this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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Some FOSS programs, due to being mantained by hobbyists vs a massive megacorporation with millions in funding, don't have as many features and aren't as polished as their proprietary counterparts. However, there are some FOSS programs that simply have more functionality and QoL features compared to proprietary offerings.

What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their non-FOSS alternatives? Maybe we can discover useful new programs together :D

I'll start, I think Joplin is a great note-taking app that works offline + can sync between desktop and mobile really well. Also, working with Markdown is really nice compared with rich text editors that only work with the specific program that supports it. Joplin even has a bunch of plugins to extend functionality!

Notion, Evernote, Google Keep, etc. either don't have desktop apps, doesn't work offline, does not support Markdown, or a combination of those three.

What are some other really nice FOSS programs?

edit: woah that’s a whole load of cool FOSS software I have to try out! So far my experiences have been great (ShareX in particular is AWESOME as a screenshot tool, it’s what snip and sketch wishes it could be and mostly replaces OBS for my use case and a whole lot more)

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[–] Zacryon@lemmy.wtf 63 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Blender for 3D modeling, sculpting, animation, rendering and (simple) video editing.

Several movies were either made (almost) entirely with Blender (Flow, Next Gen), or in parts (e.g., Captain America: The Winter Soldier, SpiderMan 2, The Midnight Sky).

It is also used by many (indie) game devs.

Speaking of games: Godot is an awesome 2D/3D game engine, which gained a lot more momentum after the Unity fuck-up. It's licensed under the MIT license. Among a plethora of smaller indie games it has been used for financially successful and/or popular titles by indie and non-indie devs alike such as Brotato, Cassette Beasts, RPG in a Box, Endoparasitic, Dome Keeper, Sonic Colors: Ultimate, and several more.

Give it a try if you're into game development!

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[–] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Jellyfin vs Plex

Plex is terminal with the enshitification virus

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 28 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Linux, hands down and tied behind its back. Both for servers AND desktop OS.

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 26 points 3 days ago
[–] dave@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Keepass. ill skip the obvious and just mention the really neat features that other server/cloud based password managers dont or cant have.

  • on desktop, you dont need any browser extension to fill in passwords since the "autotype" feature in keepassXC handles that. this means your browser has no to access your database at all. any password manager thats connected to your browser in any way is a huge security risk imo.
    (i would recommend this extension that changes the window title though)

  • you can have 2 databases open at the same time (in keepassXC and keepassDX at least), which means you can have important logins in one and everything else in the other one. if you ever get annoyed having to unlock your vault using a really long master password just so you can autofill some crappy forum password then you might get why 2 databases is a good idea!

  • you can fill in login details for desktop programs. (maybe others do this now but they didnt when i switched to keepass years ago)

Aegis authenticator. its been years since ive used google's authenticator app so maybe its improved now, but it used to be very spartan. it showed you your OTP codes and thats about it.

Aegis lets you add an icon to each entry and the different sized text makes things a lot easier to read. the visual timer is much clearer as well and the text turns red when its close to running out.

you can also backup your codes so if you lose your phone its no big deal. you can unlock the app with your fingerprint. you can tap on a code and then have it add that to the clipboard and then go back to the previous app

[–] scheep@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

interesting that keepassXC doesn’t need a browser extension. I might have to try it out, seems pretty cool.

[–] dave@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

yea it simulates keypresses somehow, like how autohotkey or xdotool does. i should probably throw out a disclaimer before i hype it up too much though :p

it used to work a lot better back when most sites had both the username and password input box on the same page. sites like google have started putting them on different pages now which confuses things. the sequence of keys it sends is {USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}{ENTER} so it doesnt really have awareness of the actual input box elements the way a browser extension would

the quick fix for this is to just use the separate hotkeys ctrl+1 to autotype the username and then ctrl+2 for the password

[–] scheep@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago
[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

KDE Connect was rock solid when I was testing it out with an S24u. The only real issue I had with it was that it was missing RCS (RCS is locked down to only proprietary google messages/iMessage systems) and a seamless way to go from desktop notification to SCRCPY/screen mirroring.

[–] scheep@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

hell yeah KDE connect is great! I just use it for transferring files and my clipboard…

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Syncthing.

Supports LAN Syncing and no limits other then the hardware you host yourself.

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[–] vala@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Firefox is the best browser (uBlock). Linux is the best OS for a growing number of things. Android is terrible but still the best mobile OS. Lemmy is the best social media platform.

Honourable mention to Luanti which most people wouldn't say is better than Minecraft yet but it's absolutely getting there.

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Inkscape is really good and I prefer it over Adobe Illustrator. It's a bit worse in some regards but its really stable and does everything very reliably and can be molded into svg production machine.

