory end-to-end encryption. And it does it with software for not just Android and iOS (you need one of those to register for Signal), but also Windows, Mac, and Linux. Perhaps best of all, it’s owned by a non-profit with no incentive to sell off your data. 

If you want to avoid the giant corporations that run messaging services, maybe WhatsApp (which is owned by Meta) isn’t for you. But it is a massive service with a loyal user base, easy-to-use interface, and self-destructing messages/images. It even uses the Signal protocol, so the people at Meta can’t read what you send. But then again, you could just use Signal. Stick with WhatsApp if you have an existing platoon of friends and family using it. It’s even more useful now that you can get it free on your desktop, not just mobile. 

Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, browsers

PCMag's top pick for software that can control of other computers is TeamViewer. Almost everything you need is free for personal use: desktop sharing, file transfers, and chatting with remote users. The setup couldn't be easier. Take control of a remote PC over an internet connection with the app, or use a browser (including Chrome OS) with the TeamViewer extension. A caveat: Remote-access tools can be abused, so don't turn one on unless you're on the phone with the person you're allowing access to. And make sure to turn it off after you're done.

Windows, macOS, Linux

Krita is a powerful full-fledged painting tool for digital artists. It does come with a bit of a learning curve, but the nonexistent price tag and the vibrant community behind it make it more than worth digging into, especially if you’ve got a painter’s skill and no desire for paint and brushes IRL.

Windows, macOS, Linux

Scribus is the open-source equivalent of Adobe InDesign for desktop publishing, or as close as you can get. It has built-in color separation and management and a lot more—including it's onw wiki as documentation—all free.

Windows, macOS

Pronounced how you’d probably guess, Shaxpir is like a simplistic version of our top-rated Scrivener, with an “everyone” free tier that is very useful, although pros might consider the $7.99 a month subscription with extra features a bargain after the 30-day trial. For no charge forever, you get the full manuscript builder, world-building notebook, progress tracker, offline use, and cloud backup.

Windows, Linux

Do you fancy yourself a budding screenwriter but lack the funds for high-end tools such as Final Draft? Trelby does a fine job of helping you format correctly, remember character names, and import and export to formats used in Hollywood.

Windows

Social media apps don’t have to just be on your phone. Like TikTok, you can get to the ‘Gram on your desktop with this app found on the Windows Store. It’ll show you all the amazing images shared by people/brands/celebs you follow, as well as the Reels of videos they generate.

Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Xbox, PlayStation, Smart TVs, media hubs, NAS devices

If you don't know or care what a media server is, but you just want to stream your videos and music collection around the house, Plex could work well for you. Install it on all your devices, point it at some media, and those audio and video files become available on everything—even remotely. (For more, read How to Set Up a Plex Server, How to Share Your Plex Libraries, How to Organize Your Plex Media Library, and The Expert's Guide to Managing Your Plex Server.)

Windows, macOS, Linux

GIMP is a stalwart of the open-source world. It's a full-featured Photoshop alternative with all the functions—layers, filters, masking, plug-ins, and more—that image editors need. It may lack the polish and AI extras you get with Adobe’s product, but GIMP more than makes up for that by being really, truly, free.

Windows, macOS, Linux

Adobe Illustrator is the high bar of vector image editing, but it has a premium price to match. You can still get cross-platform Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) image creation with the free Inkscape. You'll have to work a little harder to learn it, but it may be exactly what a talented (but cash-strapped or subscription-shy) artist needs.

Windows only

Is Paint.net a perfect replacement for Photoshop? Nothing is as powerful as Adobe's program, but at this price—free—Paint.net comes close. For any minor (and even some major) picture manipulation, it's fast, comprehensive, and easy to use.

Windows, Linux

If you seek a free and full-fledged PDF editor, Okular can do the job (on Windows and Linux) and more, such as annotations and highlights, even digital signature support. It’ll also read many other formats, including ePub books, comics formats, and a lot of images.

Windows, iOS, Android, Web

You’ve probably heard of Grammarly if you use the internet—the ads are everywhere. Nevertheless, it's worth trying if you do a lot of writing. The free version provides plenty of insights and suggestions to bring improvements to all the words you pen, in almost any program. It really can improve your writing.

Windows, macOS, Linux

There aren't many free office suites, and only one is a download for the major desktop operating systems. The open-source LibreOffice, now in version 7, suffers a bit in the polish department, lacks collaboration features, and sports an overstuffed toolbar interface that might remind you of Microsoft Office a decade ago. But it's powerful nevertheless, and it easily converts and imports files from other systems. It comes with a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet component (Calc), a presentation program (Impress), a vector drawing program (Draw), and even a full database (Base) and math-formula editor (Math). And it's all utterly free.

Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web

Once just a part of Microsoft Office, the sublime OneNote has become a free, standalone powerhouse for notetaking across all the major OSes. It still works with Office, syncs data across all platforms, and has full online access via Office.com, with storage on OneDrive. That's why it's an Editors' Choice pick for note storage.

Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

The venerable browser Firefox remains highly customizable and strong on security, privacy, and performance. And it supports a slew of new standards. (For more, read Which Browser Is Best? and Top Firefox Tips.)

