Comparison

ShadowDraw vs Sketch Pro

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

Head to head
About

ShadowDraw

Learn to draw with guided, step-by-step lessons designed for beginners. Follow the strokes of professional artists to build confidence and master fundamental techniques. Explore thousands of tutorials across various popular art subjects.

Highlights
  • Step-by-step guided drawing lessons
  • Thousands of tutorials
  • Manga, anime, people, animals, and nature subjects
  • Art Teacher Mode
  • Sketch My Way Mode
  • Builds drawing fundamentals
Features
Read full description

Learn to draw with confidence using your Apple Pencil. Featured by Apple as App of the Day in 2023 and 2025. ShadowDraw® is the easiest way for beginners to learn how to draw on iPad using their Apple Pencil. Our guided lessons teach you step-by-step by showing the real strokes of professional artists, helping you build confidence, accuracy, and real drawing fundamentals from your very first session. LEARN TO DRAW THE SMART, BEGINNER-FRIENDLY WAY
 ShadowDraw breaks every drawing into simple, guided steps. You follow the same strokes as a professional artist, learning: * Line control * Shapes & construction * Proportions * Shading * Final detailing
 Each step unlocks only after you complete the previous one, giving you a structured, supportive learning path—like having a private art teacher with you on your iPad. THOUSANDS OF STEP-BY-STEP LESSONS
 Explore beginner-friendly drawing lessons across the most popular art subjects: * Manga & Anime Characters * People & Portraits * Animals (cats, dogs, horses, birds, dragons, and more) * Architecture & Buildings * Botanical & Nature Drawing * Birds & Butterflies * Coloring & Simple Shading * Holiday & Seasonal Art * Warm-Ups & Foundations * Sketching Basics
 With over 2,000 guided tutorials, there’s always something inspiring to draw. PRACTICE YOUR WAY
 ShadowDraw offers two flexible learning modes: Art Teacher Mode
 We pick brushes and colors so beginners can focus on fundamentals. Sketch My Way
 Choose your own tools and colors for creative freedom. BUILD A DAILY DRAWING HABIT 
Short, approachable lessons help you build confidence and stay consistent. ShadowDraw makes daily practice easy, fun, and motivating—even for busy beginners. RECOGNIZED BY APPLE & TRUSTED WORLDWIDE 
ShadowDraw has been featured in the App Store collections, including: * Incredible iPad Apps * Great with Apple Pencil * Apple Pencil Starter Kit * Better with Apple Pencil * The Best Drawing Apps * The Best Apps for Creatives ShadowDraw has also ranked as the #1 Drawing App in its category. Apple writes: 
“With over 1,500 hand-drawn lessons developed by real artists, ShadowDraw is a drawing app for beginners who want to improve their skills through daily step-by-step exercises.” PRAISED BY THE PRESS
 The New York Times
“ShadowDraw… teaches drawing forms by having you follow along the animated pen strokes of another artist in an updated take on the ‘copying the masters’ approach.” MacBreak Weekly — Pick of the Week
“…the next generation of step-by-step.” Also featured by CNET and Creative Bloq. LEARN TOGETHER WITH SHADOWDRAW+
 A ShadowDraw+ membership unlocks the full library and supports Family Sharing, so everyone in your household can learn to draw at their own pace. WE’RE HERE TO HELP 
Need support or have feedback? Contact us anytime through in-app Chat Support. Email: support@shadowdrawapp.com
 Website: shadowdrawapp.com 
Instagram: @shadowdraw For our EULA agreement, please visit: 
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ ShadowDraw® and Shadow Draw™ are trademarks of Shadow Draw Inc.

About

Sketch Pro

This professional art app offers advanced AI tools for digital painting, illustration, and animation. Create stunning artwork with custom brushes, text-to-image generation, and intelligent editing features. It's designed to streamline your creative workflow on iPads and iPhones.

Highlights
  • Customizable brushes
  • Text to Image AI
  • Sketch to Image AI
  • Magic Edit AI
  • Auto-Coloring AI
  • Animation Assist
  • Advanced Layer System
Features
Read full description

SketchPro, a professional art app available for iPads and iPhones, crafted with love by the Drawing Desk Team SketchPro is perfect for creative professional digital artists, including graphic designers, illustrators, comic, anime & manga book artists with a range of Drawing & painting tools to upgrade their creative workflow SketchPro tools and features: Powerful Custom Brushes -A range of free specialized brush sets for sketching, painting, doodling, drawing and more. -Customisable brushes with adjustable radius, opacity, texture and more -Create brush sets -Maintain a list of your favorite brushes -Free Roller Brush with 100+ patterns Animation Assist -Powerful interface and essential tools for creating impressive animations (Only for iPads). -Wide range of tools, including onion-skinning, instant playback, a visual timeline, and more. Essentials to accelerate the Creative Process -Smart Shapes feature for instant shape drawing -Free Symmetry Tool for easier drawing -Powerful Gradient tool with Linear and Radial options -Layer Transform Tool with Freeform, Uniform, Distort and Warp options -Magic Eraser -Assisted Drawing -Synchronization between iPad and iPhone Advanced Layer System -Free unlimited layers -Rasterize, Duplicate and Merge layers -Fill, Color Invert, Lock Alpha and Lock Layer options Advance Text Tool -Select from a full list of fonts or import your own -Customize fonts -Apply solid and gradient colors to text -A range colored font patterns, textures and designs Complete Color Palette -Full Color Wheel with adjustable color values and shades -Create unique themed color palettes for your drawing -Import colors from photos and images Extensive Shapes Library -15+ categories of free shapes, signs, and symbols -Favorites section for keeping track of frequently used shapes Other Essential Tools -Smudge Tool -Fill Bucket with solid colors -Filter options including Gaussian Blur, Motion Blur, Perspective Blur and more. -Convenient Cutter Tool -Import and Export functions -Custom Canvas option -AR Facepaint Organize and Save Your Work -Save every drawing automatically -Rename each saved artwork -Create folders for storing drawings methodically -Cloud syncing to secure and access artworks anywhere -Duplicate and Delete projects at any time -Time Lapse Playback -Dark Mode Unlimited access to all premium features & daily content updates during the subscription period Premium subscriptions with 1 week trial -Annual for 39.99/year You may cancel a subscription or free-trial anytime via the subscription setting through your iTunes account. This must be done 24 hours before the end of the free trial or subscription period to avoid being charged. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active subscription period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a SketchPro Unlimited subscription. Terms & Conditions : https://4axis.com/terms-of-use Privacy Policy : https://4axis.com/privacy-policy Reach us: hello@4axis

