{"slug": "krita", "name": "Krita", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Free, open-source raster graphics editor focused on digital painting and illustration.", "recommenders": 14, "commenters": 17, "warners": 0, "score": 13.703, "rising": 4.71, "first": "2025-11-09", "latest": "2026-10-13", "why": "Recommended as a free, open-source replacement for Photoshop and Paint.NET, with an easier UI than GIMP and solid digital painting tools.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 14, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Photoshop replacement", "Free and open"], "caveat": "Heavy for basics", "short_quote": "I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO).", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://krita.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Krita"], "verdict": [{"text": "Recommended as a free, open-source replacement for Photoshop and Paint.NET", "cites": [{"id": 801118624, "item_id": 50069914, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50069914", "by": "nz", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO).", "excerpt": "To be fair, Open Source has always been a threat to proprietary software. To be concrete, and I don't care what anyone else says, I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO). LLMs just make it possible to get a minimum-viable-clone very quickly (whether it is as good as a traditional open-source re-implementation, is a different matter). The only software that I am happy to ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing / painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 765199920, "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": "replacing Adobe apps", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}, {"id": 792649153, "item_id": 49540572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540572", "by": "Macha", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wanting an open source alternative to Paint.net", "excerpt": "Paint.Net was only really open source entirely from 2004-2007 and partially from 2007-2009 (engine only, not the UI for the latter part). My experience: Pinta is an inferior Paint.NET . It's about the same level of complexity, but everything is just like... 60-85% as good. Krita is a heavier program, but has a similar level of polish. You might not use half the features, but Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wantin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"text": ", with an easier UI than GIMP", "cites": [{"id": 800196387, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So much easier to use than Gimp, excellent for consistent and modern UI conventions", "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": 789272722, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "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.", "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"}]}, {"text": " and solid digital painting tools.", "cites": [{"id": 792651904, "item_id": 49540744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540744", "by": "louthy", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For creation of art I\u2019d use Krita, it is more feature complete.", "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": "digital art creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 773743104, "item_id": 48358944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358944", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita (which i use for most painting stuff)", "excerpt": "I don't really use Plasma itself (and soon i wont even be able to if the rumors of them dropping X11 support are to be believed) but i do use various KDE apps, like Krita (which i use for most painting stuff), Kate (my main programming editor, coupled with clangd for C/C++ programming), KolourPaint, Spectacle, Ghostwriter, etc and in general i find KDE/Qt apps to be more to my liking in their UX than anything based o", "context": "", "use_case": "painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE at 30"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that it is heavier and more complex than needed for quick crops and resizes", "cites": [{"id": 792655537, "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": 792649153, "item_id": 49540572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540572", "by": "Macha", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wanting an open source alternative to Paint.net", "excerpt": "Paint.Net was only really open source entirely from 2004-2007 and partially from 2007-2009 (engine only, not the UI for the latter part). My experience: Pinta is an inferior Paint.NET . It's about the same level of complexity, but everything is just like... 60-85% as good. Krita is a heavier program, but has a similar level of polish. You might not use half the features, but Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wantin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 792651904, "item_id": 49540744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540744", "by": "louthy", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For creation of art I\u2019d use Krita, it is more feature complete.", "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": "digital art creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"text": ", and it leans toward painting over general photo editing.", "cites": [{"id": 758326353, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita is also great (and free) but it feels more geared towards digital painting.", "excerpt": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface. It's a one-time purchase for $50 but they used to run sales. They were bought by Apple recently but still sell it. I moved to it when I migrated away from Photoshop. It doesn't have some of the fancier stuff like puppet mesh warp, but for an all-around editor I'd argue its unrivaled in the Mac space. https://www.apple.com", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Photoshop replacement", "summary": "Commenters use it to replace Photoshop, Paint.NET and other paid editors.", "quotes": [{"id": 784670980, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Photoshop has gotten worse so I've switched to Krita which works great in KDE", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 765199920, "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": "replacing Adobe apps", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}, {"id": 792771056, "item_id": 49548191, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548191", "by": "slazaro", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it only for basic image editing and it can do all I wanted to do with Paint.net.", "excerpt": "I never did any digital painting in Krita, I use it only for basic image editing and it can do all I wanted to do with Paint.net. Should I care that an app can do more than what I use it for, if it stays out of the way?", "context": "", "use_case": "basic image editing", "switched_from": "Paint.NET", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"label": "Free and open", "summary": "Valued for being free and open source while still being