{"slug": "gimp", "name": "GIMP", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Free, open-source raster image editor for photo retouching, image composition and drawing.", "recommenders": 18, "commenters": 47, "warners": 11, "score": 10.273, "rising": 4.73, "first": "2026-01-01", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "HN commenters like GIMP as a free, ad-free alternative to Photoshop that spares them subscription costs, and as stable software some have relied on for decades.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 18, "neutral": 14, "compare": 6, "warn": 11}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 1, 4], "listed": true, "loved": ["Free Photoshop alternative", "Long-term reliability"], "caveat": "Confusing UI", "short_quote": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions!", "icon": true, "domain": "gimp.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.gimp.org/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["GIMP"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like GIMP as a free, ad-free alternative to Photoshop that spares them subscription costs", "cites": [{"id": 799961904, "item_id": 49997619, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49997619", "by": "cpach", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are other image editors without any ads. Some are proprietary, and some are FOSS, e.g. GIMP.", "excerpt": "Well, shouldn\u2019t that be up to the original developer? He made a product and let people use it for free. But no-one is forced to use it. And there are other image editors without any ads. Some are proprietary, and some are FOSS, e.g. GIMP.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 755335824, "item_id": 47208489, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47208489", "by": "pinkmuffinere", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions!", "excerpt": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions! Thankyou maintainers!", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Interview with \u00d8yvind Kol\u00e5s, GIMP developer"}, {"id": 789250192, "item_id": 49328137, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328137", "by": "dm319", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's a great piece of software.  Best feature - not having your colours retrospectively removed from your project", "excerpt": "It's a great piece of software. Best feature - not having your colours retrospectively removed from your project [1]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/rdtodb/adobe_to_remove_pantone_colors_from_creative_cloud/", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 800075392, "item_id": 50004712, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50004712", "by": "cpach", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why don\u2019t you just install GIMP instead of using Photopea?", "excerpt": "What does that have to do with software that is financed by ads? Why don\u2019t you just install GIMP instead of using Photopea?", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}]}, {"text": ", and as stable software some have relied on for decades.", "cites": [{"id": 801074708, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 782405024, "item_id": 48900314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900314", "by": "kazinator", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using Gimp since the mid-late 1990's.", "excerpt": "I've been using Gimp since the mid-late 1990's. The first time I used it, I got it running was on a Sun SPARCStation 20 --- which was running Red Hat 2.0 Linux! I still reach for that on the rare occasion I have to do some image editing. There are some alternatives in the FOSS image editing landscape now worth checking out.", "context": "long-time Linux user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop"}, {"id": 789245616, "item_id": 49327851, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327851", "by": "bulgur999", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "an excellent piece of free software that is massively used and developed with very limited resources, doing its job really well.", "excerpt": "As usual, whenever GIMP is involved, all we get are negative, often unfounded comments about an excellent piece of free software that is massively used and developed with very limited resources, doing its job really well. There\u2019s something so pleasant about having GIMP around, efficient and so far removed from the disgusting greed that drives so many of the projects featured here.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is a confusing, clunky interface", "cites": [{"id": 789272720, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP's UX is just bad.", "excerpt": "This isn't true. There have been plenty of other applications (Corel, Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks, Krita etc) with their own workflows and keybindings that weren't confusing for users. GIMP's UX is just bad. I loathe photoshop and desperately want to like GIMP, but each time I make the attempt the friction is too much and the workflows nonsensical. I used it a few weeks ago to place two images side by side in a larger ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789268608, "item_id": 49329288, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329288", "by": "reactordev", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP's UI is sorely lacking.", "excerpt": ">\"I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years...\" That's the problem, you have a bias because you've already learned the tribal knowledge. Having to learn it from scratch, GIMP's UI is sorely lacking. While it does have the tools, the organization of them is all over the place.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 800196386, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Rotted out UI, and an absolutely incomprehensible UI convention (if any). I cannot use it and will not take the time to learn it.", "excerpt": "People are buzzing about it because it is bold experiment whose outcome may tell us extremely interesting things abut vibe coding with current-generation tools. Most particularly, can you, or can you not build large applications with pure vibe coding? And lots of speculation over whether architectural rot will be better or worse than what humans do. Because human-generated architectures rot out too (Photoshop being a", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe"}, {"id": 799723200, "item_id": 49982700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49982700", "by": "dinkleberg", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "deal with the awkwardness of GIMP and Inkscape", "excerpt": "Wow! This actually gives a pretty promising alternative to GIMP on Linux. I was resigned in my fate to just deal with the awkwardness of GIMP and Inkscape after years of the creative cloud suite. It is clearly missing much at the moment, but if they can keep going this would be amazing. All packaged as AppImages so no need for the persistent junk running on the system.", "context": "former Creative Cloud user on Linux", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adobe Creative Suite Cleanroom Port to Rust"}, {"id": 758095488, "item_id": 47380968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47380968", "by": "hnlmorg", "date": "2026-03-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the latest UI refresh (I\u2019m guessing introduced in 3.0?) completely baffles me.", "excerpt": "I use Gimp pretty sporadically but the latest UI refresh (I\u2019m guessing introduced in 3.0?) completely baffles me. It might just be that it\u2019s better tailored for graphic designers, which I\u2019m clearly not. But now I can\u2019t even figure out how to draw a square on screen. Let along anything clever.", "context": "sporadic user, not a graphic designer", "use_case": "occasional image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gimp 3.2 Released"}]}, {"text": ", and several say it still lags behind Photoshop for professional work.", "cites": [{"id": 789339888, "item_id": 49333743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49333743", "by": "jockm", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s.", "excerpt": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s. Then there is the name thing. I am *NOT* telling anyone else how to feel about it. I have no interest in relitigating it, but I am disabled and had it thrown at me as a term of hate; I just can't support a piece of software that uses it. We each have to stand up for what matters to us.