GIMP 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.
A free image editor for retouching and paint
Free painting software built for drawing tablets
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
GIMP | Krita | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Everything, in an open format |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
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.
GIMP
A free image editor for retouching and paint
GIMP has been the free answer to a paid image editor since the nineties, covering retouching, compositing, painting and format conversion, with scripting for the jobs you do a hundred times. Its colour management is strong enough for print work. The interface is its own rather than a copy of anyone else's, which is the real cost of switching to it.
Our note
The honest comparison is not against Photoshop feature by feature but against what you actually do, and for retouching and compositing most people never reach the edge of it. Photopea is worth a look first if you want something Photoshop-shaped in a browser tab.
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.