SketchAR Alternatives for AR Tracing and Learning to Draw

SketchAR still works. The app, now branded Sketchar, projects a picture onto paper, a wall or a canvas through your phone camera so you can trace it by hand, and adds lessons and a drawing canvas on top. The Sketchar site lists iOS and Android plus Meta Quest 3 and Pico headsets, and the App Store version also runs on Macs with Apple chips and on Apple Vision Pro.

Cost is the usual reason people look elsewhere. The Sketchar pricing page lists $7.99 a week, $24.99 a month or $79.99 a year, while the App Store description quotes $14.99 a month and yearly offers of $69.99 and $34.99. The picks below start with other AR tracing apps, then move to drawing apps for people who want to learn on screen.

Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

Da Vinci Eye

Da Vinci Eye does the same core job as SketchAR and adds tools that help you actually see an image the way a painter does. Classic mode has you prop the phone over the paper; AR mode anchors the image on the surface. Breakdown mode splits a picture into step-by-step stencils, and a strobe tool flashes the image so you can compare values against your drawing.

The developer says more than 2 million artists use it, on iOS, Android and Apple Vision Pro, and sells two related iOS apps, Mural Maker for walls and Doodle Grid for grid drawing. The iOS app is at version 4.5.15 on the App Store, needs iOS 16.6 or later, and includes lessons with video tutorials.

Best for: People who want to trace accurately and learn values and shading while they do it.

Pricing:

• Free download with in-app purchases
• Monthly Unlimited Access from $1.99 to $7.99
• Annual Unlimited Access from $9.99 to $29.99
• Pro Upgrade: $9.99/month or $39.99/year

Watch out for:

• Subscription prices vary by plan length, so check the price in the app before the trial ends.

Official site: Da Vinci Eye.

AR Drawing: Sketch & Paint

If all you need is a template on paper and a pencil, this app gets you there fastest. You pick an outline from a library of animals, cars, food and nature, or load a photo, and trace it with the camera. A built-in flashlight helps in dim rooms, and a photo-to-sketch filter turns your own pictures into line art.

Digital Solutions Technologies Limited publishes it, and on the App Store it has about 95,000 ratings averaging 4.5, is at version 5.2.7, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple-chip Macs and Vision Pro. There are no lessons or drawing canvas of the SketchAR kind.

Best for: Kids and casual tracers who want a large template library and no learning plan.

Pricing:

• Free with ads
• Weekly plans from $5 to $11
• Pro 1 Year: $35

Watch out for:

• The listing declares third-party advertising and offers weekly plans up to $11, which adds up faster than a yearly SketchAR plan.

Official site: AR Drawing: Sketch & Paint.

Sketchbook

Sketchbook skips the camera and gives you a clean digital sketchpad with a short brush list that stays out of the way. For a SketchAR user who wants to stop tracing and start drawing from observation, it is the cheapest serious step, and it runs on phones, tablets and desktops.

The mobile app is free, with a single in-app purchase on the App Store, the $2.99 Premium Bundle. It has about 221,000 ratings averaging 4.8 and is at version 6.3. Sketchbook Pro for Windows and macOS is sold through the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store.

Best for: Beginners who want to sketch freehand on a phone or tablet without a subscription.

Pricing:

• Sketchbook mobile: free
• Premium Bundle: $2.99 one-time
• Sketchbook Pro desktop is sold through the app stores

Watch out for:

• There are no lessons or AR tracing, so you supply the practice plan yourself.

Official site: Sketchbook.

ibis Paint X

ibis Paint X is where a lot of anime and character artists already draw on their phones. It saves a replay of every stroke, so you can watch how other artists build a drawing and share your own process as a video.

It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Mac, according to the ibisPaint download page. On the US App Store, Premium Membership is $4.49 a month or $27.99 a year and ad removal is $15.99 once.

Best for: Young artists who learn by watching and sharing drawing replays.

Pricing:

• Free with ads
• Premium Membership: $4.49/month or $27.99/year
• Ad Removal Upgrade: $15.99 one-time

Watch out for:

• It has no camera tracing.

Official site: ibis Paint X.

Procreate

Procreate is the upgrade path once tracing turns into real painting. With an Apple Pencil it feels close to paper, and you can import a reference photo on its own layer, lower the opacity and trace on screen, which covers much of what people use SketchAR for.

Savage sells it for $12.99 with no subscription, per the Procreate App Store page, which lists version 5.4.14 and iPadOS 16.3 or later. That is less than one month of SketchAR on its own pricing page.

Best for: iPad owners ready to paint digitally instead of tracing on paper.

Pricing:

• $12.99 one-time
• Procreate Pocket for iPhone sold separately

Watch out for:

• It needs an iPad and works best with an Apple Pencil, so the real entry cost is the hardware.

Official site: Procreate.

Adobe Fresco

Fresco is the free pick for learners who want paint to behave like paint. Its live watercolour spreads into wet areas and its oils blend under the brush, so you practise colour mixing without buying supplies. Vector brushes keep line work crisp at any size.

Adobe lists Fresco as completely free on iPad, iPhone and Windows on the Fresco page, with unlimited layers and frame-by-frame animation for simple moving sketches.

Best for: Learners who want realistic wet-media practice at no cost.

Pricing:

• Free with an Adobe account

Watch out for:

• There is no Android version, so SketchAR users on Android phones cannot use it.

Official site: Adobe Fresco.

Clip Studio Paint

Clip Studio Paint helps with the part tracing cannot teach: getting a figure to stand right. Its posable 3D models let you set a pose and camera angle, then draw over the figure on a new layer. Comic panels, speech balloons and a strong line stabiliser come built in.

Phone and tablet use runs on a subscription. The Clip Studio purchase page lists plans from $0.99 a month on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and macOS.

Best for: Anime and comic learners who want posable models to draw over.

Pricing:

• Monthly and annual plans from $0.99/month on all platforms
• PRO Ver. 5.0: $63 one-time on Windows and macOS

Watch out for:

• The interface is dense on a phone screen, and the one-time licences cover only Windows and macOS.

Official site: Clip Studio Paint.

How to choose

When to stay with SketchAR

Keep SketchAR if you paint murals or use a Meta Quest 3 or Pico headset. None of the other tracing apps here supports those headsets, and one subscription covers phone and VR. Schools also get per-seat pricing from $1.50 to $2.50 per student a year, and can apply for a free licence.

Frequently asked questions