We live in an intensely competitive era when it comes to establishing a presence for yourself online. It’s never been more important to make sure you stand out from the pack. Whether you’re setting up a YouTube gaming channel, publicising an important event, or just trying to show off your photos on social media, you simply won’t get the attention you’re looking for unless you add that extra element. Getting noticed these days takes that certain something that elevates your content above everything else.

That’s why you should be looking at platforms like Fotor. For the uninitiated, Fotor is an online HTML5-based photo editing platform that allows you to add graphics and elements to photos as well as making edits, cropping, and plenty of other photo editing-related functionality. Of course, Fotor isn’t just content with being a photo editor; it’s also a graphics repository that allows you to create channel art, promotional material, and more.

Of course, speaking of competition, it’s difficult to put one’s head above the parapet if one is making software such as this; competition from other fields is fierce. I sat down with the Fotor editor to see if it justifies its existence in an increasingly crowded market. After all, with major free and commercial options available, Fotor has to do something truly special to distinguish itself. Happily, that’s exactly what the software manages to do; it’s an essential bit of kit I can’t imagine myself living without now.

First, let’s talk about what Fotor can do for you as a design tool. In simple terms, it’s an online photo editor and design creator. All you need to do is load up a photo you want to edit (or choose from the sizable number of photos available with the Fotor Pro tier), click “Edit”, and you’re away. Alternately, you can design a graphic with one of the built-in templates. There are plenty to choose from, and they represent a diverse range of end products including YouTube channel art, posters, and plenty more.

When you fire up Fotor, you’ll be presented with three simple options: edit a photo, make a collage, or create a design. These three options really couldn’t be easier; they’ll all take you to the appropriate editor depending on what you want to do. If you’re creating a graphic, the Fotor editor shows you a series of templates and objects and gives you the chance to composite them together. You can also add text and other elements to spice up your graphic.

Fotor – Graphic Editor

Let’s start with the graphic editor. It’s remarkably fully-featured for an HTML5-based tool. You’ll find a wide range of templates to start with, each of which can be edited to your heart’s content. You can add new backgrounds, extra text, and other elements, as well as inserting your own custom photos if you want to. You shouldn’t have to look much further than Fotor Pro’s graphics editor if you’re looking to create a graphic; it’s professional, attractive, and incredibly user-friendly.

Impressively, some of Fotor Pro’s templates actually contain multiple slides and presets; you can use these for business presentations or portfolios. The templates are visually consistent, which gives your creation a professional look. Each graphic you create comes with a range of backgrounds you can apply, some of which are available to the basic Fotor tier and some of which are locked behind the Pro upgrade. I’d recommend opting for Pro; it’s worth it and vastly expands your options.

Fotor – Photo Editor

So Fotor’s graphic design tool has everything you could possibly want from a template-based piece of software. What about this online photo editor? Happily, Fotor excels in this area too. The photo editing software is powerful and robust, allowing for a number of different filters, editing metrics, and other options. It’s hard to imagine a professional graphic designer or photography expert not finding everything they could want in Fotor Pro’s photo editor.

Layout-wise, Fotor differs from its competitors in that its options aren’t arcanely laid out and difficult to find. Instead, you’ll find everything you want on the left-hand side as part of the editing panel. This window contains adjustment tools like cropping, editing, and rotation, as well as filters, effects, and frames you can apply. Again, the range of effects and filters is extraordinary considering Fotor’s simplicity; you’ll find everything other photo editing suites have, and at a fraction of their price.

There’s also a rather interesting “Beauty” panel, which allows you to touch up photos for imperfections and blemishes. This panel might be somewhat controversial for some, but if you find it useful, there’s a wealth of options here including applying natural-looking makeup and slimming the model of a photo. As you would expect, all of these options allow you to tinker with the intensity and scale of the effect, so you can adjust to your heart’s content. Fotor is truly a tinkerer’s paradise.

Fotor – Collage Creator

Finally, Fotor also features a collage maker. Using this feature, you can compound a group of pictures together and present them as a collage. Just like the other editors Fotor Pro features, the collage editor also contains themed presets for occasions or moods, allowing you not just to create a photo collage but also to make sure it has the appropriate emotional tone. Of course, there’s also plenty to tinker with here, too, ensuring you’ll never run out of options.

Once you have the collage style you like, you can then add custom backgrounds, drop text onto the image, or add a variety of different stickers to enhance your collage. The editor allows you to move elements around to suit your eventual creative vision, too. All in all, if you’re looking to make a collage to use as a greeting card design, for example, or to put on social media, you should find everything you could need to make a stunning collage on Fotor.

Fotor – Verdict

Fotor is a stunningly fully-featured little photo editing booth. It’s a three-in-one marvel that packs everything you could want from image creation and manipulation software into one easy-to-use HTML5-powered tool. Fotor combines versatility, user-friendliness, and power, giving you the opportunity to craft perfect photos and graphics without needing a thick phone book-sized instruction manual to do so. Full marks all round.