Free, cross-platform raster painting application built for illustration, concept art, and texture work. Fills the gap left by paid painting tools: full 16/32-bit float channels, a wrap-around canvas mode for seamless tiling textures, and per-layer color spaces. The tool is GPL-3.0, but the files you paint are yours outright, which is the distinction that matters for a commercial project.
At a glance
Licence
GPL-3.0
Commercial use
commercial OK
Credit
Not required
Status
active: License spot-checked at the source; the entry carries dated evidence.
Wrap-around mode (W key) previews tiling textures live, useful for terrain and trim sheets
Exports OpenEXR and 16-bit-per-channel PNG, so it can author height and roughness maps without banding
PSD import/export exists but is lossy on adjustment layers and layer styles; keep KRA as the master
Animation timeline exports PNG sequences, which feed a sprite atlas packer directly
GPL-3.0 obligations attach only if you redistribute a modified Krita binary, not to shipping your art
Version left as bare GPL-3.0 deliberately. Per-file headers are GPL-2.0-or-later (and LGPL-2.0-or-later for parts of libs/ui) while the bundled COPYING is the GPLv3 text, so the distributed build is GPLv3 but the project elects no single identifier. Checked 2026-09-22; do not tighten this without a statement from the project.
Evidence
Live FAQ, "Can I use Krita commercially?" (2026-08-24): "What you create with Krita is your sole property."
Same section (2026-08-24): "Krita's GPL license applies to Krita's source code."
COPYING in the KDE repository (2026-08-24): "GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007"