Report updated Apr 7, 2026
Paper: Sketch, Draw & Create
v5.5.10Creatives, designers, and visual thinkers who need a distraction-free, intuitive space for sketching, mood boarding, and storyboarding.
What Is Paper: Sketch, Draw & Create?
Launched Mar 29, 2012
Updated Dec 2025
What does it look like?
What are the key features?
Navigation and tool selection controlled by natural gestures to minimize menu distractions.
Ability to add multiple photos to a single page and manipulate them without complex layer management.
Group pages into digital journals for structured project management.
Sync journals across devices to continue creative work anywhere.
A suite of tuned tools for sketching, drawing, and painting.
What do users think? iIndependent intel reports to help builders create better apps or enhance existing ones. Still in beta, accuracy and relevancy get better every day. For informational purposes only.
Gathering public signals...
Sentiment analysis will be available once enough user reviews are collected.
What are the pros and cons?
Pros
- Iconic gesture-based UI that maximizes creative flow
- Strong brand recognition with 30M+ users
- Intuitive journal-based organization system
- Low barrier to entry for non-technical creatives
Cons
- Limited feature set compared to professional tools like Procreate
- Lack of complex layer management can be restrictive
- Recent updates suggest a mature/maintenance phase rather than high innovation
- Subscription model faces stiff competition from free native tools
What is the market outlook?
Growth Opportunities
- Deep integration with the Evernote ecosystem for professional workflows
- Expansion into spatial computing (visionOS) to enhance immersion
- AI-assisted sketching or mood boarding features
- Better cross-platform presence beyond iOS
Market Threats
- Apple's Freeform app offering similar features for free
- Users 'graduating' to more powerful tools like Procreate or Adobe Fresco
- New 'spatial thinking' apps like Muse disrupting the digital journal niche
- Subscription fatigue in the creative software market
Who competes with Paper: Sketch, Draw & Create?
The Nemesis
Why it's a threat
- +
Natural Drawing Engine
- +
Premium Creative Suite
Contenders
Combines vector and raster tools with a focus on natural media, backed by the Adobe ecosystem.
Live Brushes
Procreate
Savage Interactive Pty Ltd
The dominant iPad creative app that users often graduate to when Paper's simplified tools become limiting.
The dominant iPad creative app that users often graduate to when Paper's simplified tools become limiting.
Zen Brush 3
PSOFT
Competes on the 'sensory' experience of sketching with a highly focused, minimalist ink-brush engine.
Competes on the 'sensory' experience of sketching with a highly focused, minimalist ink-brush engine.
Peers
A major player in the digital paper space used extensively for visual note-taking and sketching.
AI-Powered Features
Freeform
★4.6 (374K)Apple
Apple's native visual brainstorming tool that overlaps with Paper's mood boarding and collage features.
Apple's native visual brainstorming tool that overlaps with Paper's mood boarding and collage features.
Planner & Journal - Zinnia
★4.6 (53K)Pixite Inc.
Directly rivals the 'journaling' and 'collage' aspects of Paper with a focus on creative layouts.
Directly rivals the 'journaling' and 'collage' aspects of Paper with a focus on creative layouts.
New Kids on the Block
Muse: Reels Video Editor
Bigrowth
A rising threat in the 'visual thinking' space, designed specifically for deep work and spatial organization.
A rising threat in the 'visual thinking' space, designed specifically for deep work and spatial organization.
What are the key takeaways?
Paper: Sketch, Draw & Create is a divisive productivity app that is available. With a 4.6/5 rating from 70.9K reviews, it receives mixed feedback from users.
Best for: Creatives, designers, and visual thinkers who need a distraction-free, intuitive space for sketching, mood boarding, and storyboarding.
How much does it cost?
Model: subscription
Uses a 'freemium' model that positions the app as a low-barrier creative tool, with a subscription upsell for power users requiring more professional-grade features.