Every Free App You Actually Need Explained (Part 3)

The average person is quietly bleeding over $1,000 a year on software subscriptions. Adobe, Microsoft, VPNs, password managers, PDF tools. Every month, another company takes a little more from your bank account. And the moment you stop paying, some of them act like opening your own work is suddenly a premium feature. We've already done this twice, between parts 1 and 2. We replaced well over $3,000 a year in paid software. And somehow the comments still filled up with apps we hadn't covered. So this is part 3, and this batch is different. Later we'll look at the free app that's becoming a genuine threat to engineering software costing over $4,000, and the program millions of people already have installed that hackers recently used to spread malware. But first, the app that shocked everyone. Affinity. For years, Affinity was already Adobe's biggest challenger. Instead of paying every month for Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, you bought Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher once and owned them forever. Then in 2024, Canva bought Serif, the company behind Affinity. Normally, that's the exact moment a subscription appears and everyone collectively sighs. Instead, in 2025, Canva merged the three apps into one program simply called Affinity, and made it completely free on Windows and Mac, with an iPad version coming later. Not a free trial. Not a stripped-down version. The actual, professional software. Inside one app, you switch between photo editing, vector design, and page layout, the jobs normally handled by Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. For designers, freelancers, students, and small businesses, that's software worth roughly Or nearly $780 if you were paying for the full Creative Cloud suite. There are a couple of caveats. A paid Canva Pro account unlocks the newest AI features, and a few highly specialized Adobe plugin workflows still favor Adobe. But for almost everyone else, this is one of the biggest shakeups in creative software in years. Adobe spent a decade convincing people that renting creative tools every month was normal. Affinity looked at that idea and dropped the price to zero. Proton VPN Public Wi-Fi is one of those things everyone uses and nobody really trusts. Airports, coffee shops, hotels. You're connecting to a network shared with hundreds of strangers, and your traffic is passing through something you don't control. That's why VPNs got popular. Unfortunately, it's also why the internet is full of free VPNs that promise privacy while quietly making money from the exact thing they're supposed to protect. Your data. That's what makes ProtonVPN different. It's built by the same privacy-focused team behind ProtonMail, follows a strict no-logs policy, and operates under Switzerland's strong privacy laws. In other words, it isn't secretly keeping a diary of everything you do online. The real surprise is the free plan. Most free VPNs give you a few gigabytes a month before informing you that privacy now costs extra. ProtonVPN gives you unlimited data. Free forever. No cap, no trial countdown, no feeling that your privacy expires after three YouTube videos. Free users can connect through servers in around 10 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Singapore. More than enough for everyday browsing and staying protected on public Wi-Fi. The free plan does have limits. One device at a time, it auto-picks the fastest server, and premium perks like streaming unlocks and top speed are paywalled. But for everyday privacy, it's a small compromise. Considering NordVPN and ExpressVPN can run $60 to over $100 a year, ProtonVPN replaces one of the internet's most heavily advertised subscriptions without charging a cent. Most free VPNs sell the data they promise to protect. ProtonVPN chose the much stranger business model of actually protecting it. Bitwarden In Part 2, we covered KeePassXC, the password manager for people who want total control over their vault. If you liked that idea but immediately thought, I also want my passwords to just appear on all my devices, this one's for you. Meet Bitwarden. If your current system involves using the same password everywhere, adding an exclamation point when a site demands something stronger, or keeping everything in a notes file called passwords, definitely don't open. We need to talk. Bitwarden is a free, open-source password manager that stores unlimited passwords and syncs them across unlimited devices. No subscription. That's the exact feature most competitors put behind a paywall, and here it's included from day one. It also supports passkeys, stores payment cards and addresses, autofills logins, and includes two-step login. Its code is publicly auditable, and it uses zero-knowledge encryption. Your vault is locked before it ever reaches Bitwarden's servers, so even the company can't read what's inside. There's one trade-off. Because it's cloud-synced, you're still trusting Bitwarden to host it. If you want complete offline ownership, KeePassXC is still the better pick. But for everyone else, Bitwarden is hard to beat. One password offers no free plan at all, and LastPass has grown more restrictive