A free Photoshop alternative for drawing and painting

Photoshop is the standard for photo editing, with a price to match. If you mostly draw and paint, Magma gives you pressure-sensitive brushes, layers and PSD export in your browser for free, and you can paint on one canvas with friends.

Start drawing free See the comparison

Magma is a good fit if

You use Photoshop mainly to draw, sketch or paint, not to edit photos.
You want to paint with other artists on the same canvas, with voice chat.
You're stuck in an art block or need motivation: drawing next to other artists sparks ideas and keeps you going.
You'd like a free app that runs in the browser, with no install and no subscription.

Stick with Photoshop if

You edit photos, or need masks, adjustment layers and advanced selections.
You work in print (CMYK), with typography, or depend on plugins.
You need to work offline or with the full Creative Cloud workflow.

Magma and Photoshop side by side

	Magma	Photoshop
Price	Free (Spark plan). Blaze is $9.99/month	$22.99/month for the Photoshop plan (billed yearly). The Photography plan ($19.99/month) also includes it
Made for	Drawing and painting, alone or together	Photo editing, design and digital painting
Devices	Any modern browser (Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Linux, tablets), plus a desktop app for Windows and Mac (Apple Silicon). On phones and tablets, add it to your home screen and it opens like an app	Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone and the web (the web and full features need a plan)
Draw together with friends	True multiplayer: you see every brush stroke as it's drawn. Hundreds of artists on one board, up to 30 on one canvas (50 on Blaze), with voice and text chat	Basic: live co-editing (in beta, needs a Creative Cloud plan) syncs changes between collaborators, but you don't watch each other's strokes as they're painted
Draw together with strangers	Yes: join public Art Jams and open canvases, or an Artspace community, and draw with artists from around the world	No
Infinite canvas	Yes: Multiboard puts many canvases side by side in one workspace, for comic pages, webtoon strips, layouts, references and big Art Jams	Artboards inside one document
Photo editing	Basic adjustments (curves, hue/saturation, blurs, liquify). No masks or adjustment layers	Industry standard: masks, adjustment layers, selections, retouching
Layers	60 on the free plan, 200 on Blaze. No groups or masks yet	Layer groups, masks, smart objects
PSD files	Exports layered PSD (names, opacity, blend modes, clipping) and imports PSD as layers	Native format
Works offline	No. Magma is online so every stroke saves to the cloud as you draw, in the browser and in the desktop app	Yes (desktop app)
Generative AI	None. See our AI Art Manifesto	Generative Fill and other Firefly features
Community	Like Discord for artists: Artspaces with chat channels, voice, events and Art Jams, plus a public gallery and 5M+ artists	Behance

Checked on 25 September 2026. Prices and features change, so see the sources at the bottom of the page.

Where Photoshop is better

Photoshop is the better tool if you edit photos or need masks, adjustment layers, precise selections or print workflows. Magma isn't a photo editor. It's a painting app for artists who want to draw, often together, without paying for software they only use a slice of.

Use both

Paint in Magma, export a layered PSD, and finish in Photoshop. Layer names, opacity, blend modes and clipping carry over. You can also bring a PSD into Magma to paint over it with friends.

Draw together

In Magma, every canvas can be shared, and it's truly live: you see each brush stroke the moment it's painted, not a synced file. Invite a friend or your whole class with a link, talk over voice, and paint the same piece together. Or join an Art Jam with artists from around the world.

Made together in Magma

Into The Rabbit Hole, an Art Jam piece painted together by 404 artists in Magma

404 artists Into The Rabbit Hole

BENTO TRAIN, an Art Jam piece painted together by 151 artists in Magma

151 artists BENTO TRAIN

DOWN UNDAH, an Art Jam piece painted together by 120 artists in Magma

120 artists DOWN UNDAH

Deep Sea Expedition, an Art Jam piece painted together by 90 artists in Magma

90 artists Deep Sea Expedition

Art Jam pieces from the "In the Depths" contest, each painted live on one canvas by many artists. See the winners.

Featured works from the community

azorkem

hawaii_2489(🫪)

黄身yolk-san(🫪)

Hi jon apologies 4 the deception

Wrio

みゅの

dreamy

How drawing together works See what artists make

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free version of Photoshop?

Not really. The desktop app is a paid subscription with a free trial, and the iPhone and iPad app is a free download with paid features. If you mainly draw and paint, Magma is free to use in your browser.

Is Magma a good Photoshop alternative for digital painting?

Yes, if painting and drawing are what you do. Magma has pressure-sensitive brushes, blending, layers with blend modes and clipping, a stabilizer, a perspective grid and liquify. It doesn't have masks or adjustment layers yet.