The 4 Best Drawing Apps in 2026
For a lot of people who draw, the phone or the tablet has replaced the sketchbook, and not as a fad: being able to undo, work in layers and test a colour without ruining the page changes how you learn. What sets these apps apart is the kind of drawing they serve. In this guide we compare the 4 best drawing apps in 2026.
Digital drawing apps for phone and tablet
Digital drawing apps with layers, customisable brushes, perspective and symmetry rulers, stylus pressure sensitivity and recording of the drawing process.
Top pick
ibis Paint X
ibis inc. · Free (with purchases) · 100M+
Best for learning
4.6
3.0M reviews
TopApps analysis
ibis Paint X records the drawing process as video, so you can watch step by step how others do it, and its free version is remarkably complete.
ibis Paint X is the most widely used digital drawing app in the world and one of the most complete: hundreds of brushes, unlimited layers, perspective rulers and video recording of the drawing process. That recording is its great teaching asset: you can watch how others draw, step by step.
Pros
- Hundreds of brushes and unlimited layers
- Records the drawing process as video
- Perspective and symmetry rulers
Cons
- Frequent ads between actions
- Dense interface for beginners
- Some brushes require watching ads
Sketchbook
Free (with purchases) · 100M+
The cleanest
4.0
705K reviews
TopApps analysis
Sketchbook strips the interface back to make room for the canvas, with brushes that imitate pencil, ink and watercolour very well, and no ads.
Sketchbook, formerly Autodesk's, is the cleanest option for drawing: a minimal interface that gets out of the way to leave room for the canvas, with brushes that mimic pencil, ink and watercolour convincingly. It's the favourite of anyone coming from traditional drawing who wants a natural transition.
Pros
- Minimal interface that stays out of the way
- Brushes that convincingly mimic traditional strokes
- Full layers and blend modes
Cons
- Fewer comic features than ibis Paint
- Smaller community
- Uneven performance on modest phones
Infinite Painter
Infinite Studio LLC · Free (with purchases) · 10M+
Best for painting
4.5
242K reviews
TopApps analysis
Infinite Painter achieves the most realistic colour blending you can get on a phone, with the pigment behaving as it does on a real canvas.
Infinite Painter stands out for its brushes: its oil and watercolour colour blending is the most realistic you will get on a phone, with pigment behaving as it does on a real canvas. It also packs very capable perspective guides for technical drawing and backgrounds.
Pros
- The most realistic colour blending on mobile
- Very capable perspective guides
- Fully customisable brushes
Cons
- The free version is a limited trial
- Considerable learning curve
- Needs a reasonably powerful phone
Last updated: 2026-05-11
MediBang Paint
MediBang Inc. · Free (with purchases) · 10M+
Best for comics and manga
4.1
302K reviews
TopApps analysis
MediBang Paint brings panel templates, halftone screens and speech bubbles, plus cloud sync with the desktop version.
MediBang Paint is aimed at comics and manga: panel templates, halftone screentones, speech-bubble fonts and cloud sync so you can carry on with the same page on your computer. It is almost entirely free and widely used by manga artists.
Pros
- Tools built specifically for comics and manga
- Screentones, panels and speech bubbles included
- Cloud sync with the desktop version
Cons
- An account is needed for the cloud and the materials
- Cluttered interface
- Ads in the free version
Frequently asked questions
Which is the best free drawing app?
ibis Paint X, by some distance: its free version includes hundreds of brushes, unlimited layers and perspective rulers, in exchange for ads between actions. MediBang Paint is also almost entirely free and is the best pick if you draw comics. Sketchbook is free and ad-free, but with fewer tools.
Do I need a tablet and a stylus to draw?
You can draw with your finger on a phone and plenty of people do, but the jump in quality when you use a pressure-sensitive stylus is huge, because it lets you vary the width and opacity of the stroke with your hand. You do not need the most expensive gear: any tablet with a compatible stylus changes the experience completely.
Do these apps teach you to draw or are they just tools?
They are tools, mostly. The partial exception is ibis Paint X, whose process recording feature has produced a huge community library of videos where you see every stroke of a finished drawing, which is a very effective way to learn. For anatomy or perspective fundamentals you will need separate courses or books.
Can I move my drawings to a computer?
Yes. They all export to PNG with transparency and to layered formats that desktop programs read. MediBang Paint goes further with cloud sync: you start the page on the tablet and continue on the computer with the layers intact, which is the most convenient option for long projects.
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