Indie Tooling

Living table · updated

Game dev tools comparison

Modelling, texturing, animation, pixel art, level design and audio tools for indie games, compared on price, licence, platforms and engine support. We update a row every time we cover a release.

tools compared
18
free
9
open source
8
run on Linux
12
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Game dev tools comparison, updated 2 November 2026. Select a name for its full profile below.
PriceLicenceRuns onWorks with
ActionForgeAnimation and riggingBeta (unversioned)No dated releasesFreeProprietary (app code); bundled animations CC0WebUnreal Engine, Unity, Godot, Blender, FBX, GLB, Mixamo rigs
ArmorPaintTexturing1.0US$19 one-off for binaries, free to build from sourcezlibOpen sourceWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, WebBlender, Unity, Unreal Engine, OBJ, GLB
AsepritePixel art and 2D1.3.18.6US$19.99 one-offProprietary EULA (source available)Windows, macOS, LinuxGodot, Unity, PNG sprite sheets, JSON frame data
AssetHoardAsset management0.2.4 betaFree in the open beta; then a one-off licence (US$29 beta price, US$49 later)ProprietaryWindows, macOS, LinuxUnity, Godot, Unreal, GameMaker, Blender, MCP (Claude Code, Cursor)
Blender3D modelling5.2.3 LTSPreview: 5.3 betaFreeGPL v2 or later (source), GPL v3 or later (binaries)Open sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxUnity, Unreal Engine, Godot, FBX, glTF, OBJ, USD
FMOD StudioAudio2.03.15Free under US$200k revenue and US$600k budget; else US$2,000 to US$18,000 a gameProprietary EULAWindows, macOSUnity, Unreal Engine, Godot (community plugin)
KritaPixel art and 2D5.3.4.1FreeGPL v3Open sourceWindows, macOS, Linux, AndroidPNG, PSD, OpenRaster
LDtkLevel design1.5.3Free (name your own price on itch.io)MITOpen sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxJSON, Unity, Godot, Haxe
Material MakerTexturing1.8Free on itch.io, US$14.99 on SteamMITOpen sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxGodot, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender
MixamoAnimation and riggingUnversioned web serviceNo dated releasesFreeProprietary (Adobe terms)WebFBX, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender
Plasticity3D modelling2026.2.3US$175 one-off (Indie), US$299 (Studio)Proprietary EULAWindows, macOS, LinuxBlender, OBJ, STL, STEP
Quixel MixerTexturingDiscontinued2023.1.0 (final offline build)FreeProprietary EULAWindows, macOSPBR texture maps, Megascans
Substance 3D PainterTexturing12.2.0US$24.99 a month, or US$199.99 one-off on SteamProprietary EULAWindows, macOS, LinuxUnity, Unreal Engine, Blender, glTF, Godot (via glTF preset)
TiledLevel design1.12.2Free (pay what you want on itch.io)GPL v2 (editor), BSD 2-clause (libtiled)Open sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxTMX, JSON, Godot, Unity, GameMaker, Defold
Ucupaint (Blender add-on)Texturing3.0.0FreeGPL v3 or laterOpen sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxBlender
UVgamiUV and mesh toolsNot publishedNo dated releasesFree (US$1 on Superhive)GPL v3Open sourceWeb, Windows, macOS, LinuxBlender, OBJ, GLB, FBX, STL
WwiseAudio2025.1.12No dated releasesFree under US$250k production budget (Indie)Proprietary EULAWindows, macOSUnity, Unreal Engine, Godot (community integration)
ZBrush3D modelling2027.0.1US$49 a month or US$399 a yearProprietary EULAWindows, macOS, iPadOSSubstance 3D Painter, FBX, OBJ, GoZ
Prices are what a solo developer pays, in the currency the vendor lists. “Latest stable” is the newest non-preview release.

Every tool at a glance

Who each tool suits, the main catch, and where every fact came from.

ActionForge

Animation and rigging

Beta (unversioned)

Best for Free browser auto-rigging, clip editing and eight-way locomotion sets from one walk

Watch out One developer's beta with no published pricing; keep local copies of every clip you export

Price
Free
Licence
Proprietary (app code); bundled animations CC0
Runs on
Web
Works with
Unreal Engine, Unity, Godot, Blender, FBX, GLB, Mixamo rigs

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. Beta. First wide coverage, by GameFromScratch; Motion Lab eight-way locomotion added Our story

Sources: ActionForge (ActionForge); ActionForge: super powered Mixamo alternative (GameFromScratch). Last checked .

