Procreate vs Affinity Designer 2 for iPad
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
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad
Create stunning illustrations, branding, logos, UI/UX designs, and more with a powerful touch-focused vector graphics app. Optimized for iPad and Apple Pencil, it offers real-time performance and precise tools for both vector and raster workflows.
- Vector Warp
- Shape Builder Tool
- Knife Tool
- Drawing scale
- Vector Flood Fill
- Switch between vector and raster workspaces
- Sophisticated typography
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Affinity Designer 2 for iPad takes the power and precision of the Apple Design Award-winning desktop app and converts it into an incredible touch-focused creative experience. Packed with tons of new features and hundreds of enhancements to optimize your workflow, the graphic design app has everything you need to seamlessly create stunning illustrations, branding, logos, icons, UI/UX designs, print projects, typography, posters, labels, flyers, stickers, concept art, digital art, and much more – all completely free from the confines of your desk. OPTIMIZED FOR IPAD • Fully integrated and optimized iPad gesture controls to speed up your workflow • iOS16 ready, including optimization for virtual memory swap, dramatically increasing performance on large documents. • Sensitive to pressure, tilt, and angle, the app harnesses the full power and precision of Apple Pencil • Command controller hosting on-screen modifiers • Quick Menu for context-sensitive access to commands • Use as your very own digital sketchbook, canvas, logo maker, sticker maker, flyer maker, and more POWERFUL TOOLS & FUNCTIONALITY • Vector Warp • Shape Builder Tool • Knife Tool • DXF/DWF import • Measure & Area tools • Drawing scale – including ability for different scales set per artboard • X-ray, hide effects, and greyscale view modes • Multiple shadow, outline, and overlay layer effects per object • Powerful grids and guides • Transform Tool • Vector Flood Fill • Spiral Tool REAL-TIME PERFORMANCE • Pan and zoom at 120fps • Live gradients, transforms, effects, and adjustments • Optimized for documents of any complexity, zoom to over 1,000,000% for absolute precision • Live pixel, retina, wireframe, and x-ray views of vector artwork in and out of split screen mode • Live Pattern Preview • Seamless switching between tools and editing modes for frustration-free design • Incredibly accurate results with minimal nodes PRECISE VECTOR TOOLS • Rock solid vector tools that work just the way you want them to • The best Pen Tool, Node Tool, curve editing, and smart shape tools available • Powerful Contour Tool to create abstract objects or increase the width of single open curves • Pencil and brush stabilization for drawing super-smooth curves freehand • Non-destructive Boolean operations • Live effects, blend modes, and image adjustments • Incredibly smooth gradient and transparency controls RASTER OR VECTOR, YOU DECIDE • Switch between fully-featured vector and raster workspaces with a single tap – paint, draw, or sketch in raster and then create cool, custom vector art • High quality raster tools for painting, texturing, masking, finishing artwork, or even creating tattoo designs • Use raster brushes, edit single pixels on icons, mask and add grain to your crisp vectors, enclose and clip pixel layers – it’s true creative freedom not found in other software or drawing apps SOPHISTICATED TYPOGRAPHY • Flexible text handling including comprehensive support for OpenType • Artistic text and text frames • Full control over character and paragraph styles • Flow text and type along any drawn path • Extensive library of free fonts BUILT FOR YOUR WORKFLOW • Unlimited artboards • Savable history with alternate futures • Customizable shortcuts with attached keyboard or new quick menu • Adobe Illustrator ® (Ai files), PSD, PDF, EPS, SVG, JPG, JPEG XL, TIFF, EXR, DXF, and DWG file support • Linked symbols and constraints • Save documents as template files to re-use time and time again • Quickly access royalty free images through the Stock Panel or import files from Affinity Photo or other photo editor • Select Same and Select Object functions PERFECT COLOR & OUTPUT • Professional CMYK, LAB, RGB, PANTONE© and Greyscale color models • Full 16-bit per channel editing • End-to-end ICC color management • Slice export for exporting multiple elements in a single tap • Live pixel preview to see exactly how your design will export
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Affinity Designer 2 for iPad at Free against Procreate's $12.99. Affinity Designer 2 for iPad also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.4). Procreate's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and review sentiment (70% vs 52%). On ads, monetization model, device support and iOS requirement 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
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad is free to download; Procreate costs $12.99 up front. Affinity Designer 2 for iPad sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Procreate asks for nothing beyond the download.
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Procreate has 51K ratings behind it against 3.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of Procreate's written reviews are positive against 52% of Affinity Designer 2 for iPad's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Procreate ships an update every 2 weeks, Affinity Designer 2 for iPad every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Procreate | Affinity Designer 2 for iPad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (51K ratings) | 4.7 (3.2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 69.7% of reviews — better | 51.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 51K — better | 3.2K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #94 — better | — |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.3 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 1.7 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Savage Interactive Pty Ltd | Serif (Europe) Ltd. |
Customer experience
Procreate
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad
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
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad
From 3.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful vector tools
- 🎨 Excellent for digital art and illustration
- 💰 Great value for the price
- 👍 Intuitive and streamlined UI
- 🔄 Seamless integration between iPad and desktop versions
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- 🔍 Cluttered and unintuitive UI in some areas
- 🖌️ Lacking advanced brush and pencil features
- 💾 Unreliable saving and file management
- 🔀 Confusing transition from Affinity Designer v1
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
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when switching between vector and pixel layers
- Exported files not retaining expected quality or format
- Grid spacing and snapping issues
- Disappearing or unresponsive UI elements
Requested features
5 requests- Vector trace tool
- Better layer management and organization
- Improved Apple Pencil support and pressure sensitivity
- Ability to rename documents on creation
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts and UI
In-app purchases
Procreate
No in-app purchases
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad
- Free 7-Day TrialFree
- Designer 2 for iPad LicenseFree
- Affinity Collection for iPad$36.99
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- Affinity V2 Universal License$164.99
Questions
Is Procreate free?
Is Affinity Designer 2 for iPad free?
Which has better reviews, Procreate or Affinity Designer 2 for iPad?
Do Procreate or Affinity Designer 2 for iPad have ads?
Which is updated more often, Procreate or Affinity Designer 2 for iPad?
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