ArtCraft review: is it safe and free?
The ArtCraft Craft apps (PhotoCraft, GridCraft, CADCraft and nine more) are free and open source, and the official downloads come from GitHub releases with published checksums. They are also early software: their makers call them pre-alpha to alpha. Here is what we read, what we tested, and what we did not check. Facts read on 2026-10-14.
The short answer
- Free: yes for the Craft apps. All 12 repositories ship
LICENSE-MITandLICENSE-APACHEfiles, and the READMEs describe a dual MIT / Apache-2.0 license. No account is needed to use them on AnyEdit. - Safe: the source is public, the official releases list SHA-256 checksums, and the project says its installers are signed. That is a good start, not a guarantee, and we have not audited the code.
- Ready to replace Adobe or Office: not yet for important work. Every README describes the app as early-stage. Use copies of your files.
Which “ArtCraft” do you mean?
The name covers two kinds of product. The Craft apps are the 13 desktop apps listed on getartcraft.com/apps: image, vector, video, RAW photos, PDF, motion graphics, page layout, interface design, documents, audio, slides, CAD and spreadsheets. AnyEdit hosts the browser builds of 12 of them (FigCraft, the interface design app, is not on AnyEdit). ArtCraft itself, at github.com/storytold/artcraft, is a separate app for AI image and video generation. This review is about the Craft apps. The official ArtCraft Launcher installs and updates all of them.
Is ArtCraft free?
- All 12 Craft app repositories on GitHub contain
LICENSE-MITandLICENSE-APACHE(read 2026-10-14), for example PhotoCraft and GridCraft. The READMEs describe the license as MIT and Apache-2.0 (either one). - The official apps page calls the apps “open source” and “free to use”. We found no paid tier for the Craft apps on that page.
- The separate ArtCraft AI studio has optional paid credit plans on getartcraft.com/pricing. Its footnote says it can be used without a subscription. That is not what this page reviews.
Is ArtCraft safe?
What we can point to, with the source for each:
- Public source. Every app is a public repository under github.com/storytold. Anyone can read or build it.
- Official downloads and checksums. Each app’s README sends you to its page on getartcraft.com or to its GitHub release. The latest release of all 12 apps includes a
SHA256SUMS.txtfile (checked with the GitHub API on 2026-10-14). The ArtCraft Launcher’s README says it checks each download against those checksums. - Signing, as the project states it. The READMEs say installers and executables are code-signed and that macOS apps are signed and notarized. We did not check the signatures ourselves.
- Telemetry. The READMEs of LightCraft, PdfCraft, EffectCraft, DesignCraft and GridCraft say there is no telemetry. The other seven do not mention it, which is not the same as saying there is none. The official apps page says everything runs locally on your own files, with “no cloud round-trips”.
- Security policy. Only the PhotoCraft repository has a
SECURITY.md. It says to treat files as potentially malicious and does not list a private reporting channel. We found none in the other 11. - Not audited. We have not reviewed the source or the binaries. Early software can have bugs that lose or damage a file, so keep backups and edit copies.
What this means for the browser versions on AnyEdit
- We host unmodified web builds. Your file is read by code running on your device, and our server code only serves the editor files and passes site statistics on (see our privacy page). Open your browser’s Network tab to confirm that your file is never uploaded.
- The AnyEdit pages around the editor use Google Analytics, our own OpenPanel statistics and Google Fonts. We did not audit every request the engines themselves make; in our start-up test the only odd one we noted was PhotoCraft asking for an optional font list that does not exist.
- The RAW photo editor keeps its library in your browser’s storage, which can be cleared. Keep your original photos.
What each app replaces, and how mature it is
The stage and telemetry columns are the project’s own words from each README (2026-10-14). They are claims, not our test results.
| App | Replaces | Stage (README) | Telemetry (README) | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PhotoCraft | Photoshop | Early alpha | Not mentioned | Photo editor |
| VectorCraft | Illustrator | Alpha | Not mentioned | Vector editor |
| FilmCraft | Premiere Pro | Young and moving fast | Not mentioned | Video editor |
| LightCraft | Lightroom | Young and moving fast | Says no telemetry | RAW photo editor |
| PdfCraft | Acrobat | Alpha | Says no telemetry | PDF editor |
| EffectCraft | After Effects | Young and moving fast | Says no telemetry | Motion graphics editor |
| DesignCraft | InDesign | Pre-alpha | Says no telemetry | Page layout editor |
| WordCraft | Word | Alpha | Not mentioned | Document editor |
| SoundCraft | Pro Tools | Pre-alpha | Not mentioned | Audio editor |
| DeckCraft | PowerPoint | Early development | Not mentioned | Slides editor |
| CADCraft | AutoCAD | Early development | Not mentioned | CAD editor |
| GridCraft | Excel | Alpha | Says no telemetry | Spreadsheet editor |
What we tested
Start-up and simple-edit checks ran on 2026-10-12 with the engine version shown. The .pptx, .svg and .mov checks ran on 2026-10-13 on the version online then (DeckCraft 0.6.1, VectorCraft 0.10.0, FilmCraft 0.7.2); the .pdf check is from 2026-10-12. Where a row says Not tested yet, we have not run it. Details are on each tool page and in the format guides.
