# Alternatives to Krita

Open source digital painting.

Krita ranks #4 of 10 in Image editing, with an Alt Score of 70. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, free and available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. 11 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/krita/
Category: Image editing

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Krita is built for concept artists, illustrators, and comic/manga creators who want a dedicated digital painting tool, from hobbyists to working professionals, on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
- **What you get**: Krita is a free, open-source painting application with over 100 built-in brushes across nine brush engines, stroke stabilizers, drawing assistants, and layer/selection management. It includes vector tools and text support for comic panels and word bubbles, PSD compatibility, HDR and color-managed painting via LCMS/OpenColorIO, and an animation timeline with onion skinning and tweening. A Python scripting API allows further customization.
- **How it works**: You create a canvas and paint using customizable brush engines and stabilized strokes, organizing work in layers with selections, vector shapes, and text as needed. For animation, the same canvas becomes a timeline where frames are drawn, onion-skinned, and tweened before exporting to video or image sequences.

## Profile

- **License**: GPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Starts at**: ?
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Photopea](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/photopea.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Web |
| 2 | [Photoshop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/photoshop.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Web |
| 3 | [GIMP](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gimp.md) | 74 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [Pixelmator Pro](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pixelmator-pro.md) | 70 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 5 | [Affinity Photo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/affinity-photo.md) | 62 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS |
| 6 | [Luminar Neo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/luminar-neo.md) | 62 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 7 | [Polarr](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/polarr.md) | 51 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, Windows |
| 8 | [Paint.NET](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/paintnet.md) | 48 | Proprietary | Windows |
| 9 | [PhotoScape X](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/photoscape-x.md) | 40 | Proprietary | macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Image editing checklist | Krita | Photopea | Photoshop | GIMP | Pixelmator Pro | Affinity Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Subscription | Free | One-time | Freemium |
| Starts at | ? | $5/month | $22.99/month | ? | $49.99 | ? |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android | Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux | macOS | Windows, macOS, iOS |
| Layers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Non-destructive editing | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RAW support | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| CMYK support | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? | Yes |
| PSD compatibility (open / save) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content-aware / AI fill | Partial | Partial | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Vector tools included | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Batch processing | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Plugins ecosystem | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Runs in browser | ? | Yes | Partial | No | No | No |
| GPU acceleration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | ? |
| Scripting / macros | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? |

## Sources

Sources for Krita. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: GPL-3.0 — <https://github.com/KDE/krita/blob/master/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android — <https://krita.org/en/download/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Operating System: Windows 8.1 or higher / macOS 10.14 / Linux.”
- **Status**: active — <https://krita.org/en/posts/2026/krita-5.3.2.1-released/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Hot on the heels of Krita 5.3.2, we're releasing Krita 5.3.2.1.”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://krita.org/en/download/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “a free and open source application”
- **Layers**: Yes — <https://krita.org/en/features/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “In addition to painting, Krita comes with vector, filter, group, and file layers.”
- **Non-destructive editing**: Partial — <https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/layers_and_masks/filter_masks.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Unlike applying a filter to a section of a paint layer directly, filter masks do not permanently alter the original image.”
- **RAW support**: Partial — <https://github.com/KDE/krita/blob/master/plugins/impex/raw/krita_raw_import.json> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Krita RAW Import Filter”
- **CMYK support**: Partial — <https://docs.krita.org/en/general_concepts/colors/color_models.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key. This is the color space of printers. Unlike computers, printers have these four colors, and adding them all adds up to black instead of white.”
- **PSD compatibility (open / save)**: Yes — <https://docs.krita.org/en/general_concepts/file_formats/file_psd.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Krita supports loading and saving raster layers, blending modes, layer styles, vector shapes, text layers, layer groups, and transparency masks from PSD.”
- **Content-aware / AI fill**: Partial — <https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/tools/smart_patch.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The smart patch tool allows you to seamlessly remove elements from the image. It does this by letting you draw the area which has the element you wish to remove, and then it will attempt to use patter”
- **Vector tools included**: Yes — <https://docs.krita.org/en/user_manual/vector_graphics.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The Path and Polyline tool are the tools you used most often on a vector layer, as they allow you to make the most dynamic of shapes.”
- **Batch processing**: Partial — <https://docs.krita.org/en/user_manual/python_scripting/introduction_to_python_scripting.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “With this we can make dockers, perform menial tasks on a lot of different files and even write our own exporters.”
- **Plugins ecosystem**: Partial — <https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/preferences/python_plugin_manager.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The python plugin manager can be accessed from Settings ‣ Configure Krita… ‣ Python Plugin Manager. It allows you decide which of the Python Plugins are active.”
- **GPU acceleration**: Yes — <https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/preferences/display_settings.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “With a decent graphics card this should give faster feedback on brushes and tools. Also the canvas operations like Rotate, Zoom and Pan should be considerably faster.”
- **Scripting / macros**: Yes — <https://docs.krita.org/en/user_manual/python_scripting/introduction_to_python_scripting.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Python is a scripting language, that can be used to automate tasks.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/