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Developer Tools · head to head

OpsLevel vs Procreate

OpsLevel logo

OpsLevel

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit OpsLevelFull review
Procreate logo

Procreate

Design

Digital illustration app made for iPad

From
$12.99/one-time
Free plan
No
Visit ProcreateFull review

The short version

  • Procreate is a raster graphics editor app for digital painting.
  • Procreate starts at $12.99 one-off; OpsLevel prices on request.
  • Only OpsLevel lists service catalogue; only Procreate lists digital painting.
  • Where Procreate falls short: iPad-only application with no desktop version for Windows or macOS.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpsLevel and Procreate actually diverge.

Attributes where OpsLevel and Procreate differ
AttributeOpsLevelProcreate
Starting priceOn request$12.99/one-time
PlatformsWebiOS
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDesign

Identical on both: free tier (No).

Not yet recorded: pricing model for Procreate, founded for OpsLevel.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in OpsLevel

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards and rubric
  • Checks
  • Campaigns
  • Self-service actions
  • Slack and Teams integration
  • Catalogue auto-enrichment
  • Deployment on request

Only in Procreate

  • Digital painting
  • Brush library
  • Layer management
  • Selection tools
  • Time-lapse recording
  • Apple Pencil
  • iPad Pro
  • Cloud services

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

OpsLevel

  • A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot Procreate
  • Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot Procreate
  • Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot Procreate
  • An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot Procreate

Procreate

  • Digital illustrationnot OpsLevel
  • Concept artnot OpsLevel
  • Character designnot OpsLevel
  • Educational artnot OpsLevel
  • Hobby drawingnot OpsLevel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

OpsLevel

  • OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle
  • The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing
  • Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them
  • It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings
  • As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier

Procreate

  • iPad-only application with no desktop version for Windows or macOS
  • Requires Apple hardware investment (iPad and Apple Pencil)
  • Cannot export to cloud storage natively, limiting cross-device workflows
  • High upfront cost when accounting for required iPad hardware

Pricing, plan by plan

OpsLevel

On request
  • StandardOn request
    • Up to 50 users
    • Unlimited catalogued components
    • Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom integrations
    • Customisable dashboards

Procreate

$12.99/one-time
  • Procreate$12.99 one-off
    • 200+ brushes
    • Unlimited layers
    • Advanced blending modes
  • Procreate Pocket$5.99 one-off
    • iPhone version
    • Touch-optimized interface
  • Procreate Dreams$19.99 one-off
    • Animation tool
    • Frame-by-frame animation

Which should you pick?

Choose OpsLevel if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You also want scorecards and rubric.
OpsLevel review

Choose Procreate if

  • You need digital painting.
  • You work on iOS.
  • You also want brush library.
Procreate review

Questions people ask

Is OpsLevel or Procreate better?
Neither clearly leads. OpsLevel starts at On request and Procreate at $12.99/one-time, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpsLevel or Procreate?
OpsLevel starts at On request and Procreate at $12.99/one-time.
Does OpsLevel or Procreate run on more platforms?
OpsLevel runs on Web. Procreate runs on iOS.
What is OpsLevel best used for?
OpsLevel is most often used for a platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an audit, driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progress, giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform team, an organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning team. Of those, a platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an audit and driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progress are not what Procreate is typically brought in for.
What can OpsLevel do that Procreate cannot?
OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns. Procreate covers Digital painting, Brush library, Layer management, Selection tools.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?

It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.

Procreate: Does Procreate work on desktop or only iPad?

Procreate is iPad-only. There is no desktop version for Windows or macOS, requiring users to purchase iPad hardware and Apple Pencil for use.

Source
OpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?

Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.

Procreate: What companion apps are available for Procreate?

Procreate Pocket is an iPhone version at $5.99, and Procreate Dreams is an animation tool at $19.99, both one-time purchases.

Source
OpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?

No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.

OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?

Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.

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