Procreate vs Adobe Illustrator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Procreate
This app provides a comprehensive digital art studio for iPad, offering tools for sketching, painting, illustration, and animation. It features a vast brush library, advanced layering, color management, and precision design tools for creative professionals and aspiring artists.
- Hundreds of handmade brushes
- Advanced layer system
- High resolution canvases
- 3D Painting with Lighting Studio
- Frame-by-frame animation
- Precision design tools
- Continuous auto-save
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Loved by creative professionals and aspiring artists alike, Procreate is the leading creative application made for iPad. Procreate has everything you need to create expressive sketches, rich paintings, gorgeous illustrations, and beautiful animations. Offering 100s of handmade brushes, a suite of industry-leading artistic tools, an advanced layer system, and the powerful Valkyrie graphics engine. It’s a complete art studio you can take anywhere. Highlights: - High resolution canvases — up to 16k by 8k on compatible iPad Pros - Beautifully intuitive interface made for iPad and Apple Pencil - Revolutionary QuickShape feature for perfect shapes - Smooth and responsive smudge sampling - 3D Painting with Lighting Studio, exportable as models, images, or animations - Powered by Valkyrie, the lightning-fast 64-bit painting engine - Speed up your workflow with keyboard shortcuts - Create art in stunning 64-bit color - Continuous auto-save — never lose work again Breakthrough brushes: - Packed with hundreds of beautifully crafted brushes - Organize your brushes into sets and libraries - Add Metallic and Roughness for painting in 3D - Brush Studio — with over 100 customizable settings - Import and export custom Procreate brushes - Import Adobe® Photoshop® brushes, and run them faster than Photoshop® Full-featured layering system: - Layer your art for precise control over details and composition - Create Layer Masks and Clipping Masks for non-destructive editing - Stay organized by combining layers into Groups - Select multiple layers to move or Transform objects simultaneously - Access over 25 layer blend modes for industry-grade compositing Color without compromise: - Fill your line work with ColorDrop and SwatchDrop - Disc, Classic, Harmony, Value, and Palette color panels - Import color profiles for color matching - Assign Color Dynamics to any brush Precision design tools: - Add vector text to your illustrations - Easily import all your favorite fonts - Crop and resize your canvas for perfect composition - Perspective, Isometric, 2D, and Symmetry visual guides - Drawing Assist perfects your strokes in real time - StreamLine and stabilization smooths strokes for beautiful calligraphy and expert inking - Use Scribble to name layers, change settings, and create text Accessibility features: - Advanced stroke stabilization - Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, and Feedback Sounds - Assignable single-touch gestures - Color naming Animation and Page Assist - Easy frame-by-frame animation with customizable onion skinning - Create storyboards, GIFs, animatics, and simple animations - Sketch page-by-page concepts or begin a comic with Page Assist - Import, edit, and share PDFs Dramatic finishing effects: - Brush in image adjustments and effects with Apple Pencil - Glitch, Chromatic Aberration, Bloom, Noise, and Halftone add new dimensions to your work - Gaussian, Motion, and Perspective Blur filters create depth and movement - Powerful image adjustments including Color Balance, Curves, HSB, and Gradient Map - Bring your art to life with the fun, intuitive, and creative Warp, Symmetry, and Liquify Dynamics Time-lapse replay - Relive your creative journey with Procreate’s Time-lapse Replay - Export your Time-lapse recording in 4K for high-quality video production - Share a shorter 30-second Time-lapse on your socials Import assets and share your creations: - Import or export your art as Adobe® Photoshop® PSD files - Import Adobe® ASE and ACO Color Palettes - Import image files such as JPG, PNG, and TIFF - Export your working files in layered .procreate or PSD file formats - Share your art as TIFF, transparent PNG, multi-page PDF, web-ready JPEG, OBJ, USDZ, and animated GIFs, PNGs, and MP4s
Adobe Illustrator
Create logos, illustrations, and graphics on your iPad with intuitive Apple Pencil support. Design vector art, manipulate type, and create patterns on the go, even offline. Seamlessly sync your work across devices and other Adobe apps.
