Adobe PhotoShop vs. Sketch

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
Sketch
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Sketch is a visual design tool of use for application prototyping, coming with a wide variety of extensions, plugins, and an active user community.N/A
Pricing
Adobe PhotoShopSketch
Editions & Modules
Single App
$20.00
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe PhotoShopSketch
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe PhotoShopSketch
Considered Both Products
Adobe PhotoShop
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is broad in its functionality that it overlaps with layout and illustration programs like Illustrator (not as strong as Illustrator in either area) and with UX/UI design programs like Sketch and Adobe XD. (both of which are superior for web/interface design). Since …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Photoshop is superior in terms of its capabilities in terms of photo editing and image retouching. It is more powerful for building high level graphic designs that incorporate things like gradients, lighting, textures and so on. Where Sketch has an advantage over …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Photoshop is a professional software for design [and] it is an essential software for designer and professional artist. The best feature among this software are working with each layer separately, combine or merge layers, we can group layers, mask layer, and more with …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
We heard that GIMP was another powerful and popular image manipulation and graphic design software, and more importantly, it was provided free for everyone and for all platforms, but one thing that it didn't come with and the reason we chose Photoshop was the number of users …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is my go-to tool and the only one I use. So for that reason, I am not able to provide examples of any other software that I used which could be similar in function to Photoshop. Other software I use is completely different than Photoshop.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I've tried many Photoshop alternatives over the years and generally, nothing stacks up. I sometimes use Canva when I need something created and don't have access to Photoshop. It doesn't do the same kind of heavy lifting, but it works in a pinch. I think that's the real …
Sketch
Chose Sketch
Sketch is quite different from Adobe Photoshop. It's not built for photo editing, which is a good thing. It has just-enough in that area to get you by. Sketch is much more suited for creating websites as a design professional. The app is very fast, streamlined, and easy to use. …
Chose Sketch
I would say that it's different enough from the others that it has its place right alongside them. Nothing beats Sketch in terms of its ability to quickly wireframe.
Chose Sketch
I think Sketch it better than Illustrator in a lot of respects. I feel like Sketch allows for more accuracy and precision. I do think it lacks in its collaboration. Unlike Figma it doesn't allow live collaboration.
Chose Sketch
Sketch works well against any UI design apps and the pricing is also affordable.
Chose Sketch
We went from designing websites in Photoshop to designing in Sketch, and it is certainly much quicker and easier to design in Sketch, and you're more easily able to make sure that our designs are exact in Sketch, as far as spacing exact pixels. I have never used AdobeXD and …
Chose Sketch
Sketch is great for creating digital assets quickly and easily. It is simple to figure out and easy to use. It has a very clean user interface and isn't a resource hog like Adobe products tend to be. Its export feature is fantastic, generating multiple asset sizes/resolutions …
Chose Sketch
Sketch works perfectly well with Adobe Illustrator, you can seamlessly copy and paste vector artworks and open PDF files. It also [works] very well with prototyping tools such as proto.io and Bravo App. At ExMachina we also selected Sketch for its handover capabilities and …
Chose Sketch
Sketch is much better for web design than Adobe products. It's easier to learn and use, and it's a much more efficient way to hand off design files to developers. However, given a choice between Figma and Sketch, I'd choose Figma because of its cloud file storage and …
Chose Sketch
Sketch eliminates all the complexity of Photoshop and it simplifies the screen design process for web, UI, UX designers. It is also much faster software with capabilities to make responsive design quickly.
Chose Sketch
I was a big Fireworks user when it was discontinued by Adobe. At the time most people used Photoshop, but I've never liked Photoshop for web designs because it was built for photo editing, not vector graphics. I've heard Illustrator might be a pretty good alternative now, but …
Chose Sketch
The simplicity, good UI and UX, integration with other apps, and mainly the plugins are the main reasons why we selected it.
Chose Sketch
Again, I would say that Sketch stacks up very well against similar Adobe products in the field. I get the sense, just from the little bit I've used it, that It may not be as robust as some of the Adobe products. However, for my needs (fundamental to the middle of the road use), …
Chose Sketch
I think they are both similar and different. I can generally choose an Adobe product when I'm looking for a specific end result. I use Sketch a lot for layout, UI and UX design cause it just takes all the frills out of the equation while giving me an equal end product. They are …
Chose Sketch
Ultimately I did not select Sketch, but for a while, it was the software of choice over Photoshop or Illustrator. Photoshop was never a good fit for prototyping, as it's made for intense photo editing and has a lot of UI debt that's built up. It also facilitated a particular …
Chose Sketch
While we still hold some Adobe Creative Cloud licenses, we use Sketch much more often, far and away. Sketch isn't great for print jobs, so we use other software for that, but for pretty much everything else, Sketch is simple, cost-effective, and helps us deliver high-quality …
Chose Sketch
It was simply a focused toolset that made building a toolset and a process around simple. Some tools required a lot of training to be proficient (Adobe products) and then there were tools like Balsamiq that was fast but did not make pixel perfect anything and was mainly for …
Chose Sketch
We needed to move on from Photoshop/Illustrator and Adobe XD is better than the other two, but still didn't seem to be on par with Sketch. Sketch is light-weight, but also powerful. It was really easy to use and the designers have enjoyed getting to know how to use it.
Chose Sketch
  • Learning curve is good.
  • Transitioning from other softwares does not require attending week long classes to get started
  • Onboarding process is good.
