{"slug": "inkscape", "name": "Inkscape", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Open-source vector graphics editor for SVG illustration, diagrams and design work.", "recommenders": 13, "commenters": 21, "warners": 1, "score": 12.721, "rising": 1.05, "first": "2025-11-09", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "Liked as a versatile vector tool that combines freehand drawing with precise, CAD-like shape handling, and as a free replacement for Adobe graphics apps.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 13, "neutral": 6, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 5, 0, 0, 2, 0, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Versatile drawing", "Adobe replacement"], "caveat": "SVG reformatting", "short_quote": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://inkscape.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Inkscape"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked as a versatile vector tool that combines freehand drawing with precise, CAD-like shape handling,", "cites": [{"id": 768727936, "item_id": 48045496, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48045496", "by": "nine_k", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is an indispensable tool for me.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is an indispensable tool for me. I use it for quick drawing and drafting, for presentation slides, illustrations, small-scale print works, and even just pictures for fun. It allows to combine freehand drawing and moving things around with very precise, CAD-like handling of shapes, sizes, coordinates, etc. There are few tools that are very ingrained in my daily operations, stay for years, and would be hard to", "context": "", "use_case": "drawing, slides, illustrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768666208, "item_id": 48041638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041638", "by": "robinsonb5", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps. It works surprisingly well for simple CAD tasks, too - I've used it in combination with TinkerCAD to produce some 3D-printed parts. I just wish its CMYK handling was better. When I need CMYK or spot colour / overprint output I generally save as EPS, open in a text editor and adjust the source accordingly, but it", "context": "", "use_case": "vector extraction, simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}, {"text": " and as a free replacement for Adobe graphics apps.", "cites": [{"id": 799846513, "item_id": 49990407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990407", "by": "sen", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Between Inkscape and Photopea I haven\u2019t touched an Adobe graphics app in years.", "excerpt": "Yeah I\u2019m a huge fan too and pay for a subscription. It has basically fully replaced Photoshop for me for at least a few years now. Between Inkscape and Photopea I haven\u2019t touched an Adobe graphics app in years.", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 765199924, "item_id": 47824995, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824995", "by": "Tanoc", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Meanwhile Blender, ffmpeg, Krita, ZIM, and Inkscape are all free but which I support with donations.", "excerpt": "I bought CS6 Suite back in 2012 and used it well into 2021. Before that I had a patchwork of CS3 programs from 2005 I was given the discs for second-hand. Nowadays I use Krita, ffmpeg, Blender, Zim Desktop Wiki, and Inkscape to replace Flash/Animator, Photoshop, Premier, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks. CS6 cost me $549 back in 2012 under a pretty generous student discount, but would've been $1,800 otherwise. That's $790 ", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}]}, {"text": " Complaints are scattered: it rewrites the formatting of hand-written SVG files,", "cites": [{"id": 768656720, "item_id": 48041045, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041045", "by": "tasuki", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Literally everything else about Inkscape is amazing!", "excerpt": "Ah, the tool I love and hate. Mostly love though. Let me tell you about the single thing I hate: I open a simple hand-crafted SVG and want to make a simple change. It messes up all my formatting and uses its own weird formatting, with line breaks between attributes. I'd rather it at least put newlines between elements rather than between attributes. Ideally there'd be a \"save with minimal edits from the original\" but", "context": "", "use_case": "editing SVGs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}, {"text": " CMYK and spot colour output is weak,", "cites": [{"id": 768666208, "item_id": 48041638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041638", "by": "robinsonb5", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps. It works surprisingly well for simple CAD tasks, too - I've used it in combination with TinkerCAD to produce some 3D-printed parts. I just wish its CMYK handling was better. When I need CMYK or spot colour / overprint output I generally save as EPS, open in a text editor and adjust the source accordingly, but it", "context": "", "use_case": "vector extraction, simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}, {"text": " and a former Creative Cloud user found it awkward.", "cites": [{"id": 799723201, "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": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adobe Creative Suite Cleanroom Port to Rust"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Versatile drawing", "summary": "Used for illustrations, slides, game art, PDF extraction, vectorising bitmaps and simple CAD work.", "quotes": [{"id": 768727936, "item_id": 48045496, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48045496", "by": "nine_k", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is an indispensable tool for me.