Procreate vs Adobe Fresco
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.6. Procreate wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Adobe Fresco on 0.
Illustrators, letterers and hobby painters who draw on an iPad with Apple Pencil
Beginners and hobby painters who want a capable drawing app that costs nothing
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Procreate | Adobe Fresco |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design & Creativity | Design & Creativity |
| Category rank | #1 of 10 | #6 of 10 |
| Developer | Savage Interactive | Adobe |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Procreate better than Adobe Fresco?
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.6. Procreate wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Adobe Fresco on 0.
Which is cheaper, Procreate or Adobe Fresco?
Procreate: $12.99 once on the App Store; the iPhone version, Procreate Pocket, is $5.99. Adobe Fresco: Free on iPad, iPhone and Windows; optional Adobe plans add Photoshop on iPad. On value for money, Procreate scores higher.
Do Procreate and Adobe Fresco work on the same devices?
Only Adobe Fresco runs on Windows.
Which is more private, Procreate or Adobe Fresco?
Procreate scores higher on privacy (9.8/10). App Store label: Data Not Collected. There are no accounts and no tracking, and Procreate has publicly committed to keeping generative AI out of its apps.
Strengths and weaknesses
Procreate
- Pay $12.99 once, with no subscription
- No account, no tracking and no data collected
- Huge brush set plus tools to build your own
- iPad only, with no Mac, Windows or Android version
- No account means no built-in cloud backup
- Still no built-in gradient tool
Procreate turns an iPad and Apple Pencil into a serious sketchbook. You get hundreds of brushes, a Brush Studio for making your own, QuickShape and StreamLine for clean lines, Page Assist for comics and even painting on 3D models. You pay $12.99 once, there's no account, and Apple's label says it collects no data. The catch: it's iPad only, and there's still no built-in gradient tool.
Full Procreate review
Adobe Fresco
- Free, with thousands of brushes and no ads
- Live, vector and pixel brushes on one canvas
- Animation built in, plus easy hand-off to Photoshop
- Privacy label links a lot of data to your identity
- Cloud saving and all brush packs need an Adobe sign-in
- No Android or Mac version
Adobe Fresco gives you a real painting studio on iPad, iPhone or a Windows PC for free. Live brushes that blend like real paint, crisp vector brushes and pixel brushes share one canvas, and frame-by-frame animation, motion paths and Photoshop brush import round it out. There are no ads, and you can start drawing before you sign in. A free Adobe account unlocks cloud saving and every brush pack, and the privacy label links plenty of data to you.
Full Adobe Fresco review
