{"slug": "pixelmator-pro", "name": "Pixelmator Pro", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Layer-based image and photo editor for macOS, now owned by Apple.", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 4.631, "rising": 2.02, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "Recommended as an intuitive, quick-loading native Mac image editor and as a one-time-purchase alternative to Photoshop.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Intuitive interface", "Photoshop alternative"], "caveat": "Mac-only", "short_quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.apple.com/pixelmator-pro", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Pixelmator Pro", "Pixelmator"], "verdict": [{"text": "Recommended as an intuitive, quick-loading native Mac image editor", "cites": [{"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}, {"id": 792654816, "item_id": 49540926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540926", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with", "excerpt": "I can see that. I wish Pixelmator (before it got bought up by Apple) had been ported over to Linux. That's been the closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"text": " and as a one-time-purchase alternative to Photoshop.", "cites": [{"id": 804247489, "item_id": 50265468, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265468", "by": "carlosjobim", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can otherwise buy Pixelmator Pro for $50 from Apple.", "excerpt": "All these apps are modern and of the highest quality. All of them very popular except the last I listed. Not mentioned are the many high quality apps included with MacOS, including the Music.app (iTunes), which doesn't need any Internet connection to play your MP3s. Games I don't care about, for those a PC or console is most likely your better option. > Office and many professional productivity tools (Adobe) converte", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}, {"id": 732744224, "item_id": 45796514, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796514", "by": "blub", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For casual users and likely some pro users, there\u2019s still Pixelmator Pro and Acorn.", "excerpt": "For casual users and likely some pro users, there\u2019s still Pixelmator Pro and Acorn. I used to use Photoshop CS for web design many years ago and they\u2019re good enough for that. This Canva app\u2019s so dumb, even their log-in doesn\u2019t work. I wanted to log in once and then keep it offline, in the hope that they would keep their promise and allow long offline use. If it\u2019s so buggy it will probably accidentally log itself out ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Affinity enshittification: How Canva's \"Four Pledges\" aged like milk"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that it is Mac-only, with no Linux version", "cites": [{"id": 792654816, "item_id": 49540926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540926", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with", "excerpt": "I can see that. I wish Pixelmator (before it got bought up by Apple) had been ported over to Linux. That's been the closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 763196625, "item_id": 47699789, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699789", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-04-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The other app was pixelmator", "excerpt": "Ohhh interesting. Little snitch is one of 2 apps I miss from when the Mac was my daily driver. The other app was pixelmator", "context": "former Mac daily driver", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "LittleSnitch for Linux"}]}, {"text": ", and it lacks some advanced tools like puppet mesh warp.", "cites": [{"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Intuitive interface", "summary": "Commenters call its layer-based interface very intuitive and lightweight.", "quotes": [{"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}, {"id": 792654816, "item_id": 49540926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540926", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with", "excerpt": "I can see that. I wish Pixelmator (before it got bought up by Apple) had been ported over to Linux. That's been the closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}]}, {"label": "Photoshop alternative", "summary": "Commenters suggest it to people leaving Photoshop, both casual users and some pros.", "quotes": [{"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}, {"id": 732744224, "item_id": 45796514, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796514", "by": "blub", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For casual users and likely some pro users, there\u2019s still Pixelmator Pro and Acorn.", "excerpt": "For casual users and likely some pro users, there\u2019s still Pixelmator Pro and Acorn. I used to use Photoshop CS for web design many years ago and they\u2019re good enough for that. This Canva app\u2019s so dumb, even their log-in doesn\u2019t work. I wanted to log in once and then keep it offline, in the hope that they would keep their promise and allow long offline use. If it\u2019s so buggy it will probably accidentally log itself out ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Affinity enshittification: How Canva's \"Four Pledges\" aged like milk"}]}, {"label": "One-time purchase", "summary": "It is sold for $50 as a one-time purchase rather than a subscription.", "quotes": [{"id": 804247489, "item_id": 50265468, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265468", "by": "carlosjobim", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can otherwise buy Pixelmator Pro for $50 from Apple.", "excerpt": "All these apps are modern and of the highest quality. All of them very popular except the last I listed. Not mentioned are the many high quality apps included with MacOS, including the Music.app (iTunes), which doesn't need any Internet connection to play your MP3s. Games I don't care about, for those a PC or console is most likely your better option. > Office and many professional productivity tools (Adobe) converte", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}, {"label": "Native