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is an indispensable tool for me. I use it for quick drawing and drafting, for presentation slides, illustrations, small-scale print works, and even just pictures for fun. It allows to combine freehand drawing and moving things around with very precise, CAD-like handling of shapes, sizes, coordinates, etc. There are few tools that are very ingrained in my daily operations, stay for years, and would be hard to", "context": "", "use_case": "drawing, slides, illustrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768666208, "item_id": 48041638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041638", "by": "robinsonb5", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps. It works surprisingly well for simple CAD tasks, too - I've used it in combination with TinkerCAD to produce some 3D-printed parts. I just wish its CMYK handling was better. When I need CMYK or spot colour / overprint output I generally save as EPS, open in a text editor and adjust the source accordingly, but it", "context": "", "use_case": "vector extraction, simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768662784, "item_id": 48041424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041424", "by": "uzidil", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Inkscape! My game Enalim was made with Inkscape.", "excerpt": "I love Inkscape! My game Enalim was made with Inkscape. (https://uzudil.itch.io/enalim) I'm glad this project keeps going.", "context": "game developer", "use_case": "game art", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}, {"label": "Adobe replacement", "summary": "Several commenters use it with other free tools in place of Adobe's suite.", "quotes": [{"id": 799846513, "item_id": 49990407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990407", "by": "sen", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Between Inkscape and Photopea I haven\u2019t touched an Adobe graphics app in years.", "excerpt": "Yeah I\u2019m a huge fan too and pay for a subscription. It has basically fully replaced Photoshop for me for at least a few years now. Between Inkscape and Photopea I haven\u2019t touched an Adobe graphics app in years.", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 765199924, "item_id": 47824995, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824995", "by": "Tanoc", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Meanwhile Blender, ffmpeg, Krita, ZIM, and Inkscape are all free but which I support with donations.", "excerpt": "I bought CS6 Suite back in 2012 and used it well into 2021. Before that I had a patchwork of CS3 programs from 2005 I was given the discs for second-hand. Nowadays I use Krita, ffmpeg, Blender, Zim Desktop Wiki, and Inkscape to replace Flash/Animator, Photoshop, Premier, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks. CS6 cost me $549 back in 2012 under a pretty generous student discount, but would've been $1,800 otherwise. That's $790 ", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}, {"id": 733912323, "item_id": 45869520, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869520", "by": "CarlJW", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "making personalised Christmas t-shirts in Inkscape. I love what you can do with open source tools!", "excerpt": "Selfhosting via yunohost, especially loving Immich and Actual Budget. I'm not in IT but I use Linux and it has been easy enough for me to set up. Also making personalised Christmas t-shirts in Inkscape. I love what you can do with open source tools!", "context": "not in IT, Linux user", "use_case": "designing t-shirts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)"}]}, {"label": "User interface", "summary": "Some commenters praise its UI and say it is easier to use than other open-source apps like GIMP.", "quotes": [{"id": 800196388, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I do most of my graphics work in Inkscape these days (lots of vector icon design). Brilliant UI", "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": "vector icon design", "switched_from": "", "story": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe"}, {"id": 801426627, "item_id": 50089164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50089164", "by": "dofm", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "why Inkscape feels qualitatively better than many open source apps", "excerpt": "> Maybe the agents know this so don't bother putting too much effort in? Perhaps it is much more basic: the words to describe really good user interfaces are inadequate to the task, and they are often emotional/psychological in nature. For example, look at how Mac enthusiasts talk about interfaces, talking about \"delight\", \"surprise\", \"subtlety\" on the positive side, \"janky\", \"crass\", etc. on the negative. Even if an", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI coding agents generate more code, but not more software"}, {"id": 789272725, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I haven't have any issues with Inkscape", "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": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}]}, {"label": "Cutter plugins", "summary": "Extensions let it drive vinyl cutters and knife plotters without proprietary software.", "quotes": [{"id": 748266560, "item_id": 46766660, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46766660", "by": "cbondurant", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "open source inkscape plugin that interfaces with the silhouette brand of knife plotters", "excerpt": "I was in the market for a vinyl cutter/knife plotter a while back, and the fact I use linux on everything was my main reason for avoiding Cricut. Ended up finding out theres an open source inkscape plugin that interfaces with the silhouette brand of knife plotters. Not having to use the proprietary jank software is so nice, its a value-add over the cricut just to not have to use their software.", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "controlling vinyl cutter", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running the Stupid Cricut Software on Linux"}, {"id": 