Is PaintTool SAI or Procreate Dreams better?

Neither clearly leads. PaintTool SAI starts at 5500/month and Procreate Dreams at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, PaintTool SAI or Procreate Dreams?

PaintTool SAI starts at 5500/month and Procreate Dreams at On request.

Does PaintTool SAI or Procreate Dreams run on more platforms?

PaintTool SAI runs on windows. Procreate Dreams runs on Web.

What is PaintTool SAI best used for?

PaintTool SAI is most often used for digital illustration and manga art, line art and inking with pressure-sensitive pens, lightweight painting on lower-spec computers, character and concept art sketching. Of those, digital illustration and manga art and line art and inking with pressure-sensitive pens are not what Procreate Dreams is typically brought in for.

What can PaintTool SAI do that Procreate Dreams cannot?

PaintTool SAI covers Pressure-Sensitive Tablet Support, Anti-Aliased Brushes, 16-bit ARGB Color Channels, Lightweight Performance.

Design Tools · head to head

PaintTool SAI vs Procreate Dreams

PaintTool SAI

Design Tools

Lightweight digital painting and illustration software for Windows

From: 5500/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Procreate Dreams

Art

Edit. Animate. Create.

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: PaintTool SAI windows-only software with no native Mac or Linux version.; Procreate Dreams requires iPadOS 16.3 and is exclusive to iPad; track capacity varies by device, with the base iPad (A16) limited to 1 track at up to 4K

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which PaintTool SAI and Procreate Dreams actually diverge.

Attributes where PaintTool SAI and Procreate Dreams differ
Attribute	PaintTool SAI	Procreate Dreams
Starting price	5500/month	On request
Platforms	windows	Web
Category	Design Tools	Art

Identical on both: pricing model (one-time), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 PaintTool SAI

Pressure-Sensitive Tablet Support
Anti-Aliased Brushes
16-bit ARGB Color Channels
Lightweight Performance
Crash Data Protection

Only in Procreate Dreams

Nothing recorded that PaintTool SAI does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

PaintTool SAI

Digital illustration and manga artnot Procreate Dreams
Line art and inking with pressure-sensitive pensnot Procreate Dreams
Lightweight painting on lower-spec computersnot Procreate Dreams
Character and concept art sketchingnot Procreate Dreams

Procreate Dreams

No use cases recorded yet. See the Procreate Dreams review.

Where each one falls short

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

PaintTool SAI

Windows-only software with no native Mac or Linux version.
Only supports 32-bit operation, lacking modern 64-bit performance benefits.
Lacks the advanced brush engine customization and layer effects found in tools like Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint.
No cloud sync or mobile app, unlike many modern illustration tools.

Procreate Dreams

Requires iPadOS 16.3 and is exclusive to iPad; track capacity varies by device, with the base iPad (A16) limited to 1 track at up to 4K
8K video support is not yet available and is listed as coming in a future release

Pricing, plan by plan

PaintTool SAI

5500/month

Standard License$5500/month
- Perpetual license
- All 1.x.x minor updates
- Free upgrade path to version 2

Procreate Dreams

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Procreate Dreams review.

Which should you pick?

Choose PaintTool SAI if

You need pressure-sensitive tablet support.
You work on windows.
You also want anti-aliased brushes.

PaintTool SAI review

Choose Procreate Dreams if

Nothing in the data separates Procreate Dreams from PaintTool SAI on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Procreate Dreams review

Questions people ask

Is PaintTool SAI or Procreate Dreams better?: Neither clearly leads. PaintTool SAI starts at 5500/month and Procreate Dreams at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, PaintTool SAI or Procreate Dreams?: PaintTool SAI starts at 5500/month and Procreate Dreams at On request.
Does PaintTool SAI or Procreate Dreams run on more platforms?: PaintTool SAI runs on windows. Procreate Dreams runs on Web.
What is PaintTool SAI best used for?: PaintTool SAI is most often used for digital illustration and manga art, line art and inking with pressure-sensitive pens, lightweight painting on lower-spec computers, character and concept art sketching. Of those, digital illustration and manga art and line art and inking with pressure-sensitive pens are not what Procreate Dreams is typically brought in for.
What can PaintTool SAI do that Procreate Dreams cannot?: PaintTool SAI covers Pressure-Sensitive Tablet Support, Anti-Aliased Brushes, 16-bit ARGB Color Channels, Lightweight Performance.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

PaintTool SAI: Is there a free trial for PaintTool SAI?

Yes, PaintTool SAI offers a 31-day free trial with full functionality before requiring purchase of a license.

Source

PaintTool SAI: What does the license cover?

The one-time 5,500 JPY purchase provides a perpetual license covering all minor updates within version 1.x.x; a major version 2 upgrade is offered for free.

Source

PaintTool SAI: What operating systems are supported?

PaintTool SAI runs on Windows XP through Windows 11, but only in 32-bit mode, requiring at least a 450MHz Pentium processor and 256MB of RAM.

Source

PaintTool SAI vs Procreate Dreams

PaintTool SAI

Procreate Dreams

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in PaintTool SAI

Only in Procreate Dreams

What people use each for

PaintTool SAI

Procreate Dreams

Where each one falls short

PaintTool SAI

Procreate Dreams

Pricing, plan by plan

PaintTool SAI

Procreate Dreams

Which should you pick?

Choose PaintTool SAI if

Choose Procreate Dreams if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on PaintTool SAI

More on Procreate Dreams

Keep looking

Other head to heads