When comparing Paint.NET vs GRAVIT, the Slant community recommends GRAVIT for most people. In the question“What are the best tools to make simple Social Media graphics?” GRAVIT is ranked 7th while Paint.NET is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose GRAVIT is:
Gravit has a free version, but there is paid version with more features.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to learn and use
Unlike most photo editing software, Paint.NET is simple to learn and easy to use. This means less time is spent learning the in's and out's of Paint.NET and more time on photo editing. For those who only edit photos sporadically and don't have time to invest in learning complicated tools for editing, Paint.Net will suit your needs.
Pro Free software
There is no charge for this software; but donations are welcomed.
Pro Lightweight
Paint.net provides a streamlined but effective core tool set. Support for advanced and niche features is provided through modular plugins, allowing the user to install only what's needed.
Pro Actively developed
The project is active and being continually expanded and refined.
Pro Active and friendly community
The forums are filled with tutorials, as well as people who are friendly and eager to help.
Pro Plugins allow extra functionality
Plugins can be made by anyone in the community, and are offered for download on the forum. They extend the capabilities of Paint.NET to cover most tasks.
Pro HiDPI support
Paint.NET supports fully HiDPI displays, with no scaling problems.
Pro Free
Gravit has a free version, but there is paid version with more features.
Pro Multi platform
Works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Pro Actively developed
Pro Easy to export all assets
Gravit has a built in exporter to PDF, JPG, PNG and SVG.
Pro Clean and helpful UI
The panels in Gravit adjust to contain the information needed based on the type of element selected, preventing the clutter that Photoshop often experiences.
Pro Easy to design multiple pages
The ability to assign layers to specific pages, and view single or multiple pages at once makes it easy to design an entire website without getting lost in thousands of layers. Easy to view multiple pages at one time.
Pro Symbols and libraries
With Gravit you can re-use the same design for buttons, inputs, etc, in multiple places, with changes synced every where the element is used. It's also possible to set text to a shared style to sync text changes throughout the app.
Pro Able to open Sketch files
The ability to open Sketch files makes it easier for Linux/Windows users to collaborate with people who use Sketch, which is macOS specific.
Cons
Con Only available on Windows
Paint.NET is only available on Windows.
Con No project-based interface
You can only edit a single image at a time in Paint.NET. For example, in other tools you can open 5 or a 100 images at the same time, and stack those windows in all directions.
Furthermore, when you are editing in Paint.NET you can only "view" a single image at a time, even though you can have multiple images open. This limits your zooming ability, as the image will go fullscreen quite quickly, and hide parts of it behind the floating toolbars which can not be embedded anywhere on the screen.
Con Paid version
Expensive paid version that has many features you can find in free or cheaper applications.
Con This does not appear to be a Web-design tool
Gravit appears to be a vector-art tool, and nothing more. Their homepage doesn't even mention Web design as far as I can see.
Con Changing rapidly
The fast rate of growth/change for Gravit can be a pro in that in means plenty of new features.
However, it also makes the product fairly unpredictable.
For example: In the past year, Gravit was open sourced, then closed sourced again.