The Best Pixel Art Software

What is a pixel art software?
A pixel art software is a program that allows you to edit a canvas on the pixel level. Most programs allow for the modification of Red, Green, Blue and alpha values. This paves the way for amazing pieces of artwork, But with so many Pixel Art Programs wich one should you choose? This depends on your budget and what you intend to make with the program, we'll go over some popular programs and their uses now.

Spoiler Alert: it's aseprite.

Aseprite - $15 (Free if you complie it yourself)
Aseprite is a popular program, and for good reason to! It's easy to learn and even easier to use! It's lightweight but has all the tools you would ever need. With cool features like auto outline, onion skinning, an animation timeline, and even a pixel art text tool, Aseprite will suit your every need! With plenty more planned features for future updates.

Aseprite also allows its users to create custom scripts to make thier workflow easier, as a result there are hundereds of awesome extensions online to add more funtionality to Aseprite!

Aseprite's animation timeline is super easy to use, if you want to do some animations/general art aseprite is the way to go!

Pyxel Edit - $9
Pyxel Edit has a heavy focous on tilesets, with many tileset specific features such as live updates on other tiles when you edit one tile. Although most of Pyxel Edit's tileset functionallity can be achieved by other programs such as Tiled it is still very useful. Otherwise it is very similar to other programs like Aseprite, and has just as big of a community to!

With all of its tileset features and a low $9 price tag, pixel edit could come in handy for game developers!

Adobe Photoshop - $19.99/month
Believe it or not, Adobe Photoshop can do pixel art to! Although it doesn't have as many pixelart specific features as other pixel art programs it gets the job done. if you already use photoshop for other purpouses this could be the way to go, but if your buying a new pixelart program its highly recomended you go with somethng else. Although, Photoshop isn't all bad, it has the largest community so if your ever stuck getting a helping hand will be easy!

Due to the monthly payment model Photoshop simply isn't worth the money unless you are using it for other purpouses alongside pixel art.

Pixel Studio - Free
Pixel Studio has all of the basic tools you would ever need for pixel art, with custom brushes, animation and layers, and unique pallete features Pixel Studio is a great free alternative to Aseprtie. Pixel Studio is also the only pixel art software on this list that's avaliable on IOS and Android devices so you can pixel on the go! It is probably the program most frequently updated to!

So, a free mobile and PC app thats almost as good as the paid ones, it's a perfect choice for anyone that doesn't want to shell out cash for a pixel art program.

Piskel - Free
Piskel has all of the basic features you'd expect from a pixel art application and a little more. With animation tools, shape tools and even a preview window! The best part is you dont even have to download anything, Piskel runs in your browser! (Although you can download it if you like) So it's ideal for anyone just starting out that doesn't want to download a program they might not use.

Piskel is a great choice for someone who doesn't want to download a dedicated program or just wants to get started without any hastle.

Pixilart - Free
In addition to being a pixelart program, pixilart is also a website where you can share your pixel art! With forums, challenges, tutorials and (of course) a pixel art editor! The editor runs in your browser and alows you to export your creations directly to Pixilart's community features.

If you want something that is a little more then just an editor then Pixilart would be your software of choice!

GIMP - Free
Gimp is a free, open source image editing software similar to Photoshop. If you have used Photoshop before you will feel very at home here, although it isn't as good as the other free pixelart software, it is a great general image editor. So, if you are planning on using it as an image editor and pixelart program (or you're just familiar with photoshop's layout) it is a good solution. Otherwise, it isn't a brilliant pixelart application and you would be better off going for something else.

If you are familiar with the layout of Photoshop, or just want a general image editor GIMP is for you.