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789282913, "item_id": 49330182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330182", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that", "excerpt": ">I don't understand the frequent comparisons to Blender at all, to be honest. From the very beginning it was trying to be an alternative to Photoshop, you know a software used by the professional industry, and 30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that. Whereas Blender is not just an alternative to Maya, 3DS Max and all the other options but might even be the leading software in its domain", "context": "", "use_case": "Photoshop alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 786222689, "item_id": 49138918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138918", "by": "ElemenoPicuares", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Try to find a full-time professional photographer or designer that\u2019s never tried Gimp, but immediately abandoned it.", "excerpt": "I think there\u2019s a (fixable, if difficult) reason the FOSS world contributes such a small percentage of heavily-used end-user facing tools to our software landscape. We\u2019ve got the commercial provided spanked on a lot of things, like web servers. Competitors almost stopped trying. Marketing is a way smaller reason than many people imagine\u2014it\u2019s mostly usability. See the nearly immediate mastodon mass-exodus after gettin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Free Photoshop alternative", "summary": "Recommended as a free, open-source image editor with no ads or subscriptions.", "quotes": [{"id": 755335824, "item_id": 47208489, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47208489", "by": "pinkmuffinere", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions!", "excerpt": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions! Thankyou maintainers!", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Interview with \u00d8yvind Kol\u00e5s, GIMP developer"}, {"id": 799961904, "item_id": 49997619, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49997619", "by": "cpach", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are other image editors without any ads. Some are proprietary, and some are FOSS, e.g. GIMP.", "excerpt": "Well, shouldn\u2019t that be up to the original developer? He made a product and let people use it for free. But no-one is forced to use it. And there are other image editors without any ads. Some are proprietary, and some are FOSS, e.g. GIMP.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 789250192, "item_id": 49328137, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328137", "by": "dm319", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's a great piece of software.  Best feature - not having your colours retrospectively removed from your project", "excerpt": "It's a great piece of software. Best feature - not having your colours retrospectively removed from your project [1]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/rdtodb/adobe_to_remove_pantone_colors_from_creative_cloud/", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}]}, {"label": "Long-term reliability", "summary": "Long-time users say it is stable and still the editor they reach for.", "quotes": [{"id": 801074708, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 782405024, "item_id": 48900314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900314", "by": "kazinator", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using Gimp since the mid-late 1990's.", "excerpt": "I've been using Gimp since the mid-late 1990's. The first time I used it, I got it running was on a Sun SPARCStation 20 --- which was running Red Hat 2.0 Linux! I still reach for that on the rare occasion I have to do some image editing. There are some alternatives in the FOSS image editing landscape now worth checking out.", "context": "long-time Linux user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop"}, {"id": 771075776, "item_id": 48192236, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192236", "by": "lthi747", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "GIMP is the only program that I miss when switched from linux to mac.", "excerpt": "GIMP is the only program that I miss when switched from linux to mac. And GIMP 2.2 was just a perfect for my needs back then", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Photo GIMP \u2013 A Patch for GIMP 3 for Photoshop Users"}]}, {"label": "Learnable with time", "summary": "Some users say the interface works fine once you learn where things are.", "quotes": [{"id": 789262816, "item_id": 49328926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328926", "by": "Liftyee", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years", "excerpt": "I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years, once you learn where things are I can get what I need done. The learning curve (finding where functions are, the right tools for each job, etc.) wasn't much different from other software like Blender or Darktable (or even Davinci Resolve). The panels concept might be the most intuitive part of it, but Blender also has different panel", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 771084928, "item_id": 48192808, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192808", "by": "pessimizer", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Just, please, try to get out of your head that GIMP's UI is bad. It's not, it's just different.", "excerpt": "I really hate [edit: the necessity for something like] this. I deeply disagree that Photoshop has better UI than GIMP, it's just that GIMP is no professional's daily driver, you were paid to learn Photoshop; and whenever you learned any technique, you learned it in Photoshop. Clinging to Photoshop UI (which is completely arbitrary and bizarre) just supports Photoshop - you're taking a vacation instead of making a mov", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Photo GIMP \u2013 A Patch for GIMP 3 for Photoshop Users"}]}, {"label": "Fine for casual edits", "summary": "Users find it adequate for amateur edits, memes and occasional photo retouching.", "quotes": [{"id": 781384145, "item_id": 48836509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836509", "by": "handoflixue", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "GIMP works fine for my amateur edits.", "excerpt": "Switch to Brother laser jet printers - I hear about them every time HP comes up, I've had mine for years, it is a lovely solution Tons of people switched from IE6 to Chrome; IE is a dead browser. These days I'd recommend Firefox. Is there something wrong with the iPhone as of today? It sounds like the bug got fixed in response to outcry, especially if they went and scrubbed all traces of the event - that seems like a", "context": "amateur editor", "use_case": "amateur image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "PlayStation can delete all your digital games after 3 years of inactivity (EU)"}, {"id": 762602720, "item_id": 47662670, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47662670", "by": "k310", "date": "2026-04-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my mostly GIMP homemade memes and mashups", "excerpt": "1. News aggregation. No editorial board to decide what to know and not know; no pretty faces to color my information (No TV) 2. Streaming audio, classical music from wonderful public stations. In particular, WQXR, KUSC (Now Classical California) and WBJC, Baltimore top my list. 3. Finding graphics for my mostly GIMP homemade memes and mashups. 