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“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses)

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Even as a child, I heard the wonderful phrase “Free cheese only comes in a mousetrap,” and almost with every passing year I became more and more convinced of the correctness of these wise words. And indeed - for almost everything really good in this life you have to pay. Unless it's friendship, love or free software...

In fact, among the tons of freeware that can be found on the internet, there are genuine masterpieces that are not only comparable in interface and capabilities to the best examples of commercial applications, but sometimes even surpass them. This collection from Bored Panda, based on this viral online thread, is dedicated to precisely such apps and programs.

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Nobody on here talking about Audacity? Really solid audio editing with a billion plug-ins for formats, opening videos, new filters, etc.

Jaegons , Audacity Report

Final score:

98points

RamiRudolph 6 months ago

Yeah, Audacity is awesome.

16points

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#2

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Ublock origin.

neko_mancy , ublockorigin Report

Final score:

95points

David 6 months ago

YES. Have been using for about three years now. I almost never see an ad. It's free but I'd encourage sending the author a donation. And for Facebook - FBPurity. (Fluff Buster Purity - used to be called Facebook Purity). Have it on my PC. Don't see ads. Recently traveled with a tablet that didn't have it - was shocked at how many ads are in my FB feed these days.

2points

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#3

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) 7-Zip, VLC Media Player, Vocal Pitch Monitor and Calculator.

novato1995 , ipavlov Report

Final score:

69points

DippityDooDerp 6 months ago

VLC is absolutely wonderful.

42points

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Some of the programs presented here work exclusively on a freeware basis, some provide only part of their functionality for free (but quite enough for convenient and effective work). But they all have one thing in common - these are truly decent tools, and people in the original thread are really surprised. What is the reason for such selflessness and altruism?

In a nutshell, why do you have to fork out some hefty money for sometimes less functional and ergonomic programs, when these are available completely for free?

#4

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Firefox.

ProT3ch , Mozilla Report

Final score:

67points

Luke Branwen 6 months ago

PSA folks, if you're still on Chrome, switch to FF. Chrome's privacy/security is atrocious and they're also planning to launch a new version that will render ad-blockers unusable. Firefox is an exact opposite. And it has to be Firefox, NOT Brave or something, since all except FF are based on Chromium.

33points

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#5

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Notepad++.

UnremarkabklyUseless , WubTheCaptain Report

Final score:

58points

Freddy M. (He/Him) 6 months ago

Very useful for quick light weight editing of technical files and editing raw data on files

11points

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#6

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Blender. It became an insane 3D modeling tool, that can also handle animation, rigging etc..
There is a big community always ready to help, create plug-ins etc.. After using 3ds Max and Maya for years i've switched to Blender and it feels so much better(maybe not for riging, Maya is still the goat here ^^).

Infinite-Curve6531 , cgcookie Report

Final score:

52points

Arturo De la Rosa 6 months ago

For my money this should be number one, or very close. Consider that it's not only a highly complex piece of software, incredibly versatile, but also basically industry standard. That meets the post title better than any in this list.

12points

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Well, in fact, there are many nuances that explain how developers have the opportunity to release free software. Some programs come with built-in advertising, some during installation additionally offer to install 'affiliate' software, and for the opportunity to use others for free, we actually pay by providing our own personal data. As the saying goes, 'if you don't pay for the product, you may be the product yourself...'

#7

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Calibre.

illuminatedtraveller , Aniol Report

Final score:

50points

Omur Unver 6 months ago

What is it for?

22points

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#8

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Krita - Best alternative to photoshop.

ark1024 , krita Report

Final score:

45points

Cuppa tea? 6 months ago

I know it exists, never tried it. Always considered GIMP to be the closest free alternative to Photoshop.

24points

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#9

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) LibreOffice.

InflationDue2811 , Wikipedia Report

Final score:

42points

Kate Jones 6 months ago

I used to love open office, which I'm assuming is probably similar. But it has major spell check issues. I literally have to take everything I write and put it in a basic gmail email so I'll get a better spell check. But it's free what can I say.

