Research Guides: Education Curriculum: Free Software

Welcome - Free Software!

These are great alternatives to major commercial titles that you can use to build class materials or with your students on creative projects. CUNY provides access to a number of titles including from the Adobe Creative Cloud, ArcGIS, MathWorks, and Wolfram.

Graphic Design

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).
Cross-platform image editor available for macOS and Windows. Comparable to Adobe Photoshop.
Inkscape
Cross-platform vector graphics editor that is perfect for for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming and flowcharting. Comparable to Adobe Illustrator.
Canva
Web-based option to design flyers, brochures, banners, posters, etc.
Scribus
Desktop publisher for creating flyers, books, articles, banners. Vector based which means no pixelation on text. Comparable to Adobe inDesign.

Website Builders

Audio and Video

Audacity
An easy-to-use multitrack audio recording program with tons of tutorials on YouTube.
DaVinci Resolve
Advanced video editing software.
Hit Film
Beginner multi-channel video editing software.
OBS Studio
Broadcast platform that lets you manipulate a variety of image, video, and audio inputs like a TV producer for recording or live streaming. Other features include video effects such as chromakey for use with green screen.

Source Material

Free Music Archive
Offers free access to open licensed, original music by independent artists around the world. Be sure to read the license for each audio file before including it in your project.