GIMP vs. Corel Painter

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
GIMP
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
GIMP is a free, open-source graphics software. GIMP, or General Image Manipulation Program was developed in 1996 and has continued to be updated by volunteers since then.N/A
Painter
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Painter is a digital art and painting application, from Corel Corporation.N/A
Pricing
GIMPCorel Painter
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GIMPPainter
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GIMPCorel Painter
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
GIMPCorel Painter
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.6 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.1 out of 10
Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GIMPCorel Painter
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(14 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
3.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GIMPCorel Painter
Likelihood to Recommend
GIMP Development Team
GIMP is great for anyone ranging from personal use to a small business. But, if you are a large business and have a sufficient budget, I would recommend you to opt for an expensive paid software like Photoshop, that would provide not only great features but also public recognition. Its great for beginners wanting to start editing photos, there is a small learning curve that could be gotten used to in no time.
Read full review
Alludo
Corel Painter does have a lot of great brushes, and they do emulate real art supplies very well. Especially the thick paint is well done. But unfortunately there are so many functional and UX bugs that overall it is just horrible to work with. When contacting customer support about it, they really seem clueless about the seriousness of the situation, and clueless about what proper UX is in general. They have tried to make it work a bit like Photoshop, which is a good move but then some things are absolutely not intuitive at all and they are definitely missing the mark horribly with so many issues. I would highly recommend using Photoshop instead, though you'll have to download them separately; it also offers a lot of great brushes nowadays and works much much smoother without all those aggravating bugs of Painter. The price of Corel Painter is just not at all worth all these horrible bugs.
Read full review
Pros
GIMP Development Team
  • GIMP has a large number of tools at your disposal for manipulating any type of image and exporting in any necessary format.
  • GIMP does a great job of making everything intuitive so that even a new user can layer images or make an image transparent in little time.
Read full review
Alludo
  • Watercolor Compatible
  • Multiple variety of Brushes and shapes
  • Captured Dab Library
Read full review
Cons
GIMP Development Team
  • GIMP should make the font tool more intuitive. Make it easier to change fonts during edit process without resetting the typeface selection.
  • Build in selection/move ability within tools like the typeface tool... I.e. don't require toggle between selection tool and typeface tool when wanting to move a line of type within a layer. Likewise with shapes, etc.
Read full review
Alludo
  • Way too many functional bugs, makes it hard to work with
  • Bad UX and usability, too much unintuitive behavior, makes it particularly hard to work with
  • Overall looks and behaves as if it was coded in the '90s, it really needs a complete UX overhaul
  • Did I mention the many bugs yet? Yeah? I'll mention it again because it's bad
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
GIMP Development Team
Capability, open architecture, compatibility with Photoshop plugins, wide platform coverage; To me, as an open-source, freely available application, it's the nest-in-class.
Read full review
Alludo
No answers on this topic
Usability
GIMP Development Team
I interface GIMP with other software--I need to. I generally use the major calculation, CAD, word processing, and photo editing programs. In my office, my use of this software is not limited to computer-aided design. However, I am sure that if I needed this software for other purposes, it would have no interface problems.
Read full review
Alludo
If it wasn't quite clear yet, I'll state it again: the usability of Corel Painter is, simply put, horrid. And I am not talking about rendering, lagging, etc., it is not even all that bad there. I am talking about the weird issues like being unable to move a brush into a custom brush palette when you work on a second screen, like being unable to move the software onto the second screen in the first place unless you separate all the palettes and the windows (and if nobody tells you upfront there is no way of knowing because the manual doesn't state this at all), and then having to drag all your separate windows and palettes over one by one every time your computer wakes up again, and they won't really want to move to the other screen but only through a tiny corner of your screen, and the fact that you have to scroll through lists and lists of fonts but can't search and when you apply this font, add another piece of text the font jumps back to the default font of all the text already applied even when you haven't selected any of the text. Just to name a very small few.
Read full review
Support Rating
GIMP Development Team
We have never needed to use the support functions for GIMP. Any queries we have or had about whether GIMP could complete a task we have used Google and YouTube. There is a wealth of information, guides, and forums dedicated to GIMP and how to perform certain tasks with the application.
Read full review
Alludo
It was really hard to get them to understand what I was having problems with. It was hard to get the message through that Painter has an unacceptable amount of functional and UX bugs. When I finally talked to someone who was easier to communicate with, he was very stoic about the situation, like they didn't really care about the awful amount of bugs.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
GIMP Development Team
As simple as can be. Download from GIMP website and install.
Read full review
Alludo
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
GIMP Development Team
Online services like Canva are fine for quickly designing brochures and marketing materials, videos, etc. They're user friendly and fast if you have a good connection. But if you're in production mode and need to do a lot of photo manipulation at once, without being connected to the web at all times and just want to focus, GIMP is the go-to product for you
Read full review
Alludo
Corel Painter has support to multiple OS and across all the devices. Coloring and multi layer imaging works very well. The new enhanced brush settings and the redesigned brush libraries.
Read full review
Return on Investment
GIMP Development Team
  • GIMP is freeware, which allows organizations that are not graphics-centered to use the powerful toolset without spending money on very expensive alternatives
  • GIMP is fairly easy to learn and does not require extensive user training (especially, if used for basic tasks)
Read full review
Alludo
  • Customer support could be improved in my opinion.
  • Multiple bugs while working with layered designing.
Read full review
ScreenShots