Affinity vs Krita Comparison 2026
Krita and Affinity are both free, aimed at different hands. Krita is a painting application built around a brush engine for drawing tablets, aimed at illustrators, concept artists and comic work, with an animation timeline in the same free download. Affinity covers photo editing, vector drawing and page layout instead, with no brush engine built specifically for tablet pressure and tilt. A photographer wants Affinity; somebody drawing frame by frame wants Krita.
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 |
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.
Why people weigh these two
- Krita instead of Affinity
- Krita is built around a drawing tablet specifically, free like Affinity but aimed at painting rather than photo or layout work.
- Affinity instead of Krita
- Affinity is free for individuals too, but it splits into photo, vector and layout apps rather than one painting canvas, the better pick if the work is not only illustration.
Which one should you pick
Choose Krita if the work is illustration, concept art, comics or frame-by-frame animation, done with a drawing tablet. It is free under the GPL, runs on a 4 GB machine at minimum though the project asks for 16 GB, and paid store builds on Steam, Epic and the Microsoft and Mac stores add automatic updates and route money to development without changing the software itself.
Choose Affinity if the job is photo correction, vector drawing or page layout rather than painting from scratch. It is free for individuals across all three studios and opens PSD, AI and IDML files with their layers intact. Photographers wanting to correct exposure and colour are in the wrong place with Krita, since its tools are built for making marks rather than developing files, and the reverse is true of Affinity for illustration work.
Common questions
- Is Krita good for photo editing like Affinity?
- No. Krita is built for painting, illustration and comics rather than photo retouching; photographers wanting to correct exposure and colour are in the wrong place. Affinity covers photo editing directly, in its own pixel studio.
- Does Krita cost money on Steam or the Microsoft Store?
- The store builds are paid, funding automatic updates and development, while the same software is free from the project's own site as a direct download or Linux AppImage. Affinity has no store-tier distinction; it is free for individuals everywhere it is offered.
- Can either one animate?
- Krita includes a frame-by-frame animation timeline in the same free application, a reasonable first step into animation work. An animation timeline is not among Affinity's features.
- What hardware does Krita need?
- A 4 GB machine is the stated minimum, which rules out very little current hardware, though the project asks for 16 GB. Affinity does not publish a specific hardware minimum.
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.