Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.7. Procreate wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Krita on 2.
Illustrators, letterers and hobby painters who draw on an iPad with Apple Pencil
Digital painters and comic artists on a PC, Mac or Linux machine
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Procreate | Krita |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design & Creativity | Design & Creativity |
| Category rank | #1 of 10 | #5 of 10 |
| Developer | Savage Interactive | Krita Foundation |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | — |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | — | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
| Linux | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Procreate better than Krita?
Procreate is the better app overall, scoring 9.4 to 8.7. Procreate wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Krita on 2.
Which is cheaper, Procreate or Krita?
Procreate: $12.99 once on the App Store; the iPhone version, Procreate Pocket, is $5.99. Krita: Free from krita.org; optional paid store versions and donations fund development. On value for money, Krita scores higher.
Do Procreate and Krita work on the same devices?
Only Procreate runs on iPhone & iPad. Only Krita runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android.
Which is more private, Procreate or Krita?
Krita scores higher on privacy (9.9/10). Krita says it does not access, collect, use, share or transmit any personal information. The Mac App Store label reads Data Not Collected, and Google Play lists no data collected.
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
Krita
- Free and open source, with nothing paywalled
- Collects no personal data at all
- Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android tablets
- Interface can feel cluttered and slow to start
- Android version is a tablet-only beta
- No iPad or iPhone version
Krita gives Windows, Mac and Linux painters a serious studio for free. You get flexible brush engines with stabilizers, drawing assistants, animation with onion skinning, comic panel tools and PSD support, and the 2026 releases rewrote the text tool. It's open source and collects no data at all. Expect a busier interface than Procreate, and the Android build is still a beta for tablets and Chromebooks only.
Full Krita review
