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Krita vs Toon Boom Harmony

Krita logo

Krita

Art

Free and open-source digital painting software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Toon Boom Harmony logo

Toon Boom Harmony

Animation

Creating worlds of Animation

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Krita has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Krita not portable across Windows/macOS/Linux with consistent performance; Toon Boom Harmony licensing is subscription only across Essentials, Advanced and Premium tiers, with no perpetual license option offered on the pricing page

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Krita and Toon Boom Harmony actually diverge.

Attributes where Krita and Toon Boom Harmony differ
AttributeKritaToon Boom Harmony
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownone-time
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxWeb
CategoryArtAnimation
Founded1999Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Toon Boom Harmony

Nothing recorded that Krita does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Krita

  • Digital paintingnot Toon Boom Harmony
  • Concept artnot Toon Boom Harmony
  • Character designnot Toon Boom Harmony
  • 2D animationnot Toon Boom Harmony
  • Texture paintingnot Toon Boom Harmony

Toon Boom Harmony

No use cases recorded yet. See the Toon Boom Harmony review.

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

Toon Boom Harmony

  • Licensing is subscription only across Essentials, Advanced and Premium tiers, with no perpetual license option offered on the pricing page
  • Access beyond the 14 day free trial requires purchasing a subscription through the shop

Pricing, plan by plan

Krita

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Krita review.

Toon Boom Harmony

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Toon Boom Harmony review.

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 Toon Boom Harmony if

Nothing in the data separates Toon Boom Harmony from Krita on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Toon Boom Harmony review

Questions people ask

Is Krita or Toon Boom Harmony better?
Neither clearly leads. Krita starts at Free and Toon Boom Harmony at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Krita or Toon Boom Harmony?
Krita has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Krita and On request for Toon Boom Harmony.
Does Krita or Toon Boom Harmony run on more platforms?
Krita runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Toon Boom Harmony runs on Web.
Can I use Krita for free?
Yes. Krita has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Toon Boom Harmony starts at On request.
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 Toon Boom Harmony is typically brought in for.
What can Krita do that Toon Boom Harmony cannot?
Krita covers Digital painting, Brush engines, Layer management, Animation.

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
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
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
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Related pages

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