Comparison

Pencil Sketch vs GHOSTLINE

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

Head to head
About

Pencil Sketch

Transform your photos into realistic pencil sketches or cartoon-style drawings with a single tap. This app offers multiple artistic styles, photo editing tools, and frames to enhance your creations. Easily save and share your artwork.

Highlights
  • Create pencil sketches from photos
  • Generate colorful or black-white sketches
  • Three artistic styles: Sketch, Doodle, Hatch
  • Apply photo frames
  • Built-in photo editor
  • Add filters, stickers, and adjust brightness/contrast
Read full description

An easy-to-use app to make you an artist by creating pencil sketch of your photos! You can pick a picture from your album or capture one from your camera to generate the sketch. Both black-white and colorful sketch results can be easily created by JUST one button click. Saving images can be done quickly by a single touch of a button. Sharing pics are also supported. There are three styles included in the app: "Sketch", "Doodle" and "Hatch". "Sketch" style creates accurate pencil sketches with smooth edges and curves, which is very good for human portrait photos. "Doodle" style converts a photo into a cartoon style painting. "Hatch" will work generally on any kind of photos, as it is a simple style which generates a cross-hatching texture on photos. Several photo frames are also included in the app so that you can easily apply them to your sketch results. A powerful photo editor is also built-in within this app, which includes many useful and fast manipulations of your photos. The sketch and cartoon results can be easily enhanced within the editor by using features like: photo filters, fun stickers, photo frames, brightness/contrast/saturation adjustment, etc.

About

GHOSTLINE

This app transforms your artwork into print-ready tattoo stencils quickly and efficiently. It offers tools to cut out subjects, upscale references, and customize stencils for various printing methods. Save time on tracing and focus on creating exceptional tattoos.

Highlights
  • Cut out subjects with one tap
  • Upscale and sharpen reference images
  • Generate customizable Classic and Pro stencils
  • Edit stencils with pen, eraser, and ruler tools
  • View stencils as an overlay on artwork
  • Multi-page and multi-size printing
  • Export stencils to various formats
Features
Read full description

Built by tattoo artists, for tattoo artists. Tattooer-owned and operated since 2023. Ghostline turns your artwork into clean, print-ready tattoo stencils in seconds. Cut out your subject, upscale and sharpen your references, generate fully customizable stencils, and print at any size with multi-page print-scale technology. Less time tracing means more time doing what you love: making tattoos you're proud of. THE FUTURE OF TATTOOING IS HERE. CUT OUT - Lift your subject off its background in one tap - The crop follows your subject, so there's nothing to clean up by hand UPSCALE - Enhance your artwork and turn photos into picture-perfect reference - Upscale small, low-res images for sharper, cleaner reference SHARPEN - Sharpen your artwork for higher-quality stencils - Sharpen your reference so you can create better tattoos CLASSIC STENCIL - Generate fully customizable stencils in seconds - Dial in detail and intensity to your liking - Create line-based stencils, 3D value-based stencils, and everything in between PRO STENCIL - The cleanest stencils yet, powered by Ghostline tech - Adjust detail level, contours, and line weight - Blend with Classic Stencil for even more detail options - Tailor output for thermal (Thermofax) or inkjet printers - Never hand-stencil again EDIT - Pen: add extra lines or thicken areas - Eraser: remove anything you don't need - Ruler: draw perfectly straight lines - Blend: combine stencils or mix in your original artwork REFERENCE - View your stencil as an adjustable layer over your artwork while you tattoo - Slide between your artwork and your stencil to find the perfect blend - Choose stencil colors for a clearer visual guide PRINT - Multi-page printing: go as big as you want, from 1 sheet up to 16 - Multi-size: print several sizes of the same stencil on one sheet - Pinch and zoom to size your stencil exactly, from micro tattoos to full back pieces - Rotate or flip to fit your print - Choose paper size and orientation - Print with AirPrint, or save as PDF or images to print later or share to another app EXPORT - Export your stencil at any stage to Photos, Files, or any app - All tools included. No credits, no pay-per-stencil Ghostline saves you hours of tracing every week, so you can put your energy into tattoos that stand the test of time. Ghostline is a subscription-based app. Terms of Use: https://www.ghostline.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.ghostline.app/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Pencil Sketch4 screens
GHOSTLINE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: GHOSTLINE at 4.6 against Pencil Sketch's 4.0. GHOSTLINE also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (monthly vs every 5 months). Pencil Sketch's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. GHOSTLINE sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Pencil Sketch asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