4. Free (off copyright) classical music scores. Mostly at IMSLP with nag b", "context": "", "use_case": "making memes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you use the internet for?"}, {"id": 778102624, "item_id": 48631414, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48631414", "by": "pmontra", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used GIMP for a very long time", "excerpt": "In non-English speaking countries gimp is a short word that is so seldom used that nobody knows what it means. I used GIMP for a very long time before running into a story about the meaning of the English world. It was only GNU Image Manipulation Program to me. It still is a contender for image editing programs, for limited photo retouch, for very limited drawing (draw a rectangle outline without googling?) I use Lib", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing and photo retouch", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Drawing Tablet Brands Won't Collaborate on Linux Floss Drivers"}]}, {"label": "Useful tools", "summary": "Commenters point to features like color curves, perspective correction and LCh support.", "quotes": [{"id": 784868928, "item_id": 49054308, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49054308", "by": "gus_massa", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "GIMP has a tool that shows the histogram of the number of pixels with each brightness", "excerpt": "I agree. GIMP has a tool that shows the histogram of the number of pixels with each brightness and you can add apply a curve to make the background still almost white and the ink almost black. Some random tutorial from a google search https://www.gimp.org/tutorials/community/Basic_Color_Curves/ There are a few videos https://www.google.com/search?q=Saturation+curve+gimp [@OP: I can give it a try on Monday, if I'm ver", "context": "", "use_case": "restoring postcard contrast", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would I restore this 101 year old postcard?"}, {"id": 786778704, "item_id": 49173669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173669", "by": "Gualdrapo", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Last time I used Gimp it had a plugin that let you correct perspective, wonder how they both compare", "excerpt": "Last time I used Gimp it had a plugin that let you correct perspective, wonder how they both compare", "context": "", "use_case": "perspective correction", "switched_from": "", "story": "Perspec 1.0"}, {"id": 804810800, "item_id": 50300675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50300675", "by": "nine_k", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "only GIMP supports LCh, and using it is pretty unintuitive", "excerpt": "Are RGB and HSL color models all broken and useless? Yes, I know their limitations. But of all graphical software I use daily. only GIMP supports LCh, and using it is pretty unintuitive. I see how position-anchor and stuff are coll for complex layouts, but they have poor support on low-power mobile browsers, and, frankly, are not that useful for a minimalistic CSS framework. If you want complicated layouts with non-o", "context": "", "use_case": "graphics editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Confusing UI", "summary": "Many find the interface clunky, disorganized and hard to learn.", "quotes": [{"id": 789272720, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP's UX is just bad.", "excerpt": "This isn't true. There have been plenty of other applications (Corel, Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks, Krita etc) with their own workflows and keybindings that weren't confusing for users. GIMP's UX is just bad. I loathe photoshop and desperately want to like GIMP, but each time I make the attempt the friction is too much and the workflows nonsensical. I used it a few weeks ago to place two images side by side in a larger ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789268608, "item_id": 49329288, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329288", "by": "reactordev", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP's UI is sorely lacking.", "excerpt": ">\"I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years...\" That's the problem, you have a bias because you've already learned the tribal knowledge. Having to learn it from scratch, GIMP's UI is sorely lacking. While it does have the tools, the organization of them is all over the place.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 800196386, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Rotted out UI, and an absolutely incomprehensible UI convention (if any). I cannot use it and will not take the time to learn it.", "excerpt": "People are buzzing about it because it is bold experiment whose outcome may tell us extremely interesting things abut vibe coding with current-generation tools. Most particularly, can you, or can you not build large applications with pure vibe coding? And lots of speculation over whether architectural rot will be better or worse than what humans do. Because human-generated architectures rot out too (Photoshop being a", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe"}]}, {"label": "Behind Photoshop", "summary": "Some say it still lags Photoshop and has not won over professionals.", "quotes": [{"id": 789339888, "item_id": 49333743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49333743", "by": "jockm", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s.", "excerpt": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s. Then there is the name thing. I am *NOT* telling anyone else how to feel about it. I have no interest in relitigating it, but I am disabled and had it thrown at me as a term of hate; I just can't support a piece of software that uses it. We each have to stand up for what matters to us.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789282913, "item_id": 49330182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330182", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that", "excerpt": ">I don't understand the frequent comparisons to Blender at all, to be honest. From the very beginning it was trying to be an alternative to Photoshop, you know a software used by the professional industry, and 30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that. Whereas Blender is not just an alternative to Maya, 3DS Max and all the other options but might even be the leading software in its domain", "context": "", "use_case": "Photoshop alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 786222689, "item_id": 49138918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138918", "by": "ElemenoPicuares", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Try to find a full-time professional photographer or designer that\u2019s never tried Gimp, but immediately abandoned it.", "excerpt": "I think there\u2019s a (fixable, if difficult) reason the FOSS world contributes such a small percentage of heavily-used end-user facing tools to our software landscape. We\u2019ve got the commercial provided spanked on a lot of things, like web servers. Competitors almost stopped trying. Marketing is a way smaller reason than many people imagine\u2014it\u2019s mostly usability. See the nearly immediate mastodon mass-exodus after gettin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}]}, {"label": "Photoshop habits", "summary": "Photoshop muscle memory does not transfer, which frustrates switchers.", "quotes": [{"id": 789285664, "item_id": 49330354, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330354", "by": "barrkel", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Photoshop muscle memory doesn't transfer and it is so incredibly clunky.", "excerpt": "I don't care. 99% of my uses of an image editor are for ad hoc edits. I never want to clutter my disk with project files on the off-chance I want to preserve layers or whatnot. I have zfs snapshots and cloud backups should I want to revert but the odds I want to revert an ad hoc image edit are approximately