768671169, "item_id": 48041948, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041948", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use an Inkscape extension to send my own designs to a vinyl cutter", "excerpt": "Yes! I use an Inkscape extension to send my own designs to a vinyl cutter that works perfectly well but has LONG since stopped being supported by its manufacturer or any other closed-source tools. The extension is inkscape-silhouette (https://github.com/fablabnbg/inkscape-silhouette) and is apparently being maintained by a makerspace in Germany.", "context": "", "use_case": "vector design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "SVG reformatting", "summary": "Editing a hand-crafted SVG rewrites its formatting, putting line breaks between attributes.", "quotes": [{"id": 768656720, "item_id": 48041045, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041045", "by": "tasuki", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Literally everything else about Inkscape is amazing!", "excerpt": "Ah, the tool I love and hate. Mostly love though. Let me tell you about the single thing I hate: I open a simple hand-crafted SVG and want to make a simple change. It messes up all my formatting and uses its own weird formatting, with line breaks between attributes. I'd rather it at least put newlines between elements rather than between attributes. Ideally there'd be a \"save with minimal edits from the original\" but", "context": "", "use_case": "editing SVGs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}, {"label": "CMYK handling", "summary": "CMYK and spot colour output need workarounds such as editing EPS by hand or using Scribus.", "quotes": [{"id": 768666208, "item_id": 48041638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041638", "by": "robinsonb5", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps. It works surprisingly well for simple CAD tasks, too - I've used it in combination with TinkerCAD to produce some 3D-printed parts. I just wish its CMYK handling was better. When I need CMYK or spot colour / overprint output I generally save as EPS, open in a text editor and adjust the source accordingly, but it", "context": "", "use_case": "vector extraction, simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}, {"label": "Awkward workflow", "summary": "A former Creative Cloud user on Linux described it as awkward.", "quotes": [{"id": 799723201, "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": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adobe Creative Suite Cleanroom Port to Rust"}]}, {"label": "HPGL support", "summary": "One user stays on version 0.92 because they believe HPGL support was removed in newer versions.", "quotes": [{"id": 768747216, "item_id": 48046701, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48046701", "by": "Tommix11", "date": "2026-05-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is a great program, keep up the good work.", "excerpt": "I use 0.92 for extracting HPGL data from cutting machine software and converting it to better vector formats sometimes. I use that version because I think HPGL support was removed in newer versions. Inkscape is a great program, keep up the good work. Kind Regards A user", "context": "", "use_case": "extracting HPGL data, converting vectors", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}]}], "who": [{"by": "chrismorgan", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49820892", "date": "2026-09-23"}, {"by": "seba_dos1", "context": "Linux phone user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201496", "date": "2026-08-06"}, {"by": "uzidil", "context": "game developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041424", "date": "2026-05-06"}, {"by": "cbondurant", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46766660", "date": "2026-01-26"}, {"by": "CarlJW", "context": "not in IT, Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869520", "date": "2025-11-09"}], "tags": ["for Linux users", "for vinyl cutters", "Adobe alternative", "for icon design", "for 3D-printing workflows"], "use_cases": ["vector graphics", "game art", "making svg charts", "drawing map art", "vector icon design", "extracting hpgl data, converting vectors"], "compared": [{"slug": "gimp", "name": "GIMP", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "adobe-photoshop", "name": "Adobe Photoshop", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "krita", "name": "Krita", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "adobe-creative-cloud", "name": "Adobe Creative Cloud", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "freecad", "name": "FreeCAD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "blender", "name": "Blender", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48040622", "title": "Inkscape 1.4.4", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50305534", "title": "AI being great at math makes human mathematicians more valuable, not less", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50194407", "title": "Show HN: A fantasy map of my blog to replace the chronological feed", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50059523", "title": "AI coding agents generate more code, but not more software", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50010170", "title": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49982498", "title": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"compare": 1, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 3, "neutral": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804945888, "item_id": 50309118, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309118", "by": "westurner", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Here's that chart redone in SVG with Inkscape", "excerpt": "In college for a service learning course I prepared a chart of various curves from \"From Comfort Zone to Performance Management\" (2009) all overlaid on the same axes. One of the insights of the paper is that team performance changes roughly correspond to coping with change