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GIMP vs Krita

Two free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, side by side.

Side by side

GIMP vs Krita: facts
FactGIMPKrita
LicenseLicense: Open sourceGPL-3.0-or-laterLicense: Open sourceGPL-3.0-only
MaintenanceStatus: ActiveStatus: Active
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
LinuxYesYes
AndroidNoYes
Self-hostableNoNo
Works offlineYesYes
No account neededYesYes
Parity with Adobe Photoshop50%63%

License classes: Open source and Open source. Status rules: Active means a commit in the last 90 days. See the methodology.

Feature parity with Adobe Photoshop

Feature parity with Adobe Photoshop
FeatureGIMPKrita
Editing
Layers, masks and blend modesYesYes
Adjustment layers and smart filtersPartialNote 1YesNote 2
Selection
Subject selection and edge refinementPartialNote 3PartialNote 4
Retouching
Healing, clone and content-aware fillPartialNote 5PartialNote 6
AI
Generative fill and expandNoNoNote 7
Design
Editable type and vector shapesPartialNote 8PartialNote 9
Photo
RAW development (Camera Raw)PartialNote 10PartialNote 11
Output
CMYK and print color managementPartialNote 12YesNote 13
  1. GIMP, Adjustment layers and smart filters: Non-destructive filters since GIMP 3.0; no adjustment layers yet
  2. Krita, Adjustment layers and smart filters: Filter layers, filter masks and transform masks
  3. GIMP, Subject selection and edge refinement: Foreground Select and paths; no AI subject selection
  4. Krita, Subject selection and edge refinement: Magnetic and color-based selection; no AI subject selection
  5. GIMP, Healing, clone and content-aware fill: Heal and Clone are built in; content-aware fill needs the Resynthesizer plug-in
  6. Krita, Healing, clone and content-aware fill: Clone and Smart Patch tools; made for painting more than retouching
  7. Krita, Generative fill and expand: A third-party AI Diffusion plug-in can run local models
  8. GIMP, Editable type and vector shapes: Text layers; no editable vector shape layers
  9. Krita, Editable type and vector shapes: Text and vector layers, less flexible than Photoshop's
  10. GIMP, RAW development (Camera Raw): Opens RAW files through darktable or RawTherapee
  11. Krita, RAW development (Camera Raw): Imports RAW files through a basic develop dialog
  12. GIMP, CMYK and print color management: Soft-proofing and CMYK export since 3.0; editing stays in RGB
  13. Krita, CMYK and print color management: Paints natively in CMYK with ICC profiles

All free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

File formats

GIMP vs Krita: file formats
FormatGIMPKrita
.psdOpens and savesNote 1Partial fidelityOpens and savesNote 2Partial fidelity
.psbOpens and savesNote 3Partial fidelityNo
.tiffOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
.pngOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
.jpgOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
.webpOpens and savesFull fidelityOpens and savesFull fidelity
  1. GIMP, .psd: Layers, groups, masks and CMYK carry over; adjustment layers and smart objects do not
  2. Krita, .psd: Layers, groups, masks, styles and text carry over; adjustment layers and smart objects are not documented
  3. GIMP, .psb: PSB import since 3.0 and export since 3.2