12 Best Drawing Pads for Gimp and Krita in 2026

For starters Gimp and krita software are both open source and free. Those are the two big reasons why most people would prefer one of these two softwares over other available commercial software ( Photoshop, Corel painter, etc.).

Many individuals use these software for image editing and other art/graphics related content.

But in order to run smoothly, it needs the right device. Anyone who has spent long time editing photos and drawing with a mouse will find that often, it’s just not the best experience.

As an artist, you need the best tools available to create your work. When it comes to digital art, that means having a good drawing tablet.

If you’re thinking about getting a drawing tablet to use with Gimp or Krita, it’s important to do some research on what’s available.

Should you go for a tablet with or without screen? What size of graphic tablet – small, medium or large? Do you need a specific number of shortcut keys to improve your productivity?

There are a lot of models, types and brands on the market, so choosing the best one isn’t an easy task. That’s why we provide this guide to help you pick the tool that best fits your needs.

In this article we are focussed on tablets that will connect to your Windows, Mac and Linux computers for use with Gimp or krita.

These devices are built for performance and can make a whole world of difference when illustrating or drawing.

Krita vs Gimp: What’s the major difference?

Gimp is more of a digital or photo editing software. It is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems.

Gimp allows you editing or manipulation of images in terms of retouching, enhancing color properties, curve management and many more things.

Usually people who want to edit photos or images would use gimp as a free alternative to Photoshop, and while you can use gimp for other things other than just editing images, Gimp has its roots more deeply rooted in that territory.

Krita is more art ( as in drawing, painting, etc.) focused. It is available for Linux, macOS, Windows and Android operating systems.

Krita works with layer panel, creates a mask for non-destructive layer, do colorizations and many other editing’s, as well as manipulation work related to raster graphics.

The layout is much less complex in Krita compared to gimp. And the canvas you will be working on in Krita is feels more closely related to working with paper, rather than a digital background.

Most people who use Krita are probably solely using it for art related purposes, such as 2D animations, digital paintings, etc.

Both software does their work effectively by using a number of standard tools as well as features. Popular, wonderful, and are nice contenders to the pay to use alternatives out there.

Different Types of Drawing Tablets

If you want to work at your desk with your desktop or laptop, then there are two types, you can go screen or no screen depending on budget and preference.

Screenless graphics tablets are way cheaper , and depending on size, they are pretty portable. The greatest learning curve is in getting used to not looking at the tablet as you work, but at the computer screen instead.

If you choose to go for a pen display monitor you’d be working on the display directly with the pen which makes it much more natural & speedy than a non-screen graphic tablet.

Wacom, Huion, and XPPen, are the most popular drawing tablet brands that all make tablets with and without screens.

If you want the flexibility of an all-in-one drawing device, you have a handful of options: ipad, Windows, and Android tablets.

All-in-one Standalone drawing tablet combines a computer, screen and a stylus. They can run mobile drawing apps and OS itself. So you don’t need to connect it to an external computer.

You can take it out with you on the go. This will give you more portability. However, the prices of all-in-one tablets are usually on the expensive side.

Benefits of Using Drawing Tablets in Gimp and Krita

If you do digital illustration work or photo retouching in Gimp and Krita, a graphics tablet could make your work a good deal easier and a lot more fun. A stylus offers a more natural way to draw, paint and retouch than a mouse could ever provide.

A mouse is a totaly crude and unnatural way to draw and paint. The ergonomic design of pen tablet reduces hand strain and RSI. you’ll never feel tired or get a soar wrist while working for long time.

While using a mouse you only have your wrist movements whereas while working with a pen you get hand movements which is way more comfortable & natural; Once you start using a pen tablet you can’t go back.

On a technical side the pen also beats the mouse. Far more precise as the points of the screen will always be at the exact points of the pad. A mouse judges this by its surface it has come in contact with which causes problems.

The greatest advantage of a drawing tablet over a mouse is that the former is sensitive to pressure—it registers how hard you press the pen to the tablet. Just like with a pencil, you can push harder to draw thicker, darker lines, and lighter to draw thinner, lighter lines.

Programmable buttons on the drawing tablet can increase your workflow by quite a good margin over a mouse. You can customize these buttons to suit your specific preferences, making it easier to access the tools you use the most.

What size drawing tablet should I get for Gimp and Krita?

When looking for a pen tablet, the size is what matters the most, since not all pen tablets have the same active drawing area.

Usually the non-screen drawing tablets are available in three size variants: Small (A6 and A7), Medium (A5) and Large (A4 and A3).

Big tablet equal to larger drawing area and higher precision. Designers and illustrators will want a much larger drawing surface so they can create in a more natural environment.

