Clip Studio Paint
4 free alternatives
Top pick:KritaLicense: Open source
Saves $27 USD a year
Digital painting
Sketch, paint and ink with pressure-sensitive brushes on a desktop or tablet.
Paid apps and their free alternatives
Open one to see every alternative, ranked.
Procreate
5 free alternatives
Top pick:Adobe FrescoLicense: Freeware
Saves $13 USD one-time
Free digital painting tools
Every free tool in this category, by name.
Filter alternatives
6 alternatives
Adobe Fresco
Adobe's free painting and drawing app with raster, vector and live brushes, unlimited layers and animation for iPad, iPhone and Windows.
License: Freeware- Windows
- iOS
Status: Verified- PSD: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Built to hand work off to Photoshop; PSD layer fidelity was not tested
This replaces Clip Studio Paint and Procreate
ibis Paint X
Drawing app with layers, many brushes and an online art community; free with ads, with paid membership options.
License: Free tier- Windows
- macOS
- iOS
- Android
Status: Verified- PSD: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Imports PSD through the share menu; exports PSD with layers preserved or flattened
This replaces Procreate
Infinite Painter
Painting and sketching app for phones and tablets with natural brushes, blending and layers; free with limits.
License: Free tier- iOS
- Android
- ChromeOS
Status: Verified- PSD: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Reads regular RGB bitmap layers into a new project; exports multilayer PSD without masks or adjustment layers
This replaces Procreate
Krita
Open-source painting app for illustration, concept art and comics, with a deep brush engine.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Android
Status: Unknown- PSD: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Layers, groups, masks, styles and text carry over; adjustment layers and smart objects are not documented
- TIFF: opens and saves, full fidelity
- PNG: opens and saves, full fidelity
- JPG: opens and saves, full fidelity
- WEBP: opens and saves, full fidelity
This replaces Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint and Procreate
MediBang Paint
Free digital painting and manga creation app with brushes, comic panel tools and cloud features, on desktop and mobile.
License: Free tier- Windows
- macOS
- iOS
- Android
Status: Verified- PSD: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Layers carry over; effects and some blend modes may differ
This replaces Clip Studio Paint
Sketchbook
Sketching and painting app with layers, blend modes and many brushes; free on phones and tablets, paid Pro on desktop.
License: Free tier- Windows
- macOS
- iOS
- Android
Status: Verified- PSD: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Layers, groups and most blend modes carry over; text is rasterized and Sketchbook glow modes reset to Normal
This replaces Procreate