As the old adage goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. The saying increasingly holds water in the domain of free software, as various free utilities shut down because their owners simply can no longer pay the site hosting costs associated with a website.

Recently a thread on the popular Reddit site looked asked the question “What free software is so good you can’t believe it’s available for free?”.

It is impossible to get consensus on answers to this sort of question but we’ll take a look at the top 10. Each of these received at least one thousand Reddit upvotes. At the time of this writing there were 43 items meeting that criterion.

Topping the list is the widely used navigation app, Google Maps with its satellite imagery, street maps, 360° panoramic views, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for various means of transportation. Google Maps is equally popular on desktop and mobile.

In second place is a mainstay in many school computer courses, 3D modelling software package Blender. First released back in 1998, it is available for both Windows and Mac platforms.

Next we have video playback utility VLC, from videolan.org. VLC is known for its extensive complement of video codecs, the software that handles various video formats. VLC supports both major desktop operating systems and is also available for iOS and Android mobile platforms. If VLC can’t handle a video file you throw at it then it’s unlikely you will be able to play it anywhere else.

I’m not sure why it is on the list but the number 4 spot is taken by the Windows Snipping and Screen Capture tool. There’s no denying its utility but I’m not sure it should be considered “free” seeing as it is part of an operating system that is itself not free.

Midway through the top 10 “I can’t believe it’s free” list we find Space Engine: space exploration simulator (spaceengine.org), a realistic virtual universe you can explore from your desktop or laptop. Windows OS only. Space Engine uses real data from interplanetary exploration satellites for solar system imagery. Travel from star to star, from galaxy to galaxy, landing on any planet, moon, or asteroid, and if you wish, explore its landscape.

In sixth spot we find the world’s most widely consulted encyclopedia,Wikipedia. Often lambasted by educators, it has long ago left well behind the likes of the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica. Created by Jimmy Wales and others back in 2001, Wikipedia’s English version passed the five million articles mark in 2015. Today, around 12 per cent of Wikipedia’s articles are in English, reflecting the growth of other language versions of the popular service.

Seventh on the list we find music notation utility MuseScore (musescore.org), available for Windows and Mac as well as for Android and iOS. MuseScore started as a hobby for Werner Schweer in Germany in 2002 and soon grew into a large open source project. On its site Musescore says that the product is “powerful, and easy-to-use music notation software (used) to create high-quality sheet music, with audio score playback for results that look and sound beautiful.”

Another sound utility shows up in eighth spot.Audacity is a small footprint utility for audio software for multi-track recording and editing. It has been popular in schools for many years. Available for both Mac and Windows desktops.

If VLC really can’t handle your video playback needs, or if you need to make a conversion in order to post a clip to a social media site that only permits certain formats then Handbrake is your go-to tool. Find it at handbrake.fr and use for converting video from nearly any format to a wide range of modern, widely supported codecs.

Finally in tenth spot we find Zotero, billed as “your personal research assistant.” Available for Mac and Windows. Zotero is software that improves the collection, management, and saving of bibliographic information about the items found on the Web. It integrates with word processing software to help generate citations as you write.

There you have it. Ten free applications, as voted to the top of a recent list by Reddit users. Perhaps you will find a gem or two in this set, or possibly in the full list which you can reach at goo.gl/y7kpqr. (Ironically, Google will be shutting down its free link shortener service next year!)

Oh, lest I forget, and hoping to head off a complaint letter or two, many of these tools are also available in the Linux format. This is especially true of the open source projects created by teams of volunteers around the world.

Have a favourite free tool not mentioned here? Let me know and perhaps we will add it to a future list.

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