Affinity vs Krita Comparison 2026
Both cover photo editing and design & graphics. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Photo, vector and layout, free for individuals
Free painting software built for drawing tablets
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Affinity | Krita | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | One-time purchase | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Everything, in an open format |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on (they differ) | macOS, Windows |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Affinity
Photo, vector and layout, free for individuals
Affinity is three professional applications in one window: a pixel editor, a vector editor and a page layout tool, with no round trip between them. Canva bought it and made it free, which is the largest thing to happen to paid creative software in years. Files from the Adobe applications open with their layers intact.
Our note
This is the most significant thing to happen to paid creative software in years, and there is no catch that we can find. If you edit photos or lay out documents and have been renting the ability to do it, install this before renewing anything.
Krita
Free painting software built for drawing tablets
Krita is a painting application aimed at illustrators, concept artists and comic work rather than at photo retouching, and its brush engine is the reason people choose it. Pressure and tilt from any tablet the operating system already recognises work without a driver of its own. The application is free under the GPL, and the paid copies on the console and desktop stores buy automatic updates and put money back into development. A 4 GB machine will run it and a 16 GB one is what the project asks for.
Our note
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.