If you do not have a lot of space, you may want to consider a smaller graphic tablet.

Small tablet equal to small motion becomes a big motion on the screen. Feeling very cramped. Most photo editors would prefer a smaller tablet and surface, making it easier to work in small details, as well as making it easier to travel with.

Going for medium size of active drawing area will guarantee comfort and portability at the same time.

The perfect size for pen tablets depends on the size of your monitor. If you use a laptop with a 13-inch to 15.6-inch screen, you should get a small or medium tablet.

For pen display monitors the sizes can go from 10” to 32”, so choosing the best pen display for you will highly depend on your needs.

If what you need is portability, going for tablets from 12” to 16” would be the best choice, since you can carry them anywhere as long as you have a laptop to plug them in.

However, if you’re looking for a more permanent workstation, then going for bigger models from 22″ to 32″ will work great.

12 Best Drawing Tablets for Gimp and Krita in 2026

Our list of top-rated tablets allows you to compare dozens of models side-by-side and make your choice. You’ll also find detailed specifications and the pros and cons of what each tablet offers.

The drawing tablets for Gimp and Krita do not differ based on the app- they typically work just as well in each application.

1. One By Wacom

One by Wacom is a simple and affordable tablet for getting started. It comes with minimal features, but aren’t too expensive, and are guaranteed to last.

It is currently available in two sizes: small ( 6.0 x 3.7 inches active area) and medium (8.3 x 5.7inches). These smaller sizes makes it’s easy to pack up and take anywhere with you for working on the go.

With 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity in its battery-free stylus and a wonderful 2,540 LPI resolution, it’s decent for a natural feel while drawing or editing photo.

Wacom is a leading brand name in the drawing tablet space ensures the confidence of no small issues such as lag, incompatibility and complicated setups occuring.

No more frustrating issues occur during the mid creation of art projects with this drawing tablet.

2. Wacom Intuos

The Wacom Intuos line is for beginners and budget conscious people.

The Wacom Intuos is available in two sizes: Small with a 6.0 x 3.7″ drawing area, and Medium with an 8.5 x 5.2″ drawing area. Super portable and a great travel companion.

Besides that, the texture of the drawing surface is another awesome feature to mention. With 4,096 pen pressure sensitivity and around 60 degrees tilt support, you can create any 2D and even 3D drawings.

At the top of the tablet are 4 buttons that enable you to quickly access the settings. Driver settings also allow Quick Keys to be customized.

Thanks to a built-in lithium battery and Bluetooth connectivity on the tablet, you’ll be able to use it where and how you see fit.

3. XPPen Deco 01 V3

XPPen are well known for making quality products for the budget end of the market, and they don’t disappoint in the Deco 01 V3.

This model has a 10×6.25 inches working area so you have more space to create and get work done. But at only 8mm thick and lightweight, making it highly portable.

The battery-free stylus has 16,384 levels of pressure sensitivity, delivery is smooth. It even supports 60 degrees of tilt brush effect! The lines and strokes come out looking natural.

A stylus holder, which also houses 8 additional tips for the stylus, comes standard with the tablet.

The tablet is provided with eight express keys for shortcut mapping. If that’s not enough, the two programmable buttons on the stylus will suffice.

Available in three vibrant colors: black, green and pink. Whether you are sketching, colour painting, designing, or doing other creative work, it does a great job!

4. Huion Inspiroy H1060P

Huion is another popular affordable drawing tablet brand. Their Inspirory 1060P  is very similar to the XP-Pen Deco 01 v2 in most ways.

Most of the tablet is actually the active drawing area, which is 10 × 6.25 inches, That means you get plenty of space to draw without the need for zooming and panning.

The 12 express keys and 16 soft keys let you assign your favorite keyboard shortcuts and custom macros for a really fast workflow.

±60 degrees tilt recognition combined with high 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity offer more accurate and natural drawing experience.

The pen is battery-free, very light and fits comfortably within your hand, aided by a rubber grip.

Huion Inspirory 1060P is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Android devices. It also works well with all mainstream digital art programs such as Photoshop, Gimp, Krita, Inkscape, Clip Studio paint, and etc.

5. XPPen Artist 12 (3rd Gen)

The XPPen Artist 12 (3rd Gen) is a small, good, cheap, but powerful pen display for artists on a budget.

It’s durably-built, with a sturdy housing and a compact, portable design. You can connect it to your laptop to work via a single usb-c to usb-c cable.

8 customizable buttons and 2 dials on the tablet allow users to set up with their most used tools and commands for easy and smooth workflow when in use.

