Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.9. Procreate wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Affinity on 1.
Illustrators, letterers and hobby painters who draw on an iPad with Apple Pencil
Designers and photographers who want a free alternative to Adobe's desktop apps
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Procreate | Affinity |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design & Creativity | Design & Creativity |
| Category rank | #1 of 10 | #4 of 10 |
| Developer | Savage Interactive | Canva |
| Pricing | Paid | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | — |
| Mac | — | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Procreate better than Affinity?
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.9. Procreate wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Affinity on 1.
Which is cheaper, Procreate or Affinity?
Procreate: $12.99 once on the App Store; the iPhone version, Procreate Pocket, is $5.99. Affinity: Free for individuals; Canva AI tools inside Affinity need a Canva premium plan. On value for money, Procreate scores higher.
Do Procreate and Affinity work on the same devices?
Only Procreate runs on iPhone & iPad. Only Affinity runs on Mac, Windows.
Which is more private, Procreate or Affinity?
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
Affinity
- Pro-level design, photo and layout tools for free
- Files stay on your device and work offline
- One app instead of three separate programs
- Requires a Canva account to activate
- Canva AI features need a paid Canva plan
- No iPad version yet
Affinity used to be three separate apps you bought. Now it's one free app with Vector, Pixel and Layout studios, so you can draw a logo, retouch a photo and set a magazine page without switching programs. The September 2026 update added a Blend Tool, scripting and native InDesign file import. You need a Canva account to activate it, the AI tools cost extra, and there's still no iPad version.
Full Affinity review
