What is the equivalent of Paint for Mac?

December 13, 2013 1:17 AM

I just got a Macbook Pro and would like to be able to draw simple diagrams with shapes and text fields. Are there any Mac programs or apps equivalent to PC's Paint? My search online has brought up Paintbrush which appears to be a very old program. The new ones in the apps store are either really expensive or poorly reviewed if they're free. Thanks!
posted by grak88 to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Paintbrush is old, but it still works fine in Mavericks. I use Pixelmator for paint/image editing, and I love it. I got it for $15 on a half-off sale a few months ago--after using it regularly, I'd say it's more than worth the $30 full price tag. (Yeah, a lot if all you want to do is draw simple shapes and insert text, but if you might possibly also want to edit photos, it's incredible for the price.)
posted by lovecrafty at 2:08 AM on December 13, 2013

I also use Pixelmator for images, but for simple charts and shapes, I use LucidChart. It's web-based but it's very neat and supports a lot of different diagram types, and it does a lot in terms of snapping into alignment and allowing flexibility to get things looking sharp.

I can't see their pricing/free allowance because I've a subscription now, but I think it's about $3 a month, if that's worth what you're getting from it.
posted by carbide at 2:51 AM on December 13, 2013

I use Inkscape for my "simple line diagram" purposes on my Mac. It may be more powerful than you need, but it's a pretty good piece of open-source software.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:50 AM on December 13, 2013

Seashore and Gimp are free options. Acorn is a paid option.
posted by bluecore at 4:30 AM on December 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is a key function in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 6:11 AM on December 13, 2013

How about Flysketch?
posted by dhruva at 7:13 AM on December 13, 2013

I can't suggest what to get, but I can suggest indeed not to get Paintbrush. As someone who uses both Paint and Paintbrush, I can tell you that I think you will hate Paintbrush.
posted by Dansaman at 7:55 AM on December 13, 2013

Skitch?
posted by misterbrandt at 8:17 AM on December 13, 2013

Best answer: Browser-based, but surprisingly good and FREE: Pixlr Editor
posted by 2ghouls at 8:23 AM on December 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

You might want to try Adobe's SketchBook Express, which is free and available in the Mac App Store. Frankly I prefer the simplicity of Paint, but this is not a bad app.
posted by Dansaman at 7:16 PM on December 13, 2013

I had that problem for a while, and I ended up using, of all things, powerpoint. As long as you don't want to draw freehand, it does very well with basic shapes and text.
posted by redlines at 3:35 AM on December 14, 2013

Either a free mindmapping program. Or a program from the LibreOffice (OpenOffice) suite.
posted by yoHighness at 5:05 AM on December 14, 2013