Comparison

CADraw vs DraftPlanar

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

Head to head
About

CADraw

Create and edit precise technical drawings with a variety of tools. Supports layers, annotations, and export to common formats like PDF and DXF. Ideal for detailed design work on mobile devices.

Highlights
  • Draw lines, circles, arcs
  • Shape editing and modification
  • Angle constraints
  • Endpoint and midpoint snapping
  • Numeric keypad for precise input
  • Layer management
  • Annotation tools
  • Export to PDF and DXF
Features
Read full description

Easily draw shapes such as lines, circles, and arcs, and easily edit and modify shapes with just a touch of the shape. Angle constraints can specify commonly used angles of 5 º -90 º. Snap endpoints, midpoints, vertical points, tangents, and intersections, allowing you to draw accurately. There are also dynamic auxiliary points that provide you with dynamic assistance when drawing each line. The numeric keypad can accurately specify distances during drawing or modification. Drag the dimension edit point to convert it to horizontal or vertical dimensions. Angle annotations, radius annotations, and arc annotations can all rival the excellent performance of desktop applications in creation or editing. Layer management, displaying or hiding layers, and locking layers. Annotation management can add annotation styles, modify annotation styles, colors, line widths, and other annotation shapes. The drawn drawings can be exported as PDF files or DXF data exchange files, and can be shared on the computer and opened using AutoCAD. Thank you very much to Graziano from Italy for providing Italian language translation and Сергей Ломонос Provide Russian translation.

About

DraftPlanar

View and annotate large PDF documents offline on your Apple devices. Compare multiple plans side-by-side, measure dimensions, and mark up drawings with precision tools. Ideal for professionals and anyone working with complex documents.

Highlights
  • Offline PDF viewing
  • Side-by-side document comparison
  • Precision measurement tool
  • Apple Pencil annotation
  • Text search and OCR
  • Layer control
  • Paste reference images
Features
Read full description

A fast PDF plan viewer for Mac and iPad, with takeoff and markup built in. DraftPlanar opens huge construction drawing sets side by side on an infinite canvas and keeps them fast: 500+ page sets pan and zoom at 60 FPS, and lines and text stay sharp at any zoom. Also on iPhone. IF YOUR PDF READER IS SLOW ON DRAWINGS A single construction sheet can hold hundreds of thousands of lines, hatches and text runs. Readers built for ordinary documents lag, blur or stall on them. DraftPlanar was built from the ground up for drawings, from reading the file to drawing it on screen, so large sets stay smooth on Mac and iPad. AT THE DESK ON MAC. IN THE FIELD ON IPAD. • Mac: lay the whole set out on a large display, use a single-letter shortcut for every tool, take off quantities precisely with a trackpad or mouse, and present to the room over AirPlay. • iPad: mark up with Apple Pencil, measure by touch with a magnifier that shows the exact point under your finger, pin notes with a photo or voice memo, and keep working with no signal. One subscription covers Mac, iPad and iPhone. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Takeoff Length chains, area and perimeter, angles with a 15° snap, and count series that total across sheets. Points snap to the PDF's own vector lines, and every sheet keeps its own scale. DraftPlanar reads the scale printed in the title block and checks it against dimensions on the drawing. Totals sit in a list beside the plan, and export to PDF or CSV. • Markup Draw and redline with Apple Pencil. The ink is vector, so it stays sharp when you zoom in. An eraser that removes only your strokes, text boxes (including Chinese, Japanese and Korean input) and text highlighting. • Copy & Export Drawing Details Select part of a PDF drawing and copy its vector lines and text, or export the selection as SVG or a one-page PDF. Vector details stay sharp; scanned regions copy as images. • Notes & Punch Lists Drop numbered notes on the exact spot on the drawing, with category, priority, status, assignee and due date. Add a photo or voice memo, filter the list, and export a punch-list PDF report anyone can read. • Search Find any word in native PDFs, in scans and photos (text recognition runs on your device), and in text you typed. • Compare Revisions Overlay two versions of a PDF page by page, so what changed stands out. • PDF Layers Turn individual layers on and off, such as architecture, structure or MEP, and filter long layer lists by name. • And more Adaptive dark mode, AirPlay presenting with a pointer, PDF export, and a built-in Feature Guide with every shortcut. 100% PRIVATE & OFFLINE - All processing happens on your device. No cloud uploads. No tracking. - Works without Wi-Fi or internet, on the job site and in the air. - No account required. PRICING DraftPlanar is free to download and includes a 14-day free trial of every Pro tool. DraftPlanar Pro unlocks importing documents, markup, takeoff and measurement, compare, search, layers, notes and export. Without Pro you can still open and view the canvases you created. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION • DraftPlanar Pro Monthly — auto-renewable, 1 month • DraftPlanar Pro Annual — auto-renewable, 1 year • Payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period • You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your Account Settings Measurements are approximate and depend on the PDF and its scale. Verify critical dimensions before relying on them. Terms of Use: https://www.draftplanar.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.draftplanar.com/privacy

Screenshots

CADraw4 screens
DraftPlanar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: DraftPlanar at 100% against CADraw's 50%. DraftPlanar also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.9) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). CADraw's advantage is ratings volume (10 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. CADraw sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.39 per month and DraftPlanar sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DraftPlanar holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CADraw has 10 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of CADraw's written reviews are positive against 100% of DraftPlanar's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CADraw ships an update fortnightly, DraftPlanar weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
CADraw versus DraftPlanar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCADrawDraftPlanar
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (10 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10 — better2
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS13.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size175 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer诚 张Draft Planar LLC

Customer experience

CADraw

All ratings10 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral18.4%
Negative31.6%

DraftPlanar

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

CADraw

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly subscription$1.391 Month
  • per month$2.991 Month
  • Annual subscription$13.901 Year
Show 1 more
  • per year$26.001 Year
One-time2
  • Upgrade to the full version$69.99
  • Full version$99.99
3 purchases

DraftPlanar

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$19.991 Month
  • Pro Annual$179.991 Year
One-time1
  • 3-Month Project Pass$49.99

Questions

Is CADraw free?
CADraw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DraftPlanar free?
DraftPlanar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CADraw or DraftPlanar?
DraftPlanar is rated higher. CADraw averages 2.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while DraftPlanar averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do CADraw or DraftPlanar have ads?
Neither CADraw nor DraftPlanar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CADraw or DraftPlanar?
CADraw ships an update fortnightly, and DraftPlanar weekly. Most recently, CADraw was updated on October 7, 2026 and DraftPlanar on October 12, 2026.

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