I spent a little time as a graphic designer back in the day, and though my skills haven’t improved much since then, I occasionally have a need for a solid image editor like Photoshop. My go-to has been Pixelmator on my Mac for a while now, but I’m always on the lookout for a solid cross-platform app that can handle both bitmap and vector editing and creation. The problem is that most good options are either platform-locked, subscription-based, or missing something critical. Krita has been on my radar for a while, but it’s horrible text tools ahve always given me pause.
With the release of Krita 5.3 (and 6.0 beta concurrently), that’s no longer the case, and it’s finally tipped me over into recommending it without reservation.
Krita vs. GIMP: Which Photoshop Alternative Is Best?
Krita and GIMP are both fantastic free alternatives to Photoshop, but which one is the best?
The text overhaul is the real story
I can finally do the work I need to
I use graphic design apps to edit photos I take for work and to design posters for my band. The latter requires lots of text work, and the way Krita managed it before was with a klunky separate dialog box that separated the text editing from the visual layout of the piece. That was pretty untenable.
The new Krita 5.3 release fixes that from the ground up. The entire text system has been rewritten, not just patched. You can click directly on the canvas and start typing, which may sound fairly basic, but it takes Krita from a “cool idea” to “something I can use daily.” It’s a fundamental shift in how you can work with text, as is the new ability to flow text within vector shapes. You can paste an entire paragraph into a circle or blob shape, and it will fit within that shape with no extra effort on your part. Better yet, text can now flow on paths, making it super easy to wrap text around or within the outline of a shape. It’s the kind of feature that most pro design software has, and now Krita does, too. Full OpenType support makes it even better, and for the fancy designers out there, there’s a broad compatibility with scripts and writing systems as well.
It handles both bitmap and vector work
And does so seamlessly
One thing that’s always been a little frustrating about open-source image editing software is how fragmented it is between vector and raster editing. GIMP does well at the latter but not at the former, while Inkscape is great for vector work, but not as a painting app. Krita aims at a good middle ground: serious painting and image editing tools alongside genuine vector object support. That dual capability is what makes it a good alternative to Pixelmator, which does both very well, just not across platforms. If you have a lot of Photoshop PSD files, Krita can also open and edit them, making it a great way to insert the new app into your workflow.
It’s completely free, across every platform
Makes my life easier, for sure
The open-source nature of Krita suits my needs, too. The app runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux and costs absolutely nothing to the end user. The full feature set is available at no charge across all three platforms: there’s no free tier with a paywall waiting for you, no watermarking, and no subscription. The Krita Foundation sustains development with donations and optional paid versions on the Microsoft Store, Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Mac App Store, but you can grab it for free on krita.org and get everything.
For context, my previous favorite, Pixelmator, costs $49.99 and is Mac-only. Adobe Photoshop runs $22.99 per month on an annual plan, or $34.49 month to month. Affinity Photo is now technically free now that Canva acquired it, though the software’s AI tools are locked behind a Canva Pro subscription. Krita’s insistence on being fully featured, completely free, and genuinely cross-platform makes it a significant value.
On Android and ChromeOS, only Krita 5.3 is available for now — 6.0 hasn’t reached those platforms yet because Qt6 is still unstable on them. Android support is tablet-only; the interface requires a larger screen.
Which version should you download?
I’m a fan of stability
For most people, Krita 5.3.1 is the right pick. It’s the stable release, includes everything above, and runs well on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The text overhaul, vector tools, PSD support, and everything else are all here.
Krita 6.0 beta is available right alongside 5.3, built from the same codebase but compiled against Qt6 instead of Qt5. Qt, pronounced “cute,” is the software framework that handles how the app draws windows, buttons, and interface elements. Qt5 is the current, stable version, while Qt6 is the modern, future-focused one. The functional differences are minimal for most users, but Qt6 adds native Wayland support on Linux, making the trade-off for less potential stability worthwhile.
Where to get it
Krita 5.3 has ended a search i’ve been half-running for years. I still have Pixelmator Pro on my Mac (muscle memory is a strong motivator), but for the first time I have a single image editor I can open on any machine I sit down at and have the same workflow and keyboard shortcuts. That’s worth a lot.
You can grab your copy for free at krita.org and test it out for yourself. It’s free, so you’ve got nothing to lose but time and maybe a little bandwidth. your copy for free at krita.org
