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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by scheep@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

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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[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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

[-] dave@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 week ago

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

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[-] bricklove@midwest.social 2 points 1 week ago

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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[-] LouSlash@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Functionality, list of supported sites/services and simplicity

The only drawback for some users would be that it's CLI-only, but there are GUI frontends like Open Video Downloader (a.k.a youtube-dl-gui)

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[-] RandomVideos@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

Im not sure i can say its objectively better, but i like godot much more than unity

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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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[-] sebi@lemmings.world 2 points 1 week ago

all fossify apps in android. I find most android apps for basic tasks heavily overbloated, even the ones directly from google.

Okular for pdf viewing on pc

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[-] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I really like Flameshot for screenshots.

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[-] zout@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Actually, there's lots of FOSS software which is at least just as good as proprietary. Most FOSS lacks the support of proprietary though. And I don't mean the "call someone on the other end of the world" support, I mean manuals, tutorials and stuff like that. /Off topic

On topic: Apache, Git, Home Assistant and Jellyfin.

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[-] janus2@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

I certainly like GIMP and Inkscape better than Photoshop and Illustrator, though any professional photo editor or graphic artist would probably fight me on that lol

But Krita is the best drawing/painting program of all time and I stand by that.

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[-] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 2 points 1 week ago

Almost any Foss image editor, PDF viewer or simple app that does one thing without ads or bullshit. Markor, Wireguard, etc. They have nothing else to do but function.

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[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 week ago

Syncthing!

I don't even know what to compare it to, I have been using it so long.

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[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago
[-] network_switch@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

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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[-] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago
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this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
55 points (100.0% liked)

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