Icons8 vs Sketch Comparison 2026
Both cover design & graphics. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Icons8 starts cheaper, at $6.50.
- Neither has a free tier.
Side by side
Icons8 | Sketch | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $6.50 | From $12 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30 days |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on (they differ) |
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.
Icons8
Icons, photos and AI generators on one plan
Icons8 sells one subscription across icons, illustrations, photos, music and a set of AI generators, which is a wider spread than an icon library usually covers. The cheapest plan is the AI tools on their own and buys credits rather than downloads. Hand-drawn graphics begin on the tier above that. There is an API, a desktop app and a design tool called Lunacy in the same account.
Our note
Read the credit costs before the plan prices, because a generated icon is 200 credits and that arithmetic decides which tier you actually need. Envato Elements is the better buy if you want video and audio in the same subscription.
Only on this side
- Covers stock footage & assets
Sketch
Interface design with a one-time licence
Sketch draws interfaces in a Mac application and puts the reviewing half in a browser, so somebody signing off a screen needs no licence to open it. Editors are counted and viewers are not, which keeps a project's cost tied to the people actually moving pixels. Two ways to pay sit side by side: a subscription per editor, or a single payment that keeps working after the year of updates it includes runs out. Anybody designing on Windows is ruled out, because the editor itself is Mac only.
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.