- Vector drawing with Apple Pencil
- Advanced typography tools
- Pattern creation
- Image vectorization
- Cross-device syncing
- Gradient and color tools
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Create logos, illustrations, graphics and more. Illustrator on the iPad works intuitively with your Apple Pencil so you can design on the go from anywhere, even offline - it’s never been easier to take your creativity to new places. Design with precision, as naturally as you would with pen and paper. Create vector lines, shapes, type, gradients, and effects. Merge or cut graphics with quick, intuitive Pencil gestures to remove unwanted areas. Make your graphics pop with effects, and access over 18,000 fonts, 20+ color palettes, up-to-the-minute live streams from famous creatives, and guided tutorials. Work on a project across Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Fresco. Plus, your Illustrator work is automatically synced to the cloud, so you and your team can always access the latest version from your desktop or iPad. This app is part of Adobe Creative Cloud. It’s free for Creative Cloud members who have a plan that includes Illustrator. INTUITIVE AND PRECISE DRAWING WITH APPLE PENCIL • Natural ways to draw — Make lines and curves using the Pen, Pencil, and Brush tools • Art and Calligraphic Brushes — Create and apply brush strokes to add artistic elements to your artwork. • Pinpoint editing — Create perfect graphics without quality loss with Smart Delete, Simplify Path, and more • Point precision — Edit graphics down to the point, radius, or angle level NEW WAYS TO MAKE STUNNING PATTERNS AND SHAPES • Vectorize — Convert raster images or paper sketches into vector images. • Radial, grid, and mirror repeat — Turn graphics into sophisticated patterns • Polygon shape creation — Make objects out of circles, triangles, squares, and stars • Transform as Shape — Transform paths and curves without manual manipulation of anchor points. • Blend Tool — Smoothly blend one shape into another across a specified number of steps. THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE TYPE TOOLKIT FOR IPAD • 18,000+ fonts — Use one of the thousands of high-quality fonts included in the Adobe Fonts library • Fonts of your own — Upload and design with any of your own licensed fonts and use them on both desktop and iPad • Type on a path — Bend and flow text onto the surface of lines and shapes • Outlined text — Turn text into an editable format that can be modified without limits • Variable fonts — They’re infinitely customizable • Color fonts — Explore gorgeous color variations and gradients that are built into the font BRILLIANT COLORS AND GRADIENTS • Point gradients — Drag and drop colors to create dynamic blends of diffused colors • 20+ color books — Use industry-standard color swatches or incorporate your own SEAMLESS MOVEMENT BETWEEN DEVICES AND APPS • File syncing between Illustrator on the desktop and on the iPad — Projects are automatically synced and accessible across devices • Photoshop import — Easily place a Photoshop image into your Illustrator design • Standard file format export — Create, save, and open Illustrator (AI) files with no loss of quality, and export in the most common formats, including SVG, PDF, PNG, and PSD. KEEPING TABS ON THE LATEST CREATIVE TRENDS • Livestreaming — Watch and learn from top design-industry creatives daily, right within the app • Trends to discover — Explore projects by other creatives Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en and the Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_linkfree_en Do Not Sell My Personal Information: www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights-linkfree
Verdict
Procreate and Adobe Illustrator both sit at 4.4 stars, but that hides the real split: 70% of Procreate's written reviews are positive against 13% of Adobe Illustrator's. Procreate also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). Adobe Illustrator's advantage is price (Free vs $12.99) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.3). On rating, ratings volume, ads and device support 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
Adobe Illustrator is free to download; Procreate costs $12.99 up front. Adobe Illustrator sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Procreate asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Procreate against 4.5 for Adobe Illustrator. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 51K and 37K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Procreate's written reviews are positive against 13% of Adobe Illustrator's.
Procreate ships an update every 2 weeks, Adobe Illustrator every 2 months. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Procreate | Adobe Illustrator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (51K ratings) | 4.5 (37K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 69.7% of reviews — better | 13.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 51K — better | 37K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #88 — better | — |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.3 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 856 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Savage Interactive Pty Ltd | Adobe Inc. |
Customer experience
Procreate
Adobe Illustrator
User reviews
Procreate
From 51K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth and intuitive drawing experience
- 💡 Vast selection of customizable brushes
- 👍 Simple and clean user interface
- 🚀 Efficient workflow with gestures and shortcuts
- 👍 Great value for the one-time purchase price
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional freezing and crashing issues
- 🔧 Limitations in the animation and audio features
- 🔧 Frustrations with the fill bucket tool and color selection
- 🔧 Lack of advanced organization tools like folders within folders
Adobe Illustrator
From 37K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth and intuitive
- 👍 Great for on-the-go vector work
- 🚀 Seamless sync with desktop Illustrator
- 👍 Useful for quick sketches and illustrations
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🔍 Missing key desktop features
- 🔍 Buggy layer and selection handling
- 🔍 Limited export options and quality
- 🔍 Unintuitive interface in some areas
Bugs and requests
Procreate
Reported bugs
3 issues- Random freezing and crashes, especially after recent updates
- Issues with the fill bucket tool not working as expected
- Problems with exporting animations and preserving the animation quality
Requested features
4 requests- Implement a proper stroke stabilizer and shape tools
- Add the ability to import audio and sync animations to audio
- Improve the fill bucket tool to work across layers
- Introduce a folder system for better organization of artworks
Adobe Illustrator
Reported bugs
4 issues- Layers disappearing or not updating properly
- Eraser tool behaving inconsistently
- Pasting content causing unexpected issues
- Frequent crashes when working on complex files
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to rotate canvas
- More brush and stroke customization options
- Implement Gaussian blur and other effects
- Add support for keyboard shortcuts
- Improve file management and cloud sync
In-app purchases
Procreate
No in-app purchases
Adobe Illustrator
- Illustrator on iPad : Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Adobe Design Mobile: Monthly1 Month trial$14.991 Month
- Illustrator on iPad : Yearly1 Month trial$79.991 Year
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- Adobe Design Mobile: Yearly1 Month trial$149.991 Year
Questions
Is Procreate free?
Is Adobe Illustrator free?
Which has better reviews, Procreate or Adobe Illustrator?
Do Procreate or Adobe Illustrator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Procreate or Adobe Illustrator?
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