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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Sketchbook® vs Paper

Sketchbook® 4.8★ · Free + IAP 85
Winner Sketchbook®
Paper 4.6★ · Free + IAP 60

Sketchbook® is the better choice for serious digital artists due to its robust free features and extensive toolkit, while Paper struggles with high subscription costs and limited functionality.

Full reviews: Sketchbook® · Paper

Sketchbook® offers a comprehensive and largely free drawing experience with a wide array of brushes and tools, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced artists. Paper, while praised for its simple interface, is heavily criticized for its high subscription fees and limited free features, making it a less appealing option for most users.

Head to head

Features and Tools edge: Sketchbook®R3R5R8R14
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® is praised for its diverse toolkit, wide range of adjustable brushes, and features like layers and photo outlining, satisfying both beginners and experienced artists R8. Users appreciate the abundance of free brushes and stencils R14. However, some users note missing features like shape tools, animation on iPad Pro, alpha lock, blur/blending brushes, and the ability to create custom brushes R3R5.
Paper Paper offers basic drawing tools like markers, paint brushes, and pencils with a good range of colors . Users appreciate its cut tool for photo collages and journaling . However, many essential features such as adding multiple photos, advanced art tools, text boxes, copy/paste, and adjustable pen sizes are locked behind a premium subscription R63.
Ease of Use edge: Sketchbook®R1R8R9R11
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® is described as user-friendly and easy to use, even for beginners, with an organized interface R8R11. However, some novices found it not beginner-friendly due to a lack of tutorials and difficulty finding basic tools like an eraser R9R43. There are also complaints about specific tools like the fill bucket being difficult to use or filling the entire canvas R1.
Paper Paper is praised for its friendly and simple interface, making it easy to use for quick sketching and journaling . However, some users find it confusing, especially with full-screen mode and canvas scaling . The tutorial is also noted as being too long .
Reliability and Performance tieR4R10R18R19
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® users report issues with glitches, such as brushes not working, colors mixing incorrectly, and the app freezing or crashing R4R10R19. A significant concern is the lack of autosave on iPad, leading to lost work R18. Exporting drawings to photos is also a common complaint .
Paper Paper is frequently criticized for being glitchy, crashing often, and not always autosaving, leading to lost work . Users also report problems with cloud syncing, requiring constant re-downloads and internet connection, and issues with journals not syncing between devices .
Price and Value edge: Sketchbook®R2R7R14R32
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® is highly praised for being free and offering a vast array of features without ads or mandatory subscriptions R2R14. Many users appreciate the value, with some willingly paying for premium features because they feel the app deserves the money R32R35. However, some older reviews mention that features that used to be free are now paid R7.
Paper Paper faces overwhelming criticism for its pricing model. Users are frustrated by the high annual subscription cost, which has increased significantly over the years R61R64R70R79. Many essential tools and features are locked behind this expensive paywall, making the free version very limited and almost unusable R63R67R76R87. The lack of affordable monthly options is also a common complaint .
Pick Sketchbook® if

you are looking for a powerful, feature-rich drawing app that is largely free and suitable for all skill levels R8. You prioritize a wide selection of brushes and tools without constant paywalls R14.

Pick Paper if

you value a simple, aesthetically pleasing interface for quick sketching or digital journaling and are willing to pay a high annual subscription for full functionality .

Evidence note: Reviews for Paper are heavily skewed by negative feedback regarding its pricing model and the perceived decline in value after being acquired by Evernote.

