9 Best Editors to Add Text to Images With Ease [Free & Online]

Whether you want to market your business, enhance social media posts, celebrate life moments, or become a meme master, an editor that lets you add text to images is part of everyday life. The internet has plenty of editors you can use for free. However, not every free photo editor is worth the download. Some are just adware thinly disguised as free photo editors, and some have limited features.

Fortunately, we’ve got a list of the best free photo editors to add text to photos. First, we’ll provide all the information you need on each editor, including the pros and cons and a comparison chart. Then, we’ll give you step-by-step instructions for how to add text to images and finish with frequently asked questions.

So let’s dig into these reviews and help you find the perfect free photo editor for placing text on images!

• Snapshot of Our Top 3 Editors to Add Text to Images
• [Free & Online] Add Text to Images With Ease
• What are Different Ways to Add Text to Images?
• How to Choose the Best Editor to Add Text to Images
• How We Test the Editors to Add Text to Images on This List
• Best Free Editors to Add Text to Images Comparison Chart
• How to Add Text to Images With PhotoDirector
• Download the Best Editor to Add Text to Images for Free
• Add Text to Images FAQ

Snapshot of Our Top 3 Editors to Add Text to Images

[Free & Online] Add Text to Images With Ease

1. PhotoDirector - Best Overall
2. Picsart - Best for AI-Generated Content
3. Fotor - Best for Making Collages
4. Pixlr - Best for Layer Editing
5. BeFunky - Best Templates
6. PhotoPad - Best for Resizing Images
7. GIMP - Best Open-Source Editor
8. Inkscape - Best for Linux Users
9. PhoXo - Best for Beginners

1. PhotoDirector - Best Overall

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Text Tools: 5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $3.33/month

Key Features

• Title Templates: Thousands of ready-made titles with animations
• Unique Animation Effects: Set motion paths to animate still images or create GIFs
• Customize Colors: Precision color editing with filters/LUTs, color replacement, 3-way split-toning, white balance, and more
• AI Background & Object Removal: Remove photo bombers and distracting objects, or take out the background altogether and replace it with anything you can imagine
• AI Photo Enhancements: Deblur, dehaze, denoise, and defringe

Who It’s For

The clear frontrunner for the best free editor to add text to photos is PhotoDirector. It’s easy to customize photos and add text to images with its user-friendly interface. You can start with a simple text overlay, then use the numerous fun photo effects and tools, such as blur, shadows, gradients, filters, and more. You also have the option to write text on images with the Pen tool, which comes in styles like Brush, Pencil, and Air Brush.

Why We Picked It 

PhotoDirector is an all-in-one editing tool that rivals ultra-popular alternatives like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Besides the many options to place text on images, the editor has the full spectrum of photo editing tools, including layer editing, keyword tagging, face recognition, and extraordinary organization features which streamline your editing workflow. Users also love the endless photo editing customizations, including eye-catching effects like glitch, bokeh, and sparkle; it even has tools for adding animations.

Bottom Line

If you need a high-quality editor with sophisticated editing capabilities, PhotoDirector checks all the boxes. It’s user-friendly for beginners yet has enough premium features to satisfy even the most experienced editor. In addition, the tools used to add text to photos are intuitive and allow you to create professional-level edits quickly, making it our top choice for the best free photo editor. We absolutely love the platform’s endless possibilities for creating unique, compelling content.

Click the link below to download PhotoDirector for free and put text on images with the best editing tools around. 

2. Picsart - Best for AI-Generated Content

Compatibility: Web Browser

TrustRadius Rating: 4.1/5

Text Tools: 5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $5/month for Gold and $7/month for Team

Key Features

• Cartoonizer: AI cartoon filters to transform images
• Stickers: Large selection of easily searchable stickers 
• AI Enhance: Upscale images automatically

Who It’s For

Picsart is an online photo editor for content creators, marketers, or influencers. It’s perfect for anyone who needs to come up with content quickly. Picsart is one of the only free editors we’ve come across where you can add text to images using an AI Writer. Generate slogans, bios, descriptions, and more in seconds, add text to photos, and customize their look and placement. You can regenerate the content as many times as necessary. You can also use Picsart’s free AI Image Generator to come up with an appropriate background for your text. We found the image generator worked much better than Pixlr’s.  