and fast", "summary": "It is a native macOS app that loads quickly.", "quotes": [{"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Mac-only", "summary": "It is not available on Linux, which former Mac users say they miss.", "quotes": [{"id": 792654816, "item_id": 49540926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540926", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with", "excerpt": "I can see that. I wish Pixelmator (before it got bought up by Apple) had been ported over to Linux. That's been the closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 763196625, "item_id": 47699789, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699789", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-04-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The other app was pixelmator", "excerpt": "Ohhh interesting. Little snitch is one of 2 apps I miss from when the Mac was my daily driver. The other app was pixelmator", "context": "former Mac daily driver", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "LittleSnitch for Linux"}]}, {"label": "Missing advanced tools", "summary": "It lacks some fancier features such as puppet mesh warp.", "quotes": [{"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}]}], "who": [{"by": "wolvoleo", "context": "former Mac daily driver", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699789", "date": "2026-04-08"}, {"by": "vunderba", "context": "Mac user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "date": "2026-03-15"}], "tags": ["for Mac users", "for Photoshop switchers", "for casual users", "no subscription"], "use_cases": ["image editing", "image slicing, guidelines", "image editing on macos"], "compared": [{"slug": "adobe-photoshop", "name": "Adobe Photoshop", "co": 3, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "affinity", "name": "Affinity", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50257548", "title": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50263175", "title": "Seam Cutter", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539389", "title": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47697870", "title": "LittleSnitch for Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47382072", "title": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45794055", "title": "Affinity enshittification: How Canva's \"Four Pledges\" aged like milk", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804247489, "item_id": 50265468, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265468", "by": "carlosjobim", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can otherwise buy Pixelmator Pro for $50 from Apple.", "excerpt": "All these apps are modern and of the highest quality. All of them very popular except the last I listed. Not mentioned are the many high quality apps included with MacOS, including the Music.app (iTunes), which doesn't need any Internet connection to play your MP3s. Games I don't care about, for those a PC or console is most likely your better option. > Office and many professional productivity tools (Adobe) converte", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 804233392, "item_id": 50264587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50264587", "by": "meremortal", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use a tool called Pixelmator Pro for this", "excerpt": "Nice! This looks potentially useful and probably works fine for your stated purpose, I'd suggest a couple of tweaks... Consider removing border around guide / selector lines do its only showing a single pixel line visually. Instead of making it a color, set the line to white and use an image effect that inverts whatever color it is over so its easy to see if you are moving the line over the edge of a border. Consider", "context": "", "use_case": "image slicing, guidelines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Seam Cutter"}, {"id": 792654816, "item_id": 49540926, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540926", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with", "excerpt": "I can see that. I wish Pixelmator (before it got bought up by Apple) had been ported over to Linux. That's been the closest lightweight super-intuitive alternative to Paint.net I've ever messed around with.", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Paint.net 5.2 alpha now runs on Linux"}, {"id": 763196625, "item_id": 47699789, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699789", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-04-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The other app was pixelmator", "excerpt": "Ohhh interesting. Little snitch is one of 2 apps I miss from when the Mac was my daily driver. The other app was pixelmator", "context": "former Mac daily driver", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "LittleSnitch for Linux"}, {"id": 758326352, "item_id": 47395397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395397", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-03-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pixelmator - 1000%. Native MacOS - quick to load and very intuitive layer-based paint interface.", "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": "image editing on macOS", "switched_from": "Photoshop", "story": "GrobPaint: Somewhere Between MS Paint and Paint.net. Multiplatform by Default"}, {"id": 732744224, "item_id": 45796514, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796514", "by": "blub", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For casual users and likely some pro users, there\u2019s still Pixelmator Pro and Acorn.", "excerpt": "For casual users and likely some pro users, there\u2019s still Pixelmator Pro and Acorn. I used to use Photoshop CS for web design many years ago and they\u2019re good enough for that. This Canva app\u2019s so dumb, even their log-in doesn\u2019t work. I wanted to log in once and then keep it offline, in the hope that they would keep their promise and allow long offline use. If it\u2019s so buggy it will probably accidentally log itself out ", "context": "", "use_case": "image editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Affinity enshittification: How Canva's \"Four Pledges\" aged like milk"}]}