When comparing Krita vs Gravit Designer, the Slant community recommends Krita for most people. In the question“What are the best programs for illustrating?” Krita is ranked 2nd while Gravit Designer is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Krita is:
All the most used and useful tools are easy to find in Krita's UI and are often just one click away. They are not hidden behind menus or dropdowns.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to use layout
All the most used and useful tools are easy to find in Krita's UI and are often just one click away. They are not hidden behind menus or dropdowns.
Pro Constantly updated
Krita is getting constant releases with updates and bug fixes. New features are added at a pace that far surpasses the other alternatives.
Pro Free and open source
Krita is completely free and open source. They have raised a couple of successful Kickstarters in the past to get the initial financing and now they are accepting donations.
Pro Developed in part by KDE, which has a great community and therefore great support.
KDE has a long history of making solid applications.
Pro Amazing support for displaying brushes
Krita's preset brushes are one of the default dockers. Each brush has a preview on mouseover that shows a detailed view of the type of brush involved. All the brushes also have useful and descriptive names such as "HP Pencil" or "Textured Fuzzy".
Pro Very customizable
Although the UI is rather busy, Krita is very customizable. The editing window can be themed and the sidebar can be customized extensively throw many dockers or panes.
Pro Easy editing in a tiled view
Tiled view that shows your image tiled in the editor, and permits you to edit it as you are seeing it tiled. If the brush passes out of your texture, it will just automatically wrap back the painting to the other side of the original texture, while permitting you to paint and see the results on any of the tiled "clones" (the shortcut key to activate this is w by default).
Pro Simple to understand and use
Very friendly interface.
Pro Cross-platform
It offers total portability to almost any platform.
Pro Modern UI
Pro Friendly keyboard shortcuts
The keyboard shortcuts are very easy to access and remember.
Pro Essential Tools and Effects
Gravit has many tools like Pen tool, Bezigon tool, Lasso tools. We can add Multiple Fills to an element also. It has many effects such as Drop Shadows, Blur, Recolor, Glows, etc. and much more.
Cons
Con New features are not tested thoroughly
Since releases are so often and with little time between them, usually new features are not tested a lot and this can bring a lot of bugs with them. Which fortunately are quickly patched in the next release.
Con Documentation is lacking
Krita's official documentation is incomplete in some areas, especially for new features that are constantly added. But this is compensated with it's great design and usability which makes it easier to understand how things work.
Con Poor touch controls
They are still pretty much a WIP. But they are getting there.
Con Working with text is not that pleasant
Con Too simple
If you have used vector illustration software for 10 years or more, you may find Gravit Designer too simple and confusing. Trade in your oil paints and brushes for Legos simple.
Con No longer offically licenced with a GPLv3+ version
In 2014 Quasado released Gravit.io having dual licensing: GNU GPLv3+ or a commercial license. This effectively made Gravit.io opensource, when they transitioned to "Gravit designer" they essentially dropped GPLv3+ license.
You can still get the GPLv3+ licensed version of Gravit.io here: https://github.com/OliBridgman/gravit
You can read the GPLv3+ licensing here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
Con Confusing bugs
Sometimes Gravit Designer can randomly duplicate your files, causing you to waste a large amount of time trying to find the right one.
Con Pro Subscription
Gravit's many basic features are now included in Pro Subscription. Font Import, Bezigon, Swatches and various Blending Modes fall in Pro Subscription now.
Con Very little information
Official sources do not provide a lot information about the program.
Con No integration into the system
It uses it own theme and icons.