Why We Picked It 

There are many ways to get text on images using Picsart. Draw text on images with various brush tools, type text using different fonts, or add text to images by choosing a beautifully-designed text preset and customizing as necessary. We liked that typing text on images offered Headings, Subheadings, and Body Text sections, so we could design our own font combos more easily. Other text features include bending and highlighting, blend modes, opacity adjustment, and adding animations. With a Gold subscription, you can also save colors to use in your brand kit.  

Bottom Line

We were pleased with Picsart’s free version. Not only did it include AI-generated text and images, but thousands of stock images and templates as well. And you can try out every tool to add text to images, but premium assets will contain a watermark. If you want a no-cost option to place text on images, we recommend using only the free tools and staying away from the 7-day free trial, which users have reviewed as a scam. Professionals would do better to add text to photos with PowerDirector, since it is another quick and easy option, but offers RAW image support and other more advanced tools.

3. Fotor – Best for Making Collages

Image from Fotor.

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Text Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $8.99/month or $39.99/year for Pro and $19.99/month or $89.99/year for Pro+

Key Features

• Cartoonizer: Choose your favorite cartoon filter and turn your photos into cartoons in one click 
• AI Skin Retouch: Remove blemishes, smooth skin, and remove wrinkles
• Pre-Set Font Combos: Take the guess-work out of pairing fonts and aligning text with pre-set layouts

Who It’s For

Fotor, our best choice for creating photo collages, offers over 1,000 dramatic one-tap collage templates for quick edits. The Fotor library has local and online fonts and styles for placing text on images, including calligraphy styles, script, handwriting, cursive, all caps, and boldface. The software also lets you customize your text with options like rotation, transparency, colors, line height, and more. Combine the text tool with the collage maker to create unique content for any platform.

Why We Picked It 

In addition to the tools for creating collages and placing text on images, Fotor has a wide range of photo editing tools, effects, templates, and features. Its interface is smooth and easy to use. For example, you can crop images, add frames, retouch photos, or choose from over 300 stickers. You can also watermark photos to protect your work and promote your brand.

Bottom Line

Fotor is a robust online photo editor but also features downloadable versions on Windows and Mac. The free version contains advertisements that only disappear when you subscribe, and you can’t save your work and come back to it without a subscription. In addition, you’ll find it has no auto-save feature, meaning if you’re far into a project and it crashes, you’ll have to start all over again if you didn’t manually save. That can be a colossal time-waster and one of the most frustrating experiences of working with photo editors.

4. Pixlr - Best for Layer Editing

Compatibility: Web Browser, Windows

Top 10 PC Software Rating: 4/5

Text Tools: 4.5/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $0.75/month for Pro, $4.90/month for Premium, and $9.91/month for Team

Key Features

• Color Replace: Change the color of any part of your image
• Frame/Image Holder: Add frames around or within your images and create custom collage templates
• Pixel & Vector Shapes: Easy to add and customize vector shapes and bezier curves

Who It’s For

Pixlr is easy for beginners to use and has layer editing that more advanced users will appreciate. We found it to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to add text to images with layers. There are multiple types of layers you can work with, including images, elements, and URLs. You can delete, duplicate and rasterize layers with ease. 

Why We Picked It 

Add text to images by typing text and then applying effects like curve, warp, background, and outline, with options and adjustments available for each. After you place text on images, you can resize and reposition it, then change the color, font, and style. There are also fun text pre-sets, that can be broken down into layers and customized. You can also use the pen tool to draw text on images using your own handwriting with a variety of brushes.

