Comparison

Artstudio Pro 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

Artstudio Pro

This powerful app offers advanced drawing, painting, and photo editing tools for creative professionals and enthusiasts. It features a robust engine, flexible layer system, and an advanced brush engine for realistic strokes. Users can also create animations and import/export various image formats.

Highlights
  • GPU accelerated ArtEngine
  • Unlimited layers and large canvas sizes
  • Advanced brush engine with 150+ brushes
  • Flexible layer system with groups and masks
  • Professional photo editing tools
  • Animation creation and export
  • Import/Export ABR/TPL brush and pattern formats
Features
Read full description

Introducing Artstudio Pro, the most powerful painting and photo editing app available for both iOS and macOS. The successor to our famous ArtStudio app has been redesigned bringing many new features and improvements taking full advantage of the latest technologies Metal, iCloud Drive, Apple Pencil, and optimized for 64-bit multi-core processors to achieve the smoothest possible workflow. Powerful engine App is based on the powerful GPU accelerated ArtEngine developed by Lucky Clan. It allows working with multiple documents, supports large canvas sizes and an unlimited number of layers. Incredible optimization ensures smooth work even with large canvases. • Realistic Color Pigment Blending • Canvas size up to 64Mpix • Unlimited layers • Multiple open documents • 27 tools: Move, Select, Crop, Eyedropper, Paint, Wet Paint, Eraser, Bucket/Pattern/Gradient Fill, Smudge, Dodge, Burn, Sponge, Text, Heal, Clone, and more • Full iCloud integration Flexible layer system Artstudio Pro introduces a new layer system with grouping, non-destructive layer effects, and adjustment layers. • Groups • Masks, clipping masks • Adjustment Layers • 9 layer effects: Bevel/Emboss, Stroke, Inner Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer Glow, Color/Gradient/Pattern Overlay, Drop Shadow • Text layers Advanced Brush engine Perfectly optimized, lag free mechanism generating smooth, real looking strokes, making the most of Apple Pencil. • Brush size up to 4000x4000 • 64-bit painting with pattern, double stamp, wet brush, dynamics • Brush editor with over 100 customizable settings • Over 150 built-in brushes divided into multiple groups: Pens, Pencils, Oil Painting, Inking, Charcoals, Airbrushes, Watercolor and many more • Symmetric painting Professional photo editor Photo editing options developed in cooperation with professional photographers. Each feature was tested in several scenarios and light conditions. • 15 adjustments available as non-destructive layer or simple adjustment: Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, Exposure/Gamma, Shadows/Highlights, Vibrance, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Temperature/Tint, Black and White, Gradient Map and more • 4 auto adjustments: Auto Contrast, Levels, Lightness, Saturation • Transform: Basic, Perspective, Warp • Dozens of filters with realtime preview and the ability to generate seamless patterns • Inpaint, Elastify (Liquify) • Retouching tools: Heal, Dodge, Burn, Sponge and more • Image resize, Canvas resize • Crop and Trim Animation Create animation from layers or groups and finally export it to one of the most popular animation format • Scrollable timeline view with Play/Pause • Onion skin • Customizable Frame duration • Always visible layers • Export to MP4, HEVC, Animated GIF/PNG Import/Export We have implemented many parsers from the most popular assets/images formats and we are especially proud of our ABR/TPL parser which not only reads brush stamps and patterns, but also most settings which are converted to Artstudio Pro brush engine values. Import • Images - PNG, JPEG, PSD, HEIC, TIFF, GIF, PDF, most raw formats • Brushes - ABR, TPL • Color swatches - ASE, ACO • Patterns - PAT • Gradients - GRD • Fonts - TTF, OTF Export • Images - PNG, JPEG, PSD, TIFF, PDF Other features • Floating panels for Colors, Layers, Brushes etc • Screen recording • Customizable Quick menu • Customizable Shortcuts • Snapping to guidelines, dynamic guidelines, grid • Perspective grid assist • Mirror (flipped) view • Support of iPad Drag and Drop, Split View, Sharing Extension, Open In, Clipboard Free version limitations: • locked Saving • canvas size limited to device screen size • layers count limited to 3 • export only to jpg • locked animation export Minimum System Requirements Artstudio Pro for iOS requires iPhone or iPad running iOS 15.0 or above Privacy policy: https://luckyclan.com/privacy-policy Terms of use: https://luckyclan.com/terms-use

