GIMP is, or at least has been enough of a match for most of what PhotoShop did
Yes, if you can figure out how to get it to do anything.
Photoshop is difficult to get to do anything clever for a newcomer, but GIMP makes even relatively straightforward tasks opaque and the help is a programmer's idea of what is needed rather than a proper user guide.
Much better than it was. A long way yet to go in the UI and workflow/tool presentation fronts before beginners can pick it up and run with it easily.
And yes, I use both GIMP and Photoshop.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