8points

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However, many people honestly believe that software should be free - simply based on philanthropy and strong principles. For example, back in 1983, the GNU Project was launched, the goal of which is “to give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and computing devices by collaboratively developing and publishing software that gives everyone the rights to freely run the software, copy and distribute it, study it, and modify it." And some of the programs and apps presented in this list are distributed under the free GNU license.

#10

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Paint.net.

Lord-LemonHead , Paint.NET Report

Final score:

41points

Firstname Lastname 6 months ago

Been using it for years. It's simple, effective, and free!

13points

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#11

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Visual Studio Code. I use it on my Mac - and while I have a full blown paid for version of Visual Studio on my work PC, the fact that I have almost all of the same features of an IDE for free makes me so happy. I'm always waiting for them to start charging me for it - because methinks one day they will. Till then I'll keep using this wonderfully free bit of software. Thanks Microsoft.

ExcellentTop7273 , jackpotis777 Report

Final score:

39points

Apatheist Account2 6 months ago

Agree. I used it for all the Python work.

5points

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#12

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Rom emulators. Imagine having all the nintendo games, even the rare stuff that wasnt imported.

kmikek , Sara Kurfeß Report

Final score:

37points

Kelly H. Wilder 6 months ago (edited)

Yes! This is how I play all my favorite Pokémon games on my phone (gens 1-3).

8points

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Be that as it may, there is always strength in variety and diversity, and as long as there are free options for performing this or that task, this will also encourage commercial developers to release more effective solutions and not raise the prices of their products to the skies. At least that's what we believe. And we also believe that this collection may come in handy to you - after all who knows, maybe one of the programs listed here will be a real useful find for you?

By the way, if you know of an application that is also useful, convenient and free, but is not listed in this selection, why not share your wholesome find in the comments below? Because as long as we cooperate, we are almost invincible.

#13

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Shazam.

lets_BOXHOT , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

37points

Cassie 6 months ago

For those unaware, used to identify what music you're hearing.

21points

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#14

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Winamp, it really whips the llama's a*s.

idontremembermyuname , Dinkar Kamat Report

Final score:

34points

Bonesko 6 months ago (edited)

Don't come near my llama! 😡

8points

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#15

DaVinci Resolve video editing, free tier.

AvengersXmenSpidey Report

Final score:

33points

Arturo De la Rosa 6 months ago

This should be number one, next to blender

6points

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#16

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) QGIS. So this is massively nerdy, but for most imagery, mapping and geospatial analysis tasks, it s***s on its thousands-of-dollars-per-year competitors, and comes with a global community of users and plugin-makers.

CaptainGashMallet , qgis Report

Final score:

33points

Calum Mediera 6 months ago

As someone pants with directions, I would need this hardwired into my brain. XD

3points

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#17

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Ubuntu
Gimp
Inkscape
Wikipedia.

Own_Rough4888 , Canonical Ltd. Report

Final score:

30points

WindySwede 6 months ago

Inkscape is really good!

3points

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#18

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Wireshark. Insane what it can it do to analyze network traffic. Best packet sniffer out there.

gelman66 , VulcanSphere Report

Final score:

29points

Robert T 6 months ago

Yeah, but watch where you run it. Do that at work and you might just find youself out of a job!

4points

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#19

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Cutlist Optimizer. Sets up optimal cuts for plywood and other sheet goods. Saves me so much headache trying to figure out the best and most economical ways to cut pieces for cabinetry while keeping waste to a minimum. It can even account for blade kerf which is a huge plus, and the cut diagrams are labeled and color coded in a way that’s very easy to read.

Xchurch173 , CutList Optimizer Report

Final score:

28points

Daggie_style 6 months ago

I really thought this said Cultist at first glance

22points

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#20

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) OBS and inkscape.

TechGirlMN , AnVuong1222004 Report

Final score:

27points

Robert T 6 months ago

Inkscape is a very very useful tool for editing vector graphics. I use it quite a bit for desiging icons which I can render at multiple resolutions.

5points

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#21

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) HomeAssistant.

If you've ever tried using "Smart Home" products from Google, Amazon, Samsung, or others - there are probably a long list of ways that you end up disappointed, wishing it just did more, or just did it better.

