99designs vs Procreate Comparison 2026
Both cover design & graphics and thumbnails & cover art. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Run a design contest, pick the entry you like
Paint on an iPad for the price of one lunch
At a glance
- Procreate starts cheaper, at $12.99.
- Neither has a free tier.
Side by side
99designs | Procreate | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $249 | From $12.99 |
| Pricing model | One-time purchase | One-time purchase |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | One-time purchase | One-time purchase |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
99designs
Run a design contest, pick the entry you like
99designs, now owned by Vista, runs the contest model: post a brief and a prize, get dozens of submissions from designers around the world, pay only the one you choose. For a logo or a channel identity that is a lot of directions to look at for a fixed price. The people who dislike it dislike it on principle, because everybody who does not win works for nothing.
Our note
The objection to the contest model is real and worth stating: everybody who does not win works unpaid. If that sits badly, Dribbble and Contra both put you in touch with a designer who is paid for the work they do.
Only on this side
- Covers hiring & freelancers
Procreate
Paint on an iPad for the price of one lunch
Procreate is the drawing app most illustrators on an iPad already own, and it is bought once rather than rented. The brush engine is the reason: it responds to pressure and tilt closely enough that people who trained on paper stop noticing the screen. Animation, perspective guides and a time-lapse recording of every session come with it, and that last one has quietly become how artists prove a piece is theirs. It runs on iPad only, and the company has said plainly that it will not add generative image tools.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.