Thinkblot vs Procreate
Pick Procreate if you paint or illustrate. It's a professional painting engine on iPad for a one-time $12.99, with Procreate Pocket on iPhone. It collects no data and has pledged no generative AI. For finished artwork it goes far deeper than Thinkblot.
Pick Thinkblot if your drawings live beside your writing. Its Sketchbook is blank paper where nothing is read, with fountain, monoline and brush pens, pencil and watercolour, and you can find a drawing in any notebook by sketching the shape you remember.
Last checked: 27 October 2026 · Compared with Thinkblot's Sketchbook notebook
Thinkblot and Procreate, row by row.
| Thinkblot | Procreate | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone (including iPhone Duo), iPad with Apple Pencil, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro (the iPad app). iOS and iPadOS 27.1 or later. | iPad. Procreate Pocket on iPhone. |
| Handwriting recognition | Read on your device. Fixing a misread word changes the text, never your ink. | Scribble can create text layers. |
| What happens to a line you write | It stays ink. When Thinkblot can help, a small blot appears at the end of the line. Tap it, and the line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or time on your calendar. | It stays a drawing. Scribble can make a text layer. |
| Tasks and reminders | A box in front of a line makes it a task. Tick the box on paper and it's done in Reminders too. Unticked tasks carry forward. | — |
| Maths | Write a sum and an equals sign, and the answer is written for you. Write “total” under a column and it adds itself. | — |
| Privacy, account and where data lives | No account and no Thinkblot server. Notebooks live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Private Cloud Compute is optional and asks first. | Its App Store label says Data Not Collected. No access to your art, and a public pledge against generative AI. |
| Sync | Your own iCloud, through Apple's private CloudKit database, on the same Apple Account. | Files and iCloud. No cloud of its own. |
| Export | PDF or Markdown. | Import, draw on and export PDFs. |
| Pricing model | Not out yet. Join the waitlist. | $12.99 one-time on iPad. Procreate Pocket $5.99. |
| Drawing | Fountain, monoline and brush pens, pencil, watercolour and a highlighter, on blank pages. | A professional raster painting and illustration engine. |
| Finding a drawing | Draw the shape you remember, and every drawing like it is found, across notebooks. | — |
| Photos | Photos taped in, cut to the subject or your own shape. | — |
On a phone, scroll the table sideways.
Where each one is better.
- Professional painting and illustration.
- A one-time price.
- Data Not Collected, and a pledge against generative AI.
- Drawing over imported PDFs.
- Search every notebook by drawing the shape you remember.
- Sketches beside your notes, plans and journal, in one app.
- Pages that turn like a book.
- Mac and Apple Vision Pro, as well as iPhone and iPad.
Thinkblot vs Procreate, asked.
- Is Thinkblot a Procreate alternative?
- Not for painting or illustration. Procreate is a professional art app. Thinkblot's Sketchbook is for drawing in a notebook, beside everything else you write.
- Does Thinkblot read my drawings?
- No. A Sketchbook is blank paper, and nothing in it is read for help.
- Can I find an old sketch in Thinkblot?
- Yes. Draw the shape you remember, and Thinkblot finds every drawing like it, across your notebooks.
- Does Procreate use AI?
- Procreate has made a public pledge against generative AI, and its App Store label says Data Not Collected.
How do
you think?
Thinkblot is coming soon to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. One email the day it's out. That's all.
Join the waitlistClaims about Procreate come only from its own pages, as they read on 27 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and may change.
Thinkblot facts come from the Thinkblot support page. Last checked: 27 October 2026.