Until now, GIMP was only officially distributed for Windows as an installer provided on our download page.

In particular, the GIMP team never distributed it via the Microsoft Store. This changes today! 🥳

What if I see several GIMP on the Microsoft Store?¶

You might see other “GIMP” on the Microsoft Store, so you must be careful. For the official package, make sure you use the link we provide:

GIMP on Microsoft Store (Windows-only link)

While others distributing GIMP is not necessary a problem (we even have a page explaining why selling GIMP is not illegal), we have no way to know what is actually in a third-party package, hence we cannot vouch for them.

Problems could be malware 😱 participating in botnets, hack your files or other computers or perhaps just steal CPU resources. Some are charging for their packages while using deceptive wording — seeming to be the official GIMP team — and at the same time introducing subtle bugs or significant problems like uploading opened images behind the users back. The official GIMP packages do not contain malware nor do they upload your files. We have a strict Privacy Policy. Our packages are also free of charge.

These are not all cases, and other third-party packagers may be doing a great job adding value (user support, additional documentation, more filters…) so you are welcome to continue using these as long as you are aware they are not related to us. Anyway we saw enough problematic cases that we are happy to announce GIMP being now officially distributed on the Microsoft Store so that everyone can get GIMP from its source.

Limitations of store’s GIMP¶

We worked closely with a developer relations team at Microsoft for this new distribution channel. GIMP is proposed as what they call a traditional desktop app which basically means that even if you install GIMP from the store, it actually uses the exact same installer (as found on our download page then run by the store in silent mode).

The good side is that it’s easier for us to maintain and user experience is exactly the same. The bad side is that it doesn’t get additional niceties made available by centralized repositories, such as auto-update. You will still have to update yourself, the old way.

This is why working on a MSIX or UWP package remains a possibility if anyone wants to continue the work started. Contributors welcome! 🤗

Funding GIMP¶

As all other official GIMP packages, GIMP is free of charge on the Windows Store. 💌

If GIMP is useful to you and you wish to fund development, you are very welcome to donate to the project and fund core GIMP developers, as a way to give back and accelerate the development of GIMP.

Support us by
Donating