Recently I was checking one of my favorite web sites, Lifehacker and ran across this gem - Alternative To.  Alternative To is a listing of free or low cost alternatives to expensive commercial software applications.  Generally the "alternates" are equal or in some cases better then their commercial counterparts.

Alternates To is agnostic toward operating systems with listings for Windows, Mac, Linux and web based software solutions.

If, like me, you are gun-shy about spending money on software these days, take a trip over to Alternate To and check it out.