The Best Paint.NET AlternativesTop Digital Painting Tools & Image Editors like Paint.NET
Paint.NET is described as 'Free image editor for Windows, offering layer support, plugins, special effects, and portable use without installation. Lightweight and ad-free' and is a leading digital painting tool in the photos & graphics category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Paint.NET for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Web-based and Android apps. The best Paint.NET alternative is Pinta, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Paint.NET are Krita, GIMP, Adobe Photoshop and Pixelmator.
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Paint.NET alternatives are mainly Image Editors but may also be Digital Painting Tools or Photo Editors. Other popular filters includes Mac + Image Editors. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Paint.NET.- Digital Painting Tool
- Free • Proprietary
- 105 Pinta alternatives
Pinta is a image editing, drawing and painting application with a simple yet powerful interface. Pinta has a wide range of drawing tools, including: freehand, rectangles, circles and lines. It also has over 35 effects to apply to your images, and also has the ability to create...
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Flathub
- Mono
Comments about Pinta as an Alternative to Paint.NET
Comment summary: Pinta receives praise for closely resembling Paint.NET, making it a strong alternative, especially for basic tasks and cross-platform use. However, users also point out issues such as bugs, missing features compared to Paint.NET, and stopped updates, which hinder its effectiveness. Despite these drawbacks, many still consider it the best clone available for those needing a simple and lightweight alternative to Paint.NET.Top Positive CommentTop Negative CommentIt gives you a good taste of Paint.NET, but it's so broken and painful to work with that it just isn't worth using; e.g. the text function doesn't work.
Most Recent Commentrushb1331The only thing that i dont like about it is that you need to hold ctrl to rezise a image
- 142 Krita alternatives
Free, open-source painting software designed by artists for artists. Offers customizable UI, 9 brush engines, color management, tablet support, non-destructive editing, and privacy features. Portable and available on major platforms, supporting seamless texture creation.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Country of Origin
Netherlands
EU
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android Tablet
- Epic Games Store
- PortableApps.com
- Steam
Comments about Krita as an Alternative to Paint.NET
Comment summary: Krita is recognized as a strong alternative to Paint.NET, offering a range of tools and free cost, making it suitable for both basic and advanced image editing. While it has more painting and drawing features, it lacks some rapid photo editing capabilities found in Paint.NET. Users appreciate Krita's localization and customization options, but some find it less intuitive and heavier. Resampling filters in Krita are noted as an advantage for resizing images.Top Positive CommentGeneric_SweetenerThere isn't anything else exactly like paint.net, but Krita comes the closest in terms of features and ease of use. It's relatively intuitive, has various customization options, and is sufficient for basic photo editing and more advanced image manipulation and drawing.
Top Negative CommentVery good, but not focused to photo editing.
Most Recent Commentbeng tangAs an alternative to Paint.NET for Linux, Krita is not exactly the same, but it has most of the same functionality and it can resize (Image > Scale Image to New Size) images using a variety of resampling filters including Lanczos3, which makes it better than GIMP for resizing photos.
- 189 GIMP alternatives
GIMP delivers powerful functionalities for photo retouching, image composition, and format conversion. As a versatile tool, it serves as both a simple paint program and a high-end retouching suite, and offers batch processing for mass image tasks in an accessible open-source platform.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
- Flatpak
- AmigaOS
Comments about GIMP as an Alternative to Paint.NET
Comment summary: Paint.NET is praised for its simplicity and ease of use, making it suitable for basic image editing tasks, while GIMP is criticized for its complexity and steep learning curve. Many users find GIMP to be more of an alternative to Photoshop, due to its advanced features and professional tools, which can be overwhelming for casual users. Despite some positive feedback on GIMP's features and open-source nature, the consensus is that it lacks the user-friendliness and lightweight nature of Paint.NET.Top Positive Commentfree, open-source, cross-platform
Top Negative CommentzlelmefsThe #1 perk of paint.net is how lightweight and fast it is, it's intended as a competitor to Paint. GIMP is the complete opposite- it's a big, slow monster designed to compete with photoshop.
Most Recent Commentbeng tangGIMP has many good features but it has removed the option to use lanczos algorithm for resizing images. The alternatives it provides for this purpose produce blurer images and are not as good. As resizing an image is a pretty basic requirement for a raster image editing software package, I'm afraid this is a serious limitation.
- 223 Adobe Photoshop alternatives
Comprehensive raster graphics editor offering advanced photo and image editing features. Supports multiple layers, masks, alpha compositing, various color models, and has limited vector graphics, 3D, and video capabilities. Extensible via plug-ins.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Online
- iPhone
- iPad
- Wine
- ReactOS
Comments about Adobe Photoshop as an Alternative to Paint.NET
Comment summary: Adobe Photoshop is recognized as a powerful and feature-rich photo editing software, offering capabilities such as advanced photo manipulation, video editing, and 3D design. However, it is criticized for its high price and complexity, making it less accessible for beginners and casual users. In contrast, Paint.NET is praised for being free, user-friendly, and suitable for basic editing needs, although it lacks the advanced features of Photoshop.Top Positive CommentHaricharanSrinivasanThe absolute best in photo correction and manipulation. Slick interface. Fast. Loads of tools for mobile and Web design. Content-aware editing. Video editing. 3D design capability. Synced Libraries. Integrated stock library. Complementary mobile apps.
Top Negative CommentVery pricy advanced application compared to free paint.net
Most Recent CommentzlelmefsIt's slow. It's not free. It's made by one of the worst software companies on the planet.
- 148 Pixelmator alternatives
Image editing software for macOS and iOS, offering nondestructive, GPU-powered editing with machine learning features, RAW support, custom brushes, and seamless macOS integration for touch-ups, painting, and creative compositions.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
Lithuania
EU
Platforms
- Mac
- iPhone
- iPad
Comments about Pixelmator as an Alternative to Paint.NET
Fast, easy to use, not overloaded with useless features
oddityoverseer13It's cheap, and it has all the capabilities of Paint.NET (plus some), and it's even more user-friendly.
- 92 Affinity Photo alternatives
Real-time image editing software supporting extensive colour spaces, unlimited layers, non-destructive edits, and a streamlined workspace for complex tasks on Windows, Mac, and iPad.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
United Kingdom
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- iPad
- 104 Photopea alternatives
Online photo editor, which can work with PSD, XCF and Sketch files (Photoshop, Gimp and Sketch App). Convert between PSD, XCF, JPG, PNG and many other formats.
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Online
Top Photopea Features
Comments about Photopea as an Alternative to Paint.NET
It can cover something up and add shapes to block off anything annoying.
This functions in almost identical ways to Paint.NET, more so than any other program listed on here.