Sketch
Ranked 3 of 5 design tools by recommenders
A Mac design app people reach for to throw together quick designs, with local-first, offline use and a buy-outright option. Critics point to the two-machine license limit and a hard-to-reach license manager.
A Mac design app people reach for to throw together quick designs, with local-first, offline use and a buy-outright option. Critics point to the two-machine license limit and a hard-to-reach license manager.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 60%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Offline-first, local-first approach
“Sketch is offline first but has a really stellar online app as well.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: I spent 4 years building a UI design tool with only the features I use” “I prefer the UI of Sketch, as well as its local-first approach”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “Apple has decided to compete for creativity app users”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Native Mac app limits sharing
“having to tell them to download some Mac app and open a specific file”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Thoughts and Feelings Around Claude Design” “being a native app primarily is a bad idea in this year”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “Penpot: The Open-Source Figma” Unclear value, not worth buying today
“I'm not sure what the value proposition of Sketch is these days”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “Apple has decided to compete for creativity app users” “There's no way I'd make the same purchase today.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Figma's woes compound with Claude Design”
Other design tools people recommend
The four most recommended other design tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canva | 27 | 21 | 56% | 11 | — | — |
| Penpot | 23 | 23 | 50% | 8 | — | — |
| SketchThis page | 12 | 8 | 60% | 7 | — | — |
| Pencil.dev | 9 | 6 | 60% | 3 | — | — |
| Lunacy | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
17 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they dropped support for the OS version that mac was stuck upon”
“Sketch has always been the app I use for quick throwing-together of things.”
“I'm not sure what the value proposition of Sketch is these days”
“I prefer the UI of Sketch, as well as its local-first approach”
“Sketch and the Figma came along and sold design teams a world of endless pedantic arguments”
“There's no way I'd make the same purchase today.”
“having to tell them to download some Mac app and open a specific file”
“Except they have a very annoying 2 machine limit and their license manager is a pain to get to.”
“Every action seems slower than Figma and Sketch-my main tool”
“Never understood why Figma, Sketch, or Affinity Designer never implemented it.”
“you can buy Sketch outright without the subscription”
“Sketch is offline first but has a really stellar online app as well.”
“stuff we used before like Sketch wasn't as good”
“Lots of third-party developers making good software helped”
“I am a happy customer of their previous product, Sketch.dev.”
“Sketch has been self-funding and sustainable from day 1.”
“being a native app primarily is a bad idea in this year”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.