Comparison

Sketchbook® vs Art Set 4

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

Head to head
About

Sketchbook®

This app provides a professional-grade drawing and painting experience for artists and illustrators. It offers a natural drawing feel with customizable tools, layers, and guides for precision. Unlock advanced features like custom brushes and canvas resizing with an optional premium purchase.

Highlights
  • Full complement of brush types
  • Highly customizable brushes
  • Guides, rulers, and stroke tools
  • Layers with blend modes
  • Clean and unobtrusive interface
  • Custom brush creation (premium)
  • Canvas resizing (premium)
Read full description

From quick sketches to fully finished artwork, Sketchbook goes where your creativity takes you. Sketchbook is an award-winning sketching, painting, and drawing app for anyone who loves to draw. Artists and illustrators love Sketchbook for its professional-grade feature set and highly customizable tools. Everyone loves Sketchbook for its elegant interface and natural drawing experience, free of distractions so you can focus on capturing and expressing your ideas. • A full complement of brush types: pencils markers, airbrushes, smear and more that look and feel just like their physical counterparts • Brushes are highly customizable so you can create just the look you want • Guides, rulers and stroke tools support precision when you need it • Layers with a full complement of blend modes deliver the flexibility to build up and explore drawings and color • Purpose-built for sketching, the interface is clean and unobtrusive so you can focus on drawing Purchase the Premium Bundle to unlock more... • Import and export brushes • Create your own custom brushes • Resize your canvas or image • Set canvas resolution in px/inch or px/cm • Clipping masks • Additional layer adjustments including blur, sharpen, brightness/contrast, greyscale, and invert • Additional color harmonies • Additional custom gradients • Select color from reference images • Extract color palettes from images • Import and export color palettes • Layer grouping • Layer masking Blend Modes • Draw Outline tool • Lasso Fill tool • Export to PDF • plus more to come!

About

Art Set 4

Experience hyper-realistic digital art creation with advanced tools for painting and drawing. Explore a vast array of brushes, fluid simulations, and 3D paint effects. This app offers a customizable workspace and professional features for artists of all levels.

Highlights
  • Hyper-realistic art tools
  • Fluid watercolor simulation
  • 3D paint effects
  • Customizable workspace
  • Time-lapse video recording
  • PSD export
  • Layer masks
Features
Read full description

Art Set has been No.1 iPad app in over 30 countries around the world. Now completely re-written with some of the most advanced artistic digital painting and drawing tools ever created! An 'App of Day', this giant new version has tools with incredible levels of realism and many professional features. Exclusive artistically created brushes, from real world art mediums through to the purely digital for all styles of artwork. Watch fluid Watercolor flow and run as you paint. Express your strokes in 3D giving thick gloopy paint you can even etch back into. It's also a must for any Apple Pencil owner! Art Set brushes have many additional expressions that come into play, some deeply integrated, with new levels of sensitivity you may have never experienced before! It's now free to download for the first time ever! INCLUDED FOR FREE : HYPER-REAL TOOLS - Oil Paint, Watercolors, Oil Pastel, Pencil, Biro Pen, Marker, Wax Crayon, Blenders and more! - Fluid dynamic simulation for Watercolor - 3D Paint - Custom blending achieving rich deep color - Art Set keeps track of where the canvas is wet, dry when needed - Turn on Slow Draw for drawing to lag your stroke. Create smooth curves and lines; great for calligraphy! - Blur Filter with localised quick masking - Color Wheel - User Editable Palette - Metallic Colors - Time-lapse Video Recording; share how you made your artwork stroke by stroke. - PSD Export UI - Fully customizable workspace; have just a single brush or tools on every side of your screen. - Zoom, Pan and Rotate the canvas for fine detail - Light low contrast or Dark high contrast mode - Minimalist UI for less interference with your artwork WORKFLOW - Latest graphics technology written entirely in METAL 2 - Supports the iOS Files app to manage or or transfer documents - iTunes File Sharing - Auto save - Split Screen Multitasking - use a reference image whilst you draw side by side - Export to your photo album, email, AirDrop or social networks etc. - In-depth User Guide in the app complete with video - Import photos and images at screen resolution PREMIUM PRO FEATURES - Single Upgrade Unlocks everything : 200 ADVANCED BRUSHES - Wide variety of extra hyper-real Paints, Pens, Pencils, Inks, Chalks, Pastels, Charcoal, Wet media, Stamps, Splatters, Form, Graphics, Patterns, Fabric, 3D Texture, Neon to basic Pixel and Flat Digital - You can try out all premium brushes on a test area before upgrading! DRAWING - Flood fill - Symmetry - Pixel Art - Shape primitives for Ellipse, Circle, Square, Rectangle and Line in any brush - Echo shapes for special FX - Erase mode - use any brush as an eraser - Adjust brush Size, Opacity, Flow, Grain, Loading and Dynamics LAYERS - Layer Masks - Transform, move, rotate and scale - Flip - Adjust Opacity - Layer maintains resolution whilst transformed - Blend Modes - Alpha lock - Cut, Copy and Paste, to and from other documents or other Apps - Drag and drop layers from other apps - Import from your photos CUSTOM HIGH-RESOLUTION CANVASES - Choose any resolution canvas size, the highest being dependent on your device capabilities - Set DPI and canvas dimensions in millimeters, inches or Points and Pixels - Great for pixel art or tens of millions of pixels - if device allows - Papers and Canvases from old cardboard, raw canvas, graph, squared and isometric paper COLOR - Display P3 WideColor on supported devices - Auto Color Sample, allows you to easily turn photos into paintings - Color picker - Toolbar placable HSB and RGB sliders ADJUSTMENTS - Localized adjustments, allow you to tweak all or just part of your image via quick masking - Change Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Recolor, Invert, Contrast and Blur WORKFLOW - Auto backup, saves snapshots - iOS Pasteboard or Drag and Drop to or from other apps - Import photos and images and high resolution Art Set is a wonderful creative addition to any iPad!

