Krita vs Adobe Fresco
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Krita is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.6. Krita wins on 2 of the 5 scores, Adobe Fresco on 2, with 1 tied.
Digital painters and comic artists on a PC, Mac or Linux machine
Beginners and hobby painters who want a capable drawing app that costs nothing
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Krita | Adobe Fresco |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design & Creativity | Design & Creativity |
| Category rank | #5 of 10 | #6 of 10 |
| Developer | Krita Foundation | Adobe |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | — | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | — |
| Mac | ✓ | — |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | ✓ | — |
Common questions
Is Krita better than Adobe Fresco?
Krita is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.6. Krita wins on 2 of the 5 scores, Adobe Fresco on 2, with 1 tied.
Which is cheaper, Krita or Adobe Fresco?
Krita: Free from krita.org; optional paid store versions and donations fund development. Adobe Fresco: Free on iPad, iPhone and Windows; optional Adobe plans add Photoshop on iPad. On value for money, Krita scores higher.
Do Krita and Adobe Fresco work on the same devices?
Only Krita runs on Mac, Linux, Android. Only Adobe Fresco runs on iPhone & iPad.
Which is more private, Krita or Adobe Fresco?
Krita scores higher on privacy (9.9/10). Krita says it does not access, collect, use, share or transmit any personal information. The Mac App Store label reads Data Not Collected, and Google Play lists no data collected.
Strengths and weaknesses
Krita
- Free and open source, with nothing paywalled
- Collects no personal data at all
- Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android tablets
- Interface can feel cluttered and slow to start
- Android version is a tablet-only beta
- No iPad or iPhone version
Krita gives Windows, Mac and Linux painters a serious studio for free. You get flexible brush engines with stabilizers, drawing assistants, animation with onion skinning, comic panel tools and PSD support, and the 2026 releases rewrote the text tool. It's open source and collects no data at all. Expect a busier interface than Procreate, and the Android build is still a beta for tablets and Chromebooks only.
Full Krita review
Adobe Fresco
- Free, with thousands of brushes and no ads
- Live, vector and pixel brushes on one canvas
- Animation built in, plus easy hand-off to Photoshop
- Privacy label links a lot of data to your identity
- Cloud saving and all brush packs need an Adobe sign-in
- No Android or Mac version
Adobe Fresco gives you a real painting studio on iPad, iPhone or a Windows PC for free. Live brushes that blend like real paint, crisp vector brushes and pixel brushes share one canvas, and frame-by-frame animation, motion paths and Photoshop brush import round it out. There are no ads, and you can start drawing before you sign in. A free Adobe account unlocks cloud saving and every brush pack, and the privacy label links plenty of data to you.
Full Adobe Fresco review