Home Assistant is the answer. It does Smart Home very well. Far better than any of the commercial offerings.

chicagoandy , home-assistant Report

Final score:

27points

ZGutr 6 months ago

I love it. It runs the few automation's at home so well I tend to forget it's there

5points

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#22

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Handbrake for videos.

Witty-Stand888 , HandBrake Report

Final score:

24points

Adam Larsson 6 months ago

Handbrake is a great GUI interface for converting movies.

2points

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#23

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Plex Media Server.

There are paid tiers, but the free one is more than enough for a large portion of users.

Stu_Prek , plex Report

Final score:

24points

Adam Larsson 6 months ago

Plex is the best free multimedia streaming server, that are supported on a lot of devices..

4points

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#24

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Musescore.

flowercityfiddlebabe , MuseScore Report

Final score:

21points

6 months ago (edited)

i find most my piano sheet music on this :D it has a lot of songs. im learning to play Lacy by Olivia rn

4points

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#25

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Bulk Rename Utility. Renames batches of files with excellent utility, including regex and preview.

EuroSong , bulkrenameutility Report

Final score:

18points

Me. Just Me. 6 months ago

Advanced Renamer is another good one.

2points

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#26

Python. It’s mind blowing that it’s free given how powerful it is.

Also QGIS.

BrainPuppetUK Report

Final score:

18points

BlackestDawn 6 months ago

Don't know of any programming language that is fully paid for. I'm sure it wouldn't survive unless it's the only choice in some area. Heck I don't even know of programming languages that have free and paid tiers, as in usage of the language itself and not the tools around the language.

7points

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#27

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Vlc, qtorrent, kdenlive.

Scary_Compote_359 , videolan Report

Final score:

17points

Candy Sheppard 6 months ago

What

1point

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#28

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Vim. I basically live in it (because I can’t figure out how to exit it, badoom tish).

ImageMagick. Practically anything you could want to do to an image, you can do from the command line. Of course, you’ll probably have to Google for the correct recipe first, but my *god* are there a lot of them out there.

blamordeganis , Vim Report

Final score:

17points

Trophy Husband 6 months ago

Upvote for the joke about not being able to exit. If you use Vim, you definitely started out forgetting how and having to look it up on another computer at least once!

3points

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#29

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Google maps

ChatGPT

Google docs.

Lemonio , henry perks Report

Final score:

15points

Apatheist Account2 6 months ago

I wouldn't trust the security of Google docs.

11points

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#30

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Wolfram alpha together with photomath. Literally learning mpvs.

Greeklibertarian27 , wolframalpha Report

Final score:

14points

Kelly H. Wilder 6 months ago

Khan Academy ftw.

9points

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#31

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) Sketchup free version is pretty great. And the paid version is is not too expensive either when compared to Autodesk prices.

AbleStudent , Justin Horstmann Report

Final score:

13points

Arturo De la Rosa 6 months ago

SketchUp is no longer free, also it has no big competitors, since it really does not work well for blueprints like autocad, doesn't have the features for 3d printing, lacks in modeling sufficient for rendering, cannot do videogame assets, it is great don't take me wrong, I Just think it exist on a category of it's own, 3d sketching I guess. Which is niche and a bit unusual that has no real competitor.

4points

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#32

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) If your working with pdf documents and dont wanna pay for bs adobe subscription you can use the pdf24 toolbox has helped me with lots of documents has a lot of fixes for your pdf issues.

xodruss , pdf24 Report

Final score:

12points

Ace 6 months ago

I thought I'd have a quick look, and very quick it was too. It requires you to upload all your files and select a tool/ option, then sends you back the result. No thank you, I don't want to share all my data with you.

30points

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#33

“What Free Software Is So Good You Can’t Believe It’s Actually Available For Free” (34 Responses) There is this app simply called “invoice maker”. The logo is purple with a piece of paper on it. I own a business and use it whenever billing client. Mind boggling how clean the invoices are, how easy the interface is, how there are no ads. I would pay good money for it, maybe up to $100/year.

Also, Anki is the most unspoken technological revolution in the history of learning and memorization. I truly, truly, cannot believe everyone doesn’t know about flash cards with spaced repetition systems (SRS). Almost printing press level power in this technology.

