Best Alternatives to PaintPal – Draw Together in 2025
PaintPal – Draw Together is a kid-friendly, ad-free drawing app built around private real-time rooms where children can color and create with invited friends and family, plus video chat on iPhone. If you're looking for something different—more tools, broader platforms, or a different collaborative style—these alternatives are worth exploring.
Drawpile
A free, open-source collaborative drawing app for desktop that lets multiple people sketch on a shared canvas in real time. It offers far more brushes and layers than PaintPal, making it a strong pick for older kids and teens who want advanced tools, though it lacks the kid-focused private-room simplicity and video chat.
Magma
A browser-based collaborative painting tool where several artists draw on the same canvas simultaneously. It's free, requires no install, and is great for casual group drawing sessions, but it's aimed at general audiences rather than children and doesn't include video chat or curated private rooms.
Sketchpad (sketch.io)
A free web drawing app with a friendly interface, stamps, and export options that works well for kids creating art on their own. It doesn't offer real-time co-drawing like PaintPal, so it's best for solo creativity or sharing finished artwork rather than drawing together live.
Tux Paint
A free, award-winning drawing program designed specifically for young children, with large buttons, fun sound effects, and no ads. It's excellent for solo coloring and creativity on desktop, but it has no real-time collaboration or video chat, so it suits families who want a safe offline-style art tool.
Google Jamboard / FigJam
Whiteboard-style tools that support real-time multi-user drawing and are free or low-cost for basic use. They're flexible for family doodling sessions and remote playdates, but their interfaces are business-oriented and less playful than PaintPal, and parental setup is usually needed.
Scribble Together
A simple shared whiteboard for real-time drawing with others via a link, available on the web. It's quick to start and good for casual co-drawing, but it offers fewer kid-friendly features, no coloring pages, and no built-in video chat.
Crayola Create & Play / coloring apps
Kid-focused coloring and creativity apps with familiar characters and guided activities offer a safe, ad-light alternative for solo art time. They generally don't support live drawing with a remote friend, so they're a better fit for independent play than for staying in touch.
PaintPal stands out for its combination of private, invite-only rooms, kid-friendly design, no ads, and iPhone video chat—features most alternatives only partially match. Choose Drawpile or Magma for richer real-time collaboration, Tux Paint or Crayola apps for safe solo creativity, and whiteboard tools like FigJam for flexible family sessions. If private, playful togetherness is the priority, PaintPal remains a strong fit.