Comparison

Concepts vs Artstudio Pro

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

Head to head
About

Concepts

This flexible vector-based sketchbook offers an infinite canvas for ideation and design. Easily sketch, take notes, and create detailed designs with editable strokes and powerful tools. Share your work in various formats for seamless collaboration and professional output.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas
  • Vector-based sketching
  • Realistic pens, pencils, and brushes
  • Editable vector elements
  • Unlimited layers
  • Scale and measurement tools
  • Object libraries
Features
Read full description

Think, plan & create – Concepts is a flexible vector-based sketchbook where you can take your ideas from concept to reality. Concepts reimagines the ideation process – offering a safe and dynamic workspace to iterate and explore your ideas, organize your thoughts, and experiment with designs. With our infinite canvas, you can: • Sketch plans and whiteboard ideas • Make notes, doodles, and mindmaps • Draw storyboards, product sketches and designs Concepts is vector-based, making every stroke editable and scalable. With our Nudge, Slice and Select tools, you can easily change any element of your sketch without redrawing it. Talented creators at Disney, Playstation, Philips, HP, Apple, Google, Unity and Illumination Entertainment use Concepts to develop and realize extraordinary ideas. Join us! Concepts has: • An infinite canvas with optional paper types and grids • Realistic pens, pencils and brushes that flow with pressure, tilt and velocity or create your own • A tool wheel or bar you can personalize • HSL, RGB and COPIC color wheels • Editable vector-based sketching – move, organize and edit the tool, color, size, scale, smoothing, opacity; transform or nudge lines to shape them • Unlimited layers • Scale and measurement tools that calculate real-world dimensions With Concepts, you can: • Drag + drop images + PDF files • Create, store and share vector Object libraries • Export images, vector SVG + PDFs to scale for printing or efficient flow between apps (including Procreate, Sketchbook, AutoCAD and Adobe) • Share directly to email, text, Files, cloud, photos, or your favorite social apps and present with AirPlay or a second screen • Store your work safely in your personal iCloud Drive FREE FEATURES • Infinite canvas • A selection of paper, grid types & tools to get you started • The full COPIC color spectrum, RGB and HSL color wheels • Five layers • Unlimited drawings • JPG exports PAID FEATURES Subscription: • 200+ brush and Object libraries, features, and services • Enjoy Team Sharing for smooth collaboration, including live-sharing of object libraries, color palettes & brushes, with new updates arriving all the time • Unlocks everything across platforms • TRY PREMIUM FREE FOR 7 DAYS One-time-purchases: • Buy the Essentials for life and unlock selection & editing tools, infinite layers, shape guides, custom brushes, custom grids, and exports to PNG / PSD / SVG / DXF. • Pay for advanced features as you need them – object packs & professional brushes are sold separately • Limited to the platform you purchase on Terms & Conditions: • Monthly and yearly subscription payments are charged to your iTunes account at the time of purchase. • Your plan will renew automatically at the end of the billing period unless canceled 24 hours before the billing period ends. • You can cancel or make changes to your subscription at any time in your iTunes Account settings. • Unused portions of any free trial period are forfeited if you make changes to your subscription. We’re dedicated to quality and update frequently based on your feedback. Your experience matters to us. Chat with us in-app via Ask Us Anything, email us at concepts@tophatch.com, or find us anywhere with @ConceptsApp. COPIC is the trademark of Too Corporation. Many thanks to Lasse Pekkala and Osama Elfar for the cover art!

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

Screenshots

Concepts4 screens
Artstudio Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Concepts at #173 against Artstudio Pro's unranked. Concepts also leads on ratings volume (27K vs 4K). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Concepts sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Artstudio Pro sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. 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 — 4.7 for Concepts against 4.6 for Artstudio Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Concepts has 27K ratings behind it against 4K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of Concepts's written reviews are positive against 74% of Artstudio Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Concepts ships an update fortnightly, Artstudio Pro monthly. Both last shipped on October 20, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Concepts versus Artstudio Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterConceptsArtstudio Pro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (27K ratings) — better4.6 (4K ratings)
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews — better74.2% of reviews
Number of ratings27K — better4K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#173 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size267 MB385 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTopHatch, Inc.Lucky Clan

Customer experience

Concepts

All ratings26,540 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral3.0%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews1,919 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral8.9%
Negative14.2%

Artstudio Pro

All ratings4,037 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative7.6%
Written reviews1,196 reviews
Positive74.2%
Neutral8.6%
Negative17.2%

User reviews

Concepts

From 27K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Infinite canvas
  • 👍 Intuitive and customizable interface
  • 🎨 Powerful drawing and sketching tools
  • 💡 Versatile for various use cases (architecture, design, note-taking)
  • 🔒 Responsive customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Steep learning curve for some users
  • 💰 Subscription model can be expensive for casual users
  • 🔧 Limited text handling and editing capabilities
  • 🔀 Inconsistent behavior of certain tools (e.g., eraser, alignment)

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

Bugs and requests

Concepts

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Memory issues when working with large, complex drawings
  • Inconsistent behavior of the eraser tool
  • Inaccuracies in the snap-to-grid and measurement tools
  • Exporting issues, such as loss of data or poor quality

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved text editing and formatting options
  • Better color selection and customization tools
  • Collaboration and real-time sharing features
  • Seamless integration with other design/productivity apps
  • Syncing and backup capabilities across devices

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

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Concepts

Subscriptions4
  • Everything Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Everything Monthly + Trial7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Everything Yearly$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Everything Yearly + Trial7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time9
  • Shape Library$1.99
  • Pen Brush Pack$1.99
  • Body Forms$1.99
Show 6 more
  • Make Your Own Objects$3.99
  • Essentials (iPhone Only)$4.99
  • PDF Essentials$4.99
  • Pro Pack [Legacy]$7.99
  • 10 Object Packs$14.99
  • Essentials$39.99
2 purchases

Artstudio Pro

Subscriptions1
  • Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$3.491 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime License$14.99

Questions

Is Concepts free?
Concepts is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Artstudio Pro free?
Artstudio Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Concepts or Artstudio Pro?
Concepts is rated higher. Concepts averages 4.7 out of 5 from 27K ratings, while Artstudio Pro averages 4.6 from 4K ratings.
Do Concepts or Artstudio Pro have ads?
Neither Concepts nor Artstudio Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Concepts or Artstudio Pro?
Concepts ships an update fortnightly, and Artstudio Pro monthly. Most recently, Concepts was updated on October 20, 2026 and Artstudio Pro on October 20, 2026.

Other comparisons