5 Open-Source Desktop Apps That I Always Recommend Instead of Their Paid Rivals
How-To Geek, Friday, September 11th, 2026
How-To Geek recommends Bitwarden, LibreOffice, Kdenlive, GIMP, and Audacity as free alternatives to paid apps.
The author recommends five free, open-source desktop apps over paid rivals, noting they avoid subscriptions, licensing changes, and account requirements.
Bitwarden is a capable password manager with a generous free tier, LibreOffice replaces Microsoft Office for most documents and spreadsheets, and Kdenlive offers timeline-based video editing.
GIMP 3.x has improved usability with non-destructive effects and plugins as a Photoshop alternative, and Audacity handles common audio editing tasks. Readers are advised to download these tools only from official sources to avoid adware-bundled repackages.