Alternatives to gThumb
An open-source image viewer and browser for the GNOME desktop on Linux. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
gThumb
An open-source image viewer and browser for the GNOME desktop on Linux.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as gThumb.
Geeqie
Browse and organize images with a Unix desktop viewer.
Geeqie is an open-source viewer for Linux and Unix-like systems that inspects image collections without importing them into a database, with no dependency on the GNOME desktop.
Loupe
GNOME's default image viewer, with metadata display and quick crop, rotate and flip edits.
Loupe is GNOME's default image viewer with metadata display and quick crop, rotate and flip edits, offering a simpler interface with fewer browsing and sorting features.
Eye of GNOME
The classic GNOME image viewer, with a straightforward interface and support for plugins.
Eye of GNOME is the classic GNOME viewer with plugin support, lighter than gThumb and focused on viewing with little editing.
Gwenview
KDE's image viewer for browsing collections of images, with simple editing and annotation tools.
Gwenview is KDE's image viewer with basic crop, resize and red-eye edits and built-in annotation, and it integrates best with the KDE Plasma desktop rather than GNOME.
nomacs
A fast image viewer that opens RAW and PSD files and can show the same picture in two synchronised windows.
nomacs adds Windows and macOS builds, opens RAW and PSD files and synchronises two windows, though its RAW support depends on how the build was compiled.
XnView MP
Views, converts and organises images in more than five hundred formats, free for personal use.
XnView MP reads over five hundred formats with batch conversion and tagging on Windows, macOS and Linux, but it is closed source and commercial use requires a paid licence.
Shotwell
A photo manager for the GNOME desktop that imports, organises and makes simple edits to photos.
Shotwell shifts from folder browsing to an imported photo library on the GNOME desktop, with simple enhancement tools for quick fixes.
Ristretto
A simple, fast image viewer developed as part of the Xfce desktop environment for Linux.
Ristretto is a lighter open-source viewer from the Xfce project, offering viewing only with no editing or library features.
Also worth comparing
These listings name gThumb as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
FastStone Image Viewer
A fast Windows image browser, converter and editor covering every common format including HEIC, WebP and camera raw.
gThumb is an open source image viewer and browser for the GNOME desktop, so switching means moving to Linux, and it lacks FastStone's Windows batch tools.
Fotocx
A free Linux photo editor and collection manager released under the GPL version 3.
gThumb is an open-source GNOME image viewer and browser for sorting photos in local folders, lighter on editing than Fotocx's combined editor and manager.
Koko
A KDE image gallery app for browsing photo albums on Linux desktops and mobile devices.
gThumb is an open-source GNOME image viewer and browser for sorting photos in local folders on the Linux desktop, with no mobile version noted.
PhotoQt
An image viewer with an uncluttered interface and more than 140 supported formats, plus photo spheres, live photos and map views.
gThumb is a GPL-licensed GNOME image viewer and browser for Linux that works on local folders, with less emphasis on unusual formats and maps.
PicView
Fast keyboard-driven image viewer for Windows and macOS.
gThumb is an open-source GNOME image viewer and browser that works on local folders, but it runs only on Linux.
qView
A minimal image viewer that opens instantly and gets out of the way, with no interface beyond the picture.
gThumb is an open-source viewer and browser for sorting photos on the GNOME desktop, but it runs only on Linux.
Xviewer
Linux Mint's simple image viewer, built on gdk-pixbuf and designed to work across desktops.
gThumb is a GNOME viewer and browser that adds photo sorting on local folders, making it a fuller tool than Xviewer while remaining Linux only.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
digiKam
A photo manager built for libraries of a hundred thousand images, with face recognition, batch processing and heavy metadata support.
KPhotoAlbum
A KDE desktop app for tagging, describing and quickly searching large personal photo collections.
ImageGlass
A fast image viewer that opens the formats Windows still argues about: WebP, JXL, HEIC, AVIF, SVG, HDR and raw.
