The Best Way to Find Free Software on the Internet
Props to Nick Douglas of Lifehacker for stumbling upon this – something I always knew but didn’t realize I had to voice it to the world. Here’s a tiny trick that was talked about on Reddit a few days ago: When you’re looking for free software on the Internet, resist Google (or your search engine of choice) prompting for “free”.
Why is this? Because when you say you’re looking for a free Photoshop alternative, you’re bound to end up with a bunch of crap: free apps that aren’t actually free, subscription apps that come with a free trial, or other options that give you absolutely nothing. do not cost, and use them as much as you want.
As noticed one Redditor:
“It literally happened to me. Found a “free” site for creating a resume. I spent an hour building it, and when I got to the end, you had to pay for a trial to even download it. “
Instead, you want to search for “open source” plus the general theme of whatever application or service you’re trying to find. It doesn’t always give you a free app, but you’ll likely be in better luck. You can also search for “alternative” to a regular app that does something you don’t want to pay for (or visit a website of the same name ).
If you like, you can try my favorite search, “[app name] alternative site: reddit.com”, which is sure to give you some great recommendations (if you don’t mind scrolling through the comments).