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 & advanced AI 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 Pro Digital AI Drawing tools -Create artwork effortlessly via Text to Image AI tool using simple prompts -Transform hand drawn sketches into images with advanced Sketch to Image AI tool using simple prompts -Revamp colors, textures & add or replace objects in your image with simple AI prompts via Magic Edit AI tool -Expand your digital canvas with AI. Seamlessly expand the artwork and fill it in with matching original content with no quality reduced to custom dimensions with expand artwork AI tool -Add color to sketches in seconds with Auto-Coloring AI tool or prompt color hints to sketches, drawings & complete coloring with Auto-Colorization AI tool -Remove objects, backgrounds in drawings with AI Object Remove and Pro BG Remove tools -Generate & extract Line art of any image and use in your drawings 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

Artstudio Pro4 screens
Sketch Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Artstudio Pro at none against Sketch Pro's shown. Sketch Pro's advantage is iOS requirement (13 vs 15.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Artstudio Pro sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Artstudio Pro against 4.7 for Sketch Pro. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4K and 11K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Artstudio Pro's written reviews are positive against 81% of Sketch Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Artstudio Pro ships an update monthly, Sketch Pro every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Artstudio Pro versus Sketch Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArtstudio ProSketch Pro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4K ratings)4.7 (11K ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.2% of reviews80.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4K11K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.013 — better
Further details — not scored
Size385 MB350 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLucky Clan4Axis Technologies Pte Ltd

Customer experience

Artstudio Pro

All ratings4,037 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative7.6%
Written reviews1,192 reviews
Positive74.2%
Neutral8.6%
Negative17.2%

Sketch Pro

All ratings11,463 ratings
Positive93.0%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews683 reviews
Positive80.7%
Neutral5.7%
Negative13.6%

User reviews

Artstudio Pro

From 4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful and feature-rich
  • 👍 Familiar Photoshop-like interface
  • 💡 Supports Photoshop brushes
  • 🎨 Excellent brush engine and painting experience
  • 🔍 Robust selection and adjustment tools

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🤔 Steep learning curve
  • 🔀 Confusing UI and navigation
  • 🖌️ Inconsistent palm rejection and input issues
  • 💾 Unreliable saving and file management

Sketch Pro

From 11K 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

Artstudio Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Gradient tool not working as expected
  • Brush settings not saving properly
  • Unexpected canvas resizing and cropping
  • Layers disappearing or not rendering correctly

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add custom brush creation
  • Improve canvas resizing and previewing
  • Implement better layer and mask management
  • Add more blending and color adjustment tools
  • Introduce keyboard shortcuts and gesture support
Show 1 more
  • Provide a comprehensive user manual or tutorials

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

Artstudio Pro

Subscriptions1
  • Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$3.491 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime License$14.99
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 Artstudio Pro free?
Artstudio Pro 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, Artstudio Pro or Sketch Pro?
Sketch Pro is rated higher. Artstudio Pro averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4K ratings, while Sketch Pro averages 4.7 from 11K ratings.
Do Artstudio Pro or Sketch Pro have ads?
Sketch Pro shows ads; Artstudio Pro does not.
Which is updated more often, Artstudio Pro or Sketch Pro?
Artstudio Pro ships an update monthly, and Sketch Pro every 3 weeks. Most recently, Artstudio Pro was updated on September 23, 2026 and Sketch Pro on September 23, 2026.

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