Bottom Line

Pixlr comes with some advanced features like customizable brushes and a nice selection of cutting tools. The free version is fairly robust, however, a recent change means you can only save 3 images per day unless you upgrade. Upgrading is very affordable, with only 75 cents allowing you unlimited downloads and no ads. 

In our test, we found a few niggles, especially when it came to filters. The selection is small and outdated, and there are no filter previews so you can see what they look like before applying them to your image. There’s also a cool AI image generator, but it took a lot of trial and error to get it to work with the correct wording. 

5. BeFunky - Best Templates

Compatibility: Web Browser

G2 Rating: 4.2/5

Text Tools: 4/5

Price: Free
*Premium subscription available for $4.99/month

Key Features

• AI Artsy Effects: Automatically turn images into works of art 
• Collage Maker: Choose between tons of unique grid layouts, including layouts for Facebook covers
• Batch Processing: Simultaneously add text to photos in batches

Who It’s For

If you have zero design experience but want to create pro-level invites, flyers, ads, or posts, then you should try BeFunky. It has a massive library of beautifully-designed templates for photos and graphic design. These templates are easily searchable and completely customizable. While there aren’t many free templates available, we appreciated that they were placed together so you can find them easily. 

Why We Picked It 

Add text to images using customizable presets or create looks manually with a large library of fonts. Add a box behind your text in any color and any size. When you add text to photos using BeFunky, you can curve the text and add an outline or a drop shadow. There’s also a full suite of photo editing and graphic design tools. We especially liked the beautiful overlays and the helpful previews of each which minimized clicking. 

Bottom Line

BeFunky doesn’t have as many free assets as PhotoDirector or Picsart, but enough to add text to images in a variety of ways. However, you can’t draw text on images as there aren’t any drawing tools or brushes. Also, there are very few title presets. 

BeFunky has a lot of beginner support. For instance, a box pops up every time you click on a feature to explain it and offer helpful links. However, it got annoying very quickly. There is an information button next to each tool that opens the information box, so we wish BeFunky would let us choose when we want to see it. 

6. PhotoPad - Best for Resizing Images

Compatibility: Mac, Windows

G2 Rating: 4.1/5

Text Tools: 4/5

Price: Free
*Premium versions available for $50 for Home, $60 for Pro, or $3.33/month for unlimited updates

Key Features

• Touch-Up Tools: Beautify portraits with red-eye removal, a teeth whitener, and spot removal. 
• Regional Effects: Use a paintbrush to apply an effect to only part of an image
• HDR Images: Combine images of different exposures into one HDR image

Who It’s For

PhotoPad is a beginner-friendly photo editor with excellent image resizing features. If you need to blow up images to print, or you want to resize for different social media platforms, PhotoPad is a worthy option. PhotoPad uses AI-powered tools like Super Resolution and Liquid Resize to resize and upscale your photos with zero quality loss.

Why We Picked It 

You can easily add text to photos with PhotoPad’s included clipart and drawing tools. You can also type captions and add as many text layers as necessary, then format text in all the usual ways. Add text to photo collages using a pre-set grid or choose the freeform layout option. You can also remove the background of images and replace it with another image, a color/pattern, or transparency, then add text to images to create an invitation or flyer. 

Bottom Line

PhotoPad is a great free photo editor for beginners, and a solid choice if you need to add text to images. It is not only easy to use but provides plenty of tutorials and learning tools for those who need extra help. We do not recommend it, however, for professionals to add text to photos, as it has a scaled-back feature set and is missing some pro-level tools. 

7. GIMP – Best Open-Source Editor

Image from GIMP.

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Text Tools: 3.5/5

Price: Free

Key Features

• Wide Font Selection: Put text on images with a variety of fonts from TrueType, OpenType, and FreeType
• Graphic Design Elements: Produces icons, graphical design elements, and art 
• Advanced Photo Retouching: Clone, healing, and perspective tools 

Who It’s For

GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is our choice for the best 100% free and open-source editor that lets you quickly add text to images. The primary text tool is easy to use: you just select the text editor, click on the photo, and start typing. You can then manipulate the text alignment, font, size, color, etc.

