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.
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.
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.
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.
Why people leave Krita
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Image editing checklist (16 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Image editing checklist | Krita | Photopea | Photoshop | GIMP | Pixelmator Pro | Affinity Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Layers | ||||||
| Non-destructive editing | ||||||
| RAW support | ||||||
| CMYK support | ||||||
| PSD compatibility (open / save) | ||||||
| Content-aware / AI fill | ||||||
| Vector tools included | ||||||
| Batch processing | ||||||
| Plugins ecosystem | ||||||
| Runs in browser | ||||||
| GPU acceleration | ||||||
| Scripting / macros |
Every fact and feature listed for Krita is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License GPL-3.0 verified 2026-07-11
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007
https://github.com/KDE/krita/blob/master/COPYING -
Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, Android verified 2026-07-11
Operating System: Windows 8.1 or higher / macOS 10.14 / Linux.
https://krita.org/en/download/ -
Status active verified 2026-07-11
Hot on the heels of Krita 5.3.2, we're releasing Krita 5.3.2.1.
https://krita.org/en/posts/2026/krita-5.3.2.1-released/ -
Pricing model Free verified 2026-07-11
a free and open source application
https://krita.org/en/download/ -
Layers Yes verified 2026-07-11
In addition to painting, Krita comes with vector, filter, group, and file layers.
https://krita.org/en/features/ -
Non-destructive editing Partial verified 2026-07-11
Unlike applying a filter to a section of a paint layer directly, filter masks do not permanently alter the original image.
https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/layers_and_masks/filter_masks.html -
RAW support Partial verified 2026-07-11
Krita RAW Import Filter
https://github.com/KDE/krita/blob/master/plugins/impex/raw/krita_raw_import.json -
CMYK support Partial verified 2026-07-11
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.
https://docs.krita.org/en/general_concepts/colors/color_models.html -
PSD compatibility (open / save) Yes verified 2026-07-11
Krita supports loading and saving raster layers, blending modes, layer styles, vector shapes, text layers, layer groups, and transparency masks from PSD.
https://docs.krita.org/en/general_concepts/file_formats/file_psd.html -
Content-aware / AI fill Partial verified 2026-07-11
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
https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/tools/smart_patch.html -
Vector tools included Yes verified 2026-07-11
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.
https://docs.krita.org/en/user_manual/vector_graphics.html -
Batch processing Partial verified 2026-07-11
With this we can make dockers, perform menial tasks on a lot of different files and even write our own exporters.
https://docs.krita.org/en/user_manual/python_scripting/introduction_to_python_scripting.html -
Plugins ecosystem Partial verified 2026-07-11
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.
https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/preferences/python_plugin_manager.html -
GPU acceleration Yes verified 2026-07-11
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.
https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/preferences/display_settings.html -
Scripting / macros Yes verified 2026-07-11
Python is a scripting language, that can be used to automate tasks.
https://docs.krita.org/en/user_manual/python_scripting/introduction_to_python_scripting.html
FAQ
Yes. Photopea, GIMP and Affinity Photo have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
GIMP — every license claim links its source.