The best free pixel art software

#At a glance

Versions are the ones we ran on 1 November 2026: the desktop programs on a clean Ubuntu 24.04 machine, opening the same files exported by LibreSprite (a 4-frame GIF, a PNG sprite sheet, an .ase). Platform and licence facts are from each project’s official pages. Aseprite (paid, $19.99 on Steam) is the commercial reference point: is Aseprite free?

#LibreSprite

The free fork of Aseprite’s 2016 code: a dedicated sprite editor with a pixel-perfect pencil, layers, a timeline with onion skin and tags, sprite-sheet export with JSON, a command line for batch export, JavaScript scripting and new symmetry modes in 1.3. It is small (about 30 MB to download on Windows) and quick to learn, and Aseprite tutorials for the basics apply directly.

Missing: layer groups, tilemap layers, a gradient tool, built-in outline or hue/saturation. Pick it if you want the classic Aseprite workflow for free. Getting started · vs Aseprite

#Pixelorama

A younger open-source editor built with the Godot engine and developed by Orama Interactive. We ran version 1.2.3 on Linux and in the browser. The desktop build opened our LibreSprite .ase with both layers, all four frames, the tag and the palette, plus our GIF and PNG sheet. Its menus include an Effects menu (Transform, Color, Procedural, Blur), Tile Mode, Mirror View and a Reference Images panel; according to the project’s feature list it also has tilemap layers. The Linux download is 31 MB. LibreSprite vs Pixelorama.

Pick it if you want an actively developed editor with tilemaps and effects that LibreSprite lacks, or need one that also runs in a browser.

#Piskel

The easiest start: open the website and draw. Our test sprite opened at 32 × 32 with the frame list on the left and a live animation preview (12 FPS) on the right, plus layers and palettes. It exports GIFs and sprite sheets.

When we imported a LibreSprite GIF (4 frames, 250 ms each), Piskel kept the frames but played them at its default 12 FPS, because it has one speed for the whole animation. It exports GIFs, PNG sheets (with JSON for PixiJS), ZIPs of frames and C files, and imports PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF, but not .ase. LibreSprite vs Piskel.

Limits: a simpler tool set, and it is best for small sprites. Pick it if you are trying pixel art for the first time or are on a computer where you can’t install anything.

#GrafX2

A long-running open-source bitmap editor inspired by the Amiga program Deluxe Paint, focused on 256-colour, palette-based work with many drawing effects. It shines for strict-palette art and retro platforms; animation is basic, and its interface feels unusual if you are used to modern apps. Linux users typically install it from their distribution: we ran Ubuntu’s GrafX2 2.8, which opened our 4-frame GIF as 4 frames with its palette.

#Krita

A full digital-painting program that can also make pixel art: it has pixel-art brush presets, nearest-neighbour scaling and a proper animation timeline with onion skin. It is much larger and heavier than the dedicated tools, and pixel-specific features (like palettes and sprite sheets) take more setup. Pick it if you already paint in Krita and only sometimes need pixels. Krita 6.0.4.1 opened our 4-frame GIF as a single image layer, without the other frames, so bring animations in as image sequences instead.

#GIMP

The general-purpose image editor. With the Pencil tool, a 1 px brush and a grid you can make still pixel art, and layers can be exported as GIF frames, but there is no animation timeline or onion skin. Fine if it is already installed; for regular pixel art, a dedicated editor is far more comfortable. GIMP 3.2.6 opened our 4-frame GIF as 4 layers, one per frame (indexed, 8-bit).

#Which one should you pick?

#FAQ

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