Kdenlive is the best simple video editor out there. Sure other editors are better but kdenlive really hits that sweet spot of being simple but powerful.

Digikam is the best photo management suite I know off. Everything else seems to be missing one thing or another and Digikam just does everything and does it pretty well.

Ansel (fork of Darktable) is often better than Adobe Lightroom for casual photography as it comes with very strong opinionated defaults. I generall just follow the default pipeline and have amazing shots. Light room could probably get me a bit further but Ansels hits the sweet spot between too basic and too clunky.

Then as a developer foss libraries are basically uncontested to the point where proprietary libraries and programming languages basically do not exist anymore.

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[–] rodneylives@lemmy.world 43 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I haven't checked to see if someone's mentioned it yet (it's a long thread!) but I want to put in a word for a piece of software I'm always touting: Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection!

It's a wonder! 40 different kinds of randomly-generated puzzles, all free, all open source, and available for practically every platform. You can play it on Windows, Mac (if you compile it), Linux, iOS, Android, Java and Javascript in a web browser. It should rightfully be high up on the iOS and Android stores, but it's completely free, has no ads, doesn't track you and has no one paying to promote it. No one has a financial incentive to show it to you, so they don't. But you should know about it.

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[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] megrania@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 3 days ago (7 children)

OBS for streaming is amazing.

Ardour is a pretty amazing DAW that can compete with proprietary ones. There're also loads of FOSS plugins out there that don't have to hide behind the commercial ones. My favorites are the Calf Plugins and the Luftikus EQ for mastering. Helm and Yoshimi are great synths. Pure Data is lightweight and can compete with MaxMSP.

Krita has already been mentioned.

But, I think what strikes me most is that there's a lot of FLOSS software out there that just doesn't have direct proprietary counterpart. Small command-line tools like FFMPEG or ImageMagick. Linux as an customizable OS. Programming Languages to make music like SuperCollider. I never learned how to use proprietary CAD software but recently got into OpenSCAD to model some things and it's really fun once you get the hang of it. I don't do this professionally so there's no need for me to learn Fusion360.

Some have a bit of a learning curve but are all the more satisfying to use once you get into them. People are just too stuck in their "industry standard" (which really just means "the most common product that has been around the longest"), but if you're not bound to that, there's just a huge number of programs out there that allow you to do amazing things. That to me is the beauty of FLOSS.

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[–] spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Well, Thunderbird, for one. Outlook makes me sad.

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[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 16 points 3 days ago

A lot of non-graphical utilities


basically the *NIX coreutils, plus stuff like rsync, ssh, compression/archival tools (tar, gzip, bzip2, etc.), grep, and the like. Git also comes to mind.

I think part of this is that the UNIX philosophy is "developer friendly"


tell a good dev they need to make a compression utility that follows this protocol, and they will make a compression utility that follows the protocol.

[–] Glifted@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Kdenlive is really really good. This isn't an expert opinon. I don't do a ton of video editing but it feels both easy to learn (for a layman like me) and powerful enough to do anything I need it to do

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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)
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[–] hexmasteen@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The OpenStreetMap ecosystem (e.g. Organic Maps as an Android Client) is better than Google Maps.

Tusky is better than any proprietary Twitter client.

F-Droid and Flathub are both better than Google Play.

Thunderbird is better than GMail

Real open Podcasting (e.g. Antennapod) is better than Spotify.

OpenDesk is better than M365.

Signal and Matrix are both better than the chat tools from Meta, Apple, Google.

(It's about ecosystems/platforms, because most software doesn't work in isolation)

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[–] Romkslrqusz@lemm.ee 183 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (12 children)

There is no better archive utility than 7-Zip IMO

Just wish there was a MacOS version

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[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 153 points 4 days ago (5 children)

I have not used it personally, but Blender is famously used in high value Hollywood productions.

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[–] Tiger@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I just want to comment that this is one of the most helpful and full of good info posts I’ve seen on Lemmy in a long while.

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[–] konalt@lemmy.world 121 points 4 days ago (10 children)

FFmpeg, OBS and VLC. I promise I use my computer for more than video.

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[–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 140 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Home Assistant is - by far - a better home automation platform than anything else I've tried. Most of them cannot integrate with as many platforms and your ability to create automations is not as powerful.

Folks will argue that it's harder. I argue back that if you buy a hub with it pre-installed, your setup experience is as easy or easier than HomeKit or Google Home or maybe Alexa.

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[–] 3dmvr@lemm.ee 32 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Blender has to be the best at being a swiss army tool, the other software require using other software for what they are missing while blender can do it all, its objectively better at being the singular tool for the job if you want to not leave one software

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[–] rmic@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

QGIS for geographic/geospatial data. Built on shoulders of FOSS giants, embracing latest highly interoperable standards, it is amazing !

