# LibreSprite

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

6 people recommended LibreSprite in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 12 months, in 1 thread. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

6 of the 6 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor”.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source pixel art editor praised for its intuitive animation workflow and open license. Critics note it has far fewer recent updates and commits than Aseprite.

Summary written by Claude from 14 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 13 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Free, open-source software (1 comment in the sample): "It's good to have open source software." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278935))
- Accessible and easy for pixel art (1 comment in the sample): "For the basics libresprite is a great entry into pixel art" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47274425))

## What people warn about

- Fewer updates than Aseprite (2 comments in the sample): "skip out on two major versions worth of bugfixes, updates, and new features in favor of the right source-code license" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278569)) "LibreSprite has 5000 commits, 30 in the past year whilst ASEPrite has over 10000 at this point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273742))
- Looks dead, few recent commits (1 comment in the sample): "I think this fork looks pretty dead." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276882))

## Other drawing apps people recommend

- [Krita](https://hackerapproved.com/p/krita/): 69 recommend, 6 mixed, 10 criticize
- [Aseprite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aseprite/): 22 recommend, 4 mixed, 3 criticize
- [Procreate](https://hackerapproved.com/p/procreate/): 19 recommend, 3 mixed, 0 criticize
- [LibreOffice Draw](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice-draw/): 5 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize

## 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, "LibreSprite", https://hackerapproved.com/p/libresprite/ (6 recommend, 3 mixed, 4 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.