When you’re searching for a second opinion for the best free drawing app, Krita and Medibang are usually some of the most popular choices.
They are similar since they are both free drawing apps and are highly recommended by the YouTube art community.
In this article, we’ll compare Krita and MediBang by looking at their differences, features, pros, and cons, so you can select the drawing app that suits your needs.
Table of Contents
Software Overview
Krita
Krita is a highly versatile and powerful open-source drawing app for creating digital art. It’s one of the most feature-packed open-source drawing apps with its wide range of brushes, flexible layer control, support for animation creation, and constant updates.
Some of the key features of Krita include:
- A huge selection of customizable brushes for various painting styles
- Robust layer management with advanced blending modes and layer masks
- Support for vector graphics and text with advanced font management.
- Wide range of color management tools for accurate color representation
- Timeline and Onion Skin feature to create animation in Krita
Pros
1. Krita Have a Smooth Digital Art Workflow
2. Good default brush and support for Photoshop brushes
3. Krita Allows you to create animations
4. Krita is Compatible with most Drawing Tablets
5. Compatible with Photoshop
6. Krita has a Large, Dedicated Fanbase.
7. Krita is easy to learn and master
Cons
1. Krita Feels a Bit Buggy to use compared to professional apps like Photoshop
2. Requires at least 16GB of memory on Windows PCs and laptops
3. Not well-optimized for AMD CPU and GPU systems
4. Krita Stabilization isn’t perfect
5. Adding Text is difficult on Krita.
For a more in-depth explanation of Krita’s pros and cons, check out: Krita Review by an Artist: Everything You Need to Know.
MediBang
MediBang is a lightweight, user-friendly painting and drawing software for comic and cartoon work.
Among the features of MediBang, you can find:
- Versatile brushes and tools optimized for creating cartoons, manga and webtoons.
- Efficient comic panel management and creation tools.
- Built-in cloud storage, allowing you to access your work from multiple devices.
- Seamless collaboration for a group project
Pros
- Lightweight application
- Low learning curve and easy to master
- UI is highly optimized for mobile devices, especially for smartphones and tablets.
- Good for comic creation
Cons
- Lack of advanced features for drawing and painting
- Less support by developers
- Have fewer brushes compared to other drawing apps
Although both Krita and MediBang cater to different artistic preferences, they are both powerful tools in their own right.
We will make a detailed comparison between Krita and Medibang, so you can choose the one that best suits your creative needs.
Krita Vs. Medibang: Detailed Comparison
Platforms and Compatibility
Regarding platform compatibility, both Krita and MediBang are available on several operating systems. Using the same app on your PC, laptop, smartphone and tablet is advantageous.
Krita is a versatile choice as it supports various platforms. It runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, providing a consistent experience across all these platforms.
Krita also supports Android tablet devices, making it suitable for artists who prefer working on mobile tablets. For more details about Krita and its compatibility, check out our article on Krita System Requirements.
MediBang is equally compatible, as it is available on Windows, macOS, and Android. It stands above Krita regarding mobile compatibility by offering iOS support, allowing artists to use it on iPads and iPhones.
Download links and more information about MediBang compatibility are on their official website.
To sum up the compatibility aspect:
| Software | Windows | macOS | Linux | Android Tablet | Android OS | iOS |
| Krita | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Medibang | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Overall, Krita is better if you commonly use desktop operating systems like Windows, macOS and Linux. Medibang is better If you draw on your smartphone, iPhone, android tablet or iPad.
Drawing and Painting Tools Comparison
Brushes
Krita and Medibang both provide an impressive array of brush options. Krita features a comprehensive brush library with customizable settings, enabling the creation of distinct brushes suited to individual projects.
Adjusting brush parameters such as size, opacity, and hardness in Krita is simple. Additionally, Krita supports HDR painting, allowing for a wider color range and greater precision, resulting in more vivid and lifelike digital artwork.
Remarkably, Krita allows importing Photoshop brushes (.abr). Beyond Photoshop, Krita also supports importing brushes from Paint Tool Sai and accepts GIMP brush tips.
Furthermore, Krita enables the use of PNG files as brushes. Artists can convert any PNG image into a brush and use it creatively, with some even utilizing PNG brushes for quickly drawing hair.
For more information, check out: How to Add and Import New Brushes in Krita.
On the other hand, Medibang’s brush library is also quite extensive, featuring brushes designed explicitly for cartoon and illustration work.
They come with various textures and effects catering to different art styles. Medibang’s brushes are designed for raster and vector-based drawings, giving you more flexibility in your work.
Overall, Krita has better brush selection and customization compared to Medibang.
Masks
In Krita, masks are essential for protecting specific areas of your artwork while painting. You can access various mask types, such as transparency, filter, and transform masks.
These masks allow you to apply changes like color and shadow to your layers while preserving the original image data.
Medibang also provides masking capabilities. Like Krita, you can use masks to protect areas of your artwork when making adjustments or applying effects. This is particularly useful for creating comic panels or isolating specific elements of your illustrations.
In conclusion, both Krita and Medibang provide masking features, which make it easier to apply an effect on your digital painting.
Image and Photo Editing Features
In Krita, you can access advanced photo editing tools, making it a powerful choice for tasks like retouching and manipulation. Krita’s flexible brushes and powerful layer control allow you to create good digital art easily. Additionally, Krita supports a vast selection of blending modes and layer effects, allowing the freedom to experiment with different styles and techniques.