ArmorPaint

TexturingOpen source

1.0

Best for A cheap, Painter-style layer painter with no subscription

Watch out Small team, fewer bake tools than Painter, and the iPad app is a separate US$17.99 purchase

Price
US$19 one-off for binaries, free to build from source
Licence
zlib
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web
Works with
Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, OBJ, GLB

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 1.0. Leaves early access after eight years; rewritten in C with D3D12, Vulkan and Metal Our story

Sources: Release: 1.0 (ArmorPaint forums); ArmorPaint (itch.io); ArmorPaint (App Store). Last checked .

Aseprite

Pixel art and 2D

1.3.18.6

Best for Pixel art sprites and frame animation with tagged sheet export

Watch out You can compile the source for personal use, but not redistribute builds; teams need one licence per developer

Price
US$19.99 one-off
Licence
Proprietary EULA (source available)
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Godot, Unity, PNG sprite sheets, JSON frame data

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 1.3.18.6. Patch release
  2. 1.3.18.5. Patch release, same day as 1.3.18.4
  3. 1.3.18.3. Patch release
  4. 1.3.18 beta 3. Last beta before the 1.3.18 line went stable

Sources: Release notes (Aseprite); FAQ (Aseprite). Last checked .

AssetHoard

Asset management

0.2.4 beta

Best for Searching and previewing a big local library of bought and free asset packs, including Unity, Unreal, Godot and GameMaker files

Watch out Still in beta at 0.2.x; a licence covers two devices and updates within the major version you buy

Price
Free in the open beta; then a one-off licence (US$29 beta price, US$49 later)
Licence
Proprietary
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Unity, Godot, Unreal, GameMaker, Blender, MCP (Claude Code, Cursor)

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 0.2.4. Watched folders track renames and moves, even while the app is closed
  2. 0.2.3. Built-in MCP server for AI coding assistants, plus EXR and HDR support Our story
  3. 0.2.2. Turntable generator for GIFs and sprite sheets
  4. 0.2.1. Unreal .uasset and .umap support
  5. 0.1.21. GameMaker project support
  6. 0.1.13. Godot .tres support
  7. 0.1.1. First Linux builds

Sources: Release notes (AssetHoard); Buy AssetHoard (AssetHoard); AssetHoard (AssetHoard). Last checked .

Blender

3D modellingOpen source

5.2.3 LTS

Best for Anyone who needs modelling, sculpting, UVs, rigging, animation and baking in one free app

Watch out Texture painting lags paid tools; layered painting is still on the roadmap, so many add a painter or Ucupaint

Price
Free
Licence
GPL v2 or later (source), GPL v3 or later (binaries)
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, FBX, glTF, OBJ, USD
Preview
5.3 beta (8 Oct 2026)

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 5.2.3 LTS. Maintenance release of the 5.2 LTS line
  2. 5.3 beta. 5.3 enters beta; blender.org lists the final release as expected on 10 November 2026
  3. 5.2.2 LTS. Maintenance release of the 5.2 LTS line
  4. 5.2 LTS. Long-term support release, supported until July 2028 Our story

Sources: Blender 5.2 LTS releases (Blender); Release cycle: now at 5.3 beta (and 5.4 alpha) (Blender Developer Forum); Blender is free software (Blender). Last checked .

2.03.15

Best for Small teams wanting adaptive music and live-mixed game audio without a licence fee

Watch out FMOD logo is required at every tier (waiver from US$6,000); Bose bought FMOD in October 2026

Price
Free under US$200k revenue and US$600k budget; else US$2,000 to US$18,000 a game
Licence
Proprietary EULA
Runs on
Windows, macOS
Works with
Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot (community plugin)
Release history and sources
  1. Ownership. Bose acquires FMOD maker Firelight Technologies; says FMOD stays open and broadly supported
  2. 2.03.15. Latest 2.03 maintenance release per the user manual
  3. Licensing. Indie licence made free for commercial use under US$200k yearly revenue

Sources: Pricing for games (FMOD); FMOD Studio user manual 2.03: what's new (FMOD); Bose acquires Firelight Technologies (Bose); FMOD Studio now free for indie game developers (GameFromScratch). Last checked .

Krita

Pixel art and 2DOpen source

5.3.4.1

Best for Free painting for concept art, hand-painted textures and 2D frame animation

Watch out Two lines ship together: 5.3 for real work, 6.0 (Qt 6) still experimental. No iPad version

Price
Free
Licence
GPL v3
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
Works with
PNG, PSD, OpenRaster
Website
krita.org
Release history and sources
  1. 5.3.4.1. Follow-up fix release, listed as current on the download page
  2. 5.3.4 and 6.0.4. Bug fixes; Android can render animations and export timelapses
  3. 5.3.3 and 6.0.3. Bug fix release
  4. 5.3.0 and 6.0.0. Simultaneous releases; 6.0 is the first Qt 6 build

Sources: Download Krita (Krita); Krita 5.3.0 released (Krita); Licence for usage (Krita). Last checked .

