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GrafX2

GrafX2 is a free bitmap paint program inspired by Deluxe Paint and Brilliance, with a focus on 256-color drawing for pixel art, game graphics, and detailed m…

Place
#25 of 70
Score
6.5
GrafX2's website

What GrafX2 is

GrafX2 is a free bitmap paint program inspired by Deluxe Paint and Brilliance, with a focus on 256-color drawing for pixel art, game graphics, and detailed mouse-painted graphics. Its tools include freehand drawing, lines, spray, flood fill, Bézier curves, polygons, rectangles, circles, and gradients. Drawing modes and effects include shade, stencil, mask, grid, sieve, colorize, smooth, smear, and tiling. Brushes can be picked, flipped, rotated, stretched, distorted, outlined, or modified with other brush effects. The help also covers layers and animation frames, including adding, deleting, merging, moving, and selecting frames, along with Lua scripting controls. Documentation lists support for PNG, GIF, BMP, PCX, TIFF, ICO, and many retro-computer image formats. GrafX2 supports GIF89a, using multiple pictures in a GIF file for layered images and animations. Official downloads include Linux x86_64 AppImage builds and Windows installers and portable archives, as well as Atari, GP2X, and Switch packages. The software is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2.

Good

  • Specialized in 256-color drawing.
  • Includes a broad range of drawing tools and effects.
  • Supports layers and animation frames.
  • Lua scripting controls are documented.
  • Downloads include Linux and Windows builds.

Watch out

  • The program focuses on 256-color drawing.
  • Free trial is not offered.
  • The listed primary platforms are Linux and Windows.

Who it suits

GrafX2 suits artists working on pixel art, game graphics, or detailed mouse-painted graphics, especially those using its listed drawing, brush, layer, and animation tools. It is available for Linux and Windows, with additional builds listed for other systems.

Verdict

GrafX2 combines pixel-oriented drawing tools with brush, layer, animation, and scripting controls. Its 256-color focus and platform availability are worth checking against your workflow.

Plans and prices

From GrafX2's own pricing page, checked 11 Oct 2026.

All about pricing
PlanPriceWhat it gives you
GrafX2FreeGNU General Public License version 2 · no warranty stated

The facts

Each one read from GrafX2's own pages, with the date it was checked.

What it does

Brushes
The help includes brush picking, flipping, rotation, stretching, distortion, outlining, nibbling, and brush effects.checked 11 Oct 2026
Build interfaces
The project says it can be built using SDL 1.x, SDL 2.x, Xlib, or the Win32 API.checked 11 Oct 2026
Build version
The official page lists GrafX2 version 2.9.3276 with a build date of September 12, 2026.checked 11 Oct 2026
Development and bug reporting
The documentation directs developers to the GitLab source repository and says a bug tracker and wiki are available on the project site.checked 11 Oct 2026
Download options
The download page lists Linux x86_64 AppImage and Windows installer and portable builds, as well as Atari, GP2X, and Switch packages.checked 11 Oct 2026
Downloads
The official download page lists Linux x86_64 AppImage builds and Windows installers and portable archives.checked 11 Oct 2026
Drawing tools
Its help lists tools including freehand drawing, lines, spray, flood fill, Bézier curves, polygons, rectangles, circles, and gradients.checked 11 Oct 2026
Effects
The help lists drawing modes and effects including shade, stencil, mask, grid, sieve, colorize, smooth, smear, and tiling.checked 11 Oct 2026
File formats
The documentation lists support for PNG, GIF, BMP, PCX, TIFF, ICO, and numerous retro-computer image formats.checked 11 Oct 2026
GIF
GrafX2 supports GIF89a, and its documentation says it uses multiple pictures in a GIF file to store layered images and animations.checked 11 Oct 2026
Help
The project provides online inline help and Doxygen documentation.checked 11 Oct 2026
Inspiration
The program is inspired by the Amiga programs Deluxe Paint and Brilliance.checked 11 Oct 2026
Layers and animation
The help describes layer management, adding and moving layers, and animation frame controls.checked 11 Oct 2026
License
GrafX2 is free software distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2.checked 11 Oct 2026
Operating systems
The project says it is mostly developed on Haiku, Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows, and can be built for other platforms.checked 11 Oct 2026
Other builds
The official download page also lists builds for Atari, GP2X, and Switch.checked 11 Oct 2026
Portability
The project says it is mostly developed on Haiku, Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows and can be built for other platforms using SDL 1.x, SDL 2.x, Xlib, or Win32 API.checked 11 Oct 2026
Purpose
GrafX2 is a bitmap paint program inspired by Deluxe Paint and Brilliance, specialized in 256-color drawing for pixel art, game graphics, and detailed mouse-painted graphics.checked 11 Oct 2026
Release
The download page identifies version 2.9.3276, built on September 12, 2026.checked 11 Oct 2026
Scripting
The help lists Lua scripting controls, including commands to repeat the last script and run numbered scripts.checked 11 Oct 2026
Source code
The project says its code is hosted on GitLab and welcomes developer contributions.checked 11 Oct 2026
Support
The download page links to the project's bug tracker for reporting issues.checked 11 Oct 2026

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