Photopea In-Depth Review: The Free Photoshop Alternative in Your Browser

1. The Legend of a Solo Developer

Photopea is a legend in the dev world. It wasn't built by a giant corporation, but by a single Czech programmer, Ivan Kutskir, over many years.
His goal was simple: To provide professional image editing tools to anyone with a web browser.

When you first open Photopea, you'll exclaim: "Is this Photoshop?"
The layout, icons, and shortcuts (Ctrl+J to duplicate, Ctrl+T to transform) are nearly identical to Photoshop. This drastically lowers the learning curve for veterans.

2. Core Features Breakdown

1. Insane Format Compatibility
Many online tools only open JPG/PNG. Photopea supports:

• PSD (Photoshop): Perfect support for Layers, Groups, and Layer Styles (Drop Shadow, Glow).
• AI (Illustrator): Preview and basic editing of vector files.
• XD / Sketch / Figma: Supports source files from these UI tools.
• RAW: Raw camera formats (.CR2, .NEF, .DNG) for photographers.

2. Professional Editing Tools

• Layers & Masks: The foundation of pro editing. Photopea handles them smoothly.
• Smart Objects: A feature missing in many competitors (like Pixlr). Double-click a Smart Object to edit contents, and the main image updates automatically—crucial for Mockups.
• Selection & Cutout: Magic Wand, Magnetic Lasso, and a specialized "Magic Cut" tool for removing backgrounds.

3. Local Fonts
Need a specific font? Photopea allows you to use fonts installed on your local machine. You can also upload your own .ttf or .otf files.

3. Performance & Experience

• Speed: Blazing fast. Built on WebAssembly, it loads in seconds and reacts instantly.
• Offline Use: Once loaded, you can disconnect from the internet and keep working.
• Hardware: Since it runs in the browser, performance depends on your RAM. Editing massive 500MB PSDs might lag on an 8GB RAM laptop.

4. Pros and Cons

Feature	Pros	Cons	Advice
Functionality	95% Photoshop parity, Smart Objects support	Lacks PS's latest Generative AI Fill	Perfect for standard editing
Cost	Free with full features	Ads take up screen space on the right	Support the dev by going Premium
Portability	Runs on anything (Win/Mac/Linux/Chromebook)	Hard to use on phones	Use a Desktop or iPad
Privacy	Local execution, files stay on your device	Relies on browser cache	Save as PSD frequently

5. Conclusion

Photopea is one of the best representations of the "Internet Spirit": Open, Powerful, and Accessible.
It might not fully replace Photoshop for high-end commercial retouching, but for 99% of use cases—like changing text on a poster, converting PSD to JPG, or emergency edits on a computer without PS—it is irreplaceable.
Bookmark it. It represents your portable "Cloud Design Studio."