KolourPaint review
A free, focused desktop tool for basic shapes, touch-ups, selections, and image effects.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
KolourPaint is KDE’s desktop application for creating raster images, touching up existing artwork, and handling simple image-editing tasks. It suits people who need a straightforward tool for drawing shapes, adding text, selecting areas, adjusting colors, or applying basic effects without a paid plan. The application is free software, open source, and available for Linux, with macOS installers also provided by KDE.
Its main strength is a compact set of practical editing tools. Users can draw lines, rectangles, rounded rectangles, ovals, polygons, curves, and text; pick colors; and work with rectangular, elliptical, or free-form selections. The brush supports circular, square, slash, and backslash shapes. For image cleanup and quick adjustments, KolourPaint includes rotation, monochrome conversion, color similarity controls, flood fill, color eraser, and autocrop. This gives it useful breadth for simple raster work while keeping the focus narrow and accessible.
The trade-off is that KolourPaint is better suited to basic editing than to detailed digital painting workflows. Its published feature set does not document layers, pressure-sensitive input, color-profile management, stroke stabilization, or user-created or modified brushes. Artists who need layered compositions, pen-pressure control, or more advanced brush customization should choose a different application. KolourPaint is a sensible pick for Linux or macOS users who want free shape drawing, image touch-ups, and uncomplicated effects; it is less suitable for professional illustration or feature-heavy painting.
KolourPaint pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free and open source with no paid tiers
- Useful shape, text, selection, brush, and color tools
- Supports Linux and macOS desktop workflows
- Where it doesn't
- Focused on basic raster editing rather than advanced painting
- No documented layers or pressure-sensitive input
- Available on Linux and macOS only
KolourPaint fact sheet, pricing and score →
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