Adobe Fresco vs Procreate: Battle of the iPad Drawing Apps

When it comes to digital illustration on the iPad, two apps stand above the rest: Adobe Fresco and Procreate. Both are powerful, professional-grade tools that unlock incredible creative potential. But which one is the best fit for your artistic needs and workflow?

As a long-time Procreate user who has recently dove deep into Adobe Fresco, I‘m here to give you an expert, hands-on comparison of these industry-leading apps. By the end, you‘ll have a crystal clear picture of how they stack up and which one you should choose to unleash your inner digital Picasso.

Brush Engines: Fresco‘s Versatility vs Procreate‘s Simplicity

The heart and soul of any drawing or painting app is its brush engine. This is where Adobe Fresco really flexes its creative muscles. Fresco gives you the freedom to paint with three distinct media types:

Pixel brushes – Your traditional digital raster brushes, pixel brushes are resolution-dependent. Procreate offers a excellent assortment of these.

Live brushes – Fresco‘s standout feature. Live brushes mimic real-world oil and watercolor paint with stunning accuracy, reacting to canvas texture and paint wetness. If you want to replicate a traditional painting experience, accept no substitutes.

Vector brushes – Fresco‘s vector brushes create infinitely scalable, resolution-independent art. They‘re ideal for illustrations, logos, and other design elements that may need to be resized. Procreate has no vector tools.

While Procreate‘s brush engine is fantastic, it‘s a pixel-only affair. Procreate offers an impressive array of brush customization options that can get you close to natural media looks. But for achieving true watercolor and oil paint appearances and behaviors, Fresco is in a league of its own.

Both apps let you import custom brushes and offer large libraries of artistic brushes. But the ability to create vector artwork and paint with "live" natural media gives Fresco a clear edge in versatility.

Winner: Adobe Fresco

Pricing: Subscriptions vs One-Time Purchases

Here‘s a quick breakdown of each app‘s main pricing options:

Adobe Fresco:

• Free version with limited features
• Premium version: $9.99/month with 100GB cloud storage
• Option to bundle with Adobe‘s Creative Cloud suite

Procreate:

• Full app for a one-time price of $12.99
• No free version or subscription options
• Procreate Pocket for iPhone: One-time $4.99

Adobe Fresco‘s free version is a great way to take the app for a spin and explore its natural media brushes before committing to a subscription. The Premium version unlocks the app‘s full potential along with a generous 100GB of cloud storage.

The downside is that, like many Adobe products, Fresco can only be subscription-based. While $9.99/month is reasonable given the features you get, costs can add up over time. It‘s also now available as part of Adobe‘s Creative Cloud All Apps plan.

Procreate keeps things simple with a single $12.99 purchase. You get the entire app, free future updates, and no risk of losing access if you cancel a subscription. For iPhone users, Procreate Pocket‘s $4.99 price is an easy impulse buy.

The lack of a trial version makes it harder to test drive Procreate before buying. But the upfront cost is so low, and user reviews so positive, there‘s little risk in taking the plunge.

Ultimately, your decision depends on your budget and how you like to pay for software. If you prefer one-and-done purchases and don‘t need Fresco‘s fancy brushes, Procreate offers amazing value.

Winner: Tie

Compatibility & Cloud: Fresco Plays Nice with Others

As an Apple-centric app, Procreate only runs on iPads and iPhones. That‘s perfect if you‘re already in the iOS/iPadOS ecosystem. But Windows and Android users are left out in the cold. Your Procreate art also lives locally on your device, not the cloud (though you can back up to iCloud).

In contrast, Adobe Fresco is a team player. It‘s available on iPad, iPhone, Windows, and Microsoft Surface devices. With the Premium plan, you get 100GB of Creative Cloud storage to access your art from anywhere. Fresco also plays nice with Photoshop—you can send art back and forth between the two apps.

If you like to draw on your phone, both Fresco and Procreate have mobile versions (Fresco on iPhone, Procreate Pocket). Just know that the mobile editions are a bit stripped down compared to the tablet apps.

Winner: Adobe Fresco

User Interface: Power vs Simplicity

UI design is subjective—one artist‘s clutter is another‘s convenience. In general, Procreate prioritizes simplicity while Fresco puts power and control at your fingertips.

Procreate‘s interface is a minimalist‘s dream. Tools hide away until you need them, letting you focus purely on your canvas. Gesture controls handle most navigation tasks elegantly. It‘s an interface that quickly gets out of your way—a philosophy many artists appreciate.

Adobe Fresco‘s UI will be instantly familiar to Photoshop or Illustrator users, for better or worse. Tool icons border the screen, panels can be moved around, and everything is highly customizable. It‘s busy and takes some learning. But the tradeoff is quick access to Fresco‘s deep toolset.

Neither approach is "better"—it depends on your preferences. Beginners will likely find Procreate more approachable. But if you‘re used to desktop apps like Clip Studio Paint, Fresco will feel more at home.

Winner: Tie

Animation: Fresco Moves Ahead

Both apps cover the basics of frame-by-frame animation. You can create simple animations, looping GIFs, and short videos by drawing each frame on separate layers.

But Adobe Fresco takes a big leap forward with motion path animation (aka tweening). With motion paths, you set start and end keyframes, then let Fresco automatically animate the "in-between" frames. This can dramatically speed up your workflow for lively character animation and motion graphics.

Fresco also has a leg up with onion skinning, animation previews, and exporting animated PNGs/GIFs on transparent backgrounds. For anything beyond simple animations, it‘s the clear favorite.

Winner: Adobe Fresco

Time-Lapse Recording: Procreate Pulls Ahead

Watching your art come to life in hyper speed is oddly satisfying. More practically, time-lapse videos are great for sharing online and giving students a window into your process.

Procreate has one of my favorite time-lapse implementations. By default, it records every brushstroke from the moment you create a canvas. You can toggle this off to save battery life. But when enabled, Procreate automatically generates a sleek time-lapse replay when you finish an artwork. You can export the video or share it in a few taps.

Adobe Fresco recently added time-lapse recording as well. The experience isn‘t quite as seamless as Procreate, but the core ability is there. It‘s a welcome addition.

While both apps cover the essentials, I have to give the nod to Procreate for its always-on, automatic approach. You don‘t have to think about it—time-lapses are just quietly generated in the background. It‘s the kind of delightful touch that makes Procreate so beloved.

Winner: Procreate

The Verdict: Which App Should You Choose?

As you can probably tell by now, there‘s no clear "winner" between Adobe Fresco and Procreate. Both are exceptional tools for digital art. The best choice depends on your needs and preferences.

You should choose Adobe Fresco if you:

• Want to paint with natural-media watercolor and oil brushes
• Need to create vector artwork
• Frequently switch between desktop/tablet or use Windows devices
• Want to move art between Fresco and Photoshop
• Prefer an interface similar to desktop creative apps
• Plan to do substantial animation work

You should choose Procreate if you:

• Want a one-time purchase without subscriptions
• Mainly work with pixel brush/raster art
• Prefer a simple, minimal, touch-first interface
• Mostly create still images or very basic animations
• Value streamlined time-lapse recording

For professional illustrators and designers, I lean towards recommending Adobe Fresco for its unrivaled live brushes, vector tools, and Creative Cloud integration. It‘s simply the more versatile app for creating print and digital production-ready art.

For hobbyists who want a top-notch drawing app without the cost and complexity of Fresco, Procreate is a fantastic choice. Its streamlined UI and affordable one-time price make it perfect for students, casual artists, and anyone starting their digital art journey.

Whichever app you choose, you‘re getting an incredibly powerful tool to expand your creativity and bring your artistic visions to life. Happy drawing!