Tried use GIMP a few times, but the standards feels way too different from Photoshop.
Like basically everything.
I’m not a designer, but I use such tools once in a while to make some images, and GIMP is nearly impossible to use for me.
Currently I’m sticking with Photopea on browser.
I gave up on GIMP because of this too. I tried to learn, but learning another completely new software is still better than learning GIMP. For both painting and photo manipulation, Krita feels smoother.
I could recommend darktable, if I may.
Yes, Darktable is great. I use that too.