Comparison

Drawing Box Pro vs Canvas SketchBook Pro

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Drawing Box Pro

Create digital paintings and designs with a comprehensive set of artist tools. Features include various brush effects, multi-layer support, and video replays of your creative process. Optimized for Apple Pencil on iPad Pro for enhanced accuracy and natural drawing.

Highlights
  • Pencil and brush effects
  • Multi-layer support
  • Video replay of artwork
  • Apple Pencil optimization
  • Symmetrical drawing
  • Customizable color mixer
  • Export to PSD, PNG, PDF, video
Features
Read full description

Drawing Box Pro is the best app for painting and designing on a mobile device. A complete artist necessary tool set, with gorgeous pencil and brush effects. The strong feeling of comfort and the variety of the painting tools are incomparably rich. The pencil has 3 different stroke styles and 9 exclusive hatching effects. Brush, airbrush, watercolor, oil painting and smudge complete the set of artist tools. The excellent video replay of your paintings will show up your processes and techniques. This is the best tool for teaching, analyzing and sharing your artworks. Special for Apple Pencil drawing on the iPad Pro: The Apple Pencil brings new challenges to painting apps with the three totally new specifications: the pointed pencil tip, the tilt angle, and the pressure sensitivity. Drawing Box Pro will give more accuracy compared to the finger tip and other styluses, the painting tool size will produce a really smooth variation by simple tilt the angle of the pen, and the pressure will add dark and saturation to the colors. The pencils, brushes and other painting tools were enhanced individually to take the biggest advantages from pressure sensitivity and tilt angle cognition. You will feel again the incredible natural way to use pencils, pens and brushes. Drawing with the Apple Pencil means working with not less than 350 levels of color density without adjusting your tool. In the meantime, you will draw and paint with strokes which can be enlarged up to 7 times their initial size, always without any adjustment. The necessary tools: - Pencil - Brush - Eraser - Color palettes - Canvas The artist basic digital features: - Zoom and pan - Multi-layers - Undo and redo - Gallery (storage place) - Size and opacity adjustment The extra art tools: - Pencil: 3 styles + 9 hatching heads - Inkpen: rounded and calligraphic heads - Art brush: 30 awesome effects - Airbrush: 9 rich styles - Watercolor: 10 whooshy brushes - Oil painting: 3 deep coloring effects - Smudge: 3 different color merging methods - Symmetrical drawing: vertical and horizontal orientations - Shapes: lined, gradient and flat fill. - Color mixer: create your personal colors. - Wet effect on the canvas. Bonus digital features: - Pressure sensitivity control (compatible with the new Apple Pencil) - Multi-layers options: duplication, merge down 2 layers, opacity control, layer transition and edition, fill layers with imported pictures from your device library, camera or the application gallery. - Canvas: rich textures and colors. - Multiple undos and redos for a faster work edition. - The gallery artwork is organized by blocks of unlimited number of pages. You can almost create a digital book inside the app, then export it as pdf files. Supported exported formats: psd, png, pdf, video. - Video replay and sharing of your artworks. - Paintings can be mixed and duplicated into several blocks.

About

Canvas SketchBook Pro

Unleash your creativity with a professional yet simple drawing and sketching experience. This app offers a wide range of brushes, layers, and editing tools, optimized for touch and stylus input. Easily import and export your artwork in various formats.

Highlights
  • Creative sketching with brushes and tools
  • Advanced sketches with layers
  • Zoom for fine detail painting
  • Import/export vector images (PDF, PNG, JPEG)
  • Customizable brush generation
  • Fullscreen mode
Features
Read full description

Canvas SketchBook Pro brings a simple and professional drawing experience to anyone who wants to be creative, regardless of skill level. Optimized for iPad Pro and supports Apple Pencil! FEATURES * Draw creative sketches using fun brushes and tools * Build advanced sketches with layers * Zoom to paint fine details * Optimised also for iPad Pro and Apple Pencil * Import and export vector images in PDF, PNG and JPEG up to 4096x4096 pixels * Optional use of color or photo backgrounds * Save as transparent PNG EDITING TOOLS: - Multiple brushes, pens, and pencils - Generate unique brushes - Draw with finger or Apple Pencil (on iPad) - Eraser - Fill tool - Layer editor - Photo import - Background selector - Color tool - Image color adjustment - Move, scale, rotate - Pan and zoom - Export or share as image - Undo/redo - Fullscreen mode and many more... Privacy Policy http://apps-machine.com/privacypolicy Terms of Use http://apps-machine.com/termsofuse

Screenshots

Canvas SketchBook Pro3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Drawing Box Pro at 88% against Canvas SketchBook Pro's 22%. Drawing Box Pro also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 11 months) and rating (4.4 vs 4.0). Canvas SketchBook Pro's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Drawing Box Pro sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Canvas SketchBook Pro sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per 6 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drawing Box Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 27 and 46 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Drawing Box Pro's written reviews are positive against 22% of Canvas SketchBook Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drawing Box Pro ships an update every 6 weeks, Canvas SketchBook Pro every 11 months. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Drawing Box Pro versus Canvas SketchBook Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrawing Box ProCanvas SketchBook Pro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (27 ratings) — better4.0 (46 ratings)
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews — better22.2% of reviews
Number of ratings2746 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB201 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEtienne Nguyen Tan HonMULTI MOBILE Ltd

Customer experience

Drawing Box Pro

All ratings27 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral3.7%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews48 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral8.3%
Negative4.2%

Canvas SketchBook Pro

All ratings46 ratings
Positive73.9%
Neutral6.5%
Negative19.6%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral22.2%
Negative55.6%

Bugs and requests

Drawing Box Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes after ten minutes
  • Drawings disappear when deleting a blank page
  • Unintended lines when zooming with Apple Pencil
  • Dropbox backup seems out of date

Requested features

6 requests
  • Update to 64-bit resolution
  • Add moving tool
  • Improve realism of oils and watercolor
  • Support for other styluses (Adonit Jot, Wacom Intuos Creative)
  • Rethink the app icon design
Show 1 more
  • More brushes

Canvas SketchBook Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Drawing Box Pro

One-time1
  • Unlock All Tools And Features$4.99
1 purchases

Canvas SketchBook Pro

Subscriptions1
  • Sketch Premium3 Days trial$2.996 Months

Questions

Is Drawing Box Pro free?
Drawing Box Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Canvas SketchBook Pro free?
Canvas SketchBook Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drawing Box Pro or Canvas SketchBook Pro?
Drawing Box Pro is rated higher. Drawing Box Pro averages 4.4 out of 5 from 27 ratings, while Canvas SketchBook Pro averages 4.0 from 46 ratings.
Do Drawing Box Pro or Canvas SketchBook Pro have ads?
Neither Drawing Box Pro nor Canvas SketchBook Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drawing Box Pro or Canvas SketchBook Pro?
Drawing Box Pro ships an update every 6 weeks, and Canvas SketchBook Pro every 11 months. Most recently, Drawing Box Pro was updated on November 2, 2026 and Canvas SketchBook Pro on November 2, 2026.

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