Why We Picked It 

In addition to placing text on images, GIMP has many features and functionalities that are created and maintained by a large community of volunteer developers. For example, it has numerous image manipulation tools, including brushes, gradients, color correction, noise softening, and more. You can even use it to make posters and collages, which is a nice feature.

Bottom Line

While GIMP is an excellent choice for an open-source editor, it does have some drawbacks. You can add text to images, but the tools are slightly basic. It lacks advanced text editing functionalities, which severely limits your options.  

8. Inkscape – Best for Linux Users

Image from Inkscape.

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux

TechRadar Rating: 4/5

Text Tools: 3.5/5

Price: Free

Key Features

• Drawing Tools & Brushes: Includes a pencil tool, pen tool, and calligraphy tool 
• Color Picker Tool: Transfer color from one part of your image to another
• Path Insetting & Outsetting: Includes dynamic and linked offset objects

Who It’s For

Inkscape is another free, open-source editor for image manipulation. It’s our top choice for Linux users to place text on images because it’s the only system compatible with the new Version 1 (in alpha). The text tool is rudimentary: For single-line text, select the Text icon, click on the image, and begin typing. You can then edit the size, font, style, color, etc. You can also add text to images using multi-line text, kerning, letter spacing, and line spacing adjustments.

Why We Picked It 

The best part about using Inkscape is the editor’s ability to create scalable vector graphics (SVG images). The open-source software has a robust community of developers who collaborate and revise the code, which means it’s continually improving. If you frequently upload pictures to the web, you may want to try Inkscape since its SVG images are much smaller than the traditional bitmap.

Bottom Line

Inkscape lets you quickly add text to images, but its text tool could use some advancement. While it’s a popular tool for creating SVG images, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The editor is particularly buggy on Macs, and the newest version is only compatible with Linux. In addition, the user interface is complex and has a steep learning curve. We recommend Inkscape for Linux users, but for Windows/Mac users, PhotoDirector is a better choice.

9. PhoXo – Best for Beginners

Image from dotTech.

Compatibility: Windows

Softpedia Rating: 3.5/5

Text Tools: 3.5/5

Price: Free

Key Features

• Selection Tools: Marquee, lasso, and magic wand help you select part of an image to edit
• Layer Editing: Powerful layer management with drag-and-drop operations
• Brushes: Includes pen, brush, eraser, and clone

Who It’s For

PhoXo is Windows-compatible software you can download for free. The interface only takes a few minutes to learn, making it our top choice for beginners. The website has many resources, including free clip art, tutorials, and templates for editing photos. It is simple to add text to images: just click on the icon and start typing. Then, you can add shadows, gradients, blurs, ripples, and more. 

Why We Picked It 

Many people liken it to an advanced version of Microsoft Paint, and we agree, as it has more editing tools, effects, and features. In addition to its tools that add text to photos, PhoXo has all the basic features of a free photo editor. For example, it allows batch processing for watermarked photos and has over 50 photo effects. You’ll also find photo enhancement tools, including retouch, glow, sepia, and red-eye removal.

Bottom Line

If you have no experience placing text on images, then PhoXo is a good choice. It has an interface with only essential editing tools, and it’s easy to add text to photos and get creative with different effects. However, unlike our top choice PhotoDirector, it won’t grow with you as your skills develop, and it is not updated very often (the last release was in 2019). 

What are Different Ways to Add Text to Images?

Whether you edit pictures for fun or as a professional photographer, knowing how to add text to photos is a valuable skill to have in your editor’s toolbox. The most common way to add text to photos is with a text overlay, which creates a text box with words that lay over the top of the original image. Many programs also allow you to drag and drop text blocks.