nil - I can never recall needing to do so. I don't use Gimp as a 3D modeling software or a digital audio workst", "context": "", "use_case": "ad hoc image edits", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789266416, "item_id": 49329151, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329151", "by": "Joeboy", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "they've already addressed most of the things I found infuriating in the past.", "excerpt": "I'm a fairly casual / infrequent user, but they've already addressed most of the things I found infuriating in the past. The big remaining thing I can think of is the \"layer boundary\" thing, which (it seems to me) is very confusing for new users and inconvenient for all users. I also have a vibes-based feeling that when I used to use Photoshop twenty-five years ago I was a lot more productive than I'm able to be in G", "context": "casual / infrequent user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}]}, {"label": "Off-putting name", "summary": "Some commenters say the name hurts adoption, especially in professional settings.", "quotes": [{"id": 789339888, "item_id": 49333743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49333743", "by": "jockm", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s.", "excerpt": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s. Then there is the name thing. I am *NOT* telling anyone else how to feel about it. I have no interest in relitigating it, but I am disabled and had it thrown at me as a term of hate; I just can't support a piece of software that uses it. We each have to stand up for what matters to us.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 778110224, "item_id": 48631889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48631889", "by": "joeld42", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was really exciting, an alternative to Photoshop (which used to run on linux!) and our in-house painting tools. I pushed for artists to use it", "excerpt": "Yep. I was an intern at Disney Feature Animation when GIMP first came out. It was really exciting, an alternative to Photoshop (which used to run on linux!) and our in-house painting tools. I pushed for artists to use it, but was told by management to stop mentioning it as \"Disney could never use a tool called GIMP\". Also that reaction from several artists (who were already tech-savvy, linux using folks in the exact ", "context": "former intern at Disney Feature Animation", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Drawing Tablet Brands Won't Collaborate on Linux Floss Drivers"}, {"id": 789259776, "item_id": 49328736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328736", "by": "TeriyakiBomb", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Most people don't want to say \"I gave up photoshop, I use gimp.\" outside of hardcore linux circles", "excerpt": "Having a \"stink\" is right. Even without much thought, it's off-putting, does not sound professional and really icky. When you think a bit harder, it's just kinda awful. I do actually suspect the name does have some measurable impact on adoption. Most people don't want to say \"I gave up photoshop, I use gimp.\" outside of hardcore linux circles and since then, it has gone from the only open source gig in town to just o", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}]}, {"label": "Removed or missing features", "summary": "Users cite the removed Fade feature, palette alpha issues and DWM incompatibility.", "quotes": [{"id": 782403040, "item_id": 48900190, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900190", "by": "hilbert42", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Keep away from GIMP, as others have said there are much better alternatives now available.", "excerpt": "There's good reason why people are annoyed with GIMP/GIMP developers. For example, I used to use GIMP and became quite expert at it and would often swap between it and Photoshop. That changed when GIMP's developers removed the Fade feature (similar functionality as in Photoshop). The result is that they turned a perfectly functional program into a clunky mess that was ergonomically horrible to use. Using it was now l", "context": "former expert GIMP user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "GIMP", "story": "An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop"}, {"id": 786514498, "item_id": 49157156, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49157156", "by": "skrellm", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was also struggling with GIMP (unable to handle alpha channel in palettes)", "excerpt": "> If you meet with a technical friend to drink a beer, and s/he ask what your project can do, which are the 10 coolest examples that you can show? Nothing. This is for those who already understand the benefit of shrinking images and animations using indexed palettes, and just looking for a tool to do it. > I'm not sure how to trigger the recolorize method You can't, that's not part of the tool. You need to implement ", "context": "", "use_case": "palette editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Palette Manipulator"}, {"id": 771083392, "item_id": 48192712, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192712", "by": "leephillips", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Gimp simply doesn\u2019t work with that window manager.", "excerpt": "I probably won\u2019t bother to try this because I think it\u2019s unlikely that it fixes whatever is broken in Gimp that prevents me from using it. I use DWM. Gimp simply doesn\u2019t work with that window manager. I won\u2019t bore you with details, but other users of DWM or, possibly, similar WMs know what I mean. It\u2019s not DWM\u2019s fault. It works fine with programs that support X11 properly. Krita, for example, works perfectly with DWM", "context": "DWM user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Photo GIMP \u2013 A Patch for GIMP 3 for Photoshop Users"}]}, {"label": "Heavy and slow", "summary": "Some call it too much for simple edits, and one notes GIMP 3 takes five seconds to open.", "quotes": [{"id": 801679696, "item_id": 50104981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104981", "by": "Aozora7", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "compare", "quote": "The binary is 3 times smaller than GIMP, usability is much better, and it opens instantly while GIMP 3 takes five seconds.", "excerpt": "I installed vibecoded Photoshop. The binary is 3 times smaller than GIMP, usability is much better, and it opens instantly while GIMP 3 takes five seconds.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Are you hesitant to install vibe-coded apps?"}, {"id": 792655538, "item_id": 49540971, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540971", "by": "colkassad", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Krita, GIMP, et al., are too much UI-wise.", "excerpt": "Paint.net is my go-to image editing software. I'm not a digital artist or professional photographer, I just need to downsize/crop/adjust the occasional image. I don't need the kitchen sink. Regular MS Paint is annoyingly basic and Krita, GIMP, et al., are too much UI-wise. That said, I use Linux daily but not for images so not sure if there is a Paint.net analog on Linux already.