Screenshots

Sketchbook®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Art Set 4 at every 6 days against Sketchbook®'s every 6 weeks. Art Set 4 also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 14). Sketchbook®'s advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (77% vs 63%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Sketchbook® sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Art Set 4 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sketchbook® holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sketchbook® has 220K ratings behind it against 26K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Sketchbook®'s written reviews are positive against 63% of Art Set 4's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sketchbook® ships an update every 6 weeks, Art Set 4 every 6 days. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Sketchbook® versus Art Set 4: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSketchbook®Art Set 4
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (220K ratings) — better4.6 (26K ratings)
Positive reviews76.6% of reviews — better63.1% of reviews
Number of ratings220K — better26K
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#39 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS1412.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size142 MB158 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSketchbook, IncLOFOPI

Customer experience

Sketchbook®

All ratings220,344 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral2.4%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews1,665 reviews
Positive76.6%
Neutral7.0%
Negative16.3%

Art Set 4

All ratings25,885 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews1,702 reviews
Positive63.1%
Neutral10.9%
Negative26.0%

User reviews

Sketchbook®

From 220K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Amazing, free, and no ads
  • 👍 Lots of brushes and customization options
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 👍 Great for beginners and professionals
  • 👍 Smooth performance and no lag

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional freezing and crashing issues
  • 🐛 Blurry or corrupted images when saving or copying
  • 🐛 Glitches with color selection and layers
  • 🐛 Inability to rotate canvas or access gallery easily
  • 🐛 Lack of blurring and clipping mask tools

Art Set 4

From 26K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Realistic paint and brush simulation
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🎨 Excellent oil paint and watercolor tools
  • 🎨 Wide variety of art tools and materials
  • 👍 Responsive and smooth performance

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔒 Lack of layer management and export options
  • 🔒 Limited brush size and customization options in free version
  • 🔒 Confusing UI and hidden features

Bugs and requests

Sketchbook®

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Layers randomly deleted or corrupted
  • Freezing when using certain tools like the eyedropper
  • Saving issues leading to loss of progress
  • Incompatibility with newer iPad Pro devices

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add blurring and clipping mask tools
  • Improve gallery and canvas rotation functionality
  • Allow custom font import
  • Add effects like glow, stroke, and drop shadow
  • Implement layer grouping and organization
Show 2 more
  • Add real-time collaboration features
  • Improve time-lapse recording and saving

Art Set 4

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when opening color palette or blending
  • Unexpected loss of work and canvas resets
  • Inability to resize canvas or change aspect ratio
  • Brush size and settings not preserved when switching tools

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more free brushes and tools
  • Improve layer management and export options
  • Allow more brush size and customization options in free version
  • Provide better documentation and tutorials
  • Add undo/redo gesture support
Show 1 more
  • Improve color management and palette tools

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Sketchbook®

One-time1
  • Premium Bundle$2.99
1 purchases

Art Set 4

One-time1
  • Unlock All$12.99

Questions

Is Sketchbook® free?
Sketchbook® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Art Set 4 free?
Art Set 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sketchbook® or Art Set 4?
Sketchbook® is rated higher. Sketchbook® averages 4.8 out of 5 from 220K ratings, while Art Set 4 averages 4.6 from 26K ratings.
Do Sketchbook® or Art Set 4 have ads?
Neither Sketchbook® nor Art Set 4 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sketchbook® or Art Set 4?
Sketchbook® ships an update every 6 weeks, and Art Set 4 every 6 days. Most recently, Sketchbook® was updated on September 24, 2026 and Art Set 4 on September 24, 2026.

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