Chose Sketch
Sketch is great. I "grew up" using Adobe products so it's been a bit of a learning curve, but Sketch is nice for quick designs and collaborative sharing.
Chose Sketch
All new design tools including Sketch will be better than Adobe. Adobe will try to catch up, but the way they work at that corporation, it will be impossible.
Chose Sketch
Unlike the Adobe Suite, Sketch was specifically designed for designing digital interfaces. Having built-in prototyping, useful default artboard sizes and shared libraries makes it really useful. Adobe XD is really exciting, but honestly, our files are so invested in Sketch it …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe PhotoShopSketch
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.5 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
GIMP
GIMP
Score 9.1 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe PhotoShopSketch
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(189 ratings)
6.3
(35 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.4
(30 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.8
(14 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(54 ratings)
9.1
(8 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
4.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe PhotoShopSketch
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I use Adobe PhotoShop to do practically all of my business from my home in Turkey. Many customers find the cost of Adobe PhotoShop to be prohibitive, thus they turn to substitute alternatives and illegally downloaded pirated software. Regulations like torrents, sales, and price increases lead to a number of financial issues. Change can be advantageous.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
It is very simple to master and has a variety of built-in tools that allows one to begin prototyping quickly, and can be powered using a variety of plugins for presentations. However, Sketch struggles with more complex designs, particularly those where animations or transitions are desired. It also isn't a good fit for agencies that use a variety of prototyping tools, as results from importing are not predictable.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • Brush customization. There are many available brushes for illustration, and each can be customized to fit the needs of your specific style.
  • Integration with other Adobe products. It is essential that the images I create be accessible in Adobe Indesign and Illustrator, and [Adobe] Photoshop can be placed and edited easily within those programs.
  • Advanced editing. The possibilities for editing photos [are] endless, with new features being added constantly.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
  • Auto Saving your work
  • Great library of plugins to use to make the software your own
  • Easy to understand interface that is very similar to other prototyping applications
  • They have been around for 12 years so you know the support and legacy stands
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Expensive - It is too expensive to buy Photoshop alone, and hence leading the user to purchase the entire Creative Cloud Package though he/she is not even aware of half of those apps.
  • High System Spec - Requires high system specifications to run the application smoothly, and to use it at its best.
  • Process lag - When it comes to large-sized files, the application becomes laggy taking much time even to render a single layer.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
  • Color management can be finicky. For instance, the eyedropper tool sometimes isn’t very precise.
  • It would be helpful if there was a built-in commenting system that included tagging where designers and developers could have real-time collaborative conversations about designs.
  • Sketch is only available to Mac users. This is fine internally, but an issue when working with external folks.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
We get a lot of use out of this software. It's vital for work with production in our industry and has a lot of cross-functionality - creating social media images, retouching photos, editing photos, creating gradients, and more. It's pretty fuss-free in that we haven't had to reach out to support and the program hasn't crashed on us. We are trained on the software (so again, this isn't for beginners), but for detail-oriented designers and creatives like ourselves - it's a no-brainer.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
Sketch is a core tool for us and the cost to keep it going with our teams is low. It provides a good alternative to other screen design tools for our team members who prefer to use it.
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
I've used it for a long time and would consider myself a Pro user at this point. I know where everything I need is, have custom actions set up to make common actions faster, and have my workflows automated so much that everything is easy. Occasionally, a new version of Photoshop will change a common usability feature which will slow things down for a short time before I'm able to adjust, but generally I really like my setup. However, if you're new to Photoshop, it is likely going to take you a while to figure out how you can best use the features.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
At the end of the day, it's just simple. This goes a long way in design and goes even further when your talking productivity, intuitive design and turnover rate. It's not difficult to figure something out even if it's not something your directly familiar with, i.e. if you want to export in certain file formats or change the size of the canvas, you don't have to delay your end product trying to figure it out. Similar situations took me less than 30 seconds to solve without a Google search. That's Usability.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
The support is relatively decent, and they are quick to respond. However, their releases are not great. Sketch could use more robust testing of their software before releases. Over the last four years, I have had many days lost while waiting for Sketch to patch issues with their releases. It's actually a running joke in our office. So, support, good. Releases in the first place? Not great.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Adobe
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Canva is a great tool for creating infographics and it's free with limited options. Adobe Illustrator CC and Adobe InDesign are much more suited for creating infographics, however, I still selected Adobe PhotoShop primarily because of my familiarity with all of the tools and hotkeys. There are always workarounds from with Adobe PhotoShop, and I just haven't taken the time to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator CC as effectively.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
Sketch is great for creating digital assets quickly and easily. It is simple to figure out and easy to use. It has a very clean user interface and isn't a resource hog like Adobe products tend to be. Its export feature is fantastic, generating multiple asset sizes/resolutions in one shot. For anything other than print design, Sketch is my go-to.
Read full review
Scalability
Adobe
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Saved our company thousands of dollars by editing in house.
  • Has given us the ability to do things on the fly and get projects done faster.
  • Having the original .psd files saved has given us the ability to go back and reuse and update photos and graphics instead of starting all over again.
Read full review
Bohemian Coding
  • Sketch has had a positive impact on the amount of time my team needs to spend in meetings gathering feedback. By creating screen views in Sketch and posting to our InVision projects, we're able to collect feedback without requiring multi-person meetings.
  • Sketch is an extremely affordable price point with many free and inexpensive add-on options that allow me to work the way I want without spending a lot of money on additional products.
Read full review
ScreenShots