| App | Tested version | Result per check |
|---|---|---|
| PhotoCraft | 0.7.0 | Editor startsWorks New document and brush strokeWorks Open a .psd fileNot tested yet Open a .tiff fileWorks Save or export a fileWorks |
| VectorCraft | 0.9.0 | Editor startsWorks New document and a shapeWorks Open an .svg fileWorks Open an .ai fileNot tested yet |
| FilmCraft | 0.6.0 | Editor startsWorks Play the demoWorks Import a video fileWorks Export a videoWorks |
| LightCraft | 0.6.0 | Editor startsWorks Adjust exposureWorks Import a RAW fileNot tested yet Export a developed photoNot tested yet |
| PdfCraft | 0.6.0 | Editor startsWorks Open a PDFWorks Combine, split or save a PDFNot tested yet |
| EffectCraft | 0.8.0 | Editor startsPartial Play the demo compositionWorks Import a Lottie fileNot tested yet Render a fileNot tested yet |
| DesignCraft | 0.6.0 | Editor startsWorks New document and a frameWorks Open an .idml fileNot tested yet |
| WordCraft | 0.5.0 | Editor startsWorks Type textWorks Open a .docx fileNot tested yet Open a .doc fileWorks |
| SoundCraft | 0.5.0 | Editor startsWorks Play the demo sessionWorks Import a .wav fileNot tested yet Bounce to a fileNot tested yet |
| DeckCraft | 0.5.0 | Editor startsWorks Edit a titleWorks Open a .pptx fileWorks |
| CADCraft | 0.5.0 | Editor startsWorks Draw a lineWorks Open a .dxf fileNot tested yet Save as .dxfNot tested yet |
| GridCraft | 0.5.0 | Editor startsWorks Type text and numbers, enter a formulaWorks Open an .xlsx fileNot tested yet Save as .xlsxNot tested yet |
All twelve use a desktop layout. On a 390 px wide phone screen none of them worked fully in our test (see each tool page). Use a computer.
ArtCraft MCP: can AI agents drive the apps?
Yes. The READMEs of all 12 apps describe an MCP server (Model Context Protocol, the standard AI assistants use to call tools). It runs from the command-line tool, for example the GridCraft README shows claude mcp add gridcraft -- gridcraft-cli mcp. PdfCraft’s README says its MCP server is opt-in: it never starts on its own and opens no network port. MCP comes with the desktop and command-line builds; the browser versions on AnyEdit do not provide it. We have not tried any MCP server.
Download or open online
AnyEdit does not host or forward installers. Get desktop builds from the official page getartcraft.com/apps, from the ArtCraft Launcher release, or from each app’s GitHub release below. Release versions read 2026-10-14.
| App | Version | Official page | GitHub | In your browser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PhotoCraft | 0.8.2 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open photo editor |
| VectorCraft | 0.10.0 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open vector editor |
| FilmCraft | 0.7.2 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open video editor |
| LightCraft | 0.7.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open raw photo editor |
| PdfCraft | 0.7.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open pdf editor |
| EffectCraft | 0.9.2 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open motion graphics editor |
| DesignCraft | 0.7.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open page layout editor |
| WordCraft | 0.6.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open document editor |
| SoundCraft | 0.6.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open audio editor |
| DeckCraft | 0.6.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open slides editor |
| CADCraft | 0.6.2 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open cad editor |
| GridCraft | 0.6.1 | getartcraft.com | Release · Source | Open spreadsheet editor |
Should you use it?
For quick jobs, a second opinion on a file, or a tool that costs nothing and needs no account, yes: open it in your browser or install it, and test it on a copy. For client work, print production or files you cannot recreate, keep your current software until the app has passed your own checks. The suite overview and each tool page list known issues and when the original is still the better choice.
Sources
All read on 2026-10-14.
- Project READMEs, license files and latest releases: github.com/storytold/<app> for the 12 apps, plus craft-launcher and artcraft.
- getartcraft.com/apps and getartcraft.com/pricing.
- Our own tests: dated and versioned in the tables above, and on the tool and format pages.
- AnyEdit is an independent site. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by ArtCraft, Adobe, Microsoft, Autodesk or Avid. Product names are used only to describe what each app can replace and which files it can open.