Layer-based PBR painting, free to author.

Mixos gives you the Substance-style workflow — layers, masks, smart materials, paint-on-mesh — with no subscription and nothing to install. The entire editor is free; you only pay when you need high-resolution, watermark-free export.

Start free Explore Mixos

mixos Paint open on an iPad showing a rusted red steel jerrycan beside its flattened UV texture sheet, propped in a stand on a cafe table beside a coffee, a sunlit street blurred behind.

Free to author

Paint, layer, mask, bake, and preview in real time at no cost — the whole editor, not a crippled trial.

The workflow you know

Non-destructive layers, masks, smart materials, and projection painting — the mental model carries straight over.

No seat, no commitment

No per-seat license or subscription to author. Ideal for students, hobbyists, and anyone trying texturing.

Pay only to export big

Upgrade for watermark-free 4K export, a cloud project library, and more AI credits — only when you need them.

Feature by feature

Free Mixos vs Substance 3D Painter at a glance

What each costs and what you get, compared honestly. A check marks the tool with the edge on each row — including the rows Substance wins.

Feature	Mixos	Substance 3D Painter
Price	Free to author, with no time limit	Paid subscription or a perpetual Steam license
Free option	The whole editor — paint, layer, mask, bake, preview	Time-limited free trial
Exporting maps	Needs a paid plan or perpetual license	Included with any paid license
Students and teachers	Free editor; instructors can apply for a classroom export grant	Free education license for eligible students and teachers
Runs on	Any WebGPU browser, nothing to install — including Chromebook and iPad	Desktop install on Windows, macOS and Linux
Layers and masks	Blendable layers, masks, height blend	Yes — the reference implementation
Smart materials and generators	Smart materials, edge wear, node material graph	Deeper generators, plus Substance Designer (.sbsar) integration
Mesh-map baking	AO, curvature, cavity, thickness, normals, high-to-low	Highly configurable baker, including ID maps
AI generation	Built in; free accounts get trial credits	Separate Adobe apps (Sampler, Firefly)
Material library	2,600+ CC0 PBR materials, free to use	Built-in presets plus Substance 3D Assets
Max export resolution	4K on paid plans	8K
Works offline	In the desktop app; the browser needs a connection	Yes

Substance 3D Painter details reflect Adobe's public product information as of September 2026 and may change.

See the full Mixos vs Substance 3D Painter comparison

Why Mixos

What's free, and what you pay for

“Free” often means a 30-day trial or a watermarked toy. Mixos is different: the full editor is free to use. You can import a mesh, paint and layer real PBR materials, bake mesh maps, and preview everything in a real-time WebGPU viewport without paying or installing anything.

The honest trade is export and storage. Authoring is free with no time limit and no watermark on your work, and a free account adds trial AI credits; paid plans are what take the files out, up to 4K, plus a cloud library to keep projects and a larger monthly pool of AI generation. That keeps the cost where the production value is — final output — and leaves learning and iterating free.

Because it's browser-based, there's no workstation requirement and it runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebooks, and on an iPad — in Safari or the free App Store app, with an Apple Pencil if you have one. Your textures export as standard PBR sets, so they drop into Blender, Unreal, Unity, Godot, and any other engine.

Frequently asked questions

Is Mixos actually free, or just a trial?

The full editor is free with no time limit — paint, layer, mask, bake, and preview as much as you want. You only pay for watermark-free high-resolution export, cloud storage, and AI credits at volume.

What do I give up on the free tier?

Production export is unavailable on the free tier, cloud project storage is limited, and AI generation uses trial credits. The authoring tools themselves aren't limited.

Is it a real Substance Painter-style workflow?

Yes — non-destructive layers, masks, smart materials, mesh-map baking, and projection painting, all in the browser.

Do I need a powerful PC?

No — it renders with WebGPU in a modern browser and runs on most machines from the last several years, including laptops, Chromebooks and iPads.

Is it free for students and classrooms?

For students, yes — the free editor has no time limit and no student verification to complete. Instructors teaching a course can apply for a classroom grant, which makes 4K watermark-free export and a shared class library free for the whole roster for the term. Running in a browser means nothing has to be installed on school lab machines.