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}], "who": [{"by": "flaburgan", "context": "Linux user, tech go-to person for family", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563930", "date": "2026-09-04"}, {"by": "Linux-Fan", "context": "prefers terminal for most things", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49399036", "date": "2026-08-22"}, {"by": "Joeboy", "context": "casual / infrequent user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329151", "date": "2026-08-17"}, {"by": "seba_dos1", "context": "Linux phone user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201496", "date": "2026-08-06"}, {"by": "kazinator", "context": "long-time Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900314", "date": "2026-07-13"}, {"by": "handoflixue", "context": "amateur editor", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836509", "date": "2026-07-08"}, {"by": "joeld42", "context": "former intern at Disney Feature Animation", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48631889", "date": "2026-06-22"}, {"by": "hnlmorg", "context": "sporadic user, not a graphic designer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47380968", "date": "2026-03-14"}], "tags": ["for Linux users", "Photoshop alternative", "for casual photo edits"], "use_cases": ["image editing", "occasional image editing", "graphics editing", "image compression to avif", "graphical image editing", "ad hoc image edits"], "compared": [{"slug": "adobe-photoshop", "name": "Adobe Photoshop", "co": 15, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "krita", "name": "Krita", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "inkscape", "name": "Inkscape", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "darktable", "name": "Darktable", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "blender", "name": "Blender", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "rawtherapee", "name": "RawTherapee", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "photopea", "name": "Photopea", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 789521984, "item_id": 49345124, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345124", "by": "cmyk_student", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We're normally more selective with screenshots in actual release notes", "excerpt": "Ah, gotcha - thanks for the heads-up! We're normally more selective with screenshots in actual release notes, but since this was a (even more) informal development update post, I used what photos were available (for instance, the spectral blending video and native file chooser dialogue picture use a different theme). Thanks again, and I'll see what we can do about both of your design feedback!", "context": "GIMP development update author", "use_case": "image editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 755368320, "item_id": 47210520, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47210520", "by": "cmyk_student", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "as developers we are trying to emphasis UX/UI work more.", "excerpt": "I can't speak for everyone, but as developers we are trying to emphasis UX/UI work more. We have a dedicated repo now for user feedback, designs, and proposed solutions: https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/GIMP/Design/gimp-ux/-/issues We implement from there as we can, once consensus has been reached. We also highlight UX/UI improvements in each new release post. Just like with coding, we rely on volunteers to help with t", "context": "GIMP developer", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Interview with \u00d8yvind Kol\u00e5s, GIMP developer"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49326156", "title": "GIMP Development Update", "mentions": 13}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48629064", "title": "Why Drawing Tablet Brands Won't Collaborate on Linux Floss Drivers", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167890", "title": "Photo GIMP \u2013 A Patch for GIMP 3 for Photoshop Users", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50090796", "title": "Ask HN: Are you hesitant to install vibe-coded apps?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50010170", "title": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49982498", "title": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"compare": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 2}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 7, "neutral": 6, "compare": 1, "recommend": 3}, "2026-09": {"compare": 3, "recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 2, "neutral": 2, "recommend": 4, "compare": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804810800, "item_id": 50300675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50300675", "by": "nine_k", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "only GIMP supports LCh, and using it is pretty unintuitive", "excerpt": "Are RGB and HSL color models all broken and useless? Yes, I know their limitations. But of all graphical software I use daily. only GIMP supports LCh, and using it is pretty unintuitive. I see how position-anchor and stuff are coll for complex layouts, but they have poor support on low-power mobile browsers, and, frankly, are not that useful for a minimalistic CSS framework. If you want complicated layouts with non-o", "context": "", "use_case": "graphics editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 801679696, "item_id": 50104981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104981", "by": "Aozora7", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "compare", "quote": "The binary is 3 times smaller than GIMP, usability is much better, and it opens instantly while GIMP 3 takes five seconds.", "excerpt": "I installed vibecoded Photoshop. The binary is 3 times smaller than GIMP, usability is much better, and it opens instantly while GIMP 3 takes five seconds.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Are you hesitant to install vibe-coded apps?"}, {"id": 801557808, "item_id": 50097363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097363", "by": "xyzsparetimexyz", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm not going to install vibecoded Photoshop when gimp exists.", "excerpt": "Lindy's law applies here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect I'm not going to install vibecoded Photoshop when gimp exists.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Are you hesitant to install vibe-coded apps?"}, {"id": 801074708, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 800196386, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Rotted out UI, and an absolutely incomprehensible UI convention (if any). I cannot use it and will not take the time to learn it.", "excerpt": "People are buzzing about it because it is bold experiment whose outcome may tell us extremely interesting things abut vibe coding with current-generation tools. Most particularly, can you, or can you not build large applications with pure vibe coding? And lots of speculation over whether architectural rot will be better or worse than what humans do. Because human-generated architectures rot out too (Photoshop being a", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe"}, {"id": 800181824, "item_id": 50011364, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50011364", "by": "loufe", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love GIMP but holy shit it was a downgrade from Adobe in most ways.GIMP should stay GIMP", "excerpt": "Why would they suck the oxygen out of the room? This sounds like claiming a new distro of Linux made by new rufugees from Desktop Windows for people accustomed to Windows desktops is harming Linux by ensuring they don't go to some existing flavour which defaults middle mouse paste and thinks everyone must go on a spiritual journey of becoming one with cli tools in order to set up their social media and documenting ed", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe"}, {"id": 800075392, "item_id": 50004712, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50004712", "by": "cpach", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why don\u2019t you just install GIMP instead of using Photopea?", "excerpt": "What does that have to do with software that is financed by ads? Why don\u2019t you just install GIMP instead of using Photopea?", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 799961904, "item_id": 49997619, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49997619", "by": "cpach", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are other image editors without any ads. Some are proprietary, and some are FOSS, e.g. GIMP.", "excerpt": "Well, shouldn\u2019t that be up to the original developer? He made a product and let people use it for free. But no-one is forced to use it. And there are other image editors without any ads. Some are proprietary, and some are FOSS, e.g. GIMP.