Comparison

CREATE vs iPencil

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

Head to head
About

CREATE

Design sophisticated graphics, logos, and social media content with a powerful yet easy-to-use app. Add photos, fonts, and shapes to create vector art, collages, and more. Collaborate on projects and export in various formats.

Highlights
  • Graphic design and drawing tools
  • Photo and PDF editing
  • Font and graphic customization
  • Vector art creation
  • Collaboration on projects
  • Import/export vector files
Features
Read full description

CREATE — The powerful and easy to use graphic design + drawing app. Create and share sophisticated projects - design and collaborate anywhere. Use photos, fonts, lines, shapes; create graphics, UIs, logos, social media, vector art, photo collages, mood boards, geofilters, and much more… Design with precision Save + share editable projects Import / export vectors Add fonts + graphics to photos / PDFs Markup, annotate, share ideas — fast Creativity + productivity! CREATE gives you the power of desktop design tools on an iPhone / iPad. The CREATE app is designed using CREATE! - Arrange multiple photo layers - Edit text, typography, fonts - Edit photos: contrast, exposure, etc - Blur photos - Draw lines, edit stroke / fill - Transform shapes - stretch, scale, rotate - Add rounded corners - Group layers, add / subtract layers - Save reusable components - Share and collaborate on projects - Import editable .create files to other devices - Backup projects to iCloud - Precise dimensions / positioning - Reorder layers - Hex / RGB colors, save colors - Custom color gradients - Make duotone photos - Add transparent backgrounds - PNG - Export vectors - SVG, PDF - Make Snapchat Geofilters - Set canvas size, grid spacing - Zoom canvas - Snap to grid / object - Install fonts - Supports Apple Pencil - Comprehensive help, videos Work creatively anywhere – improve the world! For the volume purchasing (VPP) version of CREATE for educational institutions, search in the App Store for ‘CREATE Pro’ - CREATE includes an optional subscription: CREATE PRO for $ 1.99 per month. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at the confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within your Account Settings, at least 24-hours before the end of the current month. Your iTunes account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. View our Privacy Policy / Terms of Use here: http://create.mobi/privacy http://create.mobi/terms

About

iPencil

Create sophisticated vector graphics on your iPad with unlimited layers, powerful editing tools, and extensive import/export options. Customize your workspace with light, dark, or tinted themes.

Highlights
  • Unlimited layers
  • Path and text manipulation
  • Gradient fills
  • Boolean operations
  • Color wheel and swatch library
  • SVG, PDF, PNG, JPEG import/export
Features
Read full description

iPencil is a vector illustration app designed from scratch for the iPad . It supports paths, compound paths, text, text on a path, images, groups, masks, gradient fills, and an unlimited number of layers. * Take control with unlimited layers. Feel free to add as many or as few elements in each layer to organise your drawings. Rename, rearrange, delete, hide and lock layers as you draw. Isolate the active layer for easy editing. Adjust each layers transparency independently to get your ideal composition. * Powerful editing at your fingertips. Easily manipulate single or multiple elements with powerful scale and rotate tools. Associate individual elements into groups. Interactively edit gradient fills on the canvas. Perform a range of Boolean operations on paths, including Unite, Intersect, Exclude and Subtract Front. * Colors to match your imagination. Picking the perfect color is easy with the freedom of the expressive color wheel. Or modify colors using RGB and HSB sliders. Enter the hexadecimal value to precisely match existing artwork colors. Sample colors using the dropper. Store and recall colors from the swatch library. * Import, export and sharing. Import drawings from desktop vector applications as SVG and include photos directly from your camera roll, or import PNG and JPEG images from cloud services. Export your drawings for sharing or importing into other apps as SVG, PDF, PNG and JPEG to all cloud storage services. Send drawings as photos directly to your camera roll. * Light, dark or tinted themes. Choose between the light and dark monochrome themes or the classic Inkpad with user interface tints. The light and dark themes make minimal use of color so that tints in the user interface do not distract from or influence your artwork color choices. Geti Pencil Premium. Unlimited access to the tools during the subscription period. The subscriptions are $0.99 week with 3 day trial period, $2.99 for 1 Months or equal to the same price tier as Apple App Store Matrix, determined as the equivalent of subscription price in USD. You may cancel a subscription or free-trial anytime via the subscription setting through your iTunes account. This must be done 24 hours before the end of the free trial or subscription period to avoid being charged. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a Sketch Pad Unlimited subscription. Terms & Conditions : http://ipencilpro.com/terms-of-use.html Privacy Policy : http://ipencilpro.com/privacy-policy.html

Screenshots

CREATE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: CREATE at 56% against iPencil's 0%. CREATE also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.5) and ratings volume (3.1K vs 4). iPencil's advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. CREATE sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and iPencil sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CREATE holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CREATE has 3.1K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of CREATE's written reviews are positive against 0% of iPencil's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
CREATE versus iPencil: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCREATEiPencil
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (3.1K ratings) — better3.5 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews56.1% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3.1K — better4
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better10.0
Further details — not scored
Size114 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnything isBon Tran

Customer experience

CREATE

All ratings3,118 ratings
Positive90.1%
Neutral4.1%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews173 reviews
Positive56.1%
Neutral10.4%
Negative33.5%

iPencil

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

CREATE

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Crashes when trying to select all text
  • Inability to change font or color
  • Layers and shapes becoming offset
  • Saved projects not loading properly
  • Restore purchase functionality issues
Show 1 more
  • Compatibility problems with newer devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add gradient support
  • Improve text editing capabilities
  • Implement video export options
  • Introduce more font and shape options
  • Allow importing custom fonts
Show 1 more
  • Enhance layer management and grouping

iPencil

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

CREATE

Subscriptions3
  • CREATE PRO - Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • CREATE PRO - 3 Monthly3 Days trial$12.993 Months
  • CREATE PRO - 6 Monthly3 Days trial$24.996 Months
One-time2
  • Install fonts$3.99
  • All features$49.99
4 purchases

iPencil

Subscriptions4
  • Activity tools in a week$0.997 Days
  • Activity tools in month$3.491 Month
  • Activity tools in 3 month$6.493 Months
Show 1 more
  • Activity tools in year1 Year trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is CREATE free?
CREATE is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iPencil free?
iPencil is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CREATE or iPencil?
CREATE is rated higher. CREATE averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3.1K ratings, while iPencil averages 3.5 from 4 ratings.
Do CREATE or iPencil have ads?
Neither CREATE nor iPencil shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CREATE or iPencil?
CREATE ships an update every 3 weeks, and iPencil every 3 weeks. Most recently, CREATE was updated on October 19, 2026 and iPencil on October 8, 2026.

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