The tablet has a 11.9-inch IPS screen with 1,920 × 1,080 Full HD resolution atnd 97% Adobe RGB color gamut. It looks sharp and vibrant there’s no obvious pixelation.

This display is fully laminated to minimize the parallax. There is a matte finish that carries an anti-glare coating and has a slight bit of texture to it, which replicates a drawing-on-paper feel.

The new X4 chip stylus is battery-free and boasts 8,192 levels of pressure and 60 degree tilt recognition, very accurate and smooth, no lag or latency at all.

It also has a low initial activation force of 3g, meaning it recognized even the smallest lines to give us precise editing and drawing.

6. Wacom One 14

The Wacom One 14 is an excellent entry-level pen display for artists who want an easier and more efficient method of drawing and editing.

It features a pristine 14-inch IPS screen with good, sharp, vibrant image quality, at a 1080p FullHD resolution and 99% sRGB color gamut.

Though not as good as cintiq pro, If you are not involved in photography professionally, the screen will be more than good enough for you.

The screen is fully laminated and is covered with a matte anti reflective etched glass surface, offering a natural paper-like drawing feel.

The pen supports 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and 60 degree tilt angle, which is enough to detect your hand’s subtle, intricate movements and translate them into the digital sphere.

Wacom one 14 is thin. compact and portable. So you can easily take it around if you need to. And it comes with two legs, providing more comfort when working on a desk.

If you want to get better portability, Then the 13.3-inch Wacom One 13 (multi-touch) or 11.6-inch wacom one 12 is more suitable for you.

7. Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3)

The Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) comes in as the best drawing tablet with screen for beginners due to the premium construction, a pen that feels like using a real pen, and affordable price.

It comes with a 13.3-inch IPS screen that supports 1080p resolution and 120% sRGB color gamut for crisp and vibrant pictures.

The laminated display with AG etched glass surface also makes the drawing experience really nice. There’s the tactile feeling of drawing on the paper surface and the lines appears directly beneath the pen tip without any gap.

It’s also equipped with 5 customizable ExpressKeys and 2 dials, allowing you to make the editing or drawing experience your own and get the tablet working exactly how you want it to.

The pen features most advanced pen tech 4.0, 60 degree tilt response, low 2g IAF, and impressive 16383 levels of pressure sensitivity, delivering excellent drawing performance.

Huion also sells 15.8-inch models of this tablet – Kamvas 16 (Gen 3) with higher 2.5K QHD resolution in same design, which is ideal if you want the most room to work with.

8. Ugee UE16

Ugee UE16 is a moderately priced drawing display from Wacom, great for art students and pros on tight budgets.

Its 15.4-inch IPS LCD screen is a pleasure to work on, with FHD 1080p resolution and 94% Adobe RGB color spectrum.

The screen is fully laminated and does have a pre-installed AG screen protector with matte finish which makes it really nice to draw on.

You can use the battery-free U-Pencil to make your drawings with pleasingly precision, which gives you 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity, and tilt-responsive.

You can easily connect Ugee UE16 pen display to any Android, Mac or Windows device with a single usb-c to usb-c cable.

The tablet is also available in a smaller 11.6-inch variant called Ugee UE12 which could be a great choice if you want to save some money.

9. Huion Kamvas Pro 16 V2

Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) is a really nice pen display monitor, perfect for both beginners and professional artists. The quality and the performance are fantastic!

The Kamvas Pro 16 tablet has a 15.6 inch QLED screen, 16.7 millions colors with 145% sRGB gamut for color accuracy and vibrancy.

It has a 2,560 x 1,440 pixels resolution which means it is 2.5k QHD. As the resolution is much higher than any of the bigger monitor and for that reason it gives really crisp clear images.

The surface is anti-glare etched glass which gives it a paper-like texture to draw on. Furthermore, the full-laminated technology completely integrates glass with the screen to reduce parallax.

There are 8 customized express keys that helps in quick access to your favorite shortcuts. This can be configured to anything you use constantly like brush sizes, eraser, zoom, and more.

The battery-free pen features Huion’s PenTech 3.0 technology that brings more stability and sensitivity to the tip. With 8,192 pressure levels and a 60-degree tilt the stylus is responsive and accurate.

There’s also an adjustable tablet stand that can be configured from 20° to 60° so you can adjust your work area to the most comfortable position.

It is widely compatible with Mac, Windows, Android and Linux devices, as well as software like Photoshop, GIMP, Krita, Medibang, Inkscape, and Blender.

10. XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2

XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 is a popular mid-range pen display that offers excellent value for money, with everything you need to get started.