LDtk

Level designOpen source

1.5.3

Best for 2D tile and entity level design with auto-tiling rules and a clean JSON format

Watch out No new release since January 2024; engine loaders are community-made

Price
Free (name your own price on itch.io)
Licence
MIT
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
JSON, Unity, Godot, Haxe
Website
ldtk.io
Release history and sources
  1. 1.5.3. Latest release

Sources: LDtk 1.5.3 devlog (itch.io); LDtk (LDtk). Last checked .

Material Maker

TexturingOpen source

1.8

Best for Procedural tileable materials and trim sheets for stylised or low-poly games, at no cost

Watch out Node-graph workflow takes time to learn, and 3D painting is far less mature than Painter

Price
Free on itch.io, US$14.99 on Steam
Licence
MIT
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Godot, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 1.8. Moves to Godot 4.7.2; adds Auto Export, Crop and Trimsheet nodes Our story
  2. 1.7. First paid release on Steam; itch.io build stays free
  3. 1.4. Stable release after a year of alphas, betas and release candidates

Sources: Material Maker 1.8 release (GitHub); Material Maker (Steam); Material Maker (itch.io). Last checked .

Mixamo

Animation and rigging

Unversioned web service

Best for Quick humanoid auto-rigging and a large free library of stock animations

Watch out Still a 'technology preview'; needs an Adobe account and bans redistributing raw character and animation files

Price
Free
Licence
Proprietary (Adobe terms)
Runs on
Web
Works with
FBX, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender

Our coverage

Release history and sources

Sources: Mixamo FAQ: licensing, royalties, ownership, EULA and TOS (Adobe Community). Last checked .

Plasticity

3D modelling

2026.2.3

Best for Hard-surface props with clean booleans and fillets, sent to Blender for retopology

Watch out Includes 12 months of updates only; no FBX export, and NURBS meshes still need retopology for games

Price
US$175 one-off (Indie), US$299 (Studio)
Licence
Proprietary EULA
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Blender, OBJ, STL, STEP

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 2026.2.3. Point release; listed as current on plasticity.xyz
  2. 2026.2. Asset libraries, curvature shader, Studio-only Project Align and constraints Our story
  3. 2026.1.4. Point release of the 2026.1 line
  4. 2026.1. First major release of 2026

Sources: Plasticity (Plasticity); What's new in 2026.2 (Plasticity documentation); Licence types and features (Plasticity documentation). Last checked .

Quixel Mixer

TexturingDiscontinued

2023.1.0 (final offline build)

Best for Nobody starting fresh: discontinued. Only for opening old Mixer projects and exporting their maps

Watch out Discontinued in February 2026 with no further updates or official support

Price
Free
Licence
Proprietary EULA
Runs on
Windows, macOS
Works with
PBR texture maps, Megascans

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 2023.1.0. Final offline build released; Epic and Quixel say no further updates Our story

Sources: Epic Games release final free Quixel Mixer (GameFromScratch); Quixel Mixer dead, final offline version released (Digital Production); Quixel Mixer officially discontinued (80 Level). Last checked .

12.2.0

Best for PBR texturing and high-to-low baking on realistic or hard-surface game assets

Watch out Subscription by default; the US$199.99 Steam edition stops getting feature updates in March 2027

Price
US$24.99 a month, or US$199.99 one-off on Steam
Licence
Proprietary EULA
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, glTF, Godot (via glTF preset)

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 12.2.0. Painted baking cages and a reworked Polygon Fill tool Our story
  2. 12.1.5. Minor release
  3. 12.1.4. Minor release
  4. 12.1.3. Minor release

Sources: Substance 3D Painter release notes: all changes (Adobe); Substance 3D innovations and pricing updates (Adobe); Substance 3D Painter 2026 (Steam). Last checked .

Tiled

Level designOpen source

1.12.2

Best for General-purpose 2D tile maps with wide engine and framework support

Watch out Engine support beyond the built-in exporters relies on third-party importers

Price
Free (pay what you want on itch.io)
Licence
GPL v2 (editor), BSD 2-clause (libtiled)
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
TMX, JSON, Godot, Unity, GameMaker, Defold
Release history and sources
  1. 1.12.2. Fixes for list-typed custom properties and Properties view regressions
  2. 1.12. Rewritten Properties view, list properties, oblique maps, capsule objects
  3. 1.11.2. Bug fix release

Sources: Tiled 1.12.2 release (GitHub); Tiled 1.12.2 released (itch.io); Tiled (SourceForge). Last checked .