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 799797441, "item_id": 49987340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49987340", "by": "taylorfinley", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "replace it with gimp/krita", "excerpt": "+1 from another Photopea user here. And at 8 Euro a month I can't quite justify the Photopea premium plan. I use it enough I would happily pay say $50 for a self-hosted single user license that will not get updates. But not 8 euro a month forever. I am finally forcing myself to un-learn the decades of Adobe muscle memory and replace it with gimp/krita. Or maybe I'll vibe up something that does exactly what want and n", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "Adobe Photoshop", "story": "Vibecoding Photoshop: Time and pressure"}, {"id": 799723200, "item_id": 49982700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49982700", "by": "dinkleberg", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "deal with the awkwardness of GIMP and Inkscape", "excerpt": "Wow! This actually gives a pretty promising alternative to GIMP on Linux. I was resigned in my fate to just deal with the awkwardness of GIMP and Inkscape after years of the creative cloud suite. It is clearly missing much at the moment, but if they can keep going this would be amazing. All packaged as AppImages so no need for the persistent junk running on the system.", "context": "former Creative Cloud user on Linux", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adobe Creative Suite Cleanroom Port to Rust"}, {"id": 795666048, "item_id": 49729128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49729128", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Gimp and LibreOffice are alternatives to adobe/office. Yet most people prefer the paid options.", "excerpt": "I think the real question you're asking is: why isn't AI coded software replacing well-known incumbent software (office, adobe, etc...) Because I see AI coded software everywhere: HN has been complaining about the recent influx of Show HNs due to AI. Take a specific product category: there are about two new dictation apps on Show HN every week. Here are my theories: - adobe/office are simply too complex for AI to rep", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where is all of the AI coded software?"}, {"id": 795102768, "item_id": 49693923, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49693923", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "in particular via gimp", "excerpt": "> Maybe re-encoding my website JPEGs to gain 20% size is not worth the 33% longer decode I changed all my .jpg files to .avif a few years ago. The benefit I get is much more than 20%. Now there is some loss when I use high compression with .avif, in particular via gimp - but other than that, I gained a lot of file size here, definitely much more than 20%. It also depends on the image at hand; I noticed that images wi", "context": "", "use_case": "image compression to AVIF", "switched_from": "", "story": "The case against JPEG XL"}, {"id": 793022884, "item_id": 49563930, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563930", "by": "flaburgan", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "put as many free software as I can (Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, VLC, Gimp...)", "excerpt": "I removed my dual boot in 2009, so the last windows I used on a personal computer was Vista. I switched my close family (parents and even my grand mother) to Linux years ago, nevertheless I still am the tech-savyy go-to person for other people and I am completely disconnected from what's going on the Windows world. Is an antivirus still needed there? Are there some good tools that should always be installed on a comp", "context": "Linux user, tech go-to person for family", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 792655538, "item_id": 49540971, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540971", "by": "colkassad", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Krita, GIMP, et al., are too much UI-wise.", "excerpt": "Paint.net is my go-to image editing software. I'm not a digital artist or professional photographer, I just need to downsize/crop/adjust the occasional image. I don't need the kitchen sink. Regular MS Paint is annoyingly basic and Krita, GIMP, et al., are too much UI-wise. That said, I use Linux daily but not for images so not sure if there is a Paint.net analog on Linux already.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 792651906, "item_id": 49540744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540744", "by": "louthy", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Paint.NET is closer to Gimp, but usable.", "excerpt": "I use Krita, but I miss Paint.NET It\u2019s lighter, simpler, and faster with a much more intuitive UX. for basic image manipulation tasks it\u2019s awesome. For creation of art I\u2019d use Krita, it is more feature complete. But if Paint.NET appeared on Linux, I\u2019d use it in a heartbeat. Paint.NET is closer to Gimp, but usable.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 790384576, "item_id": 49399036, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49399036", "by": "Linux-Fan", "date": "2026-08-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there is no way to replace graphical-heavy programs (GIMP, QGIS etc.) with TUIs", "excerpt": "I use the terminal for most things which are not web browsing hence for me it makes sense to prefer TUIs for \"lightweight\" GUI needs. I love how I have to configure font size and family only once in the terminal emulator and not for each program/GUI toolkit again. Of course, there is no way to replace graphical-heavy programs (GIMP, QGIS etc.) with TUIs. <https://masysma.net/37/why_terminal.xhtml>", "context": "prefers terminal for most things", "use_case": "graphical image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop Making TUIs"}, {"id": 789339888, "item_id": 49333743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49333743", "by": "jockm", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s.", "excerpt": "GIMP still lags behind the photoshop I used in the late 90s/early 2000s. Then there is the name thing. I am *NOT* telling anyone else how to feel about it. I have no interest in relitigating it, but I am disabled and had it thrown at me as a term of hate; I just can't support a piece of software that uses it. We each have to stand up for what matters to us.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789292112, "item_id": 49330757, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330757", "by": "Joeboy", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "it doesn't seem like an outrageous workflow, considering that other people will want those options.", "excerpt": "> I use it to add text to a family photo. The primary storage medium is jpeg. I don't want or need anything else. So you open your photo, add your text, press Ctrl+E, choose a filename or press Enter to overwrite your old version, and press Enter to accept the default jpeg settings. I guess it could save a couple of keypresses by auto-overwriting your original file without asking, or not asking about jpeg settings. B", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789285664, "item_id": 49330354, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330354", "by": "barrkel", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Photoshop muscle memory doesn't transfer and it is so incredibly clunky.", "excerpt": "I don't care. 99% of my uses of an image editor are for ad hoc edits. I never want to clutter my disk with project files on the off-chance I want to preserve layers or whatnot. I have zfs snapshots and cloud backups should I want to revert but the odds I want to revert an ad hoc image edit are approximately nil - I can never recall needing to do so. I don't use Gimp as a 3D modeling software or a digital audio workst", "context": "", "use_case": "ad