BKchem Alternatives

BKchem is described as 'BKChem is a free (as in free software :o) chemical drawing program. It was conceived and written by Beda Kosata and is currently maintained by Reinis Danne' and is a digital painting tool in the education & reference category. There are more than 10 alternatives to BKchem for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iPhone apps. The best BKchem alternative is ChemistryLab, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like BKchem are Chemaxon Marvin, JChemPaint, Molsketch and ACD/ChemSketch.

BKchem iconBKchem
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BKChem is a free (as in free software :o) chemical drawing program. It was conceived and written by Beda Kosata and is...

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BKchem alternatives page was last updated May 29, 2025
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  1. ChemistryLab icon
     7 likes
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    ChemistryLab is a chemical laboratory simulation application designed for the Android platform. It serves as a derivative version of the original ChemistryLab, developed by Tran Thanh Tùng, maintaining the same functionality while introducing modifications to the user...

    19 ChemistryLab alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • F-Droid

    ChemistryLab VS BKchem

     
    • ChemistryLab is the most popular Android & Android Tablet alternative to BKchem.

    • ChemistryLab is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to BKchem.

    • ChemistryLab is Free and Open SourceBKchem is also Free and Open Source
  2. Chemaxon Marvin icon
     15 likes
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    Marvin suite is a chemically intelligent desktop toolkit built to help you draw, edit, publish, render, import and export your chemical structures and as well as allowing you to convert between various chemical and graphical file formats.

    18 Chemaxon Marvin alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Chemaxon Marvin Features

    1.  Drag and Drop

    Chemaxon Marvin VS BKchem

     
    • Chemaxon Marvin is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to BKchem.

    • Chemaxon Marvin is Free and ProprietaryBKchem is Free and Open Source
  3. JChemPaint icon
     3 likes
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    JChemPaint (or JCP for short here) is the editor and viewer for 2D chemical structures developed using the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK).

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak

    JChemPaint Features

    1.  Impact mapping

    JChemPaint VS BKchem

     
  4. Molsketch icon
     1 like
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    A 2D molecular editing tool for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Its goal is to help you draw molecules quick and easily. Of course your creations can be exported afterwards in high quality in a number of vector and bitmap formats.

    11 Molsketch alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Educational

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Works Offline

    Molsketch VS BKchem

     
  5. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    ACD/ChemSketch is a chemically intelligent drawing interface that allows you to draw almost any chemical structure including organics, organometallics, polymers, and Markush structures. Use it to produce professional looking structures and diagrams for reports and publications.

    16 ACD/ChemSketch alternatives

    License model

    • Free PersonalProprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Wine

    ACD/ChemSketch VS BKchem

     
  6. ChemCanvas icon
     1 like
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    A very intuitive, new 2D chemical drawing tool (Qt-based).

    8 ChemCanvas alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Raspberry Pi
    • Windows
    • Python

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  No Tracking
    5.  Python-based
    6.  Export to SVG
    7.  Support for SVG

    ChemCanvas VS BKchem

     
  7. ChemDraw icon
     6 likes
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    ChemDraw is a communication suite for managing, reporting and presenting Chemistry research. Produce precise chemical structures with our premier chemical drawing solution.

    17 ChemDraw alternatives

    License model

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows

    ChemDraw Features

    1.  Export to PowerPoint

    ChemDraw VS BKchem

     
    • ChemDraw is the most popular commercial alternative to BKchem.

    • ChemDraw is Paid and ProprietaryBKchem is Free and Open Source
  8. Avogadro icon
     15 likes
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    Avogadro is an advanced molecule editor and visualizer designed for cross-platform use in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas.

    21 Avogadro alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Avogadro VS BKchem

     
  9. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    The Gnome Chemistry Utils include six chemistry related programs:

    • GChemPaint, a 2D chemical formula editor.
    • a chemical calculator (computes raw formule, molar weight, mass composition and isotopic pattern).
    • a molecule 3d viewer using OpenGL to display molecular models. .

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Educational

    Features

    1.  Periodic table

    Gnome Chemistry Utils VS BKchem

     
  10. ChemDoodle icon
     4 likes
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    If you are looking for a chemical sketcher or an alternative to your current chemical drawing application, there is no better choice than ChemDoodle. ChemDoodle works on all operating systems (both 32 and 64 bit), has one of the largest feature sets in the industry, has the most...

    9 ChemDoodle alternatives

    License model

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad

    ChemDoodle VS BKchem

     
    • ChemDoodle is the most popular iPhone & iPad alternative to BKchem.

    • ChemDoodle is Paid and ProprietaryBKchem is Free and Open Source
  11. MollyCule icon
     2 likes
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    MollyCule is a completely free Open Source Chemistry visualisation program for MacOS, Linux and Windows. MollyCule is designed to be a nice, easy to use program to help ordinary people who want to explore Chemistry.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    Last update appears to be August 2011.

    MollyCule VS BKchem

     
  12. XDrawChem icon
     1 like
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    XDrawChem is a free software program for drawing chemical structural formulas, available for Unix and Mac OS. It is distributed under the GNU GPL. In Microsoft Windows this program is called WinDrawChem.

    11 XDrawChem alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    Last release (1.10.2-1) was in January 2017.

    XDrawChem VS BKchem

     
12 of 15 BKchem alternatives