Paint is a very easy-to-use drawing tool that has been included in all versions of Windows since 1985. Although it has evolved with the appearance of several versions, the latest version included in Windows 10 has barely improved, so which has become quite outdated, compared to other drawing tools that we can use for free. We present you the best alternatives to Paint in Windows 10 .
Paint.NET
Paint.NET is a free program for editing images, whose main objective is simplicity of use. It is an application as easy to use as Windows Paint, although it includes some extra functions that can be very interesting.
Some of these features are the ability to use layers , blends , transparencies , special effects, and many others. As if that were not enough, it is also compatible with a plugin system , which allows you to improve its functionality in a very simple way and without having to spend a single euro.
Another advantage of this tool is that it has a large community that you can access for free. You will find a multitude of tutorials and videos that will be very useful to learn how to handle the more advanced functions of Paint.NET
MyPaint
MyPaint is another great free alternative to Windows Paint application. In this case it is an open source application , which means that it is open to the community so that it can constantly improve its features. Being an open source project, it is available for most of the most used operating systems, including of course Windows, Linux and Mac .
This tool is more focused on drawing and painting tasks than image manipulation itself. Among its most notable features, we find an extensive library of brushes that simulate the stroke of pencil, charcoal and ink . With the most advanced users in mind, it includes the possibility of using custom brushes.
We continue to see the most remarkable features of MyPaint. This application supports the most used file formats today, so you will not have a problem opening any of them. It also has an unlimited canvas , so you will not have to define the size of the image before starting to work with it.
IrfanView
IrfanView came to the market in 1996 for the Windows 95 operating system, which means that it is one of the drawing and image manipulation applications, with more years behind it. So many years of development have served for the application to reach great maturity , and be one of the best that we can use.
You can use it completely free of charge and as long as you are not going to give it a commercial use, since in this case you must acquire a paid license. This tool is also compatible with a third-party plug-in system, which allows to increase its functionality in a very simple way according to the needs of each user.
It is an incredibly light program, which only takes 2 MB of disk space. If you install a large number of add-ons, it will take up more, but still stay under 20MB. This feature makes it ideal for use on older or less powerful computers.
It includes support for the most common file formats such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPEG2000, JP2, PNG, RAW and TIFF, it even allows you to compress PDF files .
Pinta
Pinta is another open source image editor that is available for Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. This makes it one of the best options and you need to work with several different operating systems, since you can use the same application in all of them , which will simplify your work and improve your productivity.
This program includes quite advanced functions such as annotations, drawings, color adjustments , an option to undo the changes in an unlimited way, support for layers and much more. Many of these options are usually only present in paid programs, which gives us an idea of the great quality of this application.
Greenshot
We continue with Greenshot, a great editing and annotation application, which is also open source and available for the most popular desktop operating systems.
The most interesting thing about Greenshot is that it is an application that is specialized in screen captures , so you can do it in a much easier way. Among the most noteworthy options that this application offers us, is to cut, resize, rotate, and make annotations in the form of eclipses, arrows, lines, rectangles and much more.
This makes it a great option for users who need to work on tutorials on a daily basis, as it will save them hours of work throughout the week. The application includes plugins for Confluence, Dropbox, Flickr, Imgur, and Office , which can be optionally installed to improve your usability options.
Paint 3D
Paint 3D is the latest free alternative to Paint, which we offer you in this article. It is a fairly complete application that has been developed by Microsoft, and is available to install for free in the Windows 10 application store .
It came with the Windows 10 Creators update , and since then it has left quite a good feeling in users who have decided to try it. There is even talk that this application could become the total replacement for Paint in future versions of Microsoft's operating system.
It is a very light application that is based on traditional Paint , but that greatly improves its usability by including support for 3D elements such as animals, texts, figures, humans and much more. It is a very recent application, so it still has a lot to improve, but we believe that Microsoft is in the right direction.
What do you think of these alternatives to Windows 10 Paint?