GIMP has an odd workflow. I couldn't tell you the amount of times I have done the specific sequence of Select -> Select.Grow -> Select.Border -> (optional)Select.Feather -> manually fill in selection with active brush. If you ran an ellipse select while holding shift for step 1, that would be one of the better ways to draw a circular outline in GIMP lmao
Plus the number of times I've run a 0.5 size Gaussian Blur to soften the noise after running another filter
Photo Pea is where it's at. Browser based Photoshop clone. Unless you're doing art, then go with Krita.
Gimp is needlessly unintuitive. I've used a ton of programs since I was 10 - I've ran Paint Shop Pro (JASC days), Corel Painter, Photoshop (all versions since 7), Krita, Inkscape, a tiny program called Paintstorm Studio, various Oekakis when those were a thing, paint tool SAI, and now Procreate. I have NEVER seen a program weirder than GIMP. People defend GIMP with the old "just because it's not Photoshop doesn't mean it's bad". My dude I've used programs that were entirely in Japanese and they made more sense than GIMP. The way the tools function and where they're located makes no sense.
And now Krita does 99% of everything you'd need GIMP for as the average person (cropping, filters, a bit of editing). There's not a good reason to get GIMP. I'm genuinely confused because the features are there, I'm not sure why they don't reskin the damn thing already.
Thing is.
I've used GIMP for the better part of the last 15 years...
Now everything else makes no sense. I tried Kita multiple times already and it never works out and I go back to GIMP.
GIMP broke me, rebuilt me and made into one of their own.