Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.5. Procreate wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Canva on 1.
Illustrators, letterers and hobby painters who draw on an iPad with Apple Pencil
Small businesses, students and creators making social posts, slides and flyers
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Procreate | Canva |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design & Creativity | Design & Creativity |
| Category rank | #1 of 10 | #7 of 10 |
| Developer | Savage Interactive | Canva |
| Pricing | Paid | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | — | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
| Web | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Procreate better than Canva?
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.5. Procreate wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Canva on 1.
Which is cheaper, Procreate or Canva?
Procreate: $12.99 once on the App Store; the iPhone version, Procreate Pocket, is $5.99. Canva: Free plan; Pro and Business add premium content, brand tools and more AI use. On value for money, Procreate scores higher.
Do Procreate and Canva work on the same devices?
Only Canva runs on Web, Android, Mac, Windows.
Which is more private, Procreate or Canva?
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
Canva
- Very easy for non-designers to get good results
- Free plan covers most everyday projects
- Works on web, phone, tablet and desktop
- Content may train AI unless you opt out
- App Store label lists tracking identifiers
- Paid AI features draw reliability complaints
Canva makes it easy to produce a good-looking flyer, slide deck or Instagram post when you aren't a designer. Pick from a huge template library, drag in your photos and let the AI assistant draft designs for you. It also covers docs, websites, sheets, video and forms. The free plan goes a long way. Mind the privacy defaults: Canva can train AI on your content unless you opt out.
Full Canva review
