Fotor Review (2022): A Diamond in the Rough

Short Review: Fotor is a great image editor and design tool for marketers and online content creators. It is easy to use and can help you through tight corners with its one-click enhancement tools. However, it’s not meant for graphic designers or professional photographers 

While venturing through the internet for a simple yet no-nonsense image editor, I stumbled upon Fotor. 

I was looking for a photo editor which I can use easily via browser to design my blog images, though a smartphone for editing my Instagram posts, and post-processing my travel photos on a laptop.

All in all a smart editor that can act as a one-stop-shop and cut down on my design and editing time, without burning a hole in my pocket or forcing me to switch to an exotic rig.

Well, the Fotor photo editor seemed to check all the above and then some more.

In this Fotor review, I will walk you through its prominent features and show you how my first-hand experience was.

Fotor Review: Feature Walkthrough

Fotor is a cross-platform photo editor for PC (Windows & Mac), and iOS and Android smartphones. It can also be accessed right from the browser.

For this Fotor review, I looked at their browser-based image editor. You can use the Fotor photo editor for free, all you need to do is register and sign in.

However, while editing on a need-to-basis, you can launch their online editor, and edit, design, and download your items without even signing in.

First, let me walk you through the Fotor Photo editor.

Photo Editing

While using a free version of the Fotor app and haven’t signed in, you will see an advertisement banner at the bottom and certain premium features can be used with a watermark in the exported copy.

But that’s not a major setup, the footer ad is not evasive and you still get to use various free editing tools that can get the job done.

First, you need to upload an image for your local machine.

You can see a preview of the uploaded image, zoom, and pan to set your frame and start editing. Under the adjustment section, you can crop your image specific to different social media platforms, like an Instagram post, YouTube thumbnail, or select your custom cropping ratio.

You can also perform basic light and color adjustments.

As I was using the free version certain premium features like 1-tap enhancement and, denoise and structure manipulations couldn’t be used without a watermark. 

Don’t worry, I’ll demo the premium features in the upcoming sections. Just wanted to show you how useful the free version alone can be.

Under the effects section, you can select from different image filters and effects. I went for color splash and it worked like a charm.

A lot of customization options to help you mold the image specific to your taste.

I noticed that if you haven’t signed in, you can’t import multiple images, and have to download the edited image before you can start editing another one. 

While downloading you can select the image type and quality.

To make the most of the beautify tools, I uploaded a portrait and switched to the Foto Pro plan. As a result, the ad-banner from the bottom disappeared and I was also able to leverage all the Beautify tools without watermark.

These tools are perfect for portrait enhancement. You can remove blemishes, add blush and reshape portions of the image. If you want to accentuate your jawline and cheekbones especially after winter hibernation, these set of tools will come in handy. 

Apart from image enhancements you can also add custom frames, add captions, annotations, and other elements on it. From the “Text” menu you can even switch to a graphic design workspace for advanced designing tools.

Once done, you can either download your photo or upload it to Dropbox. With a Foto Pro subscription, you can utilize up to 2GB of cloud storage and access your files across devices.

That pretty much sums up the image editor. From a utility and ease-of-use perspective, it is definitely the best free photo editor for PC users.

Creating your unique design

Apart from editing images, Fotor photo editor can also be used for designing posters, blog & podcast covers, and also to design logos. You can select from various design recommendations from their design home page.

During the Fotor review, I tried to design my own logo. All I had to do was select from a template, and add customizations to it. 

Of course, I switched to my Pro account as don’t want watermarks on any of my designs.

You can copy different design elements from various templates, and move, orient, and reshape them to come up with your own custom design.

By the way, Ctrl + Z (undo) works while designing as well as editing. 

As you see, I moved around the core design items here and there, added a custom background, and edited the shadows and transparency of each element to create this distinct design. 

Now all I had to do was download the logo in a format of my choice. Overall, the designing steps were simple and I enjoyed the process thoroughly. 

Express with Custom collages

You can make custom collages with Fotor too. Choose from various collage templates or create your own custom collage. First, select from a template to get started. 

Select from different aspect ratios, edit color and texture and add captions and other elements.

You can remove background, add shadows, and perform a lot more modifications until you have the perfect collage and then download it for printing.

All in all, Fotor is one of the, if not the best free photo editor for PC, and lets you create custom designs and collages from the same app. It supports auto photo edit and can be accessed on a desktop, smartphone, or through a browser.

Fotor Pricing

You can use the Fotor browser-based editor for free, go for Fotor free download, or opt for their premium subscription plans. Here’s a gist

• Fotor Basic – Ad-enabled free plan. Advanced features can be used with a watermark in exported content. 
• Fotor Pro – At $8.99, you can edit, design logos, and create collages however you may seem fit. 
• Fotor Pro+ – At $19.99 per month along with Foor Pro features, get millions of stock images and templates with priority email support from the Fotor team.

You can check out their website for more details on their pricing slabs.

Our Verdict

The Fotor photo editor isn’t meant for creating workflows for post-processing or processing images in bulk. Its design tools are basic and lack the advanced features of Adobe Illustrator.

However, after a tiring day if I want a title image for my blog or YouTube post designed swiftly yet with grace this is the best free photo editor for PC that I’ll opt for. Matter of fact, the title image for this Fotor review was created on it.

You can use the Fotor app on the desktop to convert RAW images too (not supported on the online editor).

FAQs