Inkpad vs Preview mini
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Inkpad
Create professional vector art on your iPad with a powerful yet intuitive interface. Draw with precision, manipulate objects, and apply flexible typography effects. Organize your work with unlimited layers and easily import/export various file formats.
- Precision vector drawing tools
- Flexible typography effects
- Unlimited layers for organization
- Advanced object manipulation
- Gradient editing and Boolean operations
- Import/export SVG, PDF, PNG, JPEG
- Apple Pencil support
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Create beautiful vector artwork on your iPad with Inkpad. Draw with accuracy and speed. Quickly align new or existing objects either to a grid, points, or path edges. Alternatively draw freehand bezier paths using the brush tool. Select, scale and rotate hundreds of objects with high performance in real time. Cutout elements of artwork, photographs or patterns with masks. Flexible typography effects. Position text at any angle or to follow along paths. Apply multiple effects to text, with stroke, fill, shadow and opacity all dynamically adjustable. If the over seventy built in fonts don’t quite fit your design, you can import any of the millions of OpenType and TrueType fonts available. Take control with unlimited layers. Feel free to add as many or as few elements in each layer to organise your drawings. Rename, rearrange, delete, hide and lock layers as you draw. Isolate the active layer for easy editing. Adjust each layers transparency independently to get your ideal composition. Powerful editing at your fingertips. Easily manipulate single or multiple elements with powerful scale and rotate tools. Associate individual elements into groups. Interactively edit gradient fills on the canvas. Perform a range of Boolean operations on paths, including Unite, Intersect, Exclude and Subtract Front. Colors to match your imagination. Picking the perfect color is easy with the freedom of the expressive color wheel. Or modify colors using RGB and HSB sliders. Enter the hexadecimal value to precisely match existing artwork colors. Sample colors using the dropper. Store and recall colors from the swatch library. Import, export and sharing. Import drawings from desktop vector applications as SVG and include photos directly from your camera roll, or import PNG and JPEG images from cloud services. Export your drawings for sharing or importing into other apps as SVG, PDF, PNG and JPEG to all cloud storage services. Send drawings as photos directly to your camera roll. Light & dark modes. Light and dark mode system appearances with the option to override the system setting to light or dark mode for Inkpad. Apple Pencil. If you’ve got an iPad Pro or the 2018 iPad, Inkpad works great with the Apple Pencil. Praise for Inkpad. Some of the kind feedback received in emails and App Store reviews: “Works perfect on latest iPad Pro, Apple Pencil.” “It’s really beautiful to use with an iPad Pro.” “Inkpad is one of the killer apps for the iPad.” “Inkpad is my favorite graphics app on any platform. Inkpad is just the right balance of enough power without being too complicated.” “If you’ve worked with Illustrator or Inkscape, this is the vector drawing app to download for your iPad. Especially nice with the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil.” “I love this vector drawing app for its easy-to-use interface and pared-down tool bar. It covers the essentials perfectly and the developers are very responsive to questions.” “Inkpad is my main vector design tool for mobile. This is the app that Adobe Draw should be.” “Thank you guys, I use this app all the time.” “If you used to work with Inkpad in the past you should get this app to continue working with it.” Acknowledgements. Thank you to Martin Coffey, Rita Flores, Yve Müller, Armin Popp, David Rivera, Nicolas Saez, Erick Villagomez, Felipe Villela and Jason Wray for contributing artwork to the ‘Designed with Inkpad’ app preview video and screenshots. Please visit our website to see more of their artwork and for links to their portfolios. History. Inkpad was originally created by Steve Sprang in 2011, but it disappeared from the App Store in 2015. I took over development because my wife Lindsay uses Inkpad and I wanted to ensure the continued development and support of a product we and others enjoy so much. Terms and Conditions: http://inkpad.art/terms-and-conditions/ Privacy Policy: http://inkpad.art/privacy/
Preview mini
Edit and annotate images and PDFs with a desktop-like experience on your iPhone and iPad. Offers advanced features for viewing, converting, and managing files, inspired by macOS.
