7 Best Tools to Create Comic Strips Online (Free and AI Comic Makers)

Want to create comic strips online without being able to draw? Free comic makers let you drag in characters, backgrounds and speech bubbles, and new AI tools can even draw the panels for you. Most of the sites in our original 2011 list have since closed, so we’ve rebuilt it for 2026 with the best tools to create comic strips online that still work, for blogs, classrooms, presentations or just making friends laugh.

Quick answer: For quick, free comic strips, use Canva or Make Beliefs Comix. For custom characters and classroom projects, try Pixton or Storyboard That. To have the art drawn for you, use an AI image generator with a comic-style prompt.

Best tools to create comic strips online in 2026

1. Canva

Canva has a free comic strip maker with ready-made templates, panel layouts, characters, stickers and speech bubbles. Pick a template, drag in elements, type your dialogue and download it as an image or PDF. It also has AI image tools to generate custom scenes.

2. Make Beliefs Comix

Make Beliefs Comix is a simple, free comic generator popular with teachers and kids. Choose characters with different emotions, add speech and thought balloons, and print or save your strip. It’s great for language learning and storytelling practice.

3. Pixton

Pixton lets you build characters by choosing their hair, face, clothes, poses and expressions, then place them in scenes. No drawing is needed. It’s widely used in schools, with special plans for teachers and businesses.

4. Storyboard That

Storyboard That is designed for storyboards and comic-style lessons, with thousands of scenes and characters and a simple drag-and-drop editor. The free version has a limited number of storyboards per week.

5. Comic Life

Comic Life is a desktop and iPad app that turns your own photos into comics, with comic-style filters, panel templates and lettering. It’s paid, with a free trial.

6. AI comic makers

AI image generators can draw comic panels from a text description, such as “four-panel comic strip, cartoon style, a cat fixing a laptop”. Tools like ChatGPT’s image generation, Microsoft Designer and others are getting better at keeping the same characters across panels. See our list of the best AI art generators to try. Check each tool’s terms before using AI art commercially, and avoid copying famous comic characters.

7. Bitmoji

Bitmoji creates a cartoon avatar of you, and its stickers put that avatar into hundreds of comic-style scenes you can send in chats or add to your own strips.

Where can you use comic strips?

• Blog posts: a comic gives a post a visual point of interest, grabs attention and makes complex ideas easier to understand.
• Classrooms: students can retell stories, explain science processes or practise a new language.
• Presentations: a comic slide makes a talk more memorable than bullet points.
• Social media: short comics get shared more than plain text posts.
• Friends and family: turn a funny conversation or memory into a comic.

Tips for making a good comic strip

• Keep it short. Three or four panels is perfect for one joke or idea.
• Set up, build, punchline. Use the first panel to set the scene and save the twist for the last one.
• Use few words. Short speech bubbles are easier to read, especially on phones.
• Keep characters consistent so readers recognise them in every panel.

What happened to the 2011 comic makers?

Our original list featured StripGenerator, ToonDoo, ComicMaster, Marvel’s Superhero Squad “Create Your Own Comic” and Dilbert.com’s mash-up tool. Most of these were built with Adobe Flash, which browsers stopped supporting at the end of 2020, and they have since closed. Pixton and Bitmoji are the two survivors from that list.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free comic strip maker?

Canva and Make Beliefs Comix are the easiest free options. Pixton is best if you want detailed custom characters.

Can I make a comic strip without drawing?

Yes. All the tools above use ready-made characters, templates or AI, so no drawing skills are needed.

Can AI create a comic strip?

Yes. AI image generators can draw comic panels from a description. You’ll usually add the speech bubbles and text yourself in a tool like Canva.

This post was first written in 2011 by guest author Sarvanshu and has been fully updated for 2026.