# Photopea — Design

Photopea by Photopea holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2.5/5), as of 2026-11-04. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Photopea (https://www.photopea.com)
- Category: [Design](https://whats-best.ai/software/design.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/design/photopea
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/design/photopea/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/photopea/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-11-04 · oldest source captured 2026-11-03

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Photopea
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S1]

## The panel's verdict

Photopea is a browser-based image editor whose scoring concentrates on one strength: file ownership and portability at 6-8, the highest band awarded. PSD is the main format with full opening and saving, imports span Figma, INDD, CDR, AI, EPS and 40 other formats, and the vendor states there are no uploads — files run on your device and never leave it. Everything team-facing sits at the bottom: collaboration and handoff scores 0-1 and brand asset governance 0, the captured page describing a single-user editor with no sharing, comments, permissions or handoff views documented. Design and prototyping sits at 3 — deep editor craft in layers, masks, smart objects and Liquify, with reusable components, tokens and prototypes not described. Sovereignty scores range 0-3: some judges declined to score for want of public information, others crediting proven on-device processing; we found no public information on the contracting entity, a DPA or subprocessors. AI and content rights scores 2-3, with no public information on training or commercial-use rights. Pricing appears only as the free tier — "Enjoy all the premium features without spending a dime."

**Speaks for it:**
- PSD is the main format with full opening and saving, so finished files leave with layer structure intact.
- Imports span Figma, INDD, CDR, AI, EPS and 40 other formats, plus nine RAW camera formats from DNG to FFF.
- Runs in the browser with no installation, processing locally on your CPU and GPU with no uploads, so the vendor never holds working files.
- Editing depth covers layers, masks, smart objects, adjustment layers, channels, paths, vector editing, Liquify and Puppet Warp.

**Held against it:**
- Collaboration and handoff scores 0-1, with no public information on sharing, comments, guest access or a developer handoff view.
- Brand asset governance scores 0, with no public information on a shared brand library, templates or licence metadata.
- Design and prototyping sits at 3, with reusable components, tokens and clickable prototypes not described on the captured page.
- AI and content rights scores 2-3, with no public information on model providers, training on customer content, admin controls or commercial-use rights for generated output.
- Sovereignty attributes on record: none — we found no public information on the contracting entity, a DPA or subprocessors, though editing is proven to run on the customer's device.

**Best for:**
- You need a full PSD editor in the browser, opening and saving the main format with no installation required.
- Your files must stay on your own hardware — editing runs locally on your CPU and GPU with no uploads.
- You need to open varied or legacy formats — Figma, INDD, CDR, AI and EPS imports plus nine RAW camera formats — without owning the original applications.

**Avoid if:**
- Your team needs to co-edit, comment or hand off to developers — the captured page describes an on-device single-user editor with work passed on as saved files.
- You need brand consistency across a team — the captured page presents individual image editing only.
- You need reusable components, tokens and clickable prototypes — the documented toolset is single-artwork craft, with design and prototyping at 3.
- Your compliance review must know where generative AI runs and on what terms output can be used — the on-device statement covers the editing engine, and we found no public information on the AI features' processing location or commercial-use rights.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v2). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Product Designer | The Frontend Engineer | The Brand Marketer | The Agency Owner | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Design, prototyping & design systems | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Collaboration, review & developer handoff | n/r | n/r | 0.5/5 | n/r | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Brand assets & governance | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| Files, formats & portability | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| AI features & rights to the work | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1.5/5 | n/r | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | n/r |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **1.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **1.5/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The Product Designer** (v1.0): Owns the design system of a B2B software product. Wants components with variants, tokens with modes, prototypes that test a real flow, and library releases that are versioned and reviewable — a design system is a product, not a page of nicely arranged buttons.
- **The Frontend Engineer** (v1.0): Turns the designs into code and gets the ticket when they disagree. Wants an inspect mode without a paid seat, tokens exported in a documented format, components mapped to the code ones, and an API that reads the whole file rather than a screenshot of it.
- **The Brand Marketer** (v1.0): Keeps the brand consistent across twelve sales offices that make their own flyers. Wants locked templates non-designers can use, guidelines inside the tool, licence and expiry dates on every stock image, and a clear answer on whether a generated image may go on a trade-fair stand.
- **The Agency Owner** (v1.0): Runs a design agency of fifteen and hands every project over to the client at the end. Wants files that export with layers and components intact, guests who are not billed as editors, and terms that say the client owns the work — and what happens to it after a cancellation.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Reviews every tool where unreleased products, customer screenshots and employee photos end up. Wants the contracting entity and hosting region named, the AI providers on the subprocessor list, and training on customer files excluded for the whole organisation in the terms — not behind a toggle each user has to find.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has read "free for viewers", "commercially safe AI" and "export anytime" on every page in this category. Reads instead for the click that turns a reviewer into a billed editor, the plan the IP indemnity actually covers, and whether the export keeps a single component.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

No sovereignty finding yet.

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Product**
- Adjustments filters: Levels · Curves · Gaussian Blur · Liquify · Puppet Warp [S1]
- AI features: background removal · generative replace via text description [S1]
- Browser based: yes · no [S1]
- Editing tools: cropping · resizing · layering · masking · blending [S1]
- Essential features: Layers · Masks · Layer Styles · Smart Objects · Adjustment Layers · Channels · Paths [S1]
- Free tier: yes [S1]
- Local processing: local on device using CPU and GPU · no [S1]
- Psd support: yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Raw support: Exposure · Color Balance · Contrast · Highlights · Shadows · DNG · CR2 · CR3 · NEF · ARW · RW2 · RAF · ORF · FFF [S1]
- Supported formats: PNG · JPG · GIF · BMP · WEBP · SVG · PDF · AI · AVIF · DDS · HEIC · TIFF · MP4 · TGA · CDR · PDN · EPS · INDD · Figma · 40 [S1]
- Vector graphics: yes [S1]

## Questions

### Is Photopea European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where Photopea is based.

### Where does Photopea store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.

### Does Photopea have a free plan?

Yes. Photopea has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 3 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/17087).

### What are the best alternatives to Photopea?

As of 4 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Penpot (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/penpot), [Sketch (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/sketch) and [Collaboard (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/collaboard) highest among the other 21 Design products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Penpot](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/penpot) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Photopea alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/photopea/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We found no public information on pricing on the pages we read (photopea.com). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.
- We found no public information on compliance on the pages we read (photopea.com). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://www.photopea.com (checked 2026-11-03)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Photopea — Design", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/design/photopea

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1402?target=page