hoc image edits", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789282913, "item_id": 49330182, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330182", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that", "excerpt": ">I don't understand the frequent comparisons to Blender at all, to be honest. From the very beginning it was trying to be an alternative to Photoshop, you know a software used by the professional industry, and 30 years later we are not sure it's any closer to that. Whereas Blender is not just an alternative to Maya, 3DS Max and all the other options but might even be the leading software in its domain", "context": "", "use_case": "Photoshop alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789272720, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP's UX is just bad.", "excerpt": "This isn't true. There have been plenty of other applications (Corel, Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks, Krita etc) with their own workflows and keybindings that weren't confusing for users. GIMP's UX is just bad. I loathe photoshop and desperately want to like GIMP, but each time I make the attempt the friction is too much and the workflows nonsensical. I used it a few weeks ago to place two images side by side in a larger ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789268608, "item_id": 49329288, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329288", "by": "reactordev", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "GIMP's UI is sorely lacking.", "excerpt": ">\"I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years...\" That's the problem, you have a bias because you've already learned the tribal knowledge. Having to learn it from scratch, GIMP's UI is sorely lacking. While it does have the tools, the organization of them is all over the place.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789266416, "item_id": 49329151, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329151", "by": "Joeboy", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "they've already addressed most of the things I found infuriating in the past.", "excerpt": "I'm a fairly casual / infrequent user, but they've already addressed most of the things I found infuriating in the past. The big remaining thing I can think of is the \"layer boundary\" thing, which (it seems to me) is very confusing for new users and inconvenient for all users. I also have a vibes-based feeling that when I used to use Photoshop twenty-five years ago I was a lot more productive than I'm able to be in G", "context": "casual / infrequent user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789262816, "item_id": 49328926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328926", "by": "Liftyee", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years", "excerpt": "I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years, once you learn where things are I can get what I need done. The learning curve (finding where functions are, the right tools for each job, etc.) wasn't much different from other software like Blender or Darktable (or even Davinci Resolve). The panels concept might be the most intuitive part of it, but Blender also has different panel", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789259776, "item_id": 49328736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328736", "by": "TeriyakiBomb", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Most people don't want to say \"I gave up photoshop, I use gimp.\" outside of hardcore linux circles", "excerpt": "Having a \"stink\" is right. Even without much thought, it's off-putting, does not sound professional and really icky. When you think a bit harder, it's just kinda awful. I do actually suspect the name does have some measurable impact on adoption. Most people don't want to say \"I gave up photoshop, I use gimp.\" outside of hardcore linux circles and since then, it has gone from the only open source gig in town to just o", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789253040, "item_id": 49328315, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328315", "by": "igleria", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I love that GIMP exists but... I have to say, it never got rid of the \"backend developer doing frontend\" feeling", "excerpt": "I love that GIMP exists but... I have to say, it never got rid of the \"backend developer doing frontend\" feeling, and I've been aware of Gimp for 20 years now (did not know how to...ehem, run photoshop in my teens)", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789250192, "item_id": 49328137, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49328137", "by": "dm319", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's a great piece of software.  Best feature - not having your colours retrospectively removed from your project", "excerpt": "It's a great piece of software. Best feature - not having your colours retrospectively removed from your project [1]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/rdtodb/adobe_to_remove_pantone_colors_from_creative_cloud/", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 789245616, "item_id": 49327851, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327851", "by": "bulgur999", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "an excellent piece of free software that is massively used and developed with very limited resources, doing its job really well.", "excerpt": "As usual, whenever GIMP is involved, all we get are negative, often unfounded comments about an excellent piece of free software that is massively used and developed with very limited resources, doing its job really well. There\u2019s something so pleasant about having GIMP around, efficient and so far removed from the disgusting greed that drives so many of the projects featured here.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 787223938, "item_id": 49201496, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201496", "by": "seba_dos1", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "QtCreator, Allegro, GIMP, Inkscape, Audacity, LMMS", "excerpt": "Everything happens on my terms. The phone never tries to grab my attention unless I explicitly make it so. All the things I use are FLOSS. I can patch anything I want down to the kernel and bootloader, often on the phone itself (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49191008). The OS is managed the exact same way the OS on my PC is and all my skills and knowledge directly transfer over, so I can script it or write", "context": "Linux phone user", "use_case": "game art", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 786778704, "item_id": 49173669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173669", "by": "Gualdrapo", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Last time I used Gimp it had a plugin that let you correct perspective, wonder how they both compare", "excerpt": "Last time I used Gimp it had a plugin that let you correct perspective, wonder how they both compare", "context": "", "use_case": "perspective correction", "switched_from": "", "story": "Perspec 1.0"}, {"id": 786514498, "item_id": 49157156, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49157156", "by": "skrellm", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was also struggling with GIMP (unable to handle alpha channel in palettes)", "excerpt": "> If you meet with a technical friend to drink a beer, and s/he ask what your project can do, which are the 10 coolest examples that you can show? Nothing. This is for those who already understand the benefit of shrinking images and animations using indexed palettes, and just looking for a tool to do it. > I'm not sure how to trigger the recolorize method You can't, that's not part of the tool. You need to implement ", "context": "", "use_case": "palette editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Palette Manipulator"}, {"id": 786306080, "item_id": 49144130, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49144130", "by": "gus_massa", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used