Sketch is a Mac-based UI/UX design tool from Sketch B.V. See 2026 pricing plans, features, pros and cons for designers and teams.
Sketch was created in 2010 by Pieter Omvlee and a small team originally operating under the name Bohemian Coding in the Netherlands. The product and company are today known as Sketch B.V.
Sketch is widely credited as one of the tools that shifted mainstream interface design away from raster tools like Photoshop toward a dedicated, vector-first design workflow, introducing concepts such as reusable symbols that influenced how the entire UI design tool category evolved.
The application remains a native macOS app at its core, supplemented over time by a browser-based web app and mobile companion apps, as the company adapted to competition from fully browser-based tools like Figma.
Sketch's editor is built around reusable symbols and shared libraries, letting design teams maintain consistent components, such as buttons or icons, across many files from a single source of truth.
Real-time multiplayer collaboration lets multiple designers work in the same document simultaneously, with version history preserving past states of a file for easy rollback.
Developer handoff tools let engineers inspect exact spacing, colors, and assets directly from a design file, and Sketch supports a broad plugin ecosystem that extends the editor with third-party functionality.
The Standard plan costs $12 per editor per month when billed annually and includes real-time collaboration, unlimited documents, and unlimited free viewers, making it the entry point for small teams.
The Professional plan costs $24 per editor per month and adds single sign-on, project archiving, and permission groups, while Enterprise costs $44 per editor per month and adds SCIM provisioning and bring-your-own-key encryption for larger organizations with stricter security needs.
For designers who prefer not to subscribe, Sketch still sells a one-time Mac-only license for $120 per seat, which includes one year of updates but excludes collaboration features, online sharing, and the mobile preview app.
The native Sketch app is Mac-only, though a web app and mobile companion apps are also available for viewing and light editing.
Sketch subscription plans include a 30-day free trial; the one-time Mac-only license does not include a free trial.
The Mac-only license is a one-time $120 purchase for the native app without collaboration features, while subscriptions add real-time collaboration, the web app, and ongoing updates.
Yes, real-time multiplayer collaboration is available on all subscription plans.
Sketch is a native Mac app with an optional web component, while Figma is fully browser-based; Figma has become more dominant for real-time team collaboration, while Sketch retains a following for native Mac performance.
Yes, Sketch includes a browser-based web app alongside its native macOS application.
Professional costs $24 per editor per month and adds single sign-on, project archiving, and permission groups on top of the Standard plan.
Yes, single sign-on is available starting on the Professional plan.