capable.", "quotes": [{"id": 801118624, "item_id": 50069914, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50069914", "by": "nz", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO).", "excerpt": "To be fair, Open Source has always been a threat to proprietary software. To be concrete, and I don't care what anyone else says, I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO). LLMs just make it possible to get a minimum-viable-clone very quickly (whether it is as good as a traditional open-source re-implementation, is a different matter). The only software that I am happy to ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing / painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 798941265, "item_id": 49933829, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49933829", "by": "spottedmarley", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "already perfect (and free) like Reaper (DAW), Krita (Image editor)", "excerpt": "Nobody will pay (well, i guess some will still pay) I've already spent the past several months systematically replacing every piece of software I can with my own, better, custom versions. Desktop apps, AI-tools, Android apps, I even replaced all of my chrome extensions with one extension that does all the things I used to use all of the old extensions for, and it does all the things better and none of the things I ne", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anyone Can Build an App Now, but Who Is Going to Pay for It?"}, {"id": 758326353, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita is also great (and free) but it feels more geared towards digital painting.", "excerpt": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface. It's a one-time purchase for $50 but they used to run sales. They were bought by Apple recently but still sell it. I moved to it when I migrated away from Photoshop. It doesn't have some of the fancier stuff like puppet mesh warp, but for an all-around editor I'd argue its unrivaled in the Mac space. https://www.apple.com", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}, {"label": "Digital painting", "summary": "Preferred for art creation and painting, including with drawing tablets.", "quotes": [{"id": 792651904, "item_id": 49540744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540744", "by": "louthy", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For creation of art I\u2019d use Krita, it is more feature complete.", "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": "digital art creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 773743104, "item_id": 48358944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358944", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita (which i use for most painting stuff)", "excerpt": "I don't really use Plasma itself (and soon i wont even be able to if the rumors of them dropping X11 support are to be believed) but i do use various KDE apps, like Krita (which i use for most painting stuff), Kate (my main programming editor, coupled with clangd for C/C++ programming), KolourPaint, Spectacle, Ghostwriter, etc and in general i find KDE/Qt apps to be more to my liking in their UX than anything based o", "context": "", "use_case": "painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE at 30"}, {"id": 733840753, "item_id": 45865047, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865047", "by": "nickserv", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Killer app is Krita for the older one", "excerpt": "I went with LDE Neon for both my kids. It's also what I use, I really like the KDE ecosystem, very polished experience overall. Also it's similar enough to Windows that they don't feel completely out of touch on the school computers. Killer app is Krita for the older one, even got him a cheap Wacom later on. Otherwise school work, native Linux games, and YouTube. That last one with the younger one I have to keep an e", "context": "parent of two kids", "use_case": "digital art for kid", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would you set up a child\u2019s first Linux computer?"}]}, {"label": "Usable UI", "summary": "Seen as easier and more conventional to use than GIMP or Pinta.", "quotes": [{"id": 800196387, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So much easier to use than Gimp, excellent for consistent and modern UI conventions", "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": 789272722, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "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.", "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": 792770800, "item_id": 49548175, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548175", "by": "slazaro", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita is what I use.", "excerpt": "Krita is what I use. Pinta just had a lot of broken UX and it didn't behave the way I expected. Krita is closer to Photoshop, but having extra features is not a problem. I'm pretty sure anything you'd do in paint.net you can do in Krita.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "Pinta", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"label": "Linux integration", "summary": "Works well on KDE and with window managers like DWM where GIMP struggles.", "quotes": [{"id": 784670980, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Photoshop has gotten worse so I've switched to Krita which works great in KDE", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 771083393, "item_id": 48192712, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192712", "by": "leephillips", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita, for example, works perfectly with DWM.", "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"}, {"id": 773743104, "item_id": 48358944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358944", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita (which i use for most painting stuff)", "excerpt": "I don't really use Plasma itself (and soon i wont even be able to if the rumors of them dropping X11 support are to be believed) but i do use various KDE apps, like Krita (which i use for most painting stuff), Kate (my main programming editor, coupled with clangd for C/C++ programming), KolourPaint, Spectacle, Ghostwriter, etc and in general i find KDE/Qt apps to be more to my liking in their UX than anything based o", "context": "", "use_case": "painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE at 30"}]}, {"label": "AI plugin", "summary": "An AI diffusion plugin lets users generate images and references inside Krita.", "quotes": [{"id": 745272962, "item_id": 46579560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579560", "by": "sovietmudkipz", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "(1) Download Krita", "excerpt": "Plugin for Krita I use: https://github.com/Acly/krita-ai-diffusion App I recommend to download models and manage UIs: https://github.com/LykosAI/StabilityMatrix (1) Download Krita (2) Download and install the Krita AI diffusion plugin (3) Run comfy UI using StabilityMatrix Docs for using the Krita AI plugin: https://docs.interstice.cloud/basics/ It's a really fun plugin to