- Image editing and cropping
- PDF annotation and editing
- File conversion
- Drag and drop support
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Password protection for PDFs
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Preview mini is a powerful tool for working with images and PDFs on iPhone and iPad. Inspired by macOS. Created for iOS. Preview mini combines the convenience of editing images and PDFs into a single application, offering advanced features for viewing, annotating, and converting files. The macOS-inspired desktop experience, featuring the brand-new File Desktop, familiar window controls, drag and drop, keyboard interaction, and even more to fall in love with. IMAGE EDITING – Highlight and crop image fragments – Rotate, flip, and resize – Add text, notes, and shapes – Support for blank templates with resolution selection PDF HANDLING – Edit and annotate PDF documents – Highlight text and create custom annotations* – Duplicate, convert, and manage PDF pages* – Add and remove passwords to protect files* IMPORT, EXPORT, AND INTEGRATION – Export images in HD quality* – Export JPEG/PNG with file size preview* – Support for keyboard shortcuts and trackpad for convenient use* *Features available in the full version of the application. Using Preview mini significantly simplifies the processing of images and PDF documents. You can quickly edit files, highlight important details, fill out forms, and add signatures without the need to switch between different applications. This saves you time, increases productivity, and makes working with documents convenient and intuitive! Download Preview mini and manage images and PDFs with macOS convenience on your iPhone and iPad! ––– Legal notice This application is NOT an Apple product. Preview mini is an independent development, inspired by macOS but not affiliated with Apple Inc. Images in the screenshots are provided by artists: Pok Rie (https://www.pexels.com/de-de/@pok-rie-33563) Fabian Wiktor (https://www.pexels.com/de-de/@fabianwiktor)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Preview mini at every 10 days against Inkpad's every 5 weeks. Inkpad's advantage is iOS requirement (13.4 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Inkpad sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Preview mini sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Inkpad against 4.3 for Preview mini. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 421 and 212 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 57% of Inkpad's written reviews are positive against 63% of Preview mini's.
Inkpad ships an update every 5 weeks, Preview mini every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Inkpad | Preview mini |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (421 ratings) — better | 4.3 (212 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 57.3% of reviews | 63.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 421 — better | 212 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 103 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Envoza | Marian Koenig |
Customer experience
Inkpad
Preview mini
User reviews
Inkpad
From 421 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Intuitive and efficient interface
- 🚀 Powerful vector illustration capabilities
- 💡 Seamless integration with Apple Pencil
- 🔧 Versatile for various design projects
- 💡 Affordable alternative to desktop software
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional performance issues and crashes
- 🔒 Subscription-only model, no longer a one-time purchase
- 🔒 Restricted access to previous work without subscription
- 💡 Lack of comprehensive tutorials and documentation
- 💡 Missing advanced features like canvas rotation
Preview mini
From 212 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Useful application, replaces MS Paint
- 💡 Video tutorials are helpful
- 🚀 Makes life easier
- 👍 Wonderful and powerful iPad app
- 👍 Great replacement for Preview (almost)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Changes not saved on iPad
- 🐛 Does not export PDF as picture
- 🐛 Difficult to use on iPad
- 🐛 Crashing the app on large PDFs
- 🐛 Only allows acting on one page at a time
Bugs and requests
Inkpad
Reported bugs
3 issues- Distortion issues when importing SVG files
- Inability to access previous work without subscription
- Grayed-out options and functionality after updates
Requested features
5 requests- Improved file management with folders
- Addition of a brush tool with customizable ends
- Inclusion of an isometric grid and dimension tools
- Support for more cloud storage services beyond Dropbox
- In-app palm rejection for a better drawing experience
Preview mini
Reported bugs
13 issues- Changes not saved when attaching to email
- App errors out on large PDFs and crashes
- App shuts down during photo editing, unsaved work lost
- Cannot type the letter 'y' in documents
- Payment issues with Apple, requires new credit card data
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- Pro version not activated after deduction, amount not refunded
- Errors when trying to buy the full version
- Small glitch with 'cut' upon install
- PDF cropping is not the same as Preview
- Cannot paste as shown in preview videos
- App hangs during PDF editing, lost entire work
- No difference found between free and full version after purchase
- File export only works with paid version
Requested features
27 requests- Split-screen or slide-over capability
- Export PDF as picture (JPG, etc.)
- Ability to paste one image on top of another
- Ctrl-Z for quick undo
- Straight line option for markup
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- Tiled printing option
- Export multiple edited images at once
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Ability to add PDF to share sheet
- Copy & Paste transparent objects
- More advanced image editing options
- Slide show functionality
- Presentation modes for PDFs
- Ability to rotate and crop PDFs
- Full screen slide mode
- PDF filling functionality
- Selectable fonts
- Improve PDF cropping
- Use in extension window for quick edits
- Allow users to quickly edit inside the extension window
- Support for share dialog
- Improve light UI mode
- Allow users to do to PDF what can be done to images (rotate, cut, add text)
- Ability to change font size
- Ability to remove highlighting
- Better file management applet
In-app purchases
Inkpad
- Inkpad Monthly1 Month trial$1.991 Month
- Inkpad Yearly1 Month trial$9.991 Year
Preview mini
- Preview mini PRO$4.99
Questions
Is Inkpad free?
Is Preview mini free?
Which has better reviews, Inkpad or Preview mini?
Do Inkpad or Preview mini have ads?
Which is updated more often, Inkpad or Preview mini?
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