Duke University's Adobe Alternatives

Duke University has built a page for Adobe alternatives in an effort to identify a list of recommended alternatives.  In most cases, one does not need the full functionality of an Adobe creative product, so semi-alternatives are listed as well. For example, Preview on Mac and Word 2013 on Windows are sufficient for many people that would have bought Acrobat in the past. Both free and paid options are listed.

Their recommended options are based primarily on their user feedback and cost. Some of the other options (or options not listed) may be more appropriate for your users. Acrobat, Photoshop, and Illustrator replacements are by far the most sought after.

Acrobat –

Recommended:Qoppa PDF Studio Pro (Windows & Mac), Preview, Word 2013 (both Free)

Other options: Nitro, Nuance, Foxit, PDFtk, Bluebeam Revu, Skim

Photoshop -

Recommended: Pixelmator (Mac), GIMP (Windows)

Other options: paint.net, Pixlr, Xara, Acorn, Corel Paint Shop Pro, Aperture, Pinta, CinePaint, Krita, IrfanView

Illustrator -

Recommended: Affinity Designer (Mac), Inkscape (Windows)

Other options: Pixelmator, Sketch, Openoffice Draw, Serif DrawPlus, Xara Xtreme, CorelDRAW, SVG-edit

Premiere -

Recommended: Lightworks (Windows), Final Cut Pro (Mac)

Other options: Avidemux, iMovie, VideoLAN, ScreenFlow, OpenShot, Corel VideoStudio, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Kdenlive, Windows Movie Maker, PiTiVi, T@b ZS4, Cinelerra, Pinacle Studio, EditStudio, PowerDirector, EZVid, VideoPad, Kino

After Effects -

Recommended: Blender (Windows), Apple Motion (Mac)

Other options: WonderShare Video Editor, Wax, Jahshaka, Nuke, eyeon Fusion (expensive)

InDesign -

Recommended: LucidPress, Scribus

Other options: Microsoft Publisher, PrintWorks, Serif PagePlus, iStudio Publisher, FormatPixel, Swift Publisher, Quark Xpress, Passepartout, Sigil, Calibre

Audition -

Recommended: Audacity

Other options: LMMS, GarageBand, Ardour

Dreamweaver -

No definitive recommendations.

Some options: RapidWeaver, Coda, SeaMonkey, BlueGriffon, Amaya, Flux, Espresso, Aptana Studio, Eclipse, KompoZer, Bluefish, Nvu, Expression Web, Visual Studio, Vim/Emacs

Flash -

No definitive recommendations.

Some options: Synfig Studio, Flash Develop, Stencyl