use!", "context": "", "use_case": "drawing", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}, {"id": 745234417, "item_id": 46577151, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577151", "by": "sovietmudkipz", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I generate reference stuff for Krita (digital painting software) illustrations", "excerpt": "I\u2019m so close to the switch myself for silly reasons. I don\u2019t like windows due to their creepy business practices and negative design patterns in their OS so I\u2019m very bias against it. Forcing copilot is just the latest in their creepy practices\u2026 For more details on why I came close to switching: I use my win desktop as a host for ai services such as Comfy UI for stable diffusion generation since it is a beefy platform", "context": "", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Heavy for basics", "summary": "Some find it heavier and more UI than needed for simple image edits.", "quotes": [{"id": 792655537, "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": 792649153, "item_id": 49540572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540572", "by": "Macha", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wanting an open source alternative to Paint.net", "excerpt": "Paint.Net was only really open source entirely from 2004-2007 and partially from 2007-2009 (engine only, not the UI for the latter part). My experience: Pinta is an inferior Paint.NET . It's about the same level of complexity, but everything is just like... 60-85% as good. Krita is a heavier program, but has a similar level of polish. You might not use half the features, but Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wantin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 792651904, "item_id": 49540744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540744", "by": "louthy", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For creation of art I\u2019d use Krita, it is more feature complete.", "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": "digital art creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"label": "Painting-focused", "summary": "Feels more geared to digital painting than all-round image editing.", "quotes": [{"id": 758326353, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita is also great (and free) but it feels more geared towards digital painting.", "excerpt": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface. It's a one-time purchase for $50 but they used to run sales. They were bought by Apple recently but still sell it. I moved to it when I migrated away from Photoshop. It doesn't have some of the fancier stuff like puppet mesh warp, but for an all-around editor I'd argue its unrivaled in the Mac space. https://www.apple.com", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}, {"label": "Multiple instances", "summary": "Launching a second instance via script was confusing on Linux and Windows.", "quotes": [{"id": 760169824, "item_id": 47510614, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47510614", "by": "pyotq", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Krita and like a lot.", "excerpt": "I use Krita and like a lot.I tryed to start 2. Instanz per Script but couldn't find out how on Linux . I finally could on win11 but it's kind of confusing.", "context": "", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Krita 6.0 Released with Qt6 Port and Better Wayland Support"}]}], "who": [{"by": "leephillips", "context": "DWM user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192712", "date": "2026-05-19"}, {"by": "vunderba", "context": "Mac user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "date": "2026-03-15"}, {"by": "nickserv", "context": "parent of two kids", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865047", "date": "2025-11-09"}], "tags": ["for digital painters", "for Linux users", "for KDE users", "for drawing tablet users", "for kids"], "use_cases": ["image editing", "digital painting", "image editing / painting", "basic image editing", "digital art creation", "painting"], "compared": [{"slug": "adobe-photoshop", "name": "Adobe Photoshop", "co": 6, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "paint-net", "name": "Paint.NET", "co": 5, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "gimp", "name": "GIMP", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "inkscape", "name": "Inkscape", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows", "name": "Windows", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "comfyui", "name": "ComfyUI", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539389", "title": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46574707", "title": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too", "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": 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=49983780", "title": "Vibecoding Photoshop: Time and pressure", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49933300", "title": "Anyone Can Build an App Now, but Who Is Going to Pay for It?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 3, "compare": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801118624, "item_id": 50069914, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50069914", "by": "nz", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO).", "excerpt": "To be fair, Open Source has always been a threat to proprietary software. To be concrete, and I don't care what anyone else says, I will always prefer Krita to PhotoShop (because it is free, open, _and_ better, IMHO). LLMs just make it possible to get a minimum-viable-clone very quickly (whether it is as good as a traditional open-source re-implementation, is a different matter). The only software that I am happy to ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing / painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 800196387, "item_id": 50012274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50012274", "by": "rerdavies", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So much easier to use than Gimp, excellent for consistent and modern UI conventions", "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": 799797442, "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": 798941265, "item_id": 49933829, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49933829", "by": "spottedmarley", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "already perfect (and free) like Reaper (DAW), Krita (Image editor)", "excerpt": "Nobody will pay (well, i guess some will still pay) I've already spent the past several months systematically replacing every piece of software I can with my own, better, custom versions. Desktop apps, AI-tools, Android apps, I even replaced all of my chrome extensions with one extension that does all the things I used to use all of the old extensions for, and it does all the things better and none of the things I ne", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anyone Can Build an App Now, but Who Is Going to Pay for It?"