Sketch Review 2026: Pricing, Mac-Only Licence and Who It Still Suits

Verdict: a focused Mac tool with an honest licence

Sketch is the right pick for a designer or a small team that works on Macs, wants a native app that feels fast and local, and would rather not rent their tools forever. The $120 Mac-only licence is the only serious one-time-purchase option left among the mainstream UI design tools, and free Viewers mean developers and stakeholders on Windows or Linux can still inspect, comment and download assets in a browser.

It is the wrong pick for teams that need everyone, on every operating system, editing the same file. Design work happens in the Mac app; the browser app is for viewing, inspecting, commenting and sharing previews. If a Windows designer is on your team, or likely to join it, the rest of this review is mostly academic.

What Sketch is in 2026

Sketch B.V. is a Dutch company based in Eindhoven that has been making the app since 2010. It describes itself as independent and says it has been profitable since day one, which matters more than it sounds: Sketch is not a product inside a larger platform with other priorities. The .sketch file format is open, so your files are not locked to a vendor service.

The product is three apps that work together:

• The Mac app, where you design. It needs macOS 15 Sequoia or newer since the Florence release in August 2026.
• The web app, which runs in any major browser on any operating system. Viewers use it to view documents, browse starred versions, comment, inspect designs and download assets. It also hosts prototypes and shareable Previews.
• Sketch - View and Mirror for iOS, still labelled Beta in the site footer, for previewing designs and prototypes on an iPhone or iPad. It needs iOS 18.

Six releases in 16 months: what changed

After version 101.9 in May 2025, Sketch moved to calendar versioning and started naming releases after European cities. The pace has been steady and the changes are substantial.

• Athens (2025.1, 27 May 2025): described by Sketch as the largest release it has ever shipped. It introduced Stacks, a new layout tool comparable to auto layout, and Frames.
• Barcelona (2025.2.1, 20 August 2025): Glass effects, concentric corners and progressive blurs.
• Copenhagen (2025.3, 19 November 2025): a redesign for macOS Tahoe with an all-new Inspector, wrapping for Stacks and one-click image background removal.
• Dublin (2026.1, 7 April 2026): selection colors, independent borders, corner smoothing and an eyedropper.
• Edinburgh (2026.2, 23 June 2026): multi-paste, plus perceptual and vibrant gradients using the Oklab and Oklch color spaces.
• Florence (2026.3, 26 August 2026): minimum and maximum sizing for Stacks, negative spacing and expanded effects and shadows. This release dropped macOS 14 Sonoma.
• 2026.3.1 (14 September 2026): the current version, with enhancements for macOS 27.

The web app moved too. January 2026 brought Previews, links you can share with anyone without a Sketch account, with optional passwords and expiry dates, plus a Slack integration and better Inspect. March improved the web layer list and inspector, and July added a Command Bar and better notifications.

AI agents, MCP and Figma import

Sketch has not bolted a generative design assistant onto the canvas. Its AI work points the other way: in 2025 it shipped an MCP server, which lets AI tools that support the Model Context Protocol read Sketch documents, and in February 2026 it published a 'Design to Code' skill for AI agents that works with that server. If your developers already use coding agents, this is a practical way to hand them real design data instead of screenshots.

Coming from Figma is easier than it used to be. Sketch built a .fig file importer and open-sourced it; you open a Figma .fig file from Finder and Sketch converts it. Expect to check complex components and auto-layout frames by hand after any conversion between tools.

Sketch pricing in 2026

Only Editors are billed. Viewers and Guests are free and unlimited, so you pay for the people who design, not for everyone who looks at the designs. There is no free plan beyond free Viewers and the education offer, and Sketch says it has no plans to add one.

• Standard: $12 per Editor per month billed yearly, or $14 billed monthly (€11 or €13). Real-time collaboration, unlimited documents, unlimited free viewers, version history and free developer handoff. 50 GB storage per Editor, one Workspace.
• Professional: $24 per Editor per month, billed yearly only (€22). Adds single sign-on (SSO), project archiving and permission groups.
• Enterprise: $44 per Editor per month, billed yearly. Adds SCIM provisioning, bring-your-own-key (BYOK) encryption, dedicated support, custom reviews and terms, and unlimited storage.
• Private Cloud: contact sales. A one-time setup fee applies, and it is the only plan that offers unlimited Workspaces and a choice of US or EU hosting.
• Mac-only licence: $120 per seat (€108), one-time, including one year of updates. No collaboration features, no online document sharing, no iOS previewing and no free trial.

What it costs per year

• 1 Editor on Standard, yearly billing: $144 a year. On monthly billing: $168 a year.
• 3 Editors on Standard, yearly billing: $432 a year, with as many developers and stakeholders as you like added free as Viewers.
• 5 Editors on Professional: $1,440 a year.
• 1 Mac-only licence: $120 once. You can keep using the last version you downloaded indefinitely; renewing buys another year of updates.

Discounts exist for two groups. Students and teachers get a free Workspace with one Editor seat and 50 GB of storage for a year, and institutions get a free Workspace with multiple seats; renewals are evaluated on request. Non-profits get 50% off a yearly Standard subscription or a Mac-only licence.

