As technology becomes increasingly expensive, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are driving up hardware prices, and many applications that were previously free now require you to pay to use their most useful features.
Some popular and expensive apps often don’t actually deliver the value they deserve, thanks to the huge marketing budgets of big companies.
In fact, there are many great free alternatives, some that perform better than expensive apps even though they were originally created to replace them.
Here are some great free apps that will help you forget about expensive competing apps.
LibreOffice
If you frequently write, use spreadsheets, or create presentations, you are probably familiar with Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These programs have been developed over decades to form an industry-standard suite of features that meet the needs of even the most demanding users. But over time, these applications have become increasingly complex and difficult to use.
If you’re not satisfied with Microsoft’s Office programs but need professional-level features, LibreOffice may be the ideal choice. LibreOffice is free, open source software that works on both Mac and PC and is a great alternative to the Microsoft Office suite.
LibreOffice is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and surpasses Office in many important ways. Because it is open source software, anyone with programming skills can contribute to the project to create a rich library of user-developed extensions, such as the MLA formatting tool for academic papers.
jelly pin
A personal multimedia server is an ideal solution for users who want to stream multimedia content across multiple devices. As one of the most well-known brands in the field, Plex helps users stream content legally.
With an attractive design and user-friendly interface, Plex helps users get their servers up and running in no time. However, some of Plex’s most attractive features are paid. Notably, the company raised its prices significantly last year.
A popular alternative to Plex is Jellyfin. Jellyfin works on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox, and LG webOS. Jellyfin is completely free and open source software that allows you to download a variety of user-developed applications, giving you much more flexibility than Plex. Jellyfin offers separate versions for each content, including music, books, comics, movies, and TV shows.
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is one of the most popular free and open source applications that allows users to record and stream live video. Not only does OBS offer many great features compared to paid software like StreamYards, but it also has a much wider range of uses.
In fact, Logitech Streamlabs, a popular paid streaming software, is built on the OBS platform, and its paid plans only charge for additional features.
OBS is well-positioned to receive funding from major companies in the gaming and entertainment industry, including Logitech, NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and YouTube. This allows OBS to continue development without the financial pressures that many other open source developers face.
The OBS user community is passionate and diverse, and has a wide range of plugins to meet the needs of a variety of content creators.
handbrake
Adobe Media Encoder is a popular software that is especially useful for Adobe Premiere Pro users thanks to its integrated features. However, the interface can be a bit difficult for first-time users, and they are often offered as paid software packages, making them quite expensive.
For those looking for a free, open source solution, HandBrake is an option worth considering. The software is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux and features fine-grained control over the transcoding process and excellent compression ratios.
Although HandBrake doesn’t utilize the GPU as efficiently as some paid software, the output quality is still very good. The biggest advantage of HandBrake is its ease of use.
Users do not need to be digital video experts. Just drag and drop your files and then press a button to start the encoding process. The software automatically selects the appropriate settings, or you can customize them as desired from a list of provided settings.
If you have a large collection of digital media, including movies, TV shows, and music, you may have had a hard time finding software that is compatible with a variety of file formats. The default media player application on your Windows or Mac computer often fails to play files it doesn’t recognize.
VLC media player, developed by the non-profit organization VideoLAN, is considered an ideal solution. A completely free and open source media player, VLC boasts the strongest codec support on the market.
This means that VLC can play virtually any format of video, as long as the files aren’t damaged beyond repair. Even video files encoded in AV1, HEVC or MKV format can be processed by VLC without any problem.
In addition to local video playback, VLC supports DVD, Blu-ray, and CD playback, and receives and plays network streams. This is a useful feature for users with home servers, and also supports Internet TV streaming and live webcam video display.
VLC Media Player is now available on multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android (including Google TV), and iOS, giving users more flexibility and convenience in enjoying their favorite media.
Phan Hoang (Source: Slashgear)
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