Black Ink vs FireAlpaca
Black Ink
blackink.bleank.comFireAlpaca
firealpaca.comSide by side
| Figure | Black Ink | FireAlpaca |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | €8.25/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · Digital Painting Software | 8.2 (#13) | 9.1 (#2) |
| Spec score · Design tools | 7.7 (#103) | 9.0 (#22) |
| Spec score · Graphic Design Software | 7.7 (#107) | 9.0 (#23) |
| Drawing tools | The maker lists tools including brush, eraser, paint bucket, blur, magic wand, lasso select, transform, crop, zoom, and rotate. | Listed functions include animation, mesh deformation, gradient maps, lasso fill, CMYK display, text, halftone, 3D perspective, tone curves, and reference windows. |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Layer system | The nodal layer system lets users combine layer operators while preserving the original drawing. | Layers support 18 blend modes, clipping and layer folders. |
| Support | Support is available by email, Discord, and the maker's forum; personal licenses include priority email support. | The SE page directs users to the FireAlpaca manual website for questions about basic operation and tools. |
Plans
Black Ink
- Upgrade€8.79 a month
- Individuals€33.99 a month
- Business€99 a year
- Upgrade$8.99, paid once
- Individuals$34.99, paid once
FireAlpaca
- FreeFree
- FireAlpacaFree
- FireAlpaca standardFree
- FireAlpaca SE$39.99, paid once
- FireAlpaca SE$39.99, paid once
In their own words
Black Ink
Black Ink has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
FireAlpaca
FireAlpaca is a digital painting program for making illustrations and images, available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its listed tools include animation, mesh deformation, gradient maps, lasso fill, CMYK display, text, halftone, 3D perspective, tone curves, and reference windows. The standard software supports 10 languages, and the maker distributes original brushes weekly in styles including pencil, watercolor, motifs, patterns, and effects. Brush customization, layers, pressure sensitivity, and stroke stabilization are supported; color management is described as basic. The free edition permits individual and commercial use without a license fee. Its separate FireAlpaca SE edition adds onion-skin animation with GIF or APNG export, a store with more than 300 brush types, a liquify tool, and layer masks. SE costs 39.99 USD once. Listed downloads are version 2.16.3 or later requirements: Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 or later, and Linux distributions including Ubuntu 23.04, Fedora 36, and Debian 12 or later.