AzPainter (Windows ver.)

AzPainter Windows

Developer: Azel (azelpg)

Release Date: 2009?

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: Unknown

Price: Free

Website: AZSky (defunct?)

Pros:

  • Lightweight
  • Healthy amount of Filters
  • You can change many default settings to your liking
  • Support for .ACO color pallets
  • Support for common image formats, including .PSD
  • You can have up to 7 Size/Density presets for each brush

Cons:

  • No Lasso or Magic Wand tool
  • Limited selection of brushes
  • Limited amount of Undos
  • Brush size only goes up to 100px
  • Finicky Cut/Copy/Paste

Support for the Windows version of AzPainter was discontinued in 2011.

You can get an English translation of AzPainter 2.12 Here.

AzPainter (Linux ver.)

AzPainter Linux

Developer: Azel (azelpg)

Release Date: 2013?

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: Yes

Price: Free

Website: GitLab

Pros:

  • Lightweight. Boots almost instantly.
  • Healthy amount of Filters.
  • You can change many default settings to your liking.
  • Has more features than the Windows version.
  • Has more advanced brush settings than the Windows version.

Cons:

  • Slightly buggy.
  • Takes a bit to get used to, especially if you're used to the Windows version.
  • Cut/Copy/Paste is still finicky.

FireAlpaca (regular version)

FireAlpaca

Developer: PGN Inc.

Release Date: November 2011

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: No

Price: Free (FireAlpaca SE, The Steam version with exclusive features, costs $39.99 USD)

Website: firealpaca.com

Pros:

  • Beginner-friendly. UI isn't too overwhelming.
  • "Brush Store" holds variety of useful brushes. (Though most of them are exclusive to the Steam version.)
  • Brush search feature so you don't have to scroll endlessly to find the brush you need.
  • Support for .ACO color pallets
  • Support for common image formats, including .PSD
  • You can rearrange the UI to your liking.
  • Tools for animation and comic creation. Perfect for those who want a simple way to start creating comics/animations.

Cons:

  • Most features are exclusive to the paid Steam version, like new advanced brushes and a dark theme.
  • FireAlpaca also doesn't have features present in most art programs, like a liquify tool.
  • Text tool is lackluster.

Microsoft Paint (Windows 7 - Windows 10)

Microsoft Paint

Developer: Microsoft

Release Date: July 2009

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: No

Price: Free (Comes bundled with Windows)

Website: N/a

Pros:

  • Lightweight
  • Simple to use

Cons:

  • No layers or transparency support (Only the Windows 11 version has those features.)
  • Some useful features, such as manually changing the brush size, are hidden

TEGAKI Draw & Tweet

TEGAKI Draw & Tweet

Developer: Tatuya Kannagi

Release Date: Possibly 2013?

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: No

Price: Free

Website: kannagi.net

Pros:

  • Lightweight
  • Fun to mess around with
  • Ability to post directly to Twitter/Bluesky/Mastodon
  • You can change the two given colors to your liking.
  • A web version exists for people who don't have Windows

Cons:

  • Limited to only 1 undo

*This program does not have an English version.

Kid Pix Deluxe 4

Kid Pix Deluxe 4

Developer: The Learning Company

Release Date: Sometime in 2004

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: No

Price: Unknown

Website: Unknown

Pros:

  • Better "art" brushes than Microsoft Paint
  • Might be good for a child or an adult who's feeling nostalgic

Cons:

  • Limited to only 1 undo.
  • Cannot freely change the size of the brushes.
  • Lack of common keyboard shortcuts, like Ctrl+Z
  • Prone to crashing. (Unless there's something wrong with my copy)

Krita

Krita

Developer: KDE, Krita Foundation

Release Date: June 2005

Plugins?: Yes

Open Source?: Yes

Price: Free*

Website: krita.org

Pros:

  • Lots of brushes, pallets, themes and plugins to download. krita-artists.org is a great place to look.
  • Widely supported. It's avaiable for free on the Big 3 OSes, Haiku and ChromeOS. It is also avaiable on Android**.
  • Makes a great Photoshop clone in a pinch.
  • Features catered towards comic makers and animators.
  • You can rearrange the UI to your liking.

Cons:

  • Not beginner-friendly. People coming from programs like FireAlpaca and IbisPaint might be overwhelmed by the UI.
  • No reference window docker. That was removed in version 4.1.
  • Text tool sucks (for now)
  • No .PSD text support as of version 5.2.14.
  • No Photoshop brush support as of version 5.2.14.
  • Right clicking brings up a brush/color pallet instead of acting as an eyedropper tool like in other programs.
  • Weird default keybinds.

*Krita is free on all platforms, but you can purchase it off the Windows Store/Mac App Store/Steam/Epic Games Store to support the developers and to bypass having to manually update Krita on MacOS/Windows.

**The Android version can only be installed on Android tablets. Meaning people like me who only have Android phones are stuck with IbisPaint. *cries*

IbisPaint

Developer: ibis inc.

Release Date: Febuary 2014

Plugins?: No

Open Source?: No

Price: Free w/ paid subscription

Website: ibispaint.com

Pros:

  • Well-rounded app with lots of features while also being simple to use.
  • Online community you can directly post your art to.
  • Built-in time lapse feature.
  • Animation features.

Cons:

  • Gradient Map, the ability to make folders, an "AI Disturbance" filter, basically all of the cool features, are locked behind a $27.99 per year premium membership. WTF?
  • Most of the brushes are locked behind ads. To remove the ads, you'll have to cough up 15 bucks.
  • The Mac and Windows versions have a 1-hour time limit that can only be removed by guess what? Paying up.

Other paint programs:

  • ArtRage (Windows/Mac/Android, Paid)
  • Artweaver (Windows Only, Free w/ paid version)
  • Clip Studio Paint (Windows/Mac/Android/iOS, Paid licence)
  • Corel Painter (Windows/Mac, Paid)
  • jskidpix (Browser, Free and Open Source, I think.)
  • MediBang Paint (Windows/iOS, Free w/ Paid version)
  • Microsoft Fresh Paint (Windows Only, Free)
  • Microsoft Paint 3D (Windows Only, Free)
  • MyPaint (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free and Open Source)
  • OpenCanvas (Windows, Free w/ Paid version)
  • IbisPaint (Android/iOS/Windows/Mac, Free w/ paid subscription)
  • Paint Tool SAI (Windows Only, Paid licence)
  • Pixia (Windows Only, Free)
  • Rebelle (Windows/Mac, Paid)
  • Tux Paint (Various, Free and Open Source)
  • TwistedBrush (Windows Only, Paid)
  • ProCreate (iOS only, One-off payment.)
  • HEAVYPAINT (Various, Paid licence)

Not really paint programs but still worth mentioning:

  • Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows/Mac, Paid/Possibly Abandonware)
  • Cosmic Blobs (Windows Only, Abandonware)
  • GIMP (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free and Open Source)
  • Paint.NET (Windows Only, Free)
  • Pictbear (Windows Only, Free)
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