Windows only

Notepad++ is nothing like the anemic Notepad most Windows users grew used to over the decades. This free download has tabs, color-coded nesting text, WYSIWYG printing, and support for macros. It's a must for hand-coders or any writer who wants a minimalist interface.

Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

This is our favorite to-do list app, ever. We give the paid version a full five-star review, but even the free version is fantastic. The Todoist interface is simple perfection no matter what platform you use it on—even wearables and via email (turning messages into tasks). The free version gives you five projects with five collaborators on each, working across 300 possible tasks, supports uploads of 5MB files, and keeps a one-week active history.

Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

Another place to put all your notes? Obsidian’s got a learning curve, but once mastered, it's the best note-taker you’ll find as a power user. The free version is available for personal use—it lacks only support and sync options, but you can get around the sync by storing your Obsidian Vault in a spot where a cloud service backs it up.

Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, Android, iOS

Our review of Joplin says it “is as close to a perfect note-taking app you can get.” It lacks some advanced features, but the open-source tool works on all major platforms to do what you need most: store unlimited notes. You only pay if you want to get into sharing and collaboration. It even has a web clipper for grabbing notes as you go.

Windows (including a Microsoft Store app), macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, browser extensions

You'll see many password managers out there, and a few of them have a free tier, but none is so completely free as the fully open-source Bitwarden Free. (You can pay for extra features, if you want them.) The free version has unlimited password storage and full sync across all your devices. It even includes a full multi-factor authentication app. (For more, read our guide to the Best Free Password Managers.)

Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Do you want to stop the trackers watching you online dead in their digital tracks? Going incognito on a standard browser isn't enough. You need to use a full-on privacy browser, one that blocks the cookies and especially the fingerprinting of your whole browser and computer. Brave is one of a slew of them with a rating for strong protection from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but it also adds in advanced protection against fingerprinting. (For details, read The Best Private Browsers.)

Windows only

Recuva (say it out loud) is a must on the tool belt of any techie: It's the key to helping recover a lost file. It's easy to understand, but note: It should really be installed before you lose a file. It's a portable application, too, so you have the option to run it from a USB thumb drive.

Windows, macOS, Android

Sure, Windows itself copies files between folders and drives just fine. But TeraCopy can take over that job and make it sing—it's faster, and the interface for making copies is better looking. Plus, it provides more information and feedback, and it can even recover from transfer errors.

Windows

SyncBack dates way back and still rocks at synchronizing backups. That includes the free version. It can copy files in both directions to make a restore as easy as a backup.

Windows

Well over a quarter century old now, IrfanView has long been letting people view, edit, and organize media and more on Windows—the current version supports Vista all the way up to 11. The list of file format types you can click on and view and annotate instantly is long, the ease of use is legendary. And it's utterly free for personal use.

Windows, macOS, Android, iOS

Want to capture more than a still image? Screencast-O-Matic will do it, bridging between underpowered screenshots and overpowered full-screen video capture. You can pay more if you want the latter. But the free-to-use-forever tier will take still shots, up to 15 minutes of video of your screen (with a watermark), and share to social. The mobile apps will sync your capture files.

Windows only

Even those with modest screen-capture needs would say the old Snipping Tool in Windows was lacking. Now Windows 10 and 11 users have Windows Snip & Sketch, an evolutionary leap akin to protoplasm turning into hominids—albeit still lacking things like video and voice capture. Still, the ability to annotate a screengrab will make all the difference versus what was available before. (For more, read The Best Screen Capture Apps.)

Windows

The clipboard has come a long way, but you can take it further with a tool like Ditto. It’ll not only show you everything you’ve copied, but allow searches, allows multiple ways to select, and even keeps the contents of multiple computer’s clipboards synchronized.

Windows

Another tool to send your cut-and-paste abilities into the stratosphere at no cost, ClipClip holds multiple copied items in the clipboard, lets you extract text from images to paste, syncs on cloud services, allows history searches, and even does on the fly translation. It also does full screen and video captures and allows edits and annotations.

Windows, macOS

If the integrating Snipping Tool in Windows doesn’t float your boat full of screen grabs, Gemoo Snap is an excellent alternative, available for the desktop (including on macOS) or just as a Chrome extension if you only capture web pages. You can snap a screen but also annotate it, share it, pull out text, or even “beautify” it with edits and new backgrounds.

Windows

What ShareX lacks in sexiness it makes up for in power, offering just about every option one could wish for in capturing a Windows screen (including video screen recording and GIF exports). It supports add-ons to make image effects, optical character recognition, and pre-set actions for processing captures in just the way you prefer.

Windows

Everything has been around a long while and continues plugging along to help people find the things on their PC that built-in search can’t seem to fathom. It can even look inside files, but won’t index them. Mainly, if you name files and folders carefully, it will bring you results fast.

Windows

A lot of people adore the 7-zip archiving software. NanaZip is a fork of the original code, meant to make the archive experience feel more native to Windows 10 and 11, by working right in the context menu of File Explorer.