The Mac-only licence fine print

The $120 licence is the most distinctive thing Sketch sells, and it is worth reading carefully. It is per seat and includes one year of updates. Sketch's wording is 'Yours to keep, forever', and its support page confirms that after the year ends you can keep using the last supported version you downloaded for as long as you like, but you get no further updates until you renew.

Three practical consequences:

1. You are working alone. The licence excludes collaborative features, online document sharing and previewing on an iOS device, so it suits solo designers who hand off files or exports rather than share Workspaces.
2. macOS still sets a clock. Florence dropped macOS 14, so the Sketch versions you are entitled to depend on which macOS releases they support. A frozen licence keeps working on the Mac you have, but a future macOS upgrade could eventually push you to renew.
3. There is no trial on this path. Use the 30-day trial of the subscription first if you want to try the app, then decide. Mac-only licences can be fully refunded within 30 days of the initial purchase.

Trial, refunds and cancellation

The free trial runs for 30 days with no credit card. During the trial you cannot invite more than three members to the Workspace unless you add payment details, and up to 20 after that. When a trial ends without a subscription, documents become read-only for 90 days.

• Yearly subscriptions: full refund within 30 days of the initial purchase. Added seats and renewals are not refundable.
• Monthly subscriptions: no refunds.
• Mac-only licences: full refund within 30 days of the initial purchase.
• Renewal is automatic, under Dutch law with the court in The Hague named in the Terms of Service.

If you cancel, you keep access until the end of the billing period. After that your documents are read-only and downloadable for up to 90 days, and Sketch permanently deletes the Workspace and all its documents 90 days after cancellation or expiry. Export anything you want to keep before that window closes.

Moving from monthly to yearly billing charges your card immediately and starts a new billing date. Moving from yearly to monthly is only possible near the end of the billing cycle, through support. Card payments are only offered for Standard subscriptions and Mac-only licences, processed by Stripe.

Data location and privacy

Sketch is a Dutch company, but its cloud data lives in the United States: Sketch says Workspace data sits in AWS us-east-1, across several availability zones in North Virginia. Its Privacy Statement says personal data may be transferred to the United States under Standard Contractual Clauses. EU hosting is only available on the Private Cloud plan.

For teams under strict data-residency rules, the honest options are Private Cloud, or keeping files local. The Mac app works with local .sketch files on disk, and a Mac-only licence never puts documents in the cloud at all.

Storage is 50 GB per Editor on Standard and Professional, shared across the Workspace. Going over does not get documents deleted or access restricted, according to Sketch's storage policy.

Sketch vs Figma: who should pick which

Figma remains the default for most product teams, and our Figma review covers it in depth. The real question is whether Sketch's differences matter to you.

Choose Sketch if

• Every designer on the team uses a Mac and wants a native app that works with local files.
• You want to buy once: the $120 Mac-only licence has no Figma equivalent.
• Most of the people who touch your files only view, comment and inspect, since they are free as Viewers.
• You like the idea of an independent vendor with an open file format.

Choose Figma if

• Any editor uses Windows, Linux or a Chromebook.
• You rely on a large shared community of files, plugins and templates.
• You need browser-based editing for everyone, not just viewing.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Sketch cost in 2026?

Standard costs $12 per Editor per month billed yearly, or $14 billed monthly. Professional is $24 and Enterprise is $44 per Editor per month, both billed yearly only. A one-time Mac-only licence is $120 per seat with one year of updates. Viewers are free.

Can I use Sketch on Windows?

Not for designing. Design work needs a Mac running macOS 15 Sequoia or newer. On Windows or Linux you can use the browser app to view, inspect, comment on and download assets from documents.

Is there a free version of Sketch?

No, apart from free Viewers and the education programme. There is a 30-day free trial with no credit card, and students and teachers can get a free Workspace with one Editor seat for a year.

What happens when my Mac-only licence year ends?

You keep the app. You can use the last version you downloaded for as long as you like, but you stop receiving updates until you renew for another year.

Can I get a refund?

Yes, within 30 days of your initial purchase for yearly plans and Mac-only licences. Monthly billing, renewals and added seats are not refundable.

Should I buy Sketch from the Mac App Store or from sketch.com?

Buy from sketch.com unless you are a single designer who wants Apple to handle billing. The App Store version is limited to one Editor per Workspace and has no plugins, no Figma importer, no MCP server and no licence key support.

Where is my Sketch data stored?

In AWS us-east-1 in North Virginia, USA, for cloud Workspaces. EU hosting is only offered on the Private Cloud plan. Local .sketch files stay on your Mac.

What happens to my files if I cancel?

They become read-only after the billing period ends, and you can download them for 90 days. After that Sketch permanently deletes the Workspace and its documents.

Key takeaways

• Sketch has shipped six substantial releases since May 2025, including Stacks auto layout, a full redesign and a much stronger web app.
• Standard is $12 per Editor per month billed yearly ($14 monthly), up from $10 in early 2025; only Editors pay, Viewers are free.
• The $120 Mac-only licence is a genuine buy-once option, but it has no collaboration features and only one year of updates.
• Designing requires a Mac on macOS 15 or newer; everyone else reviews in the browser.
• Cloud data is hosted in the US; EU hosting needs Private Cloud.
• Buy direct rather than through the Mac App Store if you need plugins, Figma import or the MCP server.