Freedom251 › Pixel Art Software
Dither
What Dither is
Dither is a desktop pixel art editor for Windows and Linux built around a shading engine and a Workshop of generators. Its shading tools support directional and point lights, shadows, surface gradients, bevels, rim lights, ambient occlusion, and emissive glow. UI Forge supplies five themes with seventeen elements each, including panels, buttons, health bars, item slots, banners, and dialogue boxes. Sprite Forge converts drawings into reusable sprites that can be stamped at different sizes and recolored through slots. Animation tools include a frame timeline, tags, onion skin, live preview, and GIF or spritesheet export. PNG clipboard copying and pasting are supported. Dither autosaves every minute and offers crash recovery at the next launch. Artwork and project files stay on the user’s machine, and the app works offline subject to activation checks and an offline grace period. The listed plan costs $14.99, paid once, with lifetime updates and installation on all your machines. A full three-day trial requires Google sign-in.
Who it suits
It suits pixel artists working on Windows or Linux projects involving shading, reusable sprites, interfaces, and animation. Offline work and local artwork storage may matter to users keeping projects on their own machines.
What it does well
- Windows and Linux support
- Animation timeline with onion skinning
- GIF and spritesheet export
- UI and sprite generators
- Autosave and crash recovery
What to know first
- No free plan
- Three-day trial requires Google sign-in
- Activation rechecks online
- Paid plan costs $14.99, paid once
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Dither | pay once, keep it forever · Whole editor · free updates for life · install on all your machines | $14.99, paid once |
As ditherapp.com lists them, read 11 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
Dither combines pixel-art drawing, lighting, interface generation, sprite reuse, and animation tools in one desktop editor. The one-time plan includes lifetime updates, while the trial provides three days to evaluate the full app.
Facts from Dither's own pages
- Account and payments
- Google handles sign-in, Lemon Squeezy processes payments, and the maker says it does not receive card details. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Animation and export
- The editor includes a frame timeline, tags, onion skin, live preview, and export to GIF or spritesheet. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Artwork privacy
- The privacy policy says artwork is not uploaded, transmitted, or stored by Dither, and project files stay on the user's machine. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Clipboard
- Selections can be copied to other apps as PNG, and images copied elsewhere can be pasted onto the canvas. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- File sharing
- Users can share UI themes as .dtheme files and sprites as .dsprite files. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Offline use
- The product page says Dither works offline; its terms say activation rechecks online and provides a grace period for offline work. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Product
- Dither is a desktop pixel art editor built around a shading engine and a Workshop of generators. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Refunds
- The maker offers a full refund if requested within fourteen days of purchase by email. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Reusable sprites
- Sprite Forge turns drawings into reusable sprites that can be stamped at different sizes and recolored through slots. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Saving
- Dither autosaves every minute and offers crash recovery on the next launch. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Shading
- Its shading engine supports directional and point lights, shadows, surface gradients, bevels, rim lights, ambient occlusion, and emissive glow. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Support
- The maker lists [email protected] for support requests. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Trial
- The full app is available free for three days after Google sign-in; the terms limit the trial to one per person and require an internet connection for checking it. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
- UI generation
- UI Forge offers five themes with seventeen elements each, including panels, buttons, health bars, item slots, banners, and dialogue boxes. · ditherapp.com, 11 Oct 2026
Where Dither stands on Freedom251
- Pixel Art Software#58 of 70