Editing photos can be a lot of fun, with different filters and stickers available on various photo-editing apps.
One of the more popular filters is the cartoon filter, which changes pictures into a cartooned version of itself. This could be a sketch, an series of outlines, a painting, or another form of art. There are many ‘cartoon’ filters available.
There are quite a few apps for turning pictures into cartoons, most of them varying in terms of filters.
Whilst they usually have filters that turn pictures into more artistic pieces, the type of filters available vary across different apps. Some are more sketch-oriented, whilst others are more painterly. Some apps offer both.
Apps that turn Pictures & Photos into Cartoons
also referred to as cartoon picture apps, are a fun way to add cartoon effects to your most loved photos. They allow you to apply an animated effect to an existing photo easily, and give you more options than you’ll find with Snapchat or Insta filters.
You can use them to create caricatures, sketch effects and transform photos into art. We’ll go through three of the best ‘pictures to cartoons’ apps, keeping in mind their cost and provided features.
#3 – Toonist
Price: £1.99 per month, or £14.49 per year.
Toonist is free to install and use, but certain features are locked unless you purchase the premium upgrade.
The upgrade will unlock all filters and editing tools, and get rid of the watermark. The free version offers 14 different filters, and 2 editing tools. There will also be a small Toonist watermark in the lower-right corner of the photo.
The premium upgrade offers 30 filters, 7 editing tools, and no watermark. The upgrade is also very cheap for a subscription, so it’s low investment.

Toonist offers a variety of different cartoon filters. These filters mostly consist of an outline of the picture, and varying colour styles.
The outlines differ slightly in style across the different filters; some are quite simple whilst others are more detailed. The colours also vary from painterly to cell-shading.
You can also edit/customise the colours for different filters. You can choose the outline colour, and the palette colours.
There are also several editing tools you can use to edit the photo further. You can change the outline thickness, the colour density, the outline complexity, the level of detail, and the line weight. This gives users a great amount of control over the cartoon filters.
Overall, Toonist is a fairly simple photo to cartoon app. It provides many different cartoon filters, and allows users to customise the features to a high degree.
The app is great for those who want a high level of control over the cartoon filters, and those who wish for a cheap photo to cartoon app. Toonist’s pro upgrade is cheap to purchase, so it’s very affordable and low-risk.
#2 – Cartoon Photo Editor
Price: £3.49 per week, or £27.99 per year (each includes a 3-day free trial).
Cartoon Photo Editor is a free app to install and use, but you can purchase the pro version to unlock all premium filters and tools.
The free version offers 10 different filters, 108 stickers (6 stickers from each category), 4 text editing tools, 11 fonts, 100+ text colours, 8 text patterns, 8 text gradients, and a watermark.
The pro version offers 95 filters, 300+ stickers, 4 text editing tools, 100 fonts, 40 text patterns, 29 text gradients, and no watermark.

Cartoon Photo Editor has a large amount of filters available, which vary from very painterly/abstract, to more subtle colour tints. There’s even more specific filters like the comic filter, or the Minecraft filter. There’s something for everyone.
You can also edit the filter intensity to suit your preferences. You can even customise the photo further by adding stickers.
There over 300 to choose from, with 18 different categories.
The categories include transport vehicles, blast/cloud, cartoon text, funny cartoon faces, cartoon memes, cartoon spectacles, hats, moustache, foods, masquerade mask, Viking armour, cartoon animals, cartoon fishes, cartoon baby dragons, cartoon boys/girls, home accessories, musical elements, and cars.
You can also add your own text to photos. You can edit the text alignment, the font, the text colour, the colour pattern, the colour gradient, and add effects to the text. These effects include shadows, and text strokes/outlines.
You can add a shadow to the text, and customise the colour and opacity. You can also choose to add an outline to the text, and customise the colour and width.
Overall, Cartoon Photo Editor is a fairly simple photo to cartoon editor app. The free version offers quite a lot of editing options, and the pro version has a large library of filters to choose from.
There are also several additional editing tools, which you can use to further customise your photos. The app is great for those who want various editing features, and a large library of filters.
#1 – Photo to Cartoon Yourself Edit
Free.
Photo to Cartoon Yourself Edit is a completely free application to install and use. There are no in-app purchases, and all features are unlocked.

Photo to Cartoon Yourself is a free photo to cartoon app, which offers a large variety of photo-editing features.
The app has four different effects tools, which include AI effects, filters, FX, and blur. There are 28 AI effects, 50+ filters, 10 FX, and 6 blur options.
The AI effects range from painterly/abstract styles to more sketch-oriented styles.


Once you’ve chosen an effect, you can go through the different filters and see how they alter the photo’s appearance. The filters can alter the photo’s contrast, colour, brightness, and more. You can also change the intensity of the filter.
The FX further change the photo’s appearance. Some FX make the photo black and white, whilst others do more drastic things like warping the photo. You can also change the intensity of the FX.
The app also allows you to choose a frame for your photo. There are 12 frames to choose from. They vary from basic gold frames, to more dynamic/artistic frames.
You can edit the opacity of the frame. You can even add a lens flare to your photo, and choose from 20 different lens flares. You can alter the colour of the lens flare, and its opacity.


There’s also a section with basic photo-editing tools, such as brightness, contrast and exposure. This allows you to edit the photo even further.
Overall, Photo to Cartoon Yourself Edit is a great photo to cartoon app for those who don’t wish to spend money.
The app is completely free to use. It also offers a large variety of editing tools, which allows for a high amount of customisability.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many photo to cartoon apps available these days. The cartoon filter is quite popular, and can vary across different applications. If you’re looking for an app with a large library of filters to choose from, try using Cartoon Photo Editor.
If you’re hesitant to spend money on such an app, try using Photo to Cartoon Yourself Edit. The app is fully usable at no cost.