Frequently asked

Is Sketchbook® truly free?
Yes, Sketchbook® offers a robust free experience with many brushes and tools, and users report no ads or mandatory subscriptions for core functionalities R2R14. There are in-app purchases for additional features, but many users find the free version sufficient R32R35.
How much does Paper cost?
Paper's subscription is very expensive, costing around $100 per year or $9.99 per week, which many users find unreasonable R61R70R79. This price has significantly increased from previous years, and many essential features are locked behind this paywall R64R70R79.
Does Sketchbook® have an eraser tool?
Yes, Sketchbook® does have an eraser tool, although some beginner users struggled to find it, leading to frustration R9R43.
Can I use Paper without a subscription?
While Paper has a free version, it is very limited, with most essential tools and features, such as adding multiple photos or advanced art tools, requiring a Pro subscription R63R67R76R87.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R3] Sketchbook® 3/5 · US Idk: I like this app but I can’t use shapes to help and shapes are VITAL for me as a person who cant draw😭
  2. [R5] Sketchbook® 4/5 · US Needs more options: The app is a pretty good app but there arnt all the tools that I need for the my art
  3. [R8] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Amazing: I have been using Sketchbook since about 2016-ish, and it has never failed me! As a lifelong illustrator, I could not recommend a better app for artists of all skill levels. It is clean, organized, user-friendly, and comes with a diverse toolkit that will surely satisfy any creative soul lucky enough to come across it. All in all, a very reliable, affordable app with the artist’s experien
  4. [R14] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Omg buy nowww: Sketchbook is literally amazing. First time. I tried it. It blew my mind of how many brushes there are for free. I mean, you don’t even have to pay for a certain amount of time and it’s just you can do whatever you want. There’s a lot of things that you can do, and you can make, however many, like untitled things you want. So amazing. You should totally buy it. Thank you for not mak
  5. [R1] Sketchbook® 1/5 · US no.: I spent over an hour for it to turn out that i cant fill in paint when i use the fill bucket on something and i made the stuff divided and guess what? STILL NO FILLING, IT FILLS THE ENTIRE THING INSTEAD.
  6. [R9] Sketchbook® 3/5 · US Not beginner friendly: I’ve never used a digital drawing app. I am a complete novice. I downloaded Sketchbook because of the reviews and felt optimistic, however, that led to frustration when upon opening the app, there was no tutorial. I had no idea what to do. I started experimenting with using the various tools, but when I needed to erase, there was NO ERASER! Why? It’s such a basic tool. How
  7. [R11] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US I love this: It’s cool because I can make my things and my baby sister can also play on it and it’s awesome it has a lot of tools for u to use and I love it a lot and u guys will to!
  8. [R4] Sketchbook® 1/5 · US deleting half my drawing: can u actually make it stop deleting half of my work ? fix it. pls n thank u
  9. [R10] Sketchbook® 2/5 · US This app is not working properly: I tried to choose a color and it didn’t work. It gave me random colors and when I tried to use the color picker tool it still gave me random colors.
  10. [R18] Sketchbook® 3/5 · US No autosave: I was all excited about this app. Excited about all the tools and possibilities. I jumped right in and started creating, spending hours working on my first project. When it was time to quit I closed the app and went on with my night. Only one problem. On iPad for some reason there is no auto save so all my hours of work are wasted. What creativity app these days does not auto save? Un
  11. [R19] Sketchbook® 1/5 · US Not working.: I don’t recommend you getting this. NONE OF THE BRUSHES WORK! I can’t draw A SIMPLE CLOUD. I might as well go back to notepad.
  12. [R2] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Best app ever: If you're looking for a good app for drawing and writing i would recommend this app, it doesn't need you to watch an ad or anything like that to draw and if you want you can create an album and there are so many other stuffs that are so good! I can't recommend this app enough!
  13. [R7] Sketchbook® 1/5 · US Sucks: Everything used to be free like, BACK IN 2016, but now, y’all have just followed the current, greedy trend and made EVERYTHING paid now. Bye.
  14. [R32] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US I paid for the premium…: …but not cuz I needed any of the features, though they do add some handy stuff that I’m happy to have. I paid for it because they deserve the money. This is by far one of the best drawing experiences ever made, and it’s free. Couldn’t be happier to give them a few bucks.
  15. [R35] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US I love this app!!!: Though there is a payment for the pro it is tottaly worth it!! Only three dollars for a whole bunch more stuff!!! They have a lot of brushes and a whole site for help!! Super good!! Both beginners and experienced artist can really enjoy this app and I know I do!!!
  16. [R61] Paper 1/5 · US I used to love this app and decided to try it again: Originally in 2021 it was 11ish for a whole year of pro, which was reasonable bc most people will buy physical journals of the same price yearly. I was so disappointed to find out that the app is now 100 for the year. I don’t have that kind of money it’s honestly such a slap to the face as a consumer
  17. [R64] Paper 1/5 · US Greedy: I have paid and used this app for years with a single charge and years later they decided to charge monthly… greedy. If I knew I would be able to export years of work, I would have never stored my creations here
  18. [R70] Paper 1/5 · US Insane prices: The yearly price increase is crazy for this app. Especially in comparison to the yearly payment 3 years ago. Not much has changed in the app services to be charging this much.. I’ve been paying for this app for 5 years and I probably won’t keep paying for it anymore. I like the app but not convinced it’s worth the increased price.
  19. [R79] Paper 1/5 · US evernote corporation should die: the audacity to buy this app and make it 99 dollars per year or 9.99 dollars per week which is 40 A MONTH is insane, especially when it was originally 12 a years with the original developers. istg cant have NOTHING NICE.
  20. [R43] Sketchbook® 1/5 · US Bad: THERE IS NO ERASER! LIKE WHAT DRAWING APP HAS NO ERASER! this is horrible, imna buy procreate!
  21. [R63] Paper 3/5 · US Good but could be better: The app overall is good, but my only thing is that most of the tools require pro or a subscription to certain parts. Most things I can’t use, like adding multiple photos to each page, using art tools, etc. Would be so much better if it didn’t all require pro.
  22. [R67] Paper 1/5 · US Cannot use without membership: Will not let me draw unless I purchase anything, requires a membership for some reason I am not sure if this is a user error or if you cannot do anything without a membership, which is insane because it is $100 a year
  23. [R76] Paper 2/5 · US Kinda annoying but otherwise OK: I LOVE THIS! But its so annoying i can barely do anything without Pro. I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO GET PRO.
  24. [R87] Paper 3/5 · US I like the app but they should make tools free: I love the app and how they made it, but I find it really annoying the fact that I need to pay to get better tools on this app to draw or put images and stuff.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store