Comparison
Krita vs Photoshop: for drawing, the free one is genuinely better
This is the rare comparison where the free tool simply wins. For digital painting and illustration, Krita's brushes, canvas and animation tools are better than Photoshop's — not “good enough for free”, actually better — and it costs nothing. The catch is a different one than usual: Krita is not a photo editor. If half your Photoshop use is retouching photographs, Krita replaces the other half only.
Short answer
Drawing, painting, illustration, comics, 2D animation? Krita, and it's free. It is better at those than Photoshop is. Editing photographs, print work, or team PSDs? Krita can't do that job at all — that's Photoshop, or GIMP if you want free.
Pick this for painting, illustration and 2D animation
Krita
Built by and for digital artists, and it shows. Excellent brush engines with stabilisers, a canvas designed for drawing rather than retouching, wrap-around mode for textures, and frame-by-frame animation with onion skinning built in — free, where Photoshop's timeline is an afterthought. No watermark, no trial, no account, no subscription, ever.
Download KritaPick this if you also edit photographs
Photoshop
Still the tool for photographs: retouching, compositing, generative fill, true CMYK for print, and PSD files that survive being handed to someone else. Perfectly capable for painting too, just not better at it than Krita. The Photography plan is $9.99/month on annual commitment, which buys Lightroom as well.
Download PhotoshopWhy this one goes the other way
Most “free versus paid” comparisons end with some version of *the free one is surprisingly capable for the price*. This is not one of those. For the specific job of drawing, Krita is better than Photoshop, and the people who use both say so loudly — the top results for this question are artists explaining why they left Adobe, not defending a compromise.
The reason is simply that Krita was built for painters and Photoshop wasn't. Photoshop is a photo editor that grew painting features. Krita is a painting application with brush engines, stabilisers for shaky lines, a canvas you can rotate and mirror instinctively, wrap-around mode for seamless textures, and pop-up palettes designed for a stylus in one hand. None of that is bolted on.
The animation part is the clearest win. Krita includes proper frame-by-frame animation — a real timeline, onion skinning, playback, audio import — for nothing. Photoshop's timeline exists but nobody chooses it for animation. If you want to make a short animated piece and you don't want to spend money, this is the answer and it isn't close.
And here's the catch nobody puts up front. Krita is not a photo editor. There are no serious retouching tools, no healing workflow to speak of, no CMYK for print, no generative fill. If you currently use Photoshop for both drawing and photographs, Krita replaces one of those and you'll need GIMP or Photoshop for the other. People who miss this switch, get frustrated in week one, and conclude free software is bad — when they simply picked the tool for the wrong half of their work.
Krita, Photoshop and the one that's actually competing
Clip Studio Paint is in the third column because it, not Photoshop, is Krita's real rival among artists. The rows that decide it are animation, photo editing and price.
| Krita | Photoshop | Clip Studio Paint | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brush engines & stabilisers | YesExceptional | PartlyCapable, not specialised | YesExcellent |
| Canvas rotate, mirror, wrap-around | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Frame-by-frame animation | YesBuilt in, free, onion skinning | PartlyTimeline exists, rarely used | PartlyEX version |
| Comic & manga panel tools | PartlyBasic | No | YesBest in class |
| Photo retouching | NoNot what it's for | Yes | No |
| True CMYK for print | PartlyImproving, not full | Yes | Yes |
| Runs offline, no account | Yes | NoAdobe account required | Yes |
| Works on iPad | NoDesktop only | Yes | YesSubscription only |
| Price | YesFree, GPL | No$9.99–22.99/month | No$54 once, or from $0.99/mo |
Two things to know before you download
Install Krita 5.3, not 6.0. Both are current and both are on the download page, which confuses everyone. Krita 6.0 is the first release rebuilt on Qt6 and it brings genuinely good things — Wayland colour management and HDR, completely rewritten text tools that let you put text on a path or wrap it inside a shape, a new vector knife tool. But it is still settling, and the Krita team's own advice is that 5.3 is the version for real work, with 6.0 expected to take over later in the year. If a tutorial's menus don't match yours, this is usually why.
Photoshop probably isn't your real alternative. If you're choosing a painting app and you're willing to pay, the serious options are Clip Studio Paint and Procreate, not Adobe.
