Is Adobe Fresco Worth It? Free Drawing App Review

Breaking Up With Subscriptions and Finding Freedom in Adobe Fresco

I have been trying, really trying, to stay away from Adobe products.

Not because they are bad. Not because they do not work. Quite the opposite. Adobe makes powerful, polished, industry-standard creative tools. The problem is the subscription model. I just cannot bring myself to keep adding another monthly payment to the pile.

Spotify. Streaming services. Cloud storage. Random apps I signed up for at 11:30 p.m. because they offered a free trial. Before you know it, you are staring at your bank statement, wondering how $100 to $200 quietly disappears every month.

You know how it is. You plan to cancel. You mean to cancel. You just never get around to it.

Adobe was one of the few subscriptions I did not resent because I actually used it. Illustrator especially. If I could write it off as a business expense, the cost would make sense. But on a personal level, it still felt heavy. Another recurring charge. Another line item.

And then I cancelled.

Cue the withdrawal.

The Adobe Withdrawal Is Real

There is something about Adobe tools. They become part of your workflow. Part of your creative rhythm. Once you stop using them, you feel it. That muscle memory. That polish. That familiarity.

So I started looking for alternatives. Something lighter. Something practical. Something that would not lock me into another monthly commitment.

That is when I rediscovered Adobe Fresco.

And here is the twist. It is free.

What Is Adobe Fresco?

Adobe Fresco is a free drawing and painting app built for digital artists of all skill levels. It is designed specifically for touchscreens and stylus input on Windows devices, which immediately makes it feel more focused than Illustrator.

Illustrator is powerful. Almost too powerful. For what I was doing, it felt bulky. Like using a full production studio to sketch an idea.

Fresco feels different. It feels intentional. Streamlined. Creative without being overwhelming.

But is Adobe Fresco actually good, or is it just Adobe trying to lure us back in with a “freemium” gateway?

Let’s talk about what it offers.

The Tools That Make Fresco Interesting

Live Brushes That Feel Surprisingly Real

One of the standout features of Adobe Fresco is its Live Brushes. These are digital watercolor and oil brushes that behave like real paint. They bloom, blend, smear, and mix in ways that feel organic.

For digital art, that realism is impressive.

Pixel Brushes Powered by Photoshop

Fresco includes access to Photoshop-quality pixel brushes. You can experiment with charcoal, pastel, ink, and textured brushes that feel expressive and layered.

If you are used to Photoshop’s brush engine, this will feel familiar.

Vector Brushes for Clean, Scalable Lines

Unlike many drawing apps that force you to choose between raster and vector, Fresco offers both. You can use vector brushes to create crisp lines that scale to any size without losing quality.

For logos, design elements, and clean illustrations, that matters.

More Than Just a Sketch App

Adobe Fresco goes beyond simple drawing.

You can paste reference images directly from your clipboard to trace and practice. You can use motion tools to add dynamic effects. You can export time-lapse videos to show your creative process, which is perfect if you enjoy sharing work online.

There are transform tools like Liquify that allow you to distort and experiment. You can import .abr Photoshop brush files. That means access to thousands of unique brush effects including spatter, textures, clouds, foliage, and more.

On top of that, you get access to Adobe’s expansive free font collection, which adds another layer of creative flexibility.

For something that costs nothing, it feels surprisingly complete.

The Catch With “Free”

Let’s be realistic.

Free is rarely free forever.

Adobe is a business. They are very good at offering a taste and then presenting upgrade options that look irresistible. I fully expect sweet deals and limited-time offers to appear in my inbox at some point.

I know the drill.

But right now, Adobe Fresco is free to install through the Creative Cloud desktop app. You simply open Creative Cloud, search for Fresco, and click install.

No monthly fee required for the base experience.

Let’s be clear about one thing. Why is Adobe giving Adobe Fresco away for free?

Adobe is not known for generosity without strategy. Fresco sits in a very interesting position in the creative software landscape. It is widely considered one of the strongest alternatives to Procreate, the wildly popular iPad drawing app that costs a one-time fee of 12.99. So when Adobe removes the paywall and unlocks premium features, you have to assume there is a long game involved.

That said, if you are comparing tools purely on functionality, Adobe Fresco absolutely holds its own.

One of the biggest differences between the two comes down to platform availability. Procreate is exclusive to the iPad and iPhone. If you are not inside the Apple ecosystem, it is simply not an option. Adobe Fresco, on the other hand, works on both Windows and iOS. For artists who move between devices or prefer working on a Windows touchscreen laptop, that flexibility matters.

Pricing is another obvious contrast. Procreate charges a one-time purchase fee of 12.99, which many creatives appreciate because it avoids subscriptions. Adobe Fresco is now entirely free. Features that once required a paid plan, including the full brush library, have been unlocked for all users. On paper, that makes Fresco the more affordable option, at least for now.

When it comes to brush technology, both apps shine in different ways. Fresco includes Live Brushes that use AI technology to simulate real oil and watercolor behavior. Paint blooms, blends, and reacts in ways that feel surprisingly natural. It also offers vector brushes, allowing artists to create scalable artwork that can be resized without losing quality. Procreate focuses primarily on raster-based drawing, meaning it works in pixels. It has a massive community-driven brush ecosystem and an incredible variety of textures and effects, but it does not support native vector drawing.

Integration is another major advantage for Fresco users. Because it is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, you can seamlessly transfer files into Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop for further refinement. That workflow integration can be a game-changer for designers who need to move between sketching and production work. Procreate files can be exported into other formats, but the ecosystem is not as tightly connected.

Layer management is also worth mentioning. Adobe Fresco offers unlimited layers, limited only by your device’s memory. Procreate caps the number of layers depending on your canvas size and your iPad’s hardware capabilities. For complex projects, that limitation can become noticeable.

So why is Adobe offering Fresco for free? The answer likely lies in ecosystem strategy. Fresco introduces users to Adobe’s tools without the barrier of a subscription. Once inside, the transition to Illustrator, Photoshop, or other Creative Cloud apps becomes seamless.

From a user perspective, though, the motivation matters less than the value. Right now, Adobe Fresco stands as one of the most powerful free drawing and painting apps available, especially for artists who want cross-platform flexibility, vector capability, and Creative Cloud integration.

Free or not, it is a serious creative tool.

Other Free Adobe Tools Worth Exploring

If you are trying to reduce subscriptions but still want Adobe-quality software, there are other free or freemium options worth checking out:

Adobe Express for web-based graphics, social media posts, and short videos
Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing and signing PDFs
Adobe Aero for creating augmented reality experiences
Photoshop Express for quick mobile photo editing
Lightroom Mobile for powerful photo editing and color correction
Premiere Rush has a limited free starter plan for video editing
Adobe XD Mobile for real-time UI and UX previews
Creative Cloud Mobile App for managing files and fonts

Adobe clearly understands that not everyone wants a full Creative Cloud subscription.

So, Is Adobe Fresco for Everyone?

If you are a heavy Illustrator user building complex vector systems, multi-artboard branding packages, or intricate production files, Fresco will not replace Illustrator.

But if you are:

A hobbyist illustrator
A digital sketch artist
Someone who wants a natural painting experience
A creative who needs vector and pixel support without the bulk
A subscription-fatigued designer looking for breathing room

Then Adobe Fresco is absolutely worth trying.

For me, it feels like a balanced compromise. I get the Adobe ecosystem without the monthly weight. I get professional tools without the professional invoice.