Photopea vs Pixlr: pricing, features and which to choose

Photopea is a one-person project by Ivan Kutskir, a developer from Ukraine based in the Czech Republic, who launched it in 2013. It has grown into one of the most widely used free image editors on the web because it copies Photoshop's layout and shortcuts closely, so Photoshop users can work in it immediately. The app runs entirely in the browser using your CPU and GPU, and files do not upload to a server, which keeps editing fast and private. It is funded mainly by ads shown in a side column or a bottom banner on phones. Schools, hobbyists, freelancers and people who receive PSD files without owning Photoshop use it heavily.

Editing tools include layers, masks, layer styles, smart objects, adjustment layers, channels, paths, the pen tool, healing and clone tools, Liquify, Puppet Warp and a full set of filters and adjustments such as Levels and Curves. Photopea opens and saves PSD files with layers intact, and reads more than 40 other formats, including PNG, JPG, WEBP, SVG, PDF, AI, XCF, Sketch, Figma, INDD, CDR, HEIC and AVIF. It handles RAW files from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm and others with exposure and color controls. Vector shapes and text support logo and layout work, and scripts and plug-ins extend the editor.

Photopea's strengths are price, PSD fidelity and the ability to run on almost any device without installation, including Chromebooks. Its limits are ads on the free tier, a dense interface for beginners, no real-time collaboration and generative AI that trails Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop offers Firefly Generative Fill and better performance on large files, at a subscription price. Pixlr and Canva are easier for quick edits and social graphics. GIMP is free open-source desktop software, and Affinity Photo is a one-time purchase. Choose Photopea if you need Photoshop-style editing and PSD support for free in a browser.

Pixlr began in late summer 2008 as an online editor created by Ola Sevandersson and is now headquartered in Singapore. The company says billions of images are edited each year, while its education program reaches more than one million students and educators. Pixlr belongs to the wider Inmagine creative-tools group, alongside Designs.ai and Vectr, and Crunchbase identifies it as acquired by 123RF. A 2025 Malaysian business report described millions of monthly active users. A developer-event listing reported 10 million monthly active users and 130 million app downloads. Pixlr does not publish a funding total. The company has described itself as bootstrapped and profitable, giving the service a different ownership story from venture-funded creative software competitors.

Pixlr supports three main editing paths: Editor for layered Photoshop-style work, Express for quick adjustments, and Designer for layouts. A typical session begins in the browser, where users open local files or image URLs, then crop, retouch, remove backgrounds or objects, add text and templates, and export results. Current AI tools include generative fill, generative expand, generative transform, face swap, denoise, super scale, background removal, image generation, video generation, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and text-to-music. Super Scale can output up to 25 megapixels. The service also runs on desktop, Android, and iOS. Account subscriptions carry access between platforms, which helps users move from browser work to mobile edits without changing products.

Pixlr's breadth helps individual creators, but the credit system makes intensive generation harder to price than ordinary editing. Adobe Photoshop offers deeper desktop retouching and file interoperability. Canva provides stronger team publishing and template workflows. Photopea is a closer free browser-editor comparison, though it lacks Pixlr's model catalog. Pixlr's license permits personal and commercial AI-content use, while granting Pixlr broad perpetual rights over AI inputs and outputs, disclaiming uniqueness, and assigning rights clearance to the user. Its privacy policy says account data is deleted within 30 days after closure, subject to legal retention. Pick Pixlr for inexpensive browser editing with many generative tools, rather than confidential source material or predictable high-volume API automation.