[–] danciestlobster@lemm.ee 13 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Stepmania, the way better free DDR for PC!

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[–] twistypencil@lemmy.world 83 points 4 days ago (12 children)

Linux is so much better than Windows.

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[–] JasminIstMuede@lemmy.blahaj.zone 60 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I'm surprised I haven't seen blender here yet, but I really think blender is one of open source's greatest achievements. It feels like a professional software and is also used in the industry.

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[–] kurcatovium@lemm.ee 70 points 4 days ago (36 children)

Just from top of my head and from what I have to use at work:

  • Dolphin vs. Explorer - Dolphin is sooo much better and useful it's not evwn funny
  • Notepad++ vs. Notepad - day and night, even though Notepad got an overhaul in W11 it's still piece of shit compared to Notepad++
  • literally any foss player vs. what MS offers - be it VLC, SMPlayer, MPV, anything is better than windows built in crap
  • ImageGlass, Nomacs, Gwenview, etc. vs. MS Photos - same as above, windows picture viewer is now worse than ever while open source alternatives get better and better
  • and plenty others, like Linux vs. Windows, lol
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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 73 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I have said this since discovering it years ago: 7zip is superior to WinRar.

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[–] network_switch@lemmy.ml 20 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I think DarkTable is as powerful if not moreso than Lightroom but Lightroom has AI image processing tools that will get things done quicker.

The whole of software dev is dominated with open source softtware. So like PostgreSQL, text editors like Lapce or Zed, KVM/QEMU/Virt-Manager, torrent programs like qBitorrent, VPN like OpenVPN or Wireguard. Pretty much all the video game console emulators. For a while you would get Linux game ports that would use proprietary wrappers but eventually WINE would become better anyways. Don't know if there's a proprietary software better than QGIS for that. I love Distrobox and Boxbuddy. Git.

Web browsers based off Chromium or Firefox, OBS, Handbrake, VLC, ffmpeg, image magick. Krita and Blender are competitive with proprietary software. I think the latest Pinta is solid as a paint.net analogue. Audacity is super popular. Ardour for more complex things. Kdenlive isn't as good but solid enough for the vast majority of people in my opinion.

Topaz Gigapixel is top but Upscayl is good. I always liked Windows Task Manager but on Linux I think Mission Center is just as good. None of the open source stuff competes against Topaz Video AI in my experience

KeepassXC password manager. At some point I stopped using winrar and was all in on 7-Zip and Peazip if not just using the Linux file roller software that the distro came with. I'm happy with Jellyfin over Plex. There's Kodi. Over the years I always see people use draw.io

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[–] umbraroze@slrpnk.net 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Over the last few years I've been drawing stuff on Clip Studio Paint. Wonderful app, very powerful, the asset marketplace rules.

But it has a bunch of really weird jank too. It's as if it has all of the power in the world but you need to spend extra time digging through the app to do stuff.

Krita, which I finally tried a few months back, feels really excellent. Stuff is configurable as hell. All of the stuff is easy to discover. I'm working much faster.

Now, Krita doesn't have all of CSP's niceties, and I guess I have to see how to wishlist them.

Similarly CSP's 3D mockup tools are great, but nowhere as smooth and powerful to use as Blender's. Which is weird because CSP isn't a modeling program - you'd think they'd stick to what they actually do and at least polish the camera/pose controls and such. No dice. I wish I could just stick CSP assets in Blender, but they use a proprietary model format.

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[–] Venator@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 days ago

PCSX2: better resolution than PS2, has save states, and you can use reshade in some games to make them look better.

[–] Tux960@lemmy.world 83 points 4 days ago (26 children)

LibreOffice, OBS, and VLC are definitely the best out there. And Lichess (Online Chess platform) . Do you agree with me?

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[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

on Notion: aren't the desktop clients just electron apps anyway? The website is really solid from my useage.

[–] bricklove@midwest.social 41 points 4 days ago (8 children)

These comments are like a treasure trove.

I didn't see anyone mention Kodi as an alternative to smart TVs. It's better in every way than the Apple TV I won from a raffle at work. The best part is that my TV box is just a computer so I can use it to host other services too

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[–] hexmasteen@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Lets not forget about games!

Hedgewars is better than most "Worms" games.

Warzone 2100 is more fun than many proprietary RTS games.

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[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 19 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Breezy weather for Android. It works exactly the same, and doesn't have any of the privacy bullshit strings attached.

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[–] lastweakness@lemm.ee 12 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm really sorry but Joplin is not and will not ever be "objectively" better than Obsidian. SilverBullet is subjectively better than Obsidian though. Note taking is such a heavily opinionated matter that there's no scope for objectivity there.

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