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Design · head to head

Krita vs RawTherapee

Krita logo

Krita

Design

Free and open-source digital painting software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
RawTherapee logo

RawTherapee

Photography

Open source raw developer with selectable demosaicing algorithms and floating point processing

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Krita not portable across Windows/macOS/Linux with consistent performance; RawTherapee there is no catalogue, only a folder browser, so any library management, keywording or search has to happen in a separate application.
  • They diverge on capability: Krita covers Digital painting, RawTherapee covers Selectable demosaicing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Krita and RawTherapee actually diverge.

Attributes where Krita and RawTherapee differ
AttributeKritaRawTherapee
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxLinux, Windows, macOS
CategoryDesignPhotography
Founded1999Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Krita

  • Digital painting
  • Brush engines
  • Layer management
  • Animation
  • Vector tools
  • OpenEXR
  • PSD files
  • Graphics tablets

Only in RawTherapee

  • Selectable demosaicing
  • Floating point pipeline
  • Local adjustments
  • Wavelet levels
  • Processing profiles
  • Colour management

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Krita

  • Digital paintingnot RawTherapee
  • Concept artnot RawTherapee
  • Character designnot RawTherapee
  • 2D animationnot RawTherapee
  • Texture paintingnot RawTherapee

RawTherapee

  • Difficult raw files where the demosaicing algorithm visibly changes the result, such as fine fabric, foliage or architectural detailnot Krita
  • Archive and restoration work where a free tool with strict colour management is preferable to a subscriptionnot Krita
  • Photographers who want to understand and control each processing stage rather than accept a vendor renderingnot Krita
  • Producing a high quality sixteen bit TIFF to hand to GIMP or another editor for compositingnot Krita

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Krita

  • Not portable across Windows/macOS/Linux with consistent performance
  • Performance limits on large projects with many layers compared to professional software
  • Requires system administrator privileges for installation on managed systems
  • Limited professional support compared to commercial alternatives

RawTherapee

  • There is no catalogue, only a folder browser, so any library management, keywording or search has to happen in a separate application.
  • The default rendering is deliberately neutral and looks flat next to the camera JPEG, which means every user has to build their own processing profiles before the tool is pleasant to use.
  • Support for new camera models and for Fujifilm X-Trans sensors arrives later than in commercial converters because it depends on volunteer work and upstream library updates.
  • The interface presents several hundred controls across many tabs with little guidance about which ones interact, and the learning curve is measured in weeks rather than hours.
  • Batch export is slow compared with commercial converters and there is no GPU acceleration, so processing a large wedding shoot ties up the machine for a long time.

Pricing, plan by plan

Krita

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Krita review.

RawTherapee

Free
  • RawTherapeeFree
    • GPL licensed with no seat limit
    • All processing features included
    • Documentation and support through RawPedia and the community forum

Which should you pick?

Choose Krita if

  • You need digital painting.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want brush engines.
Krita review

Choose RawTherapee if

  • You need selectable demosaicing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want floating point pipeline.
RawTherapee review

Questions people ask

Is Krita or RawTherapee better?
Neither clearly leads. Krita starts at Free and RawTherapee at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Krita or RawTherapee?
Krita starts at Free and RawTherapee at Free.
Does Krita or RawTherapee run on more platforms?
Krita runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. RawTherapee runs on Linux, Windows, macOS.
Can I use Krita for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Krita best used for?
Krita is most often used for digital painting, concept art, character design, 2d animation. Of those, digital painting and concept art are not what RawTherapee is typically brought in for.
What can Krita do that RawTherapee cannot?
Krita covers Digital painting, Brush engines, Layer management, Animation. RawTherapee covers Selectable demosaicing, Floating point pipeline, Local adjustments, Wavelet levels.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Krita: Is Krita free and open source?

Yes, Krita is completely free and open source software developed by the KDE community. It is distributed under the LGPL license with no licensing fees.

Source
RawTherapee: Does RawTherapee support Fujifilm X-Trans files?

Yes, but support arrived later than in commercial converters and results on fine detail still trail Capture One and Adobe on some bodies.

Krita: What platforms does Krita support?

Krita is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It can be downloaded from krita.org or installed via package managers on Linux distributions.

Source
RawTherapee: Can it replace Lightroom entirely?

It replaces the develop side. It does not replace the catalogue, so you will need digiKam, darktable or something similar alongside it.

Krita: What animation capabilities does Krita have?

Krita supports frame-by-frame animation with onion skin view, timeline management, and export to video formats for creating animated sequences.

Source
RawTherapee: Are my edits stored in the raw file?

No. Edits are written to sidecar profile files next to the raw, so originals are untouched and profiles can be copied between images.

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