Free Software that can Replace Your Expensive Software

There are many great software packages on the market that can help you do pretty much anything you need with a computer. The problem is that the software can cost anywhere from $100 to over $1000 dollars, depending on the software.

While the software you purchase will do what you need, many people don’t realize that there is similar software you can download online. The best part about this software is that the price is great: free. This post will provide a list of some software that you can use to replace some of the more expensive software for free.

Office Suite

Most of you are familiar with Microsoft Office, and probably use it at work and at home. Many documents that are sent in an e-mail are Office documents, and you need either Word, Excel, or Powerpoint to view and edit them. There is a free solution to Microsoft Office.

Open Office. This office suite is becoming popular and has a following similar to Firefox. It is completely free and can read/write documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from various office suite formats. It can be installed in many languages and on all common computers.

Antivirus

Many of the commercial antivirus applications are now suites of applications instead of just an antivirus. Many contain any-spyware and firewalls as well. While the suites may be nice, you can find all you need for free.

AVG. This is a popular free antivirus that is very easy to install and configure. There are regular updates that help keep your antivirus updated. It has the ability to check web sites and e-mails and let you know if a problem is found.

Firewall

There are many commercial software firewalls available today, and there are also some good free ones. I have always used a free firewall, and haven’t had any issues with using them.

ZoneAlarm. This is probably the most popular software firewall on the market. It has been around for many years, is easy to configure, and provides good protection for your computer. If you are not familiar with software firewalls, then you may want to use ZoneAlarm because of its ease-of-use.

Comodo. While Comodo is not as easy to use as ZoneAlarm, it is a very good firewall. From many of the software firewall tests that I have read, Comodo is usually ranked near the top in the list. If you are familiar with software firewalls, you should check out Comodo.

Photo/Image Editor

Photo editing is dominated by two products: Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Photoshop is over $600 while Paint Shop Pro is over $50. While both are great photo editors (Photoshop is considered the standard), there is a free application that can easily handle your photo editing tasks.

GIMP. While I haven’t used GIMP too much, it is a recommended application for those who are looking for a free photo editor. Just like other editors, however, GIMP does have a slight learning curve, but once you learn the application, you can easily edit any image or photo.

Final Thoughts

While the above list is no where near complete, it does include software to replace the most popular types. I’m interested on what free software you use on a regular basis instead of purchasing a commercial product.

17 Responses to “Free Software that can Replace Your Expensive Software”:

  1. Great list (although I know every one of them, some people may not)

    Usually there are always a free alternative to every software, but it’s the matter of learning curve that people don’t want to get into :) (people are so used to using MS Office products, for example)

  2. Windmill says:

    Hi Paul,

    I wish you Yuletide Joy and A Blessed New Year together with your family.

    Happy Holidays!

  3. Tom says:

    I use:
    Open Office (unless I have to use Word)
    GIMP
    Inkscape (vector graphics)
    Pidgin (instant messaging)

    Basically I never pay for software. If you are ever looking for something, search Sourceforge to see what is there first. I was looking for a PhotoShop plugin for GIMP that would have put me back $50, and there was an open source option for that too.

    • Paul says:

      I haved used Sourceforge before for downloading, but never think about that site when looking for free software. I’ll have to remember to do that.

  4. Sjeltur says:

    The only paid software I have are Windows Xp 64bits and Fruityloops (music making program) – rest is all freeware/opensource etc;
    Email; Thunderbird
    Office; Open Office
    Virusscanner; AVG
    Firewall; “build in” in router (which a lot of people do not know they have it already)
    Mediacenter; TVersity
    Pictures/drawing; Paint.net

    On my webpage I am also mentioning them all (one per day….)

  5. Web-Betty says:

    Check out my Diigo list for online resources: http://www.diigo.com/list/web-betty/instructor-online-resources

    There are several free online image editors, some online documents (word processing, spreadsheet, PDF, presentation, etc.) and others.

  6. Linda says:

    Good list and I use most of them. I, too, have not paid for software!

  7. Hi Paul! This is a great list of free software. I wanted to add that my daughter uses freeware Picasa (for photo editing) and LOVES it! I gave you some link love on my latest post “6 Helpful Entrecard Dropping Tips“Merry Christmas!

  8. Inkscape is great for converting AI images.
    Great list and thanks to Tom for the Sourceforge resource as well.
    Happy Holidays!

  9. Martini says:

    Merry Christmas Paul!

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