drawsta vs Procreate
drawsta is a drawing app for working artists with tracing built in: a picture goes under your line in one tap, and it costs nothing. Procreate is a paid painting app you bring your own reference to. They are not 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 is a one-time purchase on the App Store with no subscription tier. |
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad. iOS 17 or later. | The iPad app runs on iPad, iOS 16.3 or later. For iPhone there is Procreate Pocket, a separate app at $5.99. |
| Tracing | Tap a picture and it lands on your canvas as a ghosted layer you draw straight over. Turn the ghost off and your line is what is left. Bring your own photo and it works the same way. | 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 | Working artists who draw from reference: illustrators, tattooers, designers, anyone who sketches. | Illustrators, concept artists and anyone doing finished work on an iPad. Its listing opens with “loved by creative professionals”. |
Choose Procreate if
- you already know what you want to draw, and what you want is the deepest brush engine on the iPad: hundreds of handmade brushes and a Brush Studio with over 100 settings each.
- you are working towards print or a client file: canvases up to 16k by 8k on compatible iPad Pros, and Photoshop PSD in and out.
- you want animation or 3D painting with a lighting studio, neither of which drawsta does.
Which makes the short version this, and it belongs here rather than at the top of the page: these two apps are answering different questions, and the money is only one of them.
The honest version
Procreate is a one-time purchase with no subscription, and it is a canvas you bring your own reference to. drawsta is free, and the tracing is already in it.
Where these claims come from
Every statement about Procreate on this page is from one of these, checked 9 October 2026. They are named rather than linked: a source you can look up is as checkable as one you can tap, and this page is not here to hand you a download button for somebody else. Prices move and differ by region. If something could not be verified from a listing, an official site or official documentation, it is not here.
- Procreate on the App Store
- Procreate Pocket on the App Store
- procreate.com
- Procreate Handbook: Reference Companion