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PaintTool SAI

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Overview

PaintTool SAI 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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  • Overview
  • Pricing and Plans
  • Features
  • User Reviews

Overview

PaintTool SAI
PaintTool SAI
4.3
(9)

Pricing

Starting at $50.81 one time

About PaintTool SAI

PaintTool SAI is a graphic designing solution that helps painters create different types of illustrations such as anime and cartoons. It offers an anti-aliased drawing functionality that allows artists to minimize distortions across low-resolution images and drawings.

Teams can view the entire spectrum of the light and dark versions of various colors on a unified interface. PaintTool SAI provides layer tools, enabling operators to erase, transfer or combine specific portions of multiple drawings. Additionally, teams can transform brushes into erasers and remove hard edges.

Pricing is based on a one-time license and support is extended via email and FAQs.

PaintTool SAI Screenshots

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PaintTool SAI Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $50.81 one time
Free Trial
Free Version

Basic

$50.81

flat rate, one time

No plan information available

    PaintTool SAI Features

    • Popular features found in Graphic Design
      Collaboration Tools
      Content Library
      Custom Fonts
      Design Management
      Pattern, Color & Art Storage
    • More features of PaintTool SAI
      CAD Tools
      Image Editing

    PaintTool SAI User Reviews

    Overall Rating

    4.3

    Ratings Breakdown

    5

    44%

    4

    44%

    3

    11%

    2

    0%

    1

    0%

    Secondary Ratings

    Ease of Use

    4.2

    Value for money

    4.3

    Customer support

    3.5

    Functionality

    4.1

    Have you used PaintTool SAI and would like to share your experience with others?

    Souleymane's profile

    Souleymane D.

    Verified reviewer

    Mining & Metals

    1001-5000 employees

    Used weekly for less than 12 months

    Review source

    Reviewed August 2023

    The drawing software for digital artists.

    4

    PaintTool SAI is indeed a wonderful drawing software that assists its users in various ways, such as the line stabilizer feature, which allows for smooth drawing by reducing hand tremors.

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    4
    Value for money
    3
    Customer support
    4
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    PaintTool SAI offers a variety of drawing tools that are highly favorable for illustrators and manga artists. It also supports layers, allowing users to combine or overlay elements without complexity.
    Cons:
    What I like least is perhaps the coloring tool, which, in my opinion, doesn't assist me much with my fillings or flat colors.

    Read More

    ML

    Mercedes L.

    Verified reviewer

    Arts and Crafts

    Self-Employed

    Used daily for more than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed May 2024

    A really impressive lightweight art program

    5

    I love this program so much and I am incredibly grateful to the man who made it and continues to work hard on it. If he ever sees this review I want to say thank you very much for the decades of SAI that I have enjoyed

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    4
    Customer support
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    I live for their lineart tool, it's my favourite implementation I've seen of it in any art program. I also really appreciate how there are always improvements being made. I feel honored to get to work with SAI
    Cons:
    I think the selection tool could possibly use some more tweaking as it felt like it worked a bit better around SAI 1.2 but the gap tolerance slider is a really lovely addition

    Reasons for switching to PaintTool SAI

    I had student pricing with Adobe but when I finished school I found that their monthly price was very expensive and I saw a post online from someone who used SAI and that it cost less to fully buy SAI than to subscribe to Adobe CC

    Read More

    TO

    Travis O.

    Verified reviewer

    Arts and Crafts

    Self-Employed

    Used monthly for less than 12 months

    Review source

    Reviewed June 2022

    An Introductory Software

    3

    I learned so much using this program, and it worked well with multiple drawing peripherals. But at it's current price point, I cannot recommend it over other options.

    Ratings Breakdown

    3
    Ease of use
    2
    Value for money
    3
    Customer support
    2
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    The basic tools in SAI are intuitive and easy to use out of the box. It is a great way to learn the basics of digital art.
    Cons:
    The software has some clever tools and features, but isn't as robust as a program like Clip Studio Paint. Anymore, I'd recommend GIMP as an introductory software. GIMP's open source model really broadens the capabilities and versatility of an ever changing art scape.

    Read More

    GG

    Gal G.

    Verified reviewer

    Design

    5001-10000 employees

    Used weekly for less than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed January 2022

    Benefits and struggles of Paintool SAI

    4

    Ratings Breakdown

    3
    Ease of use
    4
    Value for money
    3
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    Great variety of tools and modifiers to each allows you to customize your brushes, erasers, etc to your liking. Paintool SAI has a more lightweight feel compared to other painting softwares, allowing you to have a more fluid workflow
    Cons:
    Lacks the variety of tools other softwares in the industry have. Its interface looks a little outdated, despite its tools being a good match against other softwares.

    Reasons for switching to PaintTool SAI

    Its one-time payment makes it a lot more affordable than the industry standard

    Read More

    Sukesha's profile

    Sukesha W.

    Verified reviewer

    Education Management

    51-200 employees

    Used weekly for less than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed December 2022

    Great option for graphic design

    5

    Overall it has been a good experience using PaintTool SAI

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    The feature i like best on paint tool SAI is the user friendly interface, it is very easy to edit images using this software, it is much better than the microsoft paint that comes preinstalled on windows.
    Cons:
    The only feature they can improve on is giving more editing options for images, other than that i did not find any issues using the software.

    Read More

    LP

    Lorenzo P.

    Verified reviewer

    Performing Arts

    Self-Employed

    Used weekly for less than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed January 2024

    Intuitivo

    4

    Ho utilizzato questo software quando ancora ero uno studente e soprattutto quando mi sono approcciato per la prima volta al disegno digitale con tavoletta grafica e mi sono trovato benissimo

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    4
    Customer support
    4
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    Il software è molto semplice da utilizzare ed e’ perfetto anche per i principianti o studenti che si stanno approcciando al disegno per cartoni animati o fumetto
    Cons:
    Un po limitato dal punto di vista dei menu’ e tools

    Read More

    Claudia's profile

    Claudia P.

    Verified reviewer

    Public Relations and Communications

    501-1000 employees

    Used weekly for less than 6 months

    Review source

    Reviewed November 2023

    It's good

    5

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    4
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    PaintTool SAI proved to be a safe ally, always allowing me to recover works etc. Not all softwares have this option and I find it really life-saving.
    Cons:
    I think PaintTool SAI isn't that permissive in fact on brushes compared to other softwares. Others allow more, but this one is kinda restrictive.

    Read More

    AK

    Asif K.

    Verified reviewer

    Education Management

    1001-5000 employees

    Used daily for free trial

    Review source

    Reviewed June 2022

    PaintTool SAI

    5

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    4
    Value for money
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    It's a very lightweight application and rarely crashes.
    Cons:
    It is lacking more options for image editing.

    Read More

    SH

    Sabina H.

    Verified reviewer

    Design

    Self-Employed

    Used monthly for less than 6 months

    Review source

    Reviewed November 2022

    PainTool SAI for digital artists

    4

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    It is really great software for digital art. I enjoy drawing in it with my wacom tablet. It is easy to use and learn.
    Cons:
    It would be nice if the design would be updated a little bit more.

    Read More

    Showing 1 - 9 of 9 Reviews

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