GIMP is a graphics editor and stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. The software is used for image retouching and editing, Image format conversion and much more. It is known for a very high and professional image editing task. The tool is absolutely free and open source. Here I have a list of 11 Best GIMP Plugins that will improve your editing.

Last Updated on 24/06/2019 @ 20:00 IST – Updated GIMP Plugin Links and added more plugins in the list. These plugins also support the latest GIMP 2.10.

If you have the experience to improve this tool then you can go ahead and improve it and even sell it because it is an open source project. GIMP also supports a lot of Plugins which makes the tool even more interesting. There are a lot of GIMP Plugins but it is challenging to choose the best of them.

Note: You’ll need to install GIMP Python support, Check the process at the end on this article. GIMP is available for Linux, Mac OS, Windows and other operating systems.

Best GIMP Plugins

1) Quick Sketch

Quick Sketch is a plug-in used to convert an Image into a sketch art. It means if you have a photo you can make a sketch of it. Also, there is an RGB mode available so if you want a sketch output in color. This is really useful while doing Artwork. It is an interesting and good GIMP Plugin. Let’s see some other GIMP Plugins. Make sure to use below link to reach to download page.

Download Quick sketch

2) Photo Effects

As the name reflects photo effects comes with a lot of useful effects. It contains features like Palette knife, Water paint effect, Wrap-effect, Texturizer, Solarisation, Color pencil, Color pencil, Brick wall and many more. So whenever you think that you need to use effects on a picture make sure to catch Photo Effects.

Download Photo Effects

3) Layer Effects

Layer Effects provide various effects which can be applied on a separate layer and merged layers. It contains effects like Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Satin, Stroke, Pattern Overlay, Bevel, and Emboss, etc. It could be a better option when you are editing a 3D picture. Where you can add effects to any layer you want.

Download layer Effects

4) Beautify

Beautify is one of the most wanted features that we definitely need. This plugin beautifies a photo by increasing the sharpness of color. It has many options where you can control which color is to be modified like elegant, retro, light, navy blue etc. You can set contrast opacity any other color-related options.

Download Beautify

5) Stitch Panorama

Stitch panorama is one of the best GIMP plugins used to create panorama photos out of any photos. You can also add multiple photos and set the length of photo manually to create panorama according to yourself. In stitch panorama, you will find features like image blending, color balance, and distortion matching. It is a good alternative to Pandora plugin.

Download Stitch Panorama

Download Pandora

6) CarTOONize

CarTOONize is among the best GIMP Plugins used to convert pictures into cartoon pictures. It let us control line thickness and black shadows, color level. It can remove noise from a picture using GREYCstoration, G’MIC, Selective Gaussian, or Despeckle filter as a Surface Blur. So using CarTOONize is really fun and interesting. It will also add value while making a cartoon or funny poster.

Download CarTOONize

7) BIMP

Batch image Manipulation Plugin is a plugin used to set manipulation on a bunch of images. It is one of the great GIMP plugins. Manipulations like Crop, resize, watermark, format conversion, rename, color correction, flip, rotate etc. are available in BIMP by default. But you can also add other manipulations from other manipulation plugins. It helps to apply these manipulations on multiple images with one click. Just download and install it to use on GIMP.

Download BIMP

8) Save for Web

Save for web is one of the best GIMP plugins for multiple tasks. It let us control almost every part of pictures where we can crop the image, change the format, reduction, compress, scale, sharpness etc. If you are a blogger and need responsive thumbnails or something then this could be the best choice. I will recommend to use it.

Download Save for Web

9) Refocus

Sometimes we get blurry and shaky images due to some reasons. And to correct the shaky images Refocus is the best GIMP plugin. As the name suggests it refocus on the blurry image using a technique called FIR Wiener filtering. So to produce a blur-free picture use Refocus.

Download Refocus

10) G’MIC

G’MIC stand for GREYC’s Magic for Image Computing which is the best GIMP plugins. It can preview the images to check which filter is good for the picture and then apply it. It allows users to add custom filters to the list. G’MIC comes with hundreds of filters integrated like artistic effects, image denoising, and enhancement algorithms, 3D renderers, etc. The installation of G’Mic is easy just download & install the plugin on PC and you will find it under Filters.