EDIT: people kept asking for links: invoice maker on google play

invoice maker on apple (this might be for mac, just search your iphone app store instead for iPhone)

Anki (this is the web version for your computer. there are apps too, but they tend to cost money. I bought the $30 or so iPhone app, which may sound expensive, but hey, no ads, amazing product)

Lekkusu , Billchat LLC Report

Final score:

10points

Apatheist Account2 6 months ago

For what, one wonders, are they invoicing Jessica Alba?

8points

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#34

Ffmpeg

I do a lot of video processing (concatenating/encoding raw video and making clips from larger files). It utilizes my whole pc and is run from the command line (I use python scripts to batch things)

Couldn't live without it.

DoogleSports Report

Final score:

10points

M Kovacs 6 months ago

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Oleg Tarasenko

After many years of working as sports journalist and trivia game author and host in Ukraine I joined Bored Panda as a content creator. I do love writing stories and I sincerely believe - there's no dull plots at all. Like a great Italian composer Joaquino Rossini once told: "Give me a police protocol - and I'll make an opera out of it!"

After many years of working as sports journalist and trivia game author and host in Ukraine I joined Bored Panda as a content creator. I do love writing stories and I sincerely believe - there's no dull plots at all. Like a great Italian composer Joaquino Rossini once told: "Give me a police protocol - and I'll make an opera out of it!"

Denis Krotovas

I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. While studying at Vilnius Tech University, I learned how to use Photoshop and decided to continue mastering it at Bored Panda. I am interested in learning UI/UX design and creating unique designs for apps, games and websites. On my spare time, I enjoy playing video and board games, watching TV shows and movies and reading funny posts on the internet.

I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. While studying at Vilnius Tech University, I learned how to use Photoshop and decided to continue mastering it at Bored Panda. I am interested in learning UI/UX design and creating unique designs for apps, games and websites. On my spare time, I enjoy playing video and board games, watching TV shows and movies and reading funny posts on the internet.

What do you think ?

MrsFettesVette 6 months ago (edited)

Gave upvotes to every post that actually explained what these mystifyingly named apps do.

31points

Lene 6 months ago

Yeah, I have no idea what most of these are.

12points

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Amanda Thomas 6 months ago

I'm really surprised not a single person mentioned openoffice, which is a free version of Microsoft office but does all the same things. That saved my a*s through all of college

12points

Mike Beck 3 months ago

OO is no longer free but the LibreOffice fork of OO (written by the OO team) is still free and IS mentioned.

0points

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PythonZER0 6 months ago

How did I only see Ubuntu on this list for Linux? how about Fedora? openSUSE? Mint? literally any Linux distro that lets you use something other than GNOME in the default installation?

9points

Guess Undheit 6 months ago

Debian and several other distros produce 32 bit versions. Don't throw away old hardware that still works, use it for offline stuff. [ https://www.makeuseof.com/linux-distros-with-32-bit-support/ ]

0points

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Bad Alchemy 6 months ago

Mint and Linux Lite are awesome!

0points

ElfVibratorGlitter 6 months ago

Agreed 👍

0points

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MrsFettesVette 6 months ago (edited)

Gave upvotes to every post that actually explained what these mystifyingly named apps do.

31points

Lene 6 months ago

Yeah, I have no idea what most of these are.

12points

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Amanda Thomas 6 months ago

I'm really surprised not a single person mentioned openoffice, which is a free version of Microsoft office but does all the same things. That saved my a*s through all of college

12points

Mike Beck 3 months ago

OO is no longer free but the LibreOffice fork of OO (written by the OO team) is still free and IS mentioned.

0points

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PythonZER0 6 months ago

How did I only see Ubuntu on this list for Linux? how about Fedora? openSUSE? Mint? literally any Linux distro that lets you use something other than GNOME in the default installation?

9points

Guess Undheit 6 months ago

Debian and several other distros produce 32 bit versions. Don't throw away old hardware that still works, use it for offline stuff. [ https://www.makeuseof.com/linux-distros-with-32-bit-support/ ]

0points

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Bad Alchemy 6 months ago

Mint and Linux Lite are awesome!

0points

ElfVibratorGlitter 6 months ago

Agreed 👍

0points

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