Paint.NET Alternatives for Linux

Paint.NET is not available for Linux but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on Linux with similar functionality. The best Linux alternative is Pinta, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Paint.NET and many of them are available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Linux alternatives to Paint.NET are Krita, GIMP, LazPaint and MyPaint.

filter to find the best alternatives

Paint.NET alternatives are mainly Image Editors, but if you're looking for Digital Painting Tools or Photo Editors you can filter on that. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Paint.NET.
Paint.NET iconPaint.NET
  1638
  • ...

Free image editor for Windows, offering layer support, plugins, special effects, and portable use without installation. Lightweight and ad-free.

More about Paint.NET
Paint.NET alternatives page was last updated May 24, 2025
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  1. Pinta icon
     269 likes
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    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...

    101 Pinta alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Mono

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Non Destructive Editing
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  No registration required
    7.  No Tracking
    8.  Multiple languages
    9.  Color correction
    10.  Image Filters
    11.  Gtk

    Pinta VS Paint.NET

     
    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 Comment
    Guest
    Oct 4, 2015
    11

    This functions in almost identical ways to Paint.NET, more so than any other program listed on here.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    Feb 15, 2019
    7

    It 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 Comment
    Guest
    Negative May 24, 2025
    0

    The latest update seriously munged the UI. Keyboard shortcuts aren't easy to figure out anymore, the most common menus are now split between the left, top, and top right of the screen. It used to be a fair equivalent to Paint.NET and now it's useless.

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    3 of 20 comments
    Paint.NET Icon
    Pinta icon
    • Most users think Pinta is a great Paint.NET alternative.

    • Pinta is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Paint.NET.

    • Pinta is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Paint.NET.

    • Pinta is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • Pinta is LightweightPaint.NET is not according to our users
  2. Krita icon
     1364 likes
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    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.

    137 Krita alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • NL flagNetherlands
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android Tablet
    • Epic Games Store
    • PortableApps.com
    • Steam

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Digital Drawing
    2.  Blending brushes
    3.  Keyframe Animation
    4.  Drawing 2D
    5.  Advanced brush settings
    6.  Drawing Tablet Support
    7.  Digital-painting focused
    8.  Sketching
    9.  Color blending
    10.  Support for Layers
    11.  Texture painting
    12.  Custom Brushes

    Krita VS Paint.NET

     
    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 Comment
    beng tang
    Sep 16, 2023
    0

    As 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.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    Jan 22, 2017
    16

    Very good, but not focused to photo editing.

    Most Recent Comment
    FiTekno
    Mar 10, 2022
    0

    I was looking for a quick tool to combine multiple screenshots, for example. This succeeds with that but not as fast as with Paint.net. Good thing this is localized to many languages.

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    3 of 16 comments
    Paint.NET Icon
    Krita icon
    • Most users think Krita is a great Paint.NET alternative.

    • Krita is the most popular Android Tablet alternative to Paint.NET.

    • Krita is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • Krita is LightweightPaint.NET is not according to our users
  3. GIMP icon
     4660 likes
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    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.

    182 GIMP alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    • Flatpak
    • AmigaOS

    Properties

    1.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Photo effects
    3.  DRM Free
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    6.  High-resolution images
    7.  Retouch photos
    8.  Open PSD files
    9.  Image Processing
    10.  Dark Mode
    11.  Color to Alpha
    12.  Works Offline

    GIMP VS Paint.NET

     
    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 Comment
    Guest
    May 21, 2019
    1

    free, open-source, cross-platform

    Top Negative Comment
    zlelmefs
    Dec 13, 2021
    6

    The #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 Comment
    beng tang
    Negative Sep 8, 2023
    0

    GIMP 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.

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    3 of 40 comments
    Paint.NET Icon
    GIMP icon
    • Some users think GIMP is a great Paint.NET alternative, some don't.

    • GIMP is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • GIMP is CustomizablePaint.NET is not according to our users
  4. LazPaint icon
     43 likes
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    Raster & vector graphic editor with many tools and filters, written in Lazarus. Portable, 32bit & 64bit versions, ORA format & 16384x16384 image support. In app 3D import & rendering.

