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Add to SafariWhen comparing GIMP vs MyPaint, the Slant community recommends GIMP for most people. In the question“What is the best open-source drawing software for Android?” GIMP is ranked 2nd while MyPaint is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose GIMP is:
GIMP is completely free and open source, meaning you can use GIMP and all of its features without spending a penny. This makes it an excellent case for artists or designers who may not have the budget to spend over 700 USD on Photoshop. It is also available for free on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It's licensed under GPL with source code available [here](http://www.gimp.org/source/).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free, open source and cross-platform
GIMP is completely free and open source, meaning you can use GIMP and all of its features without spending a penny. This makes it an excellent case for artists or designers who may not have the budget to spend over 700 USD on Photoshop. It is also available for free on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It's licensed under GPL with source code available here.
Pro Powerful
GIMP is the most feature rich free image editing tool. It has most image manipulation and workflow tools that you would expect from an image editing software and what it lacks it makes up with plugins.
Pro Content-aware tools with a plugin
There's a content-aware fill plugin available for GIMP.
Pro Modular & single-window interface options
By default GIMP splits out each window, but you can check to use the one screen mode in options if you prefer.
Pro Lightweight
Compared to to other photo editing software, GIMP is very light weight. In addition it isn't very resource-intensive, meaning you can put it on a flash drive and have it with you to load up on just about any computer.
Pro Beginner-friendly
Gimp has less features than programs like Photoshop, but for a beginner, or someone not needing complicated options, Gimp is the perfect choice. It allows you to quickly do basic photo manipulation so you can easily get the product you need without having to worry about complicated features getting in the way.
Pro Full channel support
Pro Interface gets out of the way
MyPaint mostly consists of the canvas. The interface to select different brushes can be brought up if needed, but it generally stays out of the way of getting things done.
Pro Good support for pressure sensitive graphics tablets
MyPaint was designed specifically with pressure sensitive graphics tablets in mind.
Pro Good media emulation
Pro Forgo the need to resize the canvas
If a user needs a bigger canvas all they need to do is zoom out instead of re-sizing.
Cons
Con Unintuitive interface
GIMP doesn't embrace OS X application design, thus Mac users might have a hard time wrapping their heads around GIMP's interface.
Con Less features than other programs
Being a free program, it shouldn't be surprising that it has limited features. For those needing more advanced features for something more professional, GIMP just isn't for you.
Con Lacks adjustment layers
Adjustment layers offer a non-destructive way of combining different photo manipulations. Without adjustment layers the only way to see changes is by irreversibly editing the image.
They are promised in future updates.
Con Poor performance
Con Is not stable at all
I could not even open a png file to start without the software to freeze.
Con Not a lot in terms of image manipulation
MyPaint focuses only on drawing. It has very little in terms of post processing or image manipulation features.