GHOSTLINE holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 148 and 358 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Pencil Sketch's written reviews are positive against 69% of GHOSTLINE's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pencil Sketch ships an update every 5 months, GHOSTLINE monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pencil Sketch versus GHOSTLINE: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPencil SketchGHOSTLINE
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (148 ratings)4.6 (358 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.2% of reviews68.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings148358 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsMonthly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDumpling Sandwich Software Inc.Ghostline, Inc.

Customer experience

Pencil Sketch

All ratings148 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral4.7%
Negative20.3%
Written reviews196 reviews
Positive62.2%
Neutral3.6%
Negative34.2%

GHOSTLINE

All ratings358 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral2.8%
Negative7.8%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive68.6%
Neutral5.9%
Negative25.5%

User reviews

Pencil Sketch

From 148 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Good effects
  • ✨ Creates beautiful sketches
  • 🚀 Fast processing
  • 🎁 Good for gifts

Room to improve

  • ⚠️ Too many ads
  • 🐛 App crashes/freezes
  • ❌ Photos not saving
  • 👎 Poor quality
  • 🤷‍♂️ Limited filters/options

GHOSTLINE

From 358 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Saves significant time on stencil creation
  • 👍 User-friendly interface and easy to learn
  • 💡 Innovative stencil conversion technology
  • 📏 Multi-page printing and sizing features
  • 🎨 Advanced editing and customization tools

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription model considered overpriced
  • 🚫 Paywall immediately upon app opening
  • ❌ Free alternatives available with similar features
  • 🐛 Occasional gaps in stencil output
  • 😕 Confusing stencil output for some users

Bugs and requests

Pencil Sketch

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App freezes on opening ad screen
  • Photos not saving to gallery
  • App crashes
  • Ads prevent app usage
  • Filters not working
Show 3 more
  • App not opening
  • Photos overwrite original
  • App not saving sketches

Requested features

7 requests
  • More filter options
  • Ability to save to specific folders
  • Improved drawing functionality
  • Dark mode
  • Print multiple pages at once
Show 2 more
  • Easier navigation back to camera roll
  • Documentation or tutorials

GHOSTLINE

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Quarter inch gaps appearing in stencil output
  • App loses important design details in conversion
  • Emphasizes irrelevant details over important ones
  • Inconsistent stencil quality on complex designs
  • Limited customization options for stencil output

Requested features

12 requests
  • One-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • Lower subscription pricing ($6/month considered too high)
  • Lifetime subscription option under $100
  • JPEG file format export option
  • Save reference image as separate file
Show 7 more
  • Reference overlay in edit mode to see original design
  • Pinch zoom in/out functionality
  • Redo button for edits
  • Bookmark pen sizes for quick toggling
  • Background removal tool
  • Ruler/grid overlay option
  • Ability to remove white background from images

In-app purchases

None

Pencil Sketch

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

GHOSTLINE

Subscriptions2
  • Ghostline Unlimited Access7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Ghostline Unlimited Access7 Days trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Pencil Sketch free?
Pencil Sketch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GHOSTLINE free?
GHOSTLINE is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pencil Sketch or GHOSTLINE?
GHOSTLINE is rated higher. Pencil Sketch averages 4.0 out of 5 from 148 ratings, while GHOSTLINE averages 4.6 from 358 ratings.
Do Pencil Sketch or GHOSTLINE have ads?
Pencil Sketch shows ads; GHOSTLINE does not.
Which is updated more often, Pencil Sketch or GHOSTLINE?
Pencil Sketch ships an update every 5 months, and GHOSTLINE monthly. Most recently, Pencil Sketch was updated on October 29, 2026 and GHOSTLINE on October 30, 2026.

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