while carrying the baggage of multiple high-profile breaches. PDF24 Creator. PDFs are supposed to make documents easier to share. Instead, they've become one of the internet's greatest sources of unnecessary frustration. Merge two files? Pay. Split a document? Pay. Compress one so it fits in an email? Somehow, also pay. Adobe looked at one of the world's most common file formats and found about 30 ways to put basic buttons behind a subscription. That's where PDF24 Creator comes in. Made by a German company with a strong privacy focus, it's completely free. No feature limits, no premium tier, no countdown expiring right before your deadline. And it does far more than its name suggests. You can merge, split, and compress PDFs, convert to and from PDF, run OCR and scan pages, add signatures, password-protect files, remove passwords from documents you own, add watermarks, rearrange pages, and edit. All from one toolkit. Best part? The desktop version works entirely offline. So your files stay on your computer instead of being uploaded to some random server. It won't match every enterprise workflow in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Adobe charges around $155 to $240 a year for Acrobat Pro. PDF24 does what 95% of people actually need for the incredibly competitive price of absolutely nothing. Local send For some reason, moving a file between two devices is still harder than it should be. iPhone to iPhone? Easy. Android to Android? Fine. But the second you involve Windows, a Mac, or anything outside the same ecosystem, people start emailing files to themselves or digging out a USB drive to move one photo. That's exactly why Local Send exists. The easiest way to describe it? Imagine AirDrop, except it doesn't care what devices you're using. Local Send is a free, open-source app that works on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iPhone. As long as both devices are on the same Wi-Fi, they discover each other automatically and send files, photos, videos — everything transfers device to device over your local network using encrypted HTTPS, with optional PIN verification. One limitation Both devices generally need to be on the same network, so it won't replace Google Drive or Dropbox for sending files across the internet. But that's not what it's for. Apple built AirDrop and mostly kept it inside Apple's walls. Local Send looked at that and said, what if everybody else got invited too? Virtual Box Ever wanted to try another operating system without risking your actual computer? Maybe you're curious about Linux, need an old version of Windows for a program that refuses to evolve, or downloaded a file suspicious enough to make you question your life choices. That's exactly what Virtual Box is for. The easiest way to describe it? It's a computer inside your computer. It runs an entirely separate operating system inside a window, completely isolated from your main PC. Experiment with Linux, run legacy Windows, test software, or intentionally break an OS just to see what happens. If everything catches fire, you delete the virtual machine and move on. Your real computer never notices. For years, virtualization software was pricey. One of Virtual Box's biggest rivals, VMware Workstation Pro, only became free in 2025. The tradeoffs? Virtual machines carry performance overhead, so they won't feel as fast as native. Gaming and heavy 3D are limited, and you'll want a decent amount of RAM since you're asking your computer to pretend it's two computers at once. Notepad++ Windows Notepad is perfectly fine, right up until you need it to do literally anything beyond plain text. Open a giant log file, edit a config, clean up messy data, or write a few lines of code, and Notepad suddenly feels like a butter knife at a construction site. That's where Notepad++ comes in. Created by Don Ho, and actively developed for nearly two decades, it's written in C++. Despite its size, it's loaded. Syntax highlighting makes code readable, code folding keeps big files organized, tabbed editing handles multiple documents at once, and its search and regular expression tools can clean up thousands of lines in seconds. For programmers, system admins, and anyone constantly editing text files, it replaces editors like Sublime Text, saving around $99 while doing everything most people need. The limitation is simple. It's Windows-only, and it isn't trying to be a full-development environment like VS Code. Windows Notepad is where text goes to be barely edited. Notepad++ is what happens when someone actually cared. Twenty years later, it's still free, still fast, and still one of the first apps many developers install. FreeCAD Remember that program I mentioned at the start, the free one now taking on $4,000 engineering software? This is it. FreeCAD. For years, FreeCAD had a frustrating reputation. People loved the idea. Then they'd spend hours building a model, change one small dimension, and watch half the design implode because of something called the topological naming problem. It was the bug every FreeCAD user eventually met. Then came FreeCAD 1.0. Released in late 2024 after years of development, it was the biggest milestone in the project's history. That infamous topological naming issue was