Screenshots

Sketch Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Sketch Pro at 4.7 against ShadowDraw's 4.1. Sketch Pro also leads on review sentiment (81% vs 59%) and ratings volume (12K vs 1.7K). On price, update cadence, 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. ShadowDraw sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Sketch Pro sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sketch Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sketch Pro has 12K ratings behind it against 1.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of ShadowDraw's written reviews are positive against 81% of Sketch Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShadowDraw ships an update every 6 weeks, Sketch Pro every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ShadowDraw versus Sketch Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShadowDrawSketch Pro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (1.7K ratings)4.7 (12K ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.3% of reviews80.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.7K12K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size820 MB338 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperShadow Draw4Axis Technologies Pte Ltd

Customer experience

ShadowDraw

All ratings1,622 ratings
Positive77.0%
Neutral6.4%
Negative16.6%
Written reviews482 reviews
Positive59.3%
Neutral13.1%
Negative27.6%

Sketch Pro

All ratings11,568 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews694 reviews
Positive80.5%
Neutral5.8%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

ShadowDraw

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Helpful for beginners
  • 🎨 Variety of drawing topics
  • 👍 Intuitive step-by-step guidance
  • 💡 Relaxing and therapeutic experience
  • 🤖 Responsive customer support

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🐛 Buggy and glitchy at times
  • 🤔 Tracing-focused approach may not teach drawing fundamentals
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding purchased content
  • 🔀 Jumping between steps too quickly

Sketch Pro

From 12K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful drawing tools
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 🎨 Extensive brush and material options
  • 💡 Customizable brushes
  • 🎨 Versatile for various art styles

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing issues
  • 🔒 Concerns about subscription model and lifetime access
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding and adjusting certain features
  • 🔍 Steep learning curve for some advanced tools
  • 💰 Subscription fees for full functionality

Bugs and requests

ShadowDraw

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Drawings disappearing after completion
  • App crashing on launch for some users
  • Eraser tool not working properly with coloring feature

Requested features

5 requests
  • More free drawing content
  • Canvas rotation and reference image positioning
  • Ability to save progress on drawings
  • Clearer visual indicators for brush/pen changes
  • Side-by-side drawing mode to practice without tracing

Sketch Pro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Drawings randomly deleted or lost
  • Inability to load or access previous artwork
  • Crashes when trying to import photos

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add liquify tool
  • Improve layer management and manipulation
  • Provide more default brushes
  • Implement undo/redo functionality
  • Add shape tools for perfect geometric shapes
Show 1 more
  • Improve performance and stability

In-app purchases

2 purchases

ShadowDraw

Subscriptions2
  • ShadowDraw: Monthly Plan7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • ShadowDraw: Yearly Plan7 Days trial$49.991 Year
16 purchases

Sketch Pro

Subscriptions13
  • SketchPro Premium Weekly$0.997 Days
  • SketchPro Premium Monthly3 Months trial$1.991 Month
  • SketchPro Monthly Premium7 Days trial$4.991 Month
Show 10 more
  • SketchPro Premium Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • SketchPro Premium Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • SketchPro Yearly Premium$9.991 Year
  • SketchPro Premium1 Year trial$14.991 Year
  • SketchPro Yearly Premium7 Days trial$14.991 Year
  • SketchPro Yearly Premium$14.991 Year
  • SketchPro Premium Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • SketchPro Premium Yearly1 Year trial$39.991 Year
  • SketchPro Yearly Premium7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • SketchPro Premium Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time3
  • 100 Tokens$3.99
  • 200 Tokens$4.99
  • 500 Tokens$7.99

Questions

Is ShadowDraw free?
ShadowDraw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sketch Pro free?
Sketch Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ShadowDraw or Sketch Pro?
Sketch Pro is rated higher. ShadowDraw averages 4.1 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Sketch Pro averages 4.7 from 12K ratings.
Do ShadowDraw or Sketch Pro have ads?
Both ShadowDraw and Sketch Pro show ads.
Which is updated more often, ShadowDraw or Sketch Pro?
ShadowDraw ships an update every 6 weeks, and Sketch Pro every 3 weeks. Most recently, ShadowDraw was updated on October 18, 2026 and Sketch Pro on October 21, 2026.

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