Photo by Daniel Korpai on Unsplash

Here are my top picks for content creators:-

1. Affinity photos

Are you still using Adobe Photoshop? Wake up its 2020.

First Image I ever edited on Affinity photos (using skillshare course)

Affinity photo is the best alternative you can find for Adobe Photoshop. Currently, it is offering a 90-day free trial (link here) and 50% off on a purchase. Where Photoshop is subscription-based and you have to pay around 20$/month, Affinity photo is a one-time payment for around 25$, no other fee. Also, it is easier to use than photoshop. Ex-Affinity has live brush reviews, photoshop does not. Just to resize an image in Photoshop you need to do a lot, in Affinity grab the move tool and resize. It’s as simple as that. Smart objects and live filter options are available in Affinity but are missing in Photoshop. Other features like 3D printing, video timeline, etc are only available on Photoshop.

2. Notion

Notion has to be on the list.

By Notion Labs, Inc. — Notion’s media kit, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63173789

It is one of my favorite apps and I can easily say that it has improved my productivity. Now it’s not for content creation but can save your time, manage your workflow, and a lot of other stuff. Notion is unlike any other note-taking app: it is cross-platform, provides web clippers, provides unlimited media uploads to pro users (like me). Another big feature of notion is database functionality which allows you to link various databases, connect your thoughts, and do much more easily, it also gives you many viewing options and is very user friendly. Now let’s compare it to Evernote. Notion is 4$/month, Evernote is 8$/month. Both apps now have their own set of features such as Evernote allows you to scan easily, save voice recordings, and even doodle, these features are not available on Notion. But Notion allows you to create databases and connect everything, which makes it the best app for task management and managing your life. So which is better? I’ll let you decide.

3. DaVinci Resolve 16

Planning to start editing videos? Thank God you saw this post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59756910

DaVinci Resolve 16 is the best alternative to Final Cut Pro in the market right now if you are just starting and you are a Mac user. It’s Free! and has no watermarks on export. It supports 4k editing which most of us are used to and all the features that free apps support but have watermarks or some kind of restriction. But the free version comes with its limitations — it does not support 8k editing, 10-bit colour space, neural AI engine for face recognition and HDR colour grading, and a lot more features. But compared to its alternatives like Filmora, it’s way better.

4. Affinity Designer

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61095010

Another Adobe killer, Affinity photos is the best alternative for Adobe Illustrator. It is simpler to use, beginner-friendly and does not burn your pocket. Affinity designer costs around 25$ — one-time payment, on the other hand, Illustrator costs around 20$/month. This is another shocking price difference between both the parties. Now similar to Affinity Photos, the Designer lacks certain features that are available in Adobe’s Illustrator like mesh tool, blend tool, and a large set of filers and effects. Although these features don’t make much of a difference for beginners and even freelance designers, some of these features are likely to be added in the future updates.

5. Figma

https://medium.com/figma-design/figmas-new-icon-49324fa00298

Figma is one of the best UX design and prototyping tool. I have been using it for more than 2 years and I can easily say it is better than sketch and Adobe XD. It is web-based, you can store everything on the cloud and its great for collaboration. it has 3 versions- starter, professional, and organisation. To price, Figma lags in the individual professional plan, it costs $12, whereas XD costs only $9.99. In the case of collaboration, Figma is real-time (similar to google docs), whereas in XD, you have to save, share files, and manage the workspace, etc to collaborate. I would say Figma is easier to use for beginners (my personal experience). When I was just starting out, I tried both and found Figma more intuitive.

These comparisons and suggestions were based on my own personal experience. Let me know what you feel about them.