The main question is what do you want to accomplish with the tools? IMO, none of them are all that simple or easy to learn. It takes time and effort to understand them. I've been using Photoshop for some time and I'm still learning about it and its new features
Gimp is a decent tool but you...
Free is ok if it does the things that, say, Photoshop or Affinity do. Gimp is a decent tool, but it's not as good as Photoshop or Affinity.
I would think that if you're a serious or serious amateur photographer, you would spend the 69 bucks and get a better tool than Gimp. I'm not saying that...