drawsta vs Procreate
drawsta is for beginners, for people who want to trace, and for people who want to draw without paying for anything. If that is you, this is the shorter decision of the two: these apps are not really competing for the same hour of your day.
| Feature | drawsta | Procreate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. | $12.99, one time, on the US App Store. Procreate Pocket for iPhone is a separate $5.99 app. |
| Subscription | None. | None. Procreate's own site says: “No subscriptions. Exclusively from the App Store.” |
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad. iOS 17 or later. | iPad only, iOS 16.3 or later. The iPhone version is the separate Procreate Pocket app. |
| Tracing | A feed of pictures, and one tap puts the one you like on your canvas as a ghosted trace layer you draw straight over. Turn the ghost off and your line is what is left. | A Reference Companion: a floating window that shows your canvas, an imported image, or a face, so you can look at it while you work. Procreate's handbook describes it as reference “without the need to split screen or using a layer as reference” — you draw beside the picture rather than over it. You bring the picture. |
| Who it is for | People who want to draw more and keep not drawing, usually because they cannot think of what to draw. | Illustrators, concept artists and anyone doing finished work on an iPad. Its listing opens with “loved by creative professionals”. |
Where Procreate wins
- The brush engine. Hundreds of handmade brushes and a Brush Studio with over 100 settings per brush. Nothing here competes with that and nothing here tries to.
- Canvas size — up to 16k by 8k on compatible iPad Pros, which is print territory.
- Animation, 3D painting with a lighting studio, and Photoshop PSD import and export.
- A decade of tutorials. Whatever you are stuck on, somebody has already filmed the answer.
Which makes the short version this, and it belongs here rather than at the top of the page: if what you want is Procreate's tools and you can spend the money, buy Procreate.
The honest version
The honest split is that Procreate expects you to arrive with an idea. It is a superb tool and a blank canvas. If the reason you are not drawing is that you open the app and cannot think of anything, a better brush engine does not fix that, and $12.99 does not either.
Where these claims come from
Every statement about Procreate on this page is from one of these, checked 29 September 2026. Prices move and differ by region — go and look rather than taking our word for it. If something could not be verified from a listing or an official site, it is not here.