Free
Sumo Paint
Browser painting app with layers, over 300 brushes and a symmetry tool that mirrors every stroke around up to 18 points.
BeginnerWeb
Magma
A drawing app where a group of artists paint on the same canvas at the same time, in the browser, and watch each other work.
FreemiumBeginnerWeb
Overview
Magma is a drawing and painting app built around more than one artist working on the same picture at once. Everyone sees every stroke as it lands, and each person can have their own layer, so nobody overwrites anyone else. It is a full browser painting app underneath: custom brushes, layers, blend modes and perspective grids, with voice and text chat built in.
You draw in a browser, with nothing to install. The free Spark plan is not a trial. It includes collaborators, layers, text chat and one-to-one voice calls, and it exports PNG, JPEG and layered PSD. Blaze is a subscription that raises the caps and adds video calls and screensharing. Fusion is a per-seat studio tier.
Key features
✓Many artists on one canvas, live
✓A layer per artist, so nobody overwrites you
✓Built-in voice call & text chat
✓Custom brushes & ready-made brush packs
✓Layers, blend modes & perspective grids
✓Exports PNG, JPEG & layered PSD
✓Autosave & version history
✓Public Art Jams to draw with strangers
✓Private Artdesk & member-only Artspaces
✓Runs in any browser, iPad included
When to use
Use Magma if:
- You want to draw with friends live, on one canvas, and see their strokes as they happen.
- You teach or run critiques. You can draw over a student's work on their canvas while talking on the built-in voice call.
- You want to draw with strangers. Art Jams are public canvases you can find and join without arranging anything.
- You run a small studio and want the work in one place. The Fusion tier adds single sign-on, an admin panel and your own storage.
- You want a proper painting app in the browser, with custom brushes, layers, blend modes and perspective grids, and nothing to install.
- You work on an iPad with a stylus. Magma runs in the browser, so the tablet is another device on the canvas.
When NOT to use
Skip Magma if any of these describe you:
- You draw alone. Everything here is built for a shared canvas, and an app built for one person is simpler. Look at other drawing and painting apps.
- You edit photos rather than draw. This is a painting app, not a retoucher. Photopea handles photo work free in a browser.
- Your art must stay private and you plan to use Art Jams. Art Jam canvases are public, and any Magma user can find and join them. Private work belongs on your Artdesk instead.
- You want a free tool with no ceilings. The free plan caps canvas size, layers, storage and version history. Sumo Paint is another browser painter to compare.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The Spark plan costs nothing and lets you draw with others, use layers, and use voice and text chat. It caps the canvas at 4096 by 4096 pixels and 60 layers. Storage is 1 GB and imports are capped at 25 MB. Version history goes back seven days, and three canvases can be open at once. Up to 30 people can draw on one canvas, and voice calls are one to one. Blaze is a monthly subscription that raises all of those and adds video calls, screensharing, the reference window and API access. Fusion is sold per seat for studios.
For Art Jams, yes. Magma states you need a verified account to create or join one. An account also gives you the storage that holds your canvases, since work saves to Magma's servers rather than your machine.
It depends where you draw it. Art Jams are public canvases that any Magma user can discover and join, so treat anything you draw there as public. Your Artdesk is your private space, and Artspaces are areas only the members you invite can enter.
Yes. File, then Export, offers PNG, JPEG and a layered PSD. PSD works on the free plan. Exporting each layer as its own separate image file is the one export that needs Blaze.
No. Magma runs in the browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS and Android, with nothing to install. The canvas lives on Magma's servers, and that is what lets several people draw on it at once.
Alternatives to Magma
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