Download G’MIC

11) Resynthesizer

Resynthesizer is another powerful GIMP plugin which supports the latest GIMP 2.10.12 and works pretty well. It is used to heal images or we can say it can remove objects from images even from complex images. If you are aware of Content Aware Fill from photoshop then you should know that Resynthesizer used for similar editing. Use the below link to download and use it with GIMP. Make sure to put all the files in Plug-in folder including the exe files.

Download Resynthesizer

The best thing is many users are using it to get paid for creating and editing Images. Do you know if you use the right GIMP plugins then you can generate Image output as Photoshop for free? So make sure to always use GIMP plugins.

See Also | 10 Best Photo Viewer for Windows 10

GIMP is used for:

Image Retouching

Image Editing

Produces Graphical Design Elements and Art

Image Format Conversion

Free-form Drawing

GIMP features:

Multiple Image Format is supported on GIMP. It means you can create images and arts in any format you want. You can also change from a format to other formats. It supports formats like GIF, JPEG, PNG, PSD, and many more.

GIMP is a Cross-Platform and available for Linux, Mac OS, Windows OS, and other operating systems.

It is an open source Software. It means you can download and use it for free and also you can distribute and modify it.

You can do photo enhancement on GIMP. It will remove distortion and noise from a blurry image to produce great output.

I haven’t covered all the features, it is just to give some idea about the GIMP tool and how it works.

How to Install GIMP Plugins

Installing GIMP plugins is different for different operating systems. Here I will explain the installation of GIMP plugin on windows and for other operating systems check out GIMP plugin installation procedure on Wikibooks.

There are three types of plug-ins available differing in extension. Actually script act as plugins too.

Python Scripts (.py extension) Zip files Script-fu (.scm extension)

For zip file, first extract it somewhere and check which type of file it contains (.py or .scm extension). And then copy it and follow the below steps accordingly.

Installing python scripts

Open GIMP and go to Edit > Preferences > Folder > plug-ins .

. Now choose the location as shown in Image. You can choose any of the two locations.

the as shown in Image. You can choose any of the two locations. Now locate to the folder location which you have chosen in the last step.

to the folder which you have chosen in the last step. Then copy the file with .py extension and paste it on that location.

and paste it on that location. Restart GIMP Software and Plugins.

Installing Script-Fu files

Open GIMP and go to Edit > Preferences > Folder > Scripts .

. Now choose the location for eg:- C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\share\gimp\2.0\scripts.

the for eg:- C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\share\gimp\2.0\scripts. Then locate to the folder location which you have chosen in the last step.

to the folder which you have chosen in the last step. Copy the plug-in with .scm extension and paste in the location that you have opened in the last step.

and paste in the location that you have opened in the last step. Restart GIMP Software and use GIMP Plugins.

Also read | How to Increase Download Speed in Windows

Still, have some queries in your mind, take a look on the FAQ!

What is GIMP?

GIMP is a graphics editor and stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. The software is used for image retouching and editing, Image format conversion and much more.

What are the best GIMP Plugins?

Quick Sketch, Photo Effects, Layer Effects, Beautify, Stitch Panorama, CarTOONize, BIMP, Save for Web, Refocus, and G’MIC.

What are the Features of GIMP?

GIMP is open-source software, used for photo enhancement. It is available on all the platforms.

What are the uses of GIMP Plugins?

Image Retouching, Image Editing, Free-form Editing, Produces Graphical Design Elements and Art, Image Format Conversion.

Conclusion

As you know there are many GIMP plugins available. And according to me if you use these plugins you will hardly require any other plugin because these plugins consist of many features. So it will be a good option to go for a single plugin with multiple features instead of using multiple GIMP plugins for the same features.

I hope you have found that you were looking and have a great image editing fun. These are some of the Best GIMP Plugins of 2020.