Aseprite
Ranked 2 of 6 drawing apps by recommenders
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.
22 people recommended Aseprite in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
16 of the 22 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor”.
Summary written by Claude from 27 comments.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 22
- mixed feelings
- 4
- warn against or regret it
- 3
The record
Recommended in 6 of 12 months
In 10 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 22 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 10 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- 16 of its 22 recommenders came from one threadNeeds half or less, not met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 27 of the 33 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Built for pixel art workflow
“has been an enormous boon to me, for pixel arting it definitely fits my habits and abilities much better”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “Aseprite is a good editor if you like to paint pixel by pixel every frame”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “Aseprite is the best tool for pixel art full stop”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” Strong animation and onion skinning
“I like it a lot. Pixel art is shockingly approachable and the animation stuff in Aseprite is pretty fun.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “I really like the way they handle onion skinning as well”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “I really like it for creating animated characters.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” Worth paying to support developers
“This is one case where we really should support the original product…”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “Aseprite is such a joy to use that I paid for it just to support the developers”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “It's good to support honest and high quality proprietary software.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” Works well for game jams
“It’s a crucial tool in my gamedev workflow, and really couldn’t do without.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “I do game jams and it works really well.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
License is not open source
“Not that it is a unreasonable license, but it is not open source.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor” “Their EULA forbids distributing the software, hence not open source.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor”
Other drawing apps people recommend
The four most recommended other drawing apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Krita | 69 | 6 | 10 | 87% | 12 | — | Approved |
| AsepriteThis page | 22 | 4 | 3 | 88% | 6 | — | — |
| Procreate | 19 | 3 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| LibreSprite | 6 | 3 | 4 | 60% | 1 | — | — |
| LibreOffice Draw | 5 | 0 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 33 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“an open-source, popular pixel art editor and it worked shockingly well”
“I've been a pretty happy Aseprite user for years - practically a decade at this point.”
“for something more modern”
“But it won't launch without being logging into your steam account”
“Aesprite seems pretty good”
“aseprite for pixel art work”
“or just use paint / aesprite...”
“Aseprite is a good editor if you like to paint pixel by pixel every frame”
“acknowledges this tension and promises sustainability like Aseprite”
“I like it a lot. Pixel art is shockingly approachable and the animation stuff in Aseprite is pretty fun.”
“I really like it for creating animated characters.”
“it's a very good little tool”
“It's good to support honest and high quality proprietary software.”
“Aseprite is the best tool for pixel art full stop”
“It’s a crucial tool in my gamedev workflow, and really couldn’t do without.”
“I really like the way they handle onion skinning as well”
“Their EULA forbids distributing the software, hence not open source.”
“I think aseprite is a perfectly fine project”
“I have paid for Aseprite, but on many machines I just install the old GPL version, usually available as a package…”
“I do game jams and it works really well.”
“This is one case where we really should support the original product…”
“Aseprite is such a joy to use that I paid for it just to support the developers”
“Not that it is a unreasonable license, but it is not open source.”
“Aseprite is already open source and you can get it for free”
“has been an enormous boon to me, for pixel arting it definitely fits my habits and abilities much better”
“I love asesprite, procreate, pico8”
“consider Aseprite for pixel art animation”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.