Almost any professional graphics software will work for XPPen drawing tablets. So you should pick the right software for your needs and preferences.
As far as digital painting goes, Photoshop and Corel painter are second to none.
However, these can be rather expensive and there are cheap and sometimes free alternatives that are really good: krita, paint tool sai, clip studio paint, artrage and more.
All of these can be used with XPPen tablets so just look through them(more specifically art work made with them), and pick one you like.
Drawing apps I can use xp pen in: Free and Paid
While the “best” software is a very subjective and personal choice I can suggest a few apps in different price ranges, available for at least both Windows and MacOS.
1. Photoshop CC
Photoshop CC is Pretty much what some would call a Industry standard, has a steeper learning curve but is well above most drawing softwares, also there are a lot of tutorials on how to use it.
platform: Windows & MacOS
2. Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio is a professional tool designed for drawing Manga and Comics. It’s really good for that task. The linework tools are second to none.
It apparently has the best balance of features for approaching paintings digitally and better blending than photoshop. It also has perspective guiding features.
It is also one of my favorites, you can buy it for around $50 or less if its on sale.
platform: Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, Android
3. Corel Painter
Corel Painter has a great brush engine, and makes for a more traditional-like approach to painting, while still retaining the benefits of working digital.
While it doesn’t have the versatility of Photoshop (e.g. 3D tools, raster effects, non-destructive editing, vector tools, etc.), it has more advanced tools, interface and rendering for painting.
platform: Windows, MacOS
4. Rebelle 7
Rebelle 7 is one of the best software out there to simulate painting with Acrylics or Oil digitally.
The software has brushes that mimic physical mediums like oils, gouache, water color, pastels, etc. It also has a great system that mimics the spread of water.
platform: Windows, MacOS
5. Artrage 6
Artrage is specifically made to simulate using real paints like watercolor, oils, chalk, and so on.
It is simple and easy to pick up. So a beginner might find this more accessible.
platform: Windows, MacOS
6. Sketchbook Pro
Sketchbook Pro is an exceptional digital drawing and painting app that’s also very good at emulating physical tools and is very easy to use.
It is very easy to use and is most like drawing with paper and pen. People mainly use it for quick stuff. There are very helpful perspective tools that people love.
platform: Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, Android
7. Paint Tool SAI
Paint tool sai is one of the few art programs remaining that is fully up-to-date on a one-time payment.
Paint tool sai is a wonderful program, with a lot to give; definitely seems worth the price imo. This was highly recommended everywhere for being very easy and intuitive.
People love the line smoothing capability and it is frequently recommended for manga style art. something about how lineart and blending brushes work in sai just feels right. I love its stabilization, as it’s a lot more controlled yet smooth in my brush strokes.
A con is that SAI doesn’t have many filters, and that the brush engine is less complex than CSP or Photoshop. additionally, it is only availablr for Windows.
platform: Windows Only
5 Best Free Drawing Apps for XPPen Tablet
Krita, MediBang Paint, and Autodesk SketchBook are some of the best free drawing software options available. They offer a wide range of brushes, tools, and features suitable for both beginners and professionals.
8. Krita
Krita is full-featured app for digital painting. It has everything you can think of and some more.
UI is modular, so you can set it up as you want. Some like the brushes more compared to Photoshop’s.
It is also designed to work well with graphic tablets, supports speed detect, pressure sensitivity, stroke angle detect, and rotation detect, and translates that to the effects on various illustration tools.
Krita Is free, but I would absolutely pay for it if it wasn’t. Very comfortable and intuitive. It is way ahead of even many paid digital illustration apps.
platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android
9. Medibang Paint
MediBang Paint is user-friendly and offers a ton of resources like pre-made brushes, fonts, and backgrounds.
It’s lightweight and has cloud-saving features so you can work from anywhere.
platform: Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, Android
10. FireAlpaca
FireAlpaca is lightweight, intuitive, and easy to use. While it’s not as feature-rich as some others, it offers everything you need for basic to intermediate digital drawing and painting.
It is great if you want to do line art. It has manga borders and monochrome layers similar to CSP. It only has a few brushes built in, but it does have lots more you can download within the program.
platform: Windows, MacOS
11. Mypaint
MyPaint is a fast, distraction-free, and easy painting tool for digital artists. It supports graphics tablets made by XPPen and many similar devices.
It gives you the infinite canvas and a bunch of brushes with which you can draw and sketch easily.
platform: Windows, MacOS, and Linux
12. Gimp
Gimp is among the very best free image processing programs one can find. some people use it as their main program for drawing or for editing.
It’s apparently limited in types of brushes. I tried painting with it, but I didn’t really like it very much compared to Krita.
platform: Windows, MacOS, and Linux
What are the best Android drawing apps for XPPen Magic Drawing Pad?
If you have a XPPen Magic Drawing Pad that runs on Android OS, the best android drawing apps I would generally recommend would be Infinite Painter, Clip Studio Paint, Concepts, Ibis Paint X, ArtFlow, Sketchbook (free), Krita (free), and Medibang Paint (free) on the play store.
These apps have their unique features and can help you create impressive artwork, and some of them don’t even cost you anything.
Conclusion
The XPPen tablet can handle pretty much any software you throw at it, with only slight variations in capabilities (such as the tilt support).
What you need to figure out is what software will allow you to accomplish what you want to do.
Experimenting with different software can help you find what works best for you.
XPPen do offer bundle of software such as Artrage and openCanvas if you purchased XPPen tablet. I would suggest getting those software first.
Explore More: The Best XPPen Drawing Tablets of 2025