You can also manipulate the color, font, style, and shape of your text or add effects like blur, shadow, glitch, and bokeh, as well as change the color gradient or transparency. The most common reasons to put text on images include business marketing, social media, school projects, professional image enhancement, scrapbooking, collage-making, or just for fun.

How to Choose the Best Editor to Add Text to Images

While all of the options on our list will let you add text to images, they each come with different sets of tools and ways to do so. To help you find the right editor on our list to add text to photos, we’ve listed a few things to look for. 

System Requirements

Finding the system requirements for each option will help narrow down your options pretty quickly. If your computer doesn’t have the right specifications, OS, or available RAM to effectively use the product, then don’t bother considering it. 

Something to think about is whether you want to use a completely online program or a downloadable photo editor. Online editors won’t take up space on your computer (although some sites can use a lot of power and cause your computer to run slowly while in use). They are a good choice if you want to edit back and forth on your mobile device and desktop. However, online options require WiFi and a strong internet connection. Editors that are optimized for PC or Mac can be used offline and handle more powerful tasks, such as RAW image processing. 

Features

We know you need to add text to photos, but are you looking for pre-set styles or specific fonts? Do you require a pen tool to write text on images in your own hand? Do you want to animate the text? 

Chances are, you would like to do more than just add text to photos. All of the items on our list are full photo editors as well, and all offer some unique features. Make a list of features you consider deal-breakers and only consider editors that have them.  

Skill-Level

Choosing an editor to add text to images that matches your skill level is important. Beginners can get frustrated using difficult tools and may abandon the editor altogether. Conversely, pros who use beginner-level tools find they don’t have the features and precise control they need. 

How We Test the Editors to Add Text to Images on This List

We want you to rest assured our rankings aren’t arbitrary. A lot goes into testing and rating the editors that place text on images on our list. Read below to learn more about the process. 

Test the Text Tools of Each Product

We tried out all the available text tools to add text to images and manipulated the text in many different ways. An editor could be highly rated overall, but if we couldn’t add text to images easily and in a variety of ways, it didn’t make our list. 

Tested Other Features

Next, we tried all the other features besides the ones that add text to photos. This gave us a better idea of the product overall so we could recommend who would benefit from using it, and at what skill level. These tests are done in a controlled environment, with the same people using the same computers for each to offer a fair, head-to-head comparison. 

Check Outside Reviews

To help us remain impartial, and eliminate any user errors on our end, we scour outside reviews from both seasoned critics and real users. We want to make sure our findings aren’t way off the mark. We also include an outside review site’s rating as part of our ranking system. We choose a review or rating we feel is a fair representation of the product. 

Best Free Editors to Add Text to Images Comparison Chart

How to Add Text to Images With PhotoDirector

PhotoDirector makes it effortless to add text to photos. Just follow these simple steps to add text to images using the Layers mode:

1. Download and install PhotoDirector by clicking the link below.
2. Import your photos.
3. Open the Edit tab.
4. Click the Text Tool icon on the right toolbar.
5. Click on the image where you want to add your text layer and start typing.

6. Use the Text Editor to change the font, style, color, etc.
7. Click the Save/Share button on the bottom left to apply your changes to your photo.

If you want to learn more, check out this guide for how to add text to photos using PhotoDirector.

Download the Best Editor to Add Text to Images for Free

All the photo editors we reviewed are great options to add text to images for free. You can add  text to photos by typing or using overlays, plus add stickers, apply different effects, and edit your images in various unique ways. However, not every editor on our list had advanced editing options and a user-friendly interface like PhotoDirector, our top overall choice.

PhotoDirector has multiple options to add text to photos and endless customizations, including effects, stickers, templates, and layer editing. In addition, PhotoDirector has AI technology and advanced features, like sky replacement, animation tools, object removal, retouching, masking, blending, and more.

Are you ready to get started and add text to photos? Download PhotoDirector right now by clicking on the button below.