finally fixed, making parametric models far more reliable for real engineering work. Version 1.0 also added a proper integrated assembly workbench for multi-part assemblies with joints, motion, and exploded views, alongside its sketcher, part design, and unified BIM tools with native IFC support for architecture. The learning curve is real. It still isn't as polished as SolidWorks, and its interface reminds you that engineers prioritize function over design awards. But what it does now is remarkable. SolidWorks can cost well over $4,000 a year, and Fusion 360 runs around $680. FreeCAD costs absolutely nothing. Ardor In Part 2, we covered LMMS, the perfect place to discover whether music production is your next passion, or just another hobby you'll enthusiastically abandon after three weekends. Ardor is what happens when it stops being a hobby. Ardor is a free open-source digital audio workstation for Windows, macOS, and Linux, built for serious recording, editing, and mixing. Where LMMS focused on MIDI and beat production, Ardor is designed for real instruments, vocals, podcasts, and full studio projects. It includes unlimited audio tracks and buses, non-destructive editing, unlimited undo, full automation, and broad plugin support including VST effects and instruments. One thing worth explaining is the download model. The source code is completely free and open-source. The developers ask for a small optional payment if you'd like the ready-made installer's directly from them. It's how they fund development, not a subscription, not a paywall. The downside? Ardor expects you to know, or be willing to learn, how professional audio software works. But considering ProTools, Logic Pro, and Ableton Live run anywhere from $200 to over $700, it's an incredible value. WinRAR And remember that app I mentioned at the beginning? The one you probably already have installed, that recently had a security flaw hackers were actively exploiting? Yeah, it's WinRAR. At this point, WinRAR is less of a program and more of an internet legend. For nearly 30 years, it's technically been a trial version. The trial expires and then politely keeps working forever, while occasionally suggesting that a $29 license would be a lovely idea. Somehow, almost nobody ever pays. Its job is simple. Open RAR files, compress folders, and quietly exist on millions of Windows computers. But 2025 was a reminder that software doesn't become safe just because it's familiar. A critical vulnerability known as CVE-2025-8088 let specifically crafted archive files drop malicious software into Windows startup folders the moment someone extracted them. It was actively exploited by the RomCom hacking group against targets in Europe and Canada before it was patched in WinRAR 7.13. The problem is that WinRAR doesn't automatically update, so if you installed it years ago and forgot it existed, you could still be running a vulnerable version right now. The fix is thankfully simple. Update WinRAR immediately, or just use 7-Zip, which we covered in Part 1. WinRAR is the app everyone has used and almost nobody has paid for, and 2025 was a good reminder that free forever doesn't always mean safe forever. Honorable Mentions Free Download Manager Downloading a large file shouldn't feel like negotiating with your browser. FDM is a free, open-source download manager for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Instead of one stream, it splits files into multiple segments to boost speeds when the server allows, and it supports pause and resume, browser integration, scheduling, and a built-in BitTorrent client. If you've used Internet Download Manager, it'll feel familiar. Except IDM gives you 30 days before asking for money, and FDM just keeps working. Total Commander Windows File Explorer is fine, until you need to organize hundreds of files without losing your sanity. Total Commander is a dual-pane file manager that makes copying, moving, comparing, and renaming large batches dramatically faster. With built-in archive support, batch renaming, file comparison, FTP, and enough keyboard shortcuts to make you feel like you're piloting a spaceship. And yes, like WinRAR, it's been trial software for so long that some people forget it even has a license. Every launch greets you with the legendary 1-2-3 button, and somehow that tradition has survived for decades. Add part 3 to the pile, and the numbers get genuinely ridiculous. Across all three videos, we've now replaced well over $4,000 a year in paid software. Adobe's Creative Suite, office software, professional video editors, engineering software worth thousands, music production, VPNs, PDF editors, password managers, note apps, media players, and dozens of everyday utilities. All for exactly $0. So what's the first thing you're installing? Affinity, because you're finally done paying Adobe? ProtonVPN, because you didn't know a genuinely free VPN like that existed? Or did we still miss your favorite? Because at this point, you're basically writing Part 4 in the comments. And if you somehow found Part 3 before watching Parts 1 and 2, you've skipped a lot. And I'd bet there's at least one app in the earlier videos you've never heard of. Click the video on screen, and I'll see you there.