Ucupaint (Blender add-on)

TexturingOpen source

3.0.0

Best for Blender users who want layer-based texture painting and baking without leaving Blender

Watch out 3.0 converts old bump and bake settings on load, so test 2.x projects before upgrading mid-production

Price
Free
Licence
GPL v3 or later
Runs on
Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Blender

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 3.0.0. Layer-first interface, separate height channel, adjustment layers and reworked baking Our story

Sources: Ucupaint (Blender Extensions); Ucupaint 3.0.0 release notes (GitHub). Last checked .

UVgami

UV and mesh toolsOpen source

Not published

Best for Fast automatic UVs on background props, kitbash pieces and lightmaps

Watch out Fails on non-manifold or zero-area geometry, and packing for texel density may still need Blender

Price
Free (US$1 on Superhive)
Licence
GPL v3
Runs on
Web, Windows, macOS, Linux
Works with
Blender, OBJ, GLB, FBX, STL
Website
uvgami.com

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. Unversioned update. Hard Surface and Auto modes, seam painting; README now lists a third engine, PartUV (Nvidia GPU) Our story

Sources: UVgami repository (GitHub); UVgami: automatic UV unwrapping (Superhive); UVgami: free UV unwrapping tool (GameFromScratch). Last checked .

Wwise

Audio

2025.1.12

Best for Teams that need advanced spatial audio, dialogue and profiling, and may grow past indie budgets

Watch out Steep learning curve; above US$250k budget, Pro costs US$8,000 for the first platform

Price
Free under US$250k production budget (Indie)
Licence
Proprietary EULA
Runs on
Windows, macOS
Works with
Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot (community integration)
Release history and sources
  1. 2026.1 beta 2. Music Segment becomes Segment for music and SFX; new Replay profiling playback; release due autumn 2026
  2. 2025.1.3. 2025.1 reaches its first non-beta build, per the community Godot integration

Sources: Pricing for games (Audiokinetic); Wwise documentation: previous releases (Audiokinetic); Wwise 2026.1 at CEDEC 2026 (GameBusiness.jp). Last checked .

ZBrush

3D modelling

2027.0.1

Best for High-detail sculpting of characters and creatures for baking onto game meshes

Watch out Subscription only since 2024 with no indie tier; the new UV Editor is desktop only

Price
US$49 a month or US$399 a year
Licence
Proprietary EULA
Runs on
Windows, macOS, iPadOS
Works with
Substance 3D Painter, FBX, OBJ, GoZ

Our coverage

Release history and sources
  1. 2027.0 and 2027.0.1. Built-in UV Editor with auto-unwrap, packing, UDIMs and trim sheets; Selection Sets Our story
  2. 2026.2.1. Point release
  3. 2026.0. Previous yearly major release

Sources: Maxon fall 2026 release announcement (Maxon); ZBrush 2027: sculpting on the train (Digital Production). Last checked .

Quick answers

Generated from the table, so they change when it does.

Which game dev tools are free?

ActionForge, Blender, Krita, LDtk, Material Maker, Mixamo, Tiled, Ucupaint (Blender add-on) and UVgami are free to use.

Which game dev tools are open source?

ArmorPaint, Blender, Krita, LDtk, Material Maker, Tiled, Ucupaint (Blender add-on) and UVgami publish their source code under an open-source licence.

Which game dev tools can I buy outright instead of subscribing?

ArmorPaint: US$19 one-off for binaries, free to build from source. Aseprite: US$19.99 one-off. AssetHoard: Free in the open beta; then a one-off licence (US$29 beta price, US$49 later). Plasticity: US$175 one-off (Indie), US$299 (Studio).

Which game dev tools run on Linux?

ArmorPaint, Aseprite, AssetHoard, Blender, Krita, LDtk, Material Maker, Plasticity, Substance 3D Painter, Tiled, Ucupaint (Blender add-on) and UVgami run on Linux.

Which game dev tools work with Godot?

ActionForge, Aseprite, AssetHoard, Blender, FMOD Studio, LDtk, Material Maker, Substance 3D Painter, Tiled and Wwise list Godot support or export.

Which of these tools are no longer updated?

Quixel Mixer is discontinued. Discontinued in February 2026 with no further updates or official support