changes, and so is technology coping with change? Here's that chart redone in SVG with Inkscape but without an HTML table or IDK animation yet: we", "context": "", "use_case": "making SVG charts", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI being great at math makes human mathematicians more valuable, not less"}, {"id": 803110976, "item_id": 50194436, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50194436", "by": "mrcgnc", "date": "2026-10-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "drew about 90% of the art myself in Inkscape", "excerpt": "This is my blog drawn as a network, with a light coat of paint to make it look like a video game map. Each city is a post, bigger cities have more incoming links, and roads are connections between posts. It updates semi-automatically every time I publish. (I used an LLM to write the code and drew about 90% of the art myself in Inkscape.) For a long time I've been unsatisfied with the linear feeds and tag soups that m", "context": "", "use_case": "drawing map art", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: A fantasy map of my blog to replace the chronological feed"}, {"id": 801426627, "item_id": 50089164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50089164", "by": "dofm", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "why Inkscape feels qualitatively better than many open source apps", "excerpt": "> Maybe the agents know this so don't bother putting too much effort in? Perhaps it is much more basic: the words to describe really good user interfaces are inadequate to the task, and they are often emotional/psychological in nature. For example, look at how Mac enthusiasts talk about interfaces, talking about \"delight\", \"surprise\", \"subtlety\" on the positive side, \"janky\", \"crass\", etc. on the negative. Even if an", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI coding agents generate more code, but not more software"}, {"id": 800196388, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I do most of my graphics work in Inkscape these days (lots of vector icon design). Brilliant UI", "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": "vector icon design", "switched_from": "", "story": "What ArtCraft's Vibe-Coded Apps Say About Adobe"}, {"id": 799846513, "item_id": 49990407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990407", "by": "sen", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Between Inkscape and Photopea I haven\u2019t touched an Adobe graphics app in years.", "excerpt": "Yeah I\u2019m a huge fan too and pay for a subscription. It has basically fully replaced Photoshop for me for at least a few years now. Between Inkscape and Photopea I haven\u2019t touched an Adobe graphics app in years.", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 799723201, "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": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Adobe Creative Suite Cleanroom Port to Rust"}, {"id": 797134274, "item_id": 49820892, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49820892", "by": "chrismorgan", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "and Inkscape (3s per screenful, smooth)", "excerpt": "In Linux/GTK, clicking in the gutter navigates to that position, and I have just discovered that Shift+clicking is equivalent to PageUp/PageDown, and that right-clicking seems to also be equivalent to PageUp/PageDown in Firefox, but scrolls at a fixed slow pace while the button is held in LibreOffice (15s per screenful at 6fps in Writer) and Inkscape (3s per screenful, smooth), and that middle-clicking is mostly Page", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A brief history of Windows scroll bar shortcuts"}, {"id": 789272725, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I haven't have any issues with Inkscape", "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": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "GIMP Development Update"}, {"id": 787223939, "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": 786222690, "item_id": 49138918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138918", "by": "ElemenoPicuares", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But see how many professionals used Inkscape in their regular workflow.", "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": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 768747216, "item_id": 48046701, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48046701", "by": "Tommix11", "date": "2026-05-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is a great program, keep up the good work.", "excerpt": "I use 0.92 for extracting HPGL data from cutting machine software and converting it to better vector formats sometimes. I use that version because I think HPGL support was removed in newer versions. Inkscape is a great program, keep up the good work. Kind Regards A user", "context": "", "use_case": "extracting HPGL data, converting vectors", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768727936, "item_id": 48045496, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48045496", "by": "nine_k", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is an indispensable tool for me.