Paint.net

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall sentiment and use cases

  • Widely praised as a near-ideal “everyday” graphics editor: lightweight, fast, intuitive, and sufficient for simple to mid-complexity tasks.
  • Frequently cited as a “killer app” or one of the few programs that make Windows appealing or hard to leave.
  • Common use cases: quick cropping, annotations, memes, casual photo edits, texture work (e.g., .dds), and batch-ish workflows like resizing/cropping lots of images.

Comparisons to other editors

  • Seen as sitting between MS Paint and pro tools like Photoshop/GIMP: more powerful than Paint, far simpler than GIMP/Krita/Photoshop.
  • GIMP is repeatedly criticized as overcomplicated, unintuitive, and visually unappealing for quick edits.
  • Krita is viewed as powerful and cross-platform but heavier, more complex, and sometimes buggier or visually rough.
  • Pixelmator Pro, Acorn, Aseprite, and others are liked but heavier, not free, or more specialized.

Platform and portability issues

  • Major frustration: Windows-only, with many users missing it on macOS and Linux.
  • Pinta (a Paint.NET clone/fork) is commonly suggested for Linux/macOS but criticized as unstable, less polished, and with weaker UI/performance.
  • Running under Wine is reported as poor (“garbage” rating); porting is nontrivial due to Windows-specific APIs.

Licensing, openness, and formats

  • Some avoid it because it is proprietary and no longer open source; there is resentment over that change.
  • Its native .pdn format supports layers but is proprietary and seen by some as lock-in; others don’t mind since they mostly export PNG/JPEG.

UI/UX and features

  • Praised for intuitive UI, fast startup, and “just enough” features, compared to cluttered or slow competitors.
  • Specific liked features: easy manipulation of selections (moving “marching ants”), solid plugin ecosystem (though described as chaotic and hard to navigate), good layer support.
  • Criticisms: floating windows cannot be docked; forced-update behavior; reliance on a proprietary format for layered work.

Alternatives mentioned

  • Frequent alternatives: Pinta, Krita, GIMP, Photopea, miniPaint, Drawing (GNOME), KolourPaint, Pixelitor, PhotoDemon, Pixlr, Pixelmator Pro, Acorn, Aseprite.
  • Web tools like Photopea, miniPaint, and Pixlr are appreciated for cross-platform access, though ad models and subscriptions generate mixed reactions.