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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Mobile App

Adobe Fresco

Adobe's free professional drawing and painting app for iPad, iPhone and Windows.

Visit Adobe Fresco4.5

  • Rating

    4.5 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Beginner

  • Works on

    iOS, Windows

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What is Adobe Fresco?

Adobe Fresco is a free, professional-level drawing and painting app with unlimited layers and thousands of brushes, including live oil and watercolour brushes. It runs on iPad, iPhone and Windows, and it is Adobe's successor to Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw, which were retired in 2021.

Pros: what Adobe Fresco does well

  • Free with unlimited layers and thousands of brushes
  • Realistic live oil and watercolour brushes
  • Adobe's official successor to Illustrator Draw

Cons: where it falls short

  • No Android or Mac version
  • Fewer vector design tools than Illustrator

Who Adobe Fresco is for

Artists on iPad, iPhone or Windows who want a free pro drawing app.

Who can skip it

Android and Mac users.

What people use Adobe Fresco for

  • Sketching and painting on iPad with an Apple Pencil, using live oil and watercolour brushes that blend like real paint
  • Drawing clean, scalable artwork with vector brushes
  • Adding simple frame-by-frame animation or motion to a drawing
  • Starting a drawing on the go and finishing it in Photoshop or Illustrator

How to get started

  1. 1Download Adobe Fresco from the App Store for iPad or iPhone, or for Windows from adobe.com.
  2. 2Sign in with a free Adobe account.
  3. 3Create a canvas and choose raster, live or vector brushes from the brush panel.
  4. 4Use layers to separate sketch, line art and colour, then export or share your work.

Adobe Fresco pricing

Adobe Fresco is completely free on iPad, iPhone and Windows, with all brushes and features included. It is also part of Adobe's paid Creative Cloud plans, which add more Adobe apps and cloud storage. See current prices on Adobe Fresco's site

Checked 2026-10-23. Prices change, so double-check before you pay.

Adobe Fresco FAQ: quick answers

Is Adobe Fresco free?
Yes. Adobe made Fresco completely free, including its premium brushes and features, on iPad, iPhone and Windows. You need a free Adobe account.
Is Adobe Fresco on Android?
No. Adobe lists Fresco for iPad, iPhone and Windows only. On Android, a free option such as ibis Paint X is worth a look.
What makes Fresco different from other drawing apps?
Its live brushes mix and bleed like real oils and watercolours, and you can switch between raster and vector brushes in one drawing.

Adobe Fresco alternatives

Not sold on Adobe Fresco? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Personal Productivity resources

ibis Paint X

Focus: comics and fresco alternative. Shares drawing app and digital painting with Adobe Fresco. Freemium (Adobe Fresco: Free). Adds Android and macOS. Rated 4.6 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFree planiOS, Android
4.6Visit

Sketchbook

Focus: sketching and fresco alternative. Shares drawing app with Adobe Fresco. Freemium (Adobe Fresco: Free). Adds Android and macOS. Same 4.5 rating.

Mobile AppFree planiOS, Android
4.5Visit

Krita

Focus: illustration, animation and open source. Shares digital painting with Adobe Fresco. A desktop app, not a mobile app. Adds macOS, Linux and Android. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.7Visit

Linearity Curve

Focus: vector design, ipad and illustration. Shares illustrator draw alternative with Adobe Fresco. A Mac app, not a mobile app. Freemium (Adobe Fresco: Free). Adds macOS. Rated 4.4 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mac AppFree planmacOS, iOS
4.4Visit

MediBang Paint

Focus: manga, comics and fresco alternative. Shares digital painting with Adobe Fresco. A desktop app, not a mobile app. Freemium (Adobe Fresco: Free). Adds Android. Rated 4.3 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Desktop AppFree planWindows, iOS
4.3Visit

MyPaint

Focus: sketching, open source and fresco alternative. Shares digital painting with Adobe Fresco. A desktop app, not a mobile app. Adds macOS and Linux. Rated 4.1 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.1Visit

Free alternatives to Adobe Fresco

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

2FAS Auth

Focus: 2fa, authenticator and security. Also in Personal Productivity, like Adobe Fresco. Adds Android, Chrome and Firefox. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFreeiOS, Android
4.7Visit

CapCut

Focus: Video Editing, AI and Content Creation. Also in Personal Productivity, like Adobe Fresco. Adds Android, macOS and Web. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFreeiOS, Android
4.7Visit

Ente Auth

Focus: 2fa, authenticator and security. Also in Personal Productivity, like Adobe Fresco. Adds Android, macOS and Linux. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFreeiOS, Android
4.7Visit

How We Feel

Focus: mood journal, emotions and mental health. Also in Personal Productivity, like Adobe Fresco. Adds Android. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFreeiOS, Android
4.7Visit

Medito

Focus: meditation, mindfulness and sleep. Also in Personal Productivity, like Adobe Fresco. Adds Android. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFreeiOS, Android
4.7Visit

Organic Maps

Focus: offline maps, navigation and hiking. Also in Personal Productivity, like Adobe Fresco. Adds Android and Linux. Rated 4.7 (Adobe Fresco: 4.5).

Mobile AppFreeiOS, Android
4.7Visit
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