Clip Studio Paint is the standard for comics and manga — its panel, perspective and screentone tools are genuinely unmatched. PRO is $54 as a one-time purchase on Mac and Windows. Read that carefully though: one-time purchases receive stability updates only, not new features, and the iPad, iPhone and Android versions are subscription-only from about $0.99/month. It is a one-time purchase in a narrower sense than it first appears.
Procreate is $12.99 once, updates included, no subscription — genuinely the cleanest pricing in this entire category. It is iPad-only, so the real cost includes an iPad and a Pencil. If you already own one, it's a straightforward recommendation.
Krita competes properly with both, on desktop, for nothing.
When Krita is the wrong choice
We take no money from anyone, so here is where free loses. Four cases where you should use something else:
- You edit photographs. This is the big one and it bears repeating. Krita has no serious retouching workflow. For photos use GIMP if you want free, or Photoshop if you need CMYK and generative fill.
- You draw on an iPad. Krita is desktop-only — Windows, macOS and Linux. There is no iPad version and none coming. Procreate at $12.99 or Clip Studio's subscription are the tablet answers.
- You make comics or manga professionally. Clip Studio Paint's panel layout, perspective rulers and screentone tools are built for exactly that work and Krita's equivalents are basic by comparison. $54 is a fair price for how much time it saves.
- Your studio runs on PSD files. Krita opens and saves PSD, but complex files with layer effects and adjustment layers won't survive a round trip intact. If you hand working files to Photoshop users daily, that friction lands on you.
If you are drawing for yourself, on a computer, none of those apply — and Krita will do everything you were going to pay Adobe for.
Questions people actually ask
Is Krita free, and is there a catch?
Free, permanently, with no catch worth the name. Krita is released under the GPL: no trial period, no watermark on exports, no feature held back for a paid tier, no account, and no licence that can be revoked later.
You may see Krita sold on the Microsoft Store or Steam for a small amount. That is legitimate — it's the same software, and paying there is a way of supporting development while getting automatic updates. The download from krita.org is identical and costs nothing.
Can Krita fully replace Photoshop?
For drawing and painting, yes, and it's better at it. For photographs, no, and it doesn't try to be.
Krita has no serious photo retouching workflow, no generative fill, and only partial CMYK. If your Photoshop use is entirely illustration, you can cancel the subscription today. If you also retouch photos, you'll want GIMP alongside it — also free — or keep Photoshop for that half.
Being clear about which half you actually need is the whole decision.
Should I install Krita 5.3 or 6.0?
5.3, for now. Both appear on the download page and it confuses everyone.
Krita 6.0 is the first version rebuilt on the Qt6 toolkit, which brought Wayland colour management, HDR support and a completely rewritten text system. Those are real improvements. But it is still settling in, and the project's own guidance is that 5.3 is the release to use for actual work, with 6.0 expected to become the main version later in the year.
If your menus don't match a tutorial you're following, a version mismatch is usually the reason.
Does Krita do animation?
Yes, properly, and it is one of the strongest arguments for using it.
Krita includes frame-by-frame animation with a real timeline, onion skinning so you can see the frames either side of the one you're drawing, playback controls, and audio import for timing to sound. All free, no watermark on exports.
Photoshop has a timeline, but almost nobody chooses it for animation. For hand-drawn 2D animation on a budget of zero, Krita is the obvious answer.
Krita or Clip Studio Paint?
Clip Studio if you make comics or manga. Krita for almost everything else, including painting and animation.
Clip Studio's panel layout, perspective rulers and screentone tools are purpose-built for sequential art and Krita's equivalents are basic next to them. PRO is $54 once on desktop — but note that one-time purchases get stability updates only, not new features, and the tablet versions are subscription-only.
Krita costs nothing and has no such asterisks, so trying it first costs you an evening at most.
Is Krita safe to install?
Yes, from krita.org, the Microsoft Store or Steam. It is open source, developed under the KDE umbrella, with no ads, no telemetry, no bundled extras and no account.
As with every popular free program, the risk is impersonation rather than the software: download portals that rank well for these names routinely wrap real installers in adware. Use the official sources and there's nothing to worry about.