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is an indispensable tool for me. I use it for quick drawing and drafting, for presentation slides, illustrations, small-scale print works, and even just pictures for fun. It allows to combine freehand drawing and moving things around with very precise, CAD-like handling of shapes, sizes, coordinates, etc. There are few tools that are very ingrained in my daily operations, stay for years, and would be hard to", "context": "", "use_case": "drawing, slides, illustrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768671169, "item_id": 48041948, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041948", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use an Inkscape extension to send my own designs to a vinyl cutter", "excerpt": "Yes! I use an Inkscape extension to send my own designs to a vinyl cutter that works perfectly well but has LONG since stopped being supported by its manufacturer or any other closed-source tools. The extension is inkscape-silhouette (https://github.com/fablabnbg/inkscape-silhouette) and is apparently being maintained by a makerspace in Germany.", "context": "", "use_case": "vector design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768666208, "item_id": 48041638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041638", "by": "robinsonb5", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps.", "excerpt": "Inkscape is awesome - I use it regularly for extracting design elements from PDFs and vectorising bitmaps. It works surprisingly well for simple CAD tasks, too - I've used it in combination with TinkerCAD to produce some 3D-printed parts. I just wish its CMYK handling was better. When I need CMYK or spot colour / overprint output I generally save as EPS, open in a text editor and adjust the source accordingly, but it", "context": "", "use_case": "vector extraction, simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768662784, "item_id": 48041424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041424", "by": "uzidil", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Inkscape! My game Enalim was made with Inkscape.", "excerpt": "I love Inkscape! My game Enalim was made with Inkscape. (https://uzudil.itch.io/enalim) I'm glad this project keeps going.", "context": "game developer", "use_case": "game art", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 768656720, "item_id": 48041045, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041045", "by": "tasuki", "date": "2026-05-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Literally everything else about Inkscape is amazing!", "excerpt": "Ah, the tool I love and hate. Mostly love though. Let me tell you about the single thing I hate: I open a simple hand-crafted SVG and want to make a simple change. It messes up all my formatting and uses its own weird formatting, with line breaks between attributes. I'd rather it at least put newlines between elements rather than between attributes. Ideally there'd be a \"save with minimal edits from the original\" but", "context": "", "use_case": "editing SVGs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Inkscape 1.4.4"}, {"id": 765199924, "item_id": 47824995, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824995", "by": "Tanoc", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Meanwhile Blender, ffmpeg, Krita, ZIM, and Inkscape are all free but which I support with donations.", "excerpt": "I bought CS6 Suite back in 2012 and used it well into 2021. Before that I had a patchwork of CS3 programs from 2005 I was given the discs for second-hand. Nowadays I use Krita, ffmpeg, Blender, Zim Desktop Wiki, and Inkscape to replace Flash/Animator, Photoshop, Premier, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks. CS6 cost me $549 back in 2012 under a pretty generous student discount, but would've been $1,800 otherwise. That's $790 ", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}, {"id": 748266560, "item_id": 46766660, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46766660", "by": "cbondurant", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "open source inkscape plugin that interfaces with the silhouette brand of knife plotters", "excerpt": "I was in the market for a vinyl cutter/knife plotter a while back, and the fact I use linux on everything was my main reason for avoiding Cricut. Ended up finding out theres an open source inkscape plugin that interfaces with the silhouette brand of knife plotters. Not having to use the proprietary jank software is so nice, its a value-add over the cricut just to not have to use their software.", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "controlling vinyl cutter", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running the Stupid Cricut Software on Linux"}, {"id": 746434736, "item_id": 46652171, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46652171", "by": "anfractuosity", "date": "2026-01-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Very fun project :) Not seen this type of robot before that uses wires to push the pins. I got a little set of cheap transparent locks and tried placing the key in a flatbed scanner to image and think I used inkscape to generate an SVG, which I imported to FreeCAD to make a model that I 3D printed in plastic, which worked after a little filing.", "context": "", "use_case": "generating SVG from key scan", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lock-Picking Robot"}, {"id": 743340482, "item_id": 46458780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46458780", "by": "MerrimanInd", "date": "2026-01-01", "stance": "compare", "quote": "They're mostly /fine/ but it's one of the weaker software categories in FOSS-alternatives IMO.", "excerpt": "I love this. I spent my holidays hearing non-technical family members complain about their ever deteriorating Windows experiences, issues that make me righteously angry at Microsoft. IMO the next important unblocker for Linux adoption is the Adobe suite. In a post-mobile world one can use a tablet or phone for almost any media consumption. But production is still in the realm of the desktop UX and photo/video/creativ", "context": "", "use_case": "vector graphics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it"}, {"id": 733912323, "item_id": 45869520, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869520", "by": "CarlJW", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "making personalised Christmas t-shirts in Inkscape. I love what you can do with open source tools!", "excerpt": "Selfhosting via yunohost, especially loving Immich and Actual Budget. I'm not in IT but I use Linux and it has been easy enough for me to set up. Also making personalised Christmas t-shirts in Inkscape. I love what you can do with open source tools!", "context": "not in IT, Linux user", "use_case": "designing t-shirts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)"}]}