Tux Paint
Ranked 3 of 3 children's drawing apps by recommenders
Free drawing program for young children, liked for its whimsical feel and used by kids for years.
Free drawing program for young children, liked for its whimsical feel and used by kids for years.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Kids use it for years
“my youngest, in particular, loved Tux Paint, and used it long before she could read”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Tux Paint” “my kids also have been using it for years on a regular basis and love it”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Tux Paint” “my kids love this software and have been using it for years”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Tux Paint” - Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Tux Paint”
Suits young children
“she will enjoy using TuxPaint and playing Tux Racer”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: What kind of setup do you run for your children?” “This and GCompris are worth a look for any parent!”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Tux Paint” “Tux paint was also great around that age.”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?”
Other children's drawing apps people recommend
The two most recommended other children's 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 | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kid Pix | 23 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Mr. Baby Paint | 11 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tux PaintThis page | 10 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“retaining the sense of whimsy that most modern software lacks”
“Tuxpaint is free, get it from tuxpaint.org, do not buy it”
“She used the hell out of it for years.”
“This and GCompris are worth a look for any parent!”
“my youngest, in particular, loved Tux Paint, and used it long before she could read”
“my kids also have been using it for years on a regular basis and love it”
“my kids love this software and have been using it for years”
“she will enjoy using TuxPaint and playing Tux Racer”
“Tux paint was also great around that age.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.