Photopea rebuilds Photoshop in the browser. Bitgrain rebuilds the darkroom: halftone, dither, riso and ASCII, all deterministic.
Photopea is a near-complete Photoshop clone in a browser tab. It is a general editor, so the printed, screened, dithered look takes many manual steps. In Bitgrain, that look is the product.
| Capability | Bitgrain | Photopea |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Editorial effects, posters, covers, zines | General photo editing and PSD work |
| Halftone and dither | Every effect built in, live controls | Manual, filter by filter |
| Riso and ASCII | Built in | Not built in |
| Ads | None | Ad-supported on the free tier |
| Same input, same output | Always, by construction | Depends on your manual steps |
| Video | Timeline editor, 4K export on Pro | No |
For retouching or layered PSD work, Photopea is the better and freer tool. Use Bitgrain when the output should look like it went through a printer, not a photo editor.
There is a free tier with a small watermark and no ads in the editor. Pro unlocks full resolution and clean export, either monthly or as a one-time payment covering 10 years.
No. Bitgrain imports flat images and camera formats, and saves its own portable .btg project. For PSD editing, Photopea is the right tool.
No. Every effect runs locally in your browser, so your images never leave the tab unless you opt into project sync.