It features a 15.4-inch IPS screen with FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution and an excellent color gamut of 96% Adobe RGB that looks great, with vivid colors and crisp details.

The scren is fully-laminated to reduce parallax, and has a pre-installed AG matte screen protector that makes the drawing experience really nice.

Along the front of the tablet are 8 shortcut keys and one Red scroll Wheel that can be programmed to handle finer tasks, like zooming in and out or panning.

The X3 Pro battery-free pen has a nice design and is high quality. It has a soft rubber grip, a digital eraser on the top, and two shortcut buttons on the side.

With 16K levels of pressure sensitivity, low 3g IAF, and tilt detection support, there’s hardly anything this pen cannot handle.

The 13.3-inch XP-Pen Artist 13.3 Pro V2 is a slightly smaller version of the Artist 15.6 Pro V2, designed to be lighter and more portable.

11. Huion Kamvas 22 Plus (Gen 3)

The 21.5-inch Huion Kamvas 22 Plus (Gen 3) is large enough and can help you work on bigger drawings more simply without the need for zooming and panning.

Its QLED screen has a higher 2.5K QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution, and 90% of Adobe RGB color gamut that ensures sharp details, and vivid colors.

The screen is fully laminated and comes with a matte etched glass surface, which further improves the image quality and drawing performance.

The PW600L battery free pen uses huion’s lastest pen tech 4.0 that has 16,384 pressure levels, 60 degree tilt recognition, and low IAF of 2g, that make a drawing or photo-editing feel natural.

The adjustable tablet stand on the back is of great quality, solid and makes adjusting your preferred working angle a real breeze.

12. Surafce Pro 12

The Microsoft Surface Pro 12 was supposed to be the perfect device that combines power, portability, and drawing precision. It runs on windows 11 so you can drawing in krita on the go.

The tablet itself has a nice minimalistic design with a slim form factor. It is available in four colors: Sapphire, Dune, Platinum, and Black.

Surface Pro 12 comes with a 12-inch PixelSense LCD display with a 2K (2196 x 1464 pixels) resolution, 90Hz refresh rate and 96% of sRGB color gamut.

The touch screen is impressive, and offers a lot of deatils, the animations across-the-board are smooth to the touch and eyes. So whether you’re sketching or painting the art, this display will never disappoint you.

Its powerful Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor with 16gb of RAM ensures everything runs quickly and smoothly.

The Slim Pen 2 (sold separately) comes with a flatter design, has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and precision tilt detection, Artists who do digital coloring and shading will like that.

Surface Pro 12 is portable, fast, with a long-lasting battery life, and the pen works fine to creat artwork in the full version of Krita.

How to set up and use a drawing tablet in Krita?

Wondering how to use a drawing Tablet in Krita? We’ve got you covered.

Once you’ve unboxed your tablet, be sure to visit their brand’s official site and download the most recent drivers for your tablet and operating system.

Drivers are software that allow the tablet to talk to your computer. It’s a good practice to restart your computer once driver changes have been made.

Once you’ve installed the most recent drivers and support software for your tablet, it’s time to creat a krita profile and Custom all the settings to suit your precise needs.

For example, Drawing tablets have various buttons, which you can map to different functions for maximum functionality and efficiency.

You can click on the “pen” tab, select “tip feel” to adjust the pen’s pressure sensitivity when it comes into contact with the tablet.

You can also adjust the pressure sensitivity in Krita Program.

Open Krita, go to Settings, Configure Krita, Tablet settings. Here you will see a wide variety of brushes and settings that can be adjusted to respond to varying levels of pressure.

The detailed customization allows you to feel like you’re really holding a pen, marker, or brush while you work and apply effects in Krita. This tends to result in more natural-looking results. You can even layer and smooth out results in real as you’re doing.

In Conclusion

A good Pen tablet can make your work in Gimp and Krita much easier and more effective. Drawing and coloring are the best examples.

These 12 tablets are all worthy options for any level of artists out there. The best tablet will depend on your specific requirements and budget.

The simple drawing pen tablet without a screen is ideal for beginners and is less expensive. You can start your artistic career with this type.

A pen display monitor is suitable for both amateurs and experts. They are a little pricey. But there is a wide range of budgets accessible for these tablets.

Furthermore, standalone drawing tablets are the most portable but quite pricey. If money is not an option and your whole work life depends on content creation, then they are substantial and absolute quality buys.

A quality drawing tablet can help you have a better drawing experience. But you still need to keep in mind that you have to keep practicing and developing your skills.

In addition, You can always upgrade down the road when you’re more comfortable and know what you need.

Explore More: 12 Best Budget Drawing Tablets for Beginners