Photoshop alternatives (CLOSED)

I have dissed effing Adobe long ago, and had Affinity, PaintShopPro, and Gimp, but they are all a fail, when it comes to layers.
Till now Photoshop seems to be the only tool, that does it right, but I just don't want to go back.
What I need to do:
-Select and copy a single part of an image and paste it in place.
-Transform and edit the element in the new layer
What sounds like the most easy thing fails in any other app, I've tested. 
Either the background layer is getting invisible as soon as you click the new layer element (PaintShopPro)
or the background layer always moves with the selected top layer (Affinity),
or you're lacking options like free transformation, rotation (Gimp).
It might be all available with some extra keyboard shortcut, but if I was good with keyboard shortcuts, I would have been a rich pianist by now.
And Photoshop proves, that it can be done quick and easy, but EFF Adobe!
So if anybody knows a tool that handle layers exactly the photoshop way, please let me know.
Thank you. 

Try Paint.Net

Krita is pretty good, with reasonably intuitive interface. 

Another voice for Krita. It's become quite powerful program over the years.

What about the 'legendary' Photoshop CS2?
It's old and no longer runs on Windows 11... but this version (if you read the info carefully) has a very compelling advantage

Gimp has Unified Transform Tool (their version of free transform) that you can select manually after pasting (no need of shorcut) mantaining the bounding box of the tool to your selection.

I do imagine does not work exactly like photoshop tho.

Now, trying Krita is a good option too. From your example, it does have options about what to copy and many options on how to paste (as new layer is not from Edit menu, is from Layer one).

Sometimes I use PhotoFiltre; it's free software for Windows.
I have the French version; I don't know if there's a version with English menus. It's also a good opportunity for English speakers to understand the difficulties we encounter with an interface in a language we only speak partially fluently
https://www.photofiltre-studio.com/download-en.htm

photopea is online editor clon of phohoshop https://www.photopea.com/. Although I still work with my Photoshop CS6

Every online app steals your data. 

Still use photoshop cs2 as well! been clicking on "do not register" for many years lol

Try "Photopea", it's free, browser-based and mimics Photosop's layer handling almost exactly, same select, copy, paste in place, then transform and rotate freely on the new layer. 

Also worth trying "Krita", its layer and transform tools feel closer to Photoshop than Gimp or Affinity ever did. 

For real photomanip stuff, haven't found anything as good. I use photoshop as little as possible, partly because I have to reboot and log into windows to use, and partly because a lot of what I used to do in photoshop, I figured out how do with free stuff like krita now, and stuff like painting is better in krita now that I am used to it. There is some things I haven't figured out how to do as well, like touching up photos fast. The clone tool in krita is just not as simple as heal brush in photoshop for quick skin retouches. It doesn't seem to be able to blend as well no matter what I try.

Gimp girl over here. I also use Paint.net a lot. But as far as Gimp, if you wanna make it feel photoshopy, there's a community plugin for that: https://github.com/Diolinux/Photogimp if you want to give gimp a second chance.

Thank you everybody, for your tips.
I've tried, tried them all. 
My conclusion is as much as I hate to say it, that only photoshop is photoshop.
I am running very quickly into walls with every tool like Paint Shop Pro Gimp, Krita or Affinity.
Didn't use in Browser tools, for they are a strikt nogo for me.
In fact, I wonder if Photoshop would be still Photoshop with all its AI cr@p.
I will keep searching...