    39 LazPaint alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Reads PDN Format
    3.  Transparent images
    4.  Portable
    5.  Pixel accuracy
    6.  Debian package
    7.  Support for SVG
    8.  Export to SVG

    LazPaint VS Paint.NET

     
    Comments about LazPaint as an Alternative to Paint.NET
    Top Positive Comment
    sourloti
    Oct 31, 2022
    3

    Is able to open and edit .pdn files! Especially handy if you're on Linux and aren't able/don't want to use paint.net.

    Most Recent Comment
    beng tang
    Positive Sep 5, 2024
    0

    LazPaint comes close to Paint.NET in terms of ease of use and features. Unlike GIMP, LazPaint has good resampling / resizing algorithms including Lanczos. Unlike Krita, it's selection tool does not select outside the image and it can print images. Amongst the Linux image editors I have tried, it is so far the best alternative to Paint.NET.

    Guest
    Positive Mar 28, 2024
    0

    Lightweight and available in Debian 11

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    3 of 6 comments
    Paint.NET Icon
    LazPaint icon
    • Most users think LazPaint is a great Paint.NET alternative.

    • LazPaint is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • LazPaint is LightweightPaint.NET is not according to our users
  5. MyPaint icon
     380 likes
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    MyPaint is a fast, distraction-free, and easy painting tool for digital artists. It supports graphics tablets made by Wacom, and many similar devices.

    121 MyPaint alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CH flagSwitzerland

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com

    Properties

    1.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Sketching
    2.  Support for Layers
    3.  Infinite canvas
    4.  Portable
    5.  Drawing Tablet Support
    6.  Fullscreen support
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  No registration required
    9.  Custom Brushes
    10.  Color blending

    MyPaint VS Paint.NET

     
    Comments about MyPaint as an Alternative to Paint.NET
    superluminar
    Negative Oct 29, 2017
    5

    MyPaint is a digital painting/drawing program, Paint.NET is a simple image editor.

    Guest
    Negative May 3, 2017
    2

    MyPaint looks a lot like Photoshop. Paint.NET is so popular because of the simplicity. Photoshop is a beautiful program with a lot of options. Paint.NET is a simple "paint" program that allows you to go as you like, but keep it simple at the beginning. MyPaint is like a Photoshop lite.

    Paint.NET Icon
    MyPaint icon
    • Most users think MyPaint is a great Paint.NET alternative.

    • MyPaint is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
  6. Sly icon
     31 likes
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    Sly is a user-friendly, offline image editor requiring no expertise; adjust brightness, contrast, apply effects, and export in JPEG or PNG formats with control over metadata.

    33 Sly alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Android
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Online

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  RAW Photo Editors
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Dark Mode
    5.  Works Offline
    6.  No registration required
    7.  Export to PNG
    8.  Export to JPEG
    9.  Vignetting correction
    10.  Exposure correction
    11.  Color correction

    Sly VS Paint.NET

     
  7. FireAlpaca icon
     82 likes
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    FireAlpaca is the image editor that can be used readily and easily. We made it possible to provide the completely free download, in order for our products to be experienced by more users from all over the world. It is available for both Mac and Windows users!

    121 FireAlpaca alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  User friendly

    Features

    1.  Support for Layers
    2.  Smooth lines
    3.  Digital Drawing
    4.  Blending brushes
    5.  Multi-choice brushes
    6.  Tablet support
    7.  Drawing Board

    FireAlpaca VS Paint.NET

     
    Comments about FireAlpaca as an Alternative to Paint.NET
    Ola Johansson
    Positive Oct 2, 2023
    0

    I just need a super simple tool to use as a web developer to crop and resave and stuff like that. I have always used Paint.net on Windows but this seems pretty good for Mac.

    Paint.NET Icon
    FireAlpaca icon
    • Most users think FireAlpaca is a great Paint.NET alternative.

    • FireAlpaca is Free and ProprietaryPaint.NET is also Free and Proprietary
7 of 24 Paint.NET alternatives