# Aseprite

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/aseprite/

22 people recommended Aseprite in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 10 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

16 of the 22 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor”.

**Verdict:** Pixel art editor people recommend for its animation tools, onion skinning and pixel-by-pixel workflow. Main caveat: it is paid and not open source.

Summary written by Claude from 27 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Built for pixel art workflow (3 comments in the sample): "has been an enormous boon to me, for pixel arting it definitely fits my habits and abilities much better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273346)) "Aseprite is a good editor if you like to paint pixel by pixel every frame" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297236)) "Aseprite is the best tool for pixel art full stop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47277731))
- Strong animation and onion skinning (3 comments in the sample): "I like it a lot.  Pixel art is shockingly approachable and the animation stuff in Aseprite is pretty fun." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47282412)) "I really like the way they handle onion skinning as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276216)) "I really like it for creating animated characters." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47281973))
- Worth paying to support developers (3 comments in the sample): "This is one case where we really should support the original product…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273742)) "Aseprite is such a joy to use that I paid for it just to support the developers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273695)) "It's good to support honest and high quality proprietary software." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278935))
- Works well for game jams (2 comments in the sample): "It’s a crucial tool in my gamedev workflow, and really couldn’t do without." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276236)) "I do game jams and it works really well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47274147))

## What people warn about

- License is not open source (2 comments in the sample): "Not that it is a unreasonable license, but it is not open source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273399)) "Their EULA forbids distributing the software, hence not open source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276058))

## Other drawing apps people recommend

- [Krita](https://hackerapproved.com/p/krita/): 69 recommend, 6 mixed, 10 criticize
- [Procreate](https://hackerapproved.com/p/procreate/): 19 recommend, 3 mixed, 0 criticize
- [LibreSprite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libresprite/): 6 recommend, 3 mixed, 4 criticize
- [LibreOffice Draw](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice-draw/): 5 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.aseprite.org/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Aseprite", https://hackerapproved.com/p/aseprite/ (22 recommend, 4 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.