VectorTrace vs Inkscape Trace Bitmap
Trace Bitmap is the free option most people meet first, and it is genuinely good. The differences are the install, the automation path and where the trace runs.
- Produkt
- Inkscape Trace Bitmap
- Geprüft
- 2026-09-07
- Regel
- Mit Quelle und Datum
- Preis
- Kostenlose Vorschau
Nebeneinander
| Nebeneinander | vectortrace | Inkscape Trace Bitmap |
|---|---|---|
| Where the image is processed | The image is traced by WebAssembly in a Web Worker in your own tab. It is never uploaded, so there is nothing to store, delete or leak. | On your own machine. Inkscape is a desktop application you download and install, so the file never leaves the computer — the same answer we give, reached a different way.Quelle · geprüft am 2026-09-07 |
| What you install | Nothing. A browser tab, and a WebAssembly module the page loads on first interaction. | Inkscape itself, downloaded and installed on Windows, Mac or Linux, per its own documentation.Quelle · geprüft am 2026-09-07 |
| Licence and cost | Previews are free and unlimited. Downloads need Pro at €9.00 per month or €69.00 per year, tax inclusive. | Free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License, installable on as many machines as you like.Quelle · geprüft am 2026-09-07 |
| How colour is handled | A preset fixes the palette, then the engine segments the image into colour regions and writes one filled path per region, sharing each boundary between its two neighbours. | Single-scan modes — brightness cutoff, edge detection, colour quantization, autotrace and centreline — or multiple scans, which the manual describes as creating a separate stacked object per scan.Quelle · geprüft am 2026-09-07 |
| Output formats | SVG, PDF, EPS and DXF, all written by the same Rust exporters from one document. | SVG natively; the manual lists PDF, EPS, PS, DXF, EMF, WMF and HPGL among the formats File > Save a Copy writes.Quelle · geprüft am 2026-09-07 |
| Automating a trace | POST /api/v1/vectorize, documented by a generated OpenAPI 3.1 document at /api/openapi.json — no desktop install anywhere in the pipeline. | The 1.4 release notes document an object_trace action, so a trace can be driven from the command line on a machine that has Inkscape installed.Quelle · geprüft am 2026-09-07 |
Wissenswert
Trace Bitmap is built into Inkscape, the free and open-source vector editor for Windows, Mac and Linux. It uses routines from Potrace, and the trace lands directly in the document you were already editing, which is a real advantage: the next step after a trace is almost always editing.
VectorTrace is a web page. There is nothing to install, the engine is a WebAssembly module that runs in your tab, and the same trace is reachable over an HTTP API. Both tools keep your file on your own machine, so this comparison is not a privacy one — it is about what you install, what comes out, and how you automate it.
No side-by-side benchmark exists yet. We have measured our own engine on the committed corpus and published every figure it produced, dated and versioned, and the row below points at that run. We have not traced the same corpus through Inkscape, so nothing here compares output quality. Until we do, the honest instruction is the one in the open questions: trace your own file in both and look at the result.
Was wir nicht gemessen haben
- Which output needs less cleanup on YOUR artwork? There is no published head-to-head, so the check that settles it is yours: trace the same file in both, then compare the node counts your editor reports and look at the boundary at 800%.
- Is Potrace-style brightness cutoff or colour-region segmentation the right model for your image? A flat logo and a photograph answer that differently, and both tools show you a preview before you commit.
- Does your pipeline need a machine with software installed on it? Ours is an HTTP call; theirs is a command-line action on a machine that has Inkscape.
Benchmark
Gemessen, nicht vermarktet. Der Korpus, die Methode und jede Zahl, die der Lauf erzeugt hat, werden vollständig veröffentlicht.
Methodik → /benchmarks- boundary error, p95
- 0.09 px
- region-count error
- 0.000
- node-count ratio
- 1.00×
Warum vectortrace
- Beleg 1 / 3
Im Browser und privat
Die Engine ist WebAssembly und läuft in einem Worker auf Ihrem eigenen Rechner. Ihr Bild wird nie hochgeladen — es gibt also nichts zu leaken, nichts zu löschen und nichts, dem Sie vertrauen müssten.
- Beleg 2 / 3
Editierbare Pfade, kein Wrapper
Die Engine gruppiert das Bild in Farbregionen, nimmt die Grenze zwischen ihnen und passt Kurven daran an. Was herauskommt, ist echte Geometrie — eine Füllung pro Region, jeder Knoten von Ihnen verschiebbar — erzeugt im Tab und nie auf einem Server.
- Beleg 3 / 3
Formate für Druck und Produktion
SVG und PDF für Artwork; EPS und DXF für Cutter, Gravierer und Stick-Software. Echte Dateien, die sich in Illustrator, Inkscape und LibreCAD öffnen lassen — kein SVG mit einem JPEG darin.
Fragen
- 01Is Inkscape good enough for tracing?
- For a lot of work, yes — it is free, it runs on your own machine, and the trace lands in an editor you can immediately fix it in. We would not tell you to stop using it. The reasons to use something else are an unattended pipeline, a machine you cannot install software on, or a cutter format you want written directly.
- 02Which one produces cleaner paths?
- We have not measured it, so we are not going to claim it. Our own figures on the committed smoke corpus are published on /benchmarks with the date and the engine version; nothing equivalent exists for Trace Bitmap here, and a comparison needs both halves.
- 03Can I open VectorTrace output in Inkscape?
- Yes. The SVG is one path per colour region with a plain fill and no wrapper, so Inkscape opens it as ordinary editable artwork.
- 04Does either tool upload my image?
- Neither. Inkscape is a desktop application and our engine runs as WebAssembly in your own tab. On this comparison the privacy row is a tie, and we say so rather than implying otherwise.