gimp to find the correct entry in the pallete", "excerpt": "I was thinking about something simple, like a list of 10 examples with minimal text in between. If you meet with a technical friend to drink a beer, and s/he ask what your project can do, which are the 10 coolest examples that you can show? --- The readme has a few eamples. I'd like a version that shows the explicit command to make the transformation. For example \"-D\" means decolorize, but I'm not sure how to trigger", "context": "", "use_case": "editing image palettes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Palette Manipulator"}, {"id": 786222689, "item_id": 49138918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138918", "by": "ElemenoPicuares", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Try to find a full-time professional photographer or designer that\u2019s never tried Gimp, but immediately abandoned it.", "excerpt": "I think there\u2019s a (fixable, if difficult) reason the FOSS world contributes such a small percentage of heavily-used end-user facing tools to our software landscape. We\u2019ve got the commercial provided spanked on a lot of things, like web servers. Competitors almost stopped trying. Marketing is a way smaller reason than many people imagine\u2014it\u2019s mostly usability. See the nearly immediate mastodon mass-exodus after gettin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 784868928, "item_id": 49054308, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49054308", "by": "gus_massa", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "GIMP has a tool that shows the histogram of the number of pixels with each brightness", "excerpt": "I agree. GIMP has a tool that shows the histogram of the number of pixels with each brightness and you can add apply a curve to make the background still almost white and the ink almost black. Some random tutorial from a google search https://www.gimp.org/tutorials/community/Basic_Color_Curves/ There are a few videos https://www.google.com/search?q=Saturation+curve+gimp [@OP: I can give it a try on Monday, if I'm ver", "context": "", "use_case": "restoring postcard contrast", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would I restore this 101 year old postcard?"}, {"id": 782405024, "item_id": 48900314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900314", "by": "kazinator", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using Gimp since the mid-late 1990's.", "excerpt": "I've been using Gimp since the mid-late 1990's. The first time I used it, I got it running was on a Sun SPARCStation 20 --- which was running Red Hat 2.0 Linux! I still reach for that on the rare occasion I have to do some image editing. There are some alternatives in the FOSS image editing landscape now worth checking out.", "context": "long-time Linux user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop"}, {"id": 782403040, "item_id": 48900190, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900190", "by": "hilbert42", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Keep away from GIMP, as others have said there are much better alternatives now available.", "excerpt": "There's good reason why people are annoyed with GIMP/GIMP developers. For example, I used to use GIMP and became quite expert at it and would often swap between it and Photoshop. That changed when GIMP's developers removed the Fade feature (similar functionality as in Photoshop). The result is that they turned a perfectly functional program into a clunky mess that was ergonomically horrible to use. Using it was now l", "context": "former expert GIMP user", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "GIMP", "story": "An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop"}, {"id": 781384145, "item_id": 48836509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836509", "by": "handoflixue", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "GIMP works fine for my amateur edits.", "excerpt": "Switch to Brother laser jet printers - I hear about them every time HP comes up, I've had mine for years, it is a lovely solution Tons of people switched from IE6 to Chrome; IE is a dead browser. These days I'd recommend Firefox. Is there something wrong with the iPhone as of today? It sounds like the bug got fixed in response to outcry, especially if they went and scrubbed all traces of the event - that seems like a", "context": "amateur editor", "use_case": "amateur image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "PlayStation can delete all your digital games after 3 years of inactivity (EU)"}, {"id": 778345638, "item_id": 48646602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48646602", "by": "k310", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Ones I actually use.", "excerpt": "Ublock-origin with Firefox, Audacity, Batch Photo Resizer, calibre, cardflow, Diffraction, Ejimo and Ultra Character Map (try finding emojis without them), Libre Office, Paprika Recipe Manager, Samurai Safe, SeaMonkey (who else edits HTML?) GIMP, Darktable, RawTherapee, Super Photo Upscaler, Sublime Text, VLC, Clearview (and why isn't epub supported natively?), PhotoSync (share photos with all platforms), GhostText f", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778110224, "item_id": 48631889, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48631889", "by": "joeld42", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was really exciting, an alternative to Photoshop (which used to run on linux!) and our in-house painting tools. I pushed for artists to use it", "excerpt": "Yep. I was an intern at Disney Feature Animation when GIMP first came out. It was really exciting, an alternative to Photoshop (which used to run on linux!) and our in-house painting tools. I pushed for artists to use it, but was told by management to stop mentioning it as \"Disney could never use a tool called GIMP\". Also that reaction from several artists (who were already tech-savvy, linux using folks in the exact ", "context": "former intern at Disney Feature Animation", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Drawing Tablet Brands Won't Collaborate on Linux Floss Drivers"}, {"id": 778108480, "item_id": 48631780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48631780", "by": "ffaccount2", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "we used gimp for various projects", "excerpt": "Nobody in my middle and high school had any idea \"gimp\" had an English meaning. I assume if anyone knew, we kids would at least occasionally joke about it (we used gimp for various projects). It was long after university after I learned that it's also an English word.", "context": "", "use_case": "school projects", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Drawing Tablet Brands Won't Collaborate on Linux Floss Drivers"}, {"id": 758095488, "item_id": 47380968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47380968", "by": "hnlmorg", "date": "2026-03-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the latest UI refresh (I\u2019m guessing introduced in 3.0?) completely baffles me.", "excerpt": "I use Gimp pretty sporadically but the latest UI refresh (I\u2019m guessing introduced in 3.0?) completely baffles me. It might just be that it\u2019s better tailored for graphic designers, which I\u2019m clearly not. But now I can\u2019t even figure out how to draw a square on screen. Let along anything clever.", "context": "sporadic user, not a graphic designer", "use_case": "occasional image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gimp 3.2 Released"}, {"id": 755335824, "item_id": 47208489, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47208489", "by": "pinkmuffinere", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions!", "excerpt": "I love gimp, it is the only \u201cheavyweight\u201d image editor I ever learned to use, and that choice has saved me so much money in software subscriptions! Thankyou maintainers!", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Interview with \u00d8yvind Kol\u00e5s, GIMP developer"}]}