Drawpile vs PaintTool SAI
Drawpile
drawpile.netPaintTool SAI
systemax.jpSide by side
| Figure | Drawpile | PaintTool SAI |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | ¥5,500/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 2 |
| Spec score · Digital Painting Software | 8.9 (#5) | 7.6 (#30) |
| Purpose | Drawpile lets people draw, paint, sketch and animate together on the same canvas, and it can also be used offline. | PaintTool SAI is lightweight painting software for digital art. |
| Support | Support is available through Discord, IRC web chat, Matrix, GitHub issues and the documentation. | The maker says it cannot provide support for basic Windows operation knowledge. |
| Tablet support | Pressure-sensitive drawing tablets are supported on every platform listed by the project. | SAI Ver.2 technical preview supports pen tablets using WinTab API and TabletPC API. |
Plans
PaintTool SAI
- PaintTool SAI Ver.1 Software License¥5,500 a month
- PaintTool SAI Ver.1 Software License$5,500, paid once
In their own words
Drawpile
Drawpile is a drawing, painting, sketching and animation app for people working together on one canvas, with offline use also available. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and the web; on iPhone and iPad, the browser version works, but there is no native iOS app. Its toolkit includes more than 200 built-in brushes, several brush engines, a brush editor and stroke stabilization. Layers and layer groups support blend modes, alpha preserve, clipping groups, masking and alpha lock. Animation tools include a timeline and onion skins. Canvases can be saved as OpenRaster or PSD, and images can be pasted from files or other programs. Users can join official community servers without arranging their own infrastructure, or operate a server themselves. External authentication can let users access potentially untrusted third-party servers without sharing their password with those servers. Drawpile says it does not transfer information to other networked systems unless a user or operator specifically requests it. The free plan costs nothing.
PaintTool SAI
PaintTool SAI has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.