}, {"id": 792771056, "item_id": 49548191, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548191", "by": "slazaro", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it only for basic image editing and it can do all I wanted to do with Paint.net.", "excerpt": "I never did any digital painting in Krita, I use it only for basic image editing and it can do all I wanted to do with Paint.net. Should I care that an app can do more than what I use it for, if it stays out of the way?", "context": "", "use_case": "basic image editing", "switched_from": "Paint.NET", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 792770800, "item_id": 49548175, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548175", "by": "slazaro", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita is what I use.", "excerpt": "Krita is what I use. Pinta just had a lot of broken UX and it didn't behave the way I expected. Krita is closer to Photoshop, but having extra features is not a problem. I'm pretty sure anything you'd do in paint.net you can do in Krita.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "Pinta", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 792655537, "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": 792651904, "item_id": 49540744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540744", "by": "louthy", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For creation of art I\u2019d use Krita, it is more feature complete.", "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": "digital art creation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 792649153, "item_id": 49540572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540572", "by": "Macha", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wanting an open source alternative to Paint.net", "excerpt": "Paint.Net was only really open source entirely from 2004-2007 and partially from 2007-2009 (engine only, not the UI for the latter part). My experience: Pinta is an inferior Paint.NET . It's about the same level of complexity, but everything is just like... 60-85% as good. Krita is a heavier program, but has a similar level of polish. You might not use half the features, but Krita's what I'd suggest for anyone wantin", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 789272722, "item_id": 49329545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329545", "by": "squidbeak", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "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.", "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": 784670980, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Photoshop has gotten worse so I've switched to Krita which works great in KDE", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 773743104, "item_id": 48358944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358944", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita (which i use for most painting stuff)", "excerpt": "I don't really use Plasma itself (and soon i wont even be able to if the rumors of them dropping X11 support are to be believed) but i do use various KDE apps, like Krita (which i use for most painting stuff), Kate (my main programming editor, coupled with clangd for C/C++ programming), KolourPaint, Spectacle, Ghostwriter, etc and in general i find KDE/Qt apps to be more to my liking in their UX than anything based o", "context": "", "use_case": "painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE at 30"}, {"id": 771083393, "item_id": 48192712, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192712", "by": "leephillips", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita, for example, works perfectly with DWM.", "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"}, {"id": 765199920, "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": "replacing Adobe apps", "switched_from": "Adobe CS6 Suite", "story": "The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe"}, {"id": 760169824, "item_id": 47510614, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47510614", "by": "pyotq", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Krita and like a lot.", "excerpt": "I use Krita and like a lot.I tryed to start 2. Instanz per Script but couldn't find out how on Linux . I finally could on win11 but it's kind of confusing.", "context": "", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Krita 6.0 Released with Qt6 Port and Better Wayland Support"}, {"id": 758326353, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Krita is also great (and free) but it feels more geared towards digital painting.", "excerpt": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface. It's a one-time purchase for $50 but they used to run sales. They were bought by Apple recently but still sell it. I moved to it when I migrated away from Photoshop. It doesn't have some of the fancier stuff like puppet mesh warp, but for an all-around editor I'd argue its unrivaled in the Mac space. https://www.apple.com", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}, {"id": 745272962, "item_id": 46579560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579560", "by": "sovietmudkipz", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "(1) Download Krita", "excerpt": "Plugin for Krita I use: https://github.com/Acly/krita-ai-diffusion App I recommend to download models and manage UIs: https://github.com/LykosAI/StabilityMatrix (1) Download Krita (2) Download and install the Krita AI diffusion plugin (3) Run comfy UI using StabilityMatrix Docs for using the Krita AI plugin: https://docs.interstice.cloud/basics/ It's a really fun plugin to use!", "context": "", "use_case": "drawing", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}, {"id": 745234417, "item_id": 46577151, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577151", "by": "sovietmudkipz", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I generate reference stuff for Krita (digital painting software) illustrations", "excerpt": "I\u2019m so close to the switch myself for silly reasons. I don\u2019t like windows due to their creepy business practices and negative design patterns in their OS so I\u2019m very bias against it. Forcing copilot is just the latest in their creepy practices\u2026 For more details on why I came close to switching: I use my win desktop as a host for ai services such as Comfy UI for stable diffusion generation since it is a beefy platform", "context": "", "use_case": "digital painting", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}, {"id": 733840753, "item_id": 45865047, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865047", "by": "nickserv", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Killer app is Krita for the older one", "excerpt": "I went with LDE Neon for both my kids. It's also what I use, I really like the KDE ecosystem, very polished experience overall. Also it's similar enough to Windows that they don't feel completely out of touch on the school computers. Killer app is Krita for the older one, even got him a cheap Wacom later on. Otherwise school work, native Linux games, and YouTube. That last one with the younger one I have to keep an e", "context": "parent of two kids", "use_case": "digital art for kid", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would you set up a child\u2019s first Linux computer?"}]}