What is Drawpile?

Drawpile is an open-source painting application whose core idea is a shared canvas: people sketch, paint and animate at the same time on the same picture, whether on a public community server or one you host yourself. The client ships more than 200 brushes across several brush engines, a brush editor, a stroke stabilizer, layers and layer groups with blend modes, clipping and masking, plus a frame-based animation timeline with onion skins and timelapse video export. Drawing tablets with pressure input work on every supported system, and sessions can be locked behind a password and handed out as invite links. On the server side, users fall into operator, trusted, registered and guest tiers, with permissions configurable per feature and per layer, layer censoring for mixed content, kick and ban tools, and an optional abuse-report hook. Desktop builds cover Windows, macOS and Linux, there is a native Android app, and a browser version connects over WebSockets so tablet and phone users can join without installing anything. Self-hosting means running drawpile-srv: as a downloaded binary, from the Linux AppImage started with --server, or via the drawpile/drawpile-srv Docker image, with TLS, file-backed and persistent sessions, session recordings, templates and an HTTP admin API; the dpserver compose package adds a list server, an abuse-report relay and nginx with Let's Encrypt. Canvases can be exported to OpenRaster or PSD, and the program also works fine as a standalone offline editor.

Should you self-host Drawpile?

Drawpile scores 59/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #3 of 7 in Design. It has 1 347 GitHub stars.

It shipped 4 stable releases in the past year. The latest, continuous, came out on 26 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 5 days.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is GPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in C.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is OpenDesign (83/100, 104 574 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See Drawpile vs OpenDesign side by side.

Features

Animation timeline with onion skins
Brush editor with 200+ built-in brushes
File-backed and persistent sessions
Layers and layer groups with blend modes
Offline drawing mode
OpenRaster and PSD file interchange
Password-protected private sessions
Pressure-sensitive tablet support
Real-time collaborative canvas
Roles, permissions and moderation
Session Recording
Stroke stabilizer
Timelapse export
Web admin API for the server
Web browser client

How to configure Drawpile

allowGuestHoststrueAllow anyone to host sessions, or restrict to HOST-flagged accounts
Allow anyone to host sessions, or restrict to HOST-flagged accounts
values: true or false
allowGueststrueAllow users without an account to connect
Allow users without an account to connect
values: true or false
allowGuestWebtrueAllow anyone to join via the web browser client
Allow anyone to join via the web browser client
values: true or false
--announce-portPort advertised in session listings when it differs from the listen port
Port advertised in session listings when it differs from the listen port
values: port number
announceWhitelistfalseRestrict session listings to explicitly allowed listing servers
Restrict session listings to explicitly allowed listing servers
values: true or false
autoResetThreshold15mbDefault threshold for automatic session resets
Default threshold for automatic session resets
values: size
clientTimeout60Disconnect clients after this long without a message
Disconnect clients after this long without a message
values: duration
--configPath to the INI-style configuration file
Path to the INI-style configuration file
values: file path, mutually exclusive with --database
--crypt-keyKey used to encrypt exported session bans
Key used to encrypt exported session bans
values: generated with drawpile-srv --generate-crypt-key
customAvatarstrueAllow users to provide their own avatars
Allow users to provide their own avatars
values: true or false
--databasePath to the SQLite configuration database
Path to the SQLite configuration database
values: file path, mutually exclusive with --config
DRAWPILESRV_WEB_ADMIN_AUTHUsername and password pair for HTTP Basic auth on the web admin API
Username and password pair for HTTP Basic auth on the web admin API
values: <user:password>
--extauthURL of the external authentication endpoint
URL of the external authentication endpoint
values: URL, e.g. drawpile.net's ext-auth API
extauthkeyValidation key of the external authentication server
Validation key of the external authentication server
values: string key
forceNsfmfalseForce every session to be tagged Not Suitable for Minors
Force every session to be tagged Not Suitable for Minors
values: true or false
idleTimeLimit0How long a session may stay up without activity
How long a session may stay up without activity
values: duration, 0 disables the timeout
--listen0.0.0.0IP address the server accepts TCP connections from
IP address the server accepts TCP connections from
values: any address
--local-hostIntended hostname of the server, used for session announcements
Intended hostname of the server, used for session announcements
values: domain name
persistencefalseAllow sessions to persist after the last user leaves
Allow sessions to persist after the last user leaves
values: true or false
--port27750TCP listen port for client connections
TCP listen port for client connections
values: any port number
--recordPath pattern for recording every session
Path pattern for recording every session
values: path with %d, %h, %i, %a placeholders
--report-urlURL hit when someone uses the client's report function
URL hit when someone uses the client's report function
values: URL
serverTitleServer title shown in the login dialog
Server title shown in the login dialog
values: string
sessionCountLimit25Maximum number of simultaneously hosted sessions
Maximum number of simultaneously hosted sessions
values: integer
--sessionsDirectory for file-backed session storage
Directory for file-backed session storage
values: existing directory path
sessionSizeLimit99mbMaximum size of a session history
Maximum size of a session history
values: size
sessionUserLimit254Maximum users allowed in a single session
Maximum users allowed in a single session
values: integer
--ssl-certPath to the TLS certificate file (fullchain.pem) for TCP connections
Path to the TLS certificate file (fullchain.pem) for TCP connections
values: file path
--ssl-keyPath to the TLS private key file
Path to the TLS private key file
values: file path
--ssl-key-algorithmguessEncryption algorithm of the TLS key
Encryption algorithm of the TLS key
values: guess, rsa, ec, dsa, dh
--templatesDirectory containing session templates
Directory containing session templates
values: directory path
--web-admin-access127.0.0.1IP address or subnet allowed to reach the web admin API
IP address or subnet allowed to reach the web admin API
values: localhost only, a subnet, or all
--web-admin-port0Listen port for the web admin HTTP API
Listen port for the web admin HTTP API
values: 0 disables it; 27780 is the typical port
--websocket-listen0.0.0.0Address to accept WebSocket connections from
Address to accept WebSocket connections from
values: any address, e.g. 127.0.0.1 behind a local reverse proxy
--websocket-port0Listen port for WebSocket connections used by the browser client
Listen port for WebSocket connections used by the browser client
values: 0 disables it; 27751 is the typical port
welcomeMessageMessage posted to chat when a user joins or hosts a session
Message posted to chat when a user joins or hosts a session
values: string

FAQ

Why does Drawpile not recognize pen pressure?

The current brush may simply have no pressure dynamics enabled, so try another one. On Windows it is often a driver mismatch: pick a different option under Edit → Tablet Driver and test them.