Procreate vs ibisPaint X
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 7.9. Procreate wins on 5 of the 5 scores, ibisPaint X on 0.
Illustrators, letterers and hobby painters who draw on an iPad with Apple Pencil
Students and hobby artists who want a capable free app on an iPad or phone
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Procreate | ibisPaint X |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design & Creativity | Design & Creativity |
| Category rank | #1 of 10 | #10 of 10 |
| Developer | Savage Interactive | ibis inc. |
| Pricing | Paid | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | — | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Procreate better than ibisPaint X?
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 7.9. Procreate wins on 5 of the 5 scores, ibisPaint X on 0.
Which is cheaper, Procreate or ibisPaint X?
Procreate: $12.99 once on the App Store; the iPhone version, Procreate Pocket, is $5.99. ibisPaint X: Free with ads; ad removal is $15.99 once, or Premium is $4.49 a month. On value for money, Procreate scores higher.
Do Procreate and ibisPaint X work on the same devices?
Only ibisPaint X runs on Android, Windows, Mac.
Which is more private, Procreate or ibisPaint X?
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
ibisPaint X
- Generous free version with a huge brush library
- Animation, vector and comic tools in one app
- Runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Mac
- Ads in the free version unless you pay
- Privacy label lists data used to track you
- Free vector tool use is capped at an hour a day
ibisPaint X shows how deep a free drawing app can go. You get a huge brush library, layers with blend modes, vector and text tools, screentones, rulers, frame-by-frame animation and time-lapse recording, and it runs on phones as well as iPad. The catch is the business model: ads in the free version, Premium for the best filters and unlimited vector use, and a privacy label that lists data used to track you.
Full ibisPaint X review
