All comparisons

Comparison

Onhand vs Draw Things

Looking for a Draw Things alternative that is simpler? Draw Things is the more capable on-device app by a wide margin. Onhand is for people who want a short menu, no cloud path at all, and a one-time Pro unlock. It is coming soon to iPhone and iPad, so it is not installable yet.

By Onhand · Updated September 28, 2026

A focused handheld image tool beside a large modular digital art workstation

The short answer

Pick Draw Things if you want depth: LoRA training, ControlNet, many model families, video, and years of shipped releases, all free for local use. Pick Onhand if you want to type a prompt or open a photo and get a result without learning a settings panel, and if you want an app that has no cloud path to opt into. Draw Things is the more capable tool by a wide margin; Onhand is the narrower one.

Side by side

What to checkOnhandDraw Things
Where generation runsOn the device GPU, alwaysOn the device, with optional paid cloud compute
Cloud fallbackNone, by designOffered as a paid and free-tier option
PlatformsiPhone and iPad, iOS 26 or lateriPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision, as listed 18 September 2026
PriceFree download, one-time Pro purchaseFree with in-app purchases, as listed 18 September 2026
SubscriptionNoneDraw Things+ at $8.99 for expanded cloud compute
Account neededNo account at allNone for local use, required for cloud compute
ModelsCurated catalog of packs, roughly 1 to 4.5 GB eachSDXL, FLUX.1, FLUX.2, Wan 2.2, Qwen Image, Z Image, LTX-2.3
LoRA and ControlNetNeither is supportedOn-device LoRA training and full ControlNet support
InpaintingYes, with the free fast model onlyYes, plus outpainting
Outpainting and videoNeither is supportedOutpainting, infinite canvas and AI video generation
App Store privacy labelLimited anonymous analytics, described at /privacyData Not Linked to You: purchases, user content, user ID
App Store ratingNot on the App Store yetPublic App Store rating; score and count change over time

What are these two apps?

Draw Things is the established one. It is published by Draw Things, Inc., it has years of releases behind it, and its App Store listing on 18 September 2026 covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision. It runs a wide set of open image models on your own hardware, and it keeps adding more. The tagline on its listing is "Your Private AI Art Studio".

Onhand is much smaller. It is an independently built iPhone and iPad app for people who want to make an image or fix a photo without reading a manual. It ships a curated catalog of downloadable model packs, runs everything on the device, and has no cloud path to switch on. That narrowness is the product, and it is also the reason Draw Things does far more.

Where does generation happen?

Both apps generate on your device by default. The difference is whether a server is ever an option. The Draw Things listing says you can create art fully offline and that your prompts and images stay on your device, with no internet or subscription needed for local creation. Its website also describes offloading generation to Draw Things' managed servers if you want more compute than your hardware has.

Onhand has no such switch. Generation and editing run on the device GPU, and prompts, source photos and generated images are never sent to a generation server. Once a model pack is downloaded, the whole app works in airplane mode. There is no account to create.

How to prove any app is offline: run the 60-second airplane-mode test in the offline AI images on iPhone guide (linked below).

Neither app is a zero-data app, so read the labels rather than the slogans. Draw Things reports a "Data Not Linked to You" App Store privacy label covering purchases, user content and user ID, as listed on 18 September 2026. Onhand uses limited anonymous analytics along with Apple and RevenueCat purchase services, which are described in full on its privacy page.

What does each one cost?

Draw Things is free to download and free to use locally. Its App Store listing on 18 September 2026 shows in-app purchases: Draw Things+ at $8.99, which its website describes as expanded cloud compute and the ability to use your own LoRAs with that compute, plus one-time Boost Bundles at $0.99, $4.99 and $19.99. The homepage also describes a free Community account that includes some free cloud compute. None of that is required for local creation.

Onhand is also a free download, and the recommended fast model is free to use. Pro is a one-time purchase that unlocks more model packs. There is no subscription, there are no credits, and there is no cap on how many images you make. The Pro price varies by storefront and is still being tested, so the app shows the price for your store rather than a number quoted here.

If money is the deciding factor, Draw Things is hard to beat. You can use a very capable app for nothing, forever, as long as you stay on local compute. Onhand only makes sense on price if you specifically want the deeper model packs and prefer paying once over any subscription.

How much control do you get?

Draw Things wins this section outright, and it is not close. Its listing names SDXL, FLUX.1, FLUX.2, Wan 2.2, Qwen Image, Z Image and LTX-2.3, along with on-device LoRA training and full ControlNet support. If you want to train a style on your own photos, steer composition with a pose or a depth map, or work across several model families in one app, Draw Things is the app that does that.

Onhand deliberately has fewer knobs. You pick a model pack from a catalog, type a prompt, optionally pick a style preset, and generate. The free pack is a fast Stable Diffusion-class model of about 2 GB. Pro packs add more looks for portraits and scenes, including an SDXL Turbo pack and a higher-quality model with better prompt following, FLUX.2 Klein 4B. There is no LoRA, no ControlNet, no custom model import and no video.

Two honest limits are worth knowing before you choose. Negative prompts do nothing on the Turbo packs, because those models run at a guidance scale of zero, so style belongs in the positive prompt. Text and lettering inside a generated image are model-dependent and are not something Onhand promises.

Which packs your device can run depends on available memory, not on how fast the chip is. The developer's floor is an iPhone 14 Pro with 6 GB, where the free pack runs; larger packs need more memory. On that phone the developer measured about 7 seconds for a 512px image with the free fast model and about 12 seconds with the XL pack, using the method described on the about page.

What can each one do to a photo you already have?

Both apps edit existing images, and Draw Things covers more ground. Its listing describes text-to-image, image-to-image, inpainting, outpainting, pose editing, scribble-to-image, an infinite canvas and AI video generation. If your work involves extending a canvas past its original edges or animating a still, Draw Things is the only one of the two that does it.

Onhand covers a shorter list and tries