Krita also provides a “snap to grid” feature, which lets you align objects and elements accurately on the canvas. This tool is helpful when creating layouts, illustrations, or designs that require precise positioning.
MediBang is a lightweight program focusing on comic creation and digital art. It still offers essential photo editing options such as cropping, resizing, and basic image adjustments.
However, its main strength lies in its suite of drawing tools and user-friendly interface, designed explicitly for manga and comic artists.
Some of MediBang’s noteworthy features include:
- Layers: Use multiple layers to separate and organize your work.
- Layer effects: Enhance your artwork with various layer styles like drop shadows, outer glow, and more.
- Snap tools: Align objects precisely and maintain consistency while working on comic panels.
Krita excels in photo editing and painter-style artwork, whereas MediBang is more suitable for comic creation and digital art. Of course, you can use Krita to draw a comic, but it will be easier in Medibang.
Animation and Comics
Krita offers a dedicated animation workspace, which allows you to create traditional frame-by-frame animations.
Krita’s Onion Skin feature makes visualizing previous and next frames easier, and its timeline panel provides a clear overview of your animation project. Moreover, Krita supports importing and exporting animations in various file formats.
On the other hand, Medibang Paint focuses more on creating comic artwork. Some of these features include:
- Pre-made comic book templates
- Panel layouts and rulers for a streamlined panel creation process
- Various specialized brushes designed for comics
- Cloud storage and collaboration tools for artist teams
Regarding animation and comics, Krita is better suited for animation, while Medibang Paint Pro is tailored toward creating comic and manga content.
Customization and Functionality
- Toolbars
When comparing Krita and MediBang, the general functionality and customization aspects are vital. In Krita, you benefit from a highly customizable user interface, allowing you to modify your workspace according to your preferences.
You can easily add or remove dockers, panels, and toolbars, making it a more adaptable software. On the other hand, MediBang offers limited toolbar customization, making it less flexible to adjust the interface to suit your needs.
- Scripting Tools
Krita supports Python-based scripting, which means you can create your own custom tools, filters, and automated workflows to enhance your productivity.
MediBang does not provide native support for scripting tools like Krita, reducing the possibilities for advanced users who need specialized tools for their projects.
Community and Support
- Documentation
Both Krita and Medibang have extensive documentation available to help you learn and master their respective software.
Krita offers a comprehensive user manual covering everything from getting started to painting tools and file management.
On the other hand, Medibang also provides a support page filled with helpful information, step-by-step guides, and FAQs on using their software.
- Krita Community
The Krita community is large and active, including contributors from all around the world. They continually develop new features, fix bugs, and provide updates regularly.
This is the list of Krita community you can follow:
Krita Reddit Community: with 75 thousand members
- Medibang Community
Medibang’s community is not vibrant compared to Krita. It’s hard to find an active forum for Medibang that speaks English.
There is technically a discussion board on the Medibang website. You can access it at https://medibang.com/tags/unjoined/ and then choose the Medibang Paint community.
But if you open that link, you may find out that it’s a non-active community, and the discussion is unrelated to Medibang Paint.
The only community I found for English-speaking artists for Medibang is the Medibang Reddit community, with only 5 thousand members, smaller than Krita’s community.
Comparisons and Alternatives
When comparing Krita and Medibang, it’s essential to consider other popular digital art software options. This section will discuss two alternatives: Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint.
Photoshop
As a renowned digital art software, Photoshop offers a range of powerful features that cater to various creative needs. Photoshop is the most chosen app by most professional artists.
While Krita and Medibang are viewed as lightweight alternatives, Photoshop is considered more robust and versatile, making it ideal for professional artists and designers.
However, Photoshop’s subscription cost sets it apart from Krita and Medibang, both free applications.
In terms of functionality:
- Photoshop: Top choice for professionals, extensive features and versatility.
- Krita: More functional than Medibang, free, and open-source.
- Medibang: Lightweight option, free, but with limited features compared to Krita
Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint is another popular digital art application that is similar in functionality to Krita. Clip Studio Paint offers a comprehensive suite of brushes tailored for comic and manga creation.
While it is paid software, it is available for a one-time fee plan and a subscription plan. If you choose the one-time fee plan, you won’t get any updates on your software except security and bug updates.
Here’s a comparison summary:
| Krita | Medibang | Photoshop | Clip Studio Paint |
| Free | Free | Subscription-based | One-time fee and subscription-based |
| Feature packed | Lightweight | Professional features | Comprehensive brushes for manga artists |
| Ideal for professional art projects on a budget | Ideal for illustrators and comic artists | Versatile for all kinds of creative projects | Ideal for illustrators and comic artists |
Besides comparing Krita and Medibang to popular apps like Photoshop and CSP, we should compare Krita with smaller apps.
I have already written the comparison in these articles:
Final Verdict
Overall, Krita is a free program offering more value in function and capability than Medibang. Krita resembles Photoshop but without the need to pay for a subscription.
After comparing everything, Krita is the winner of the better drawing app than Medibang.
But Medibang has its perks. It excels in simplicity as a user-friendly drawing app designed for comic creation.
If you’re looking for an app that’s easy to use, great for drawing comics, manga, and webtoons, and compatible with all your devices, Medibang is the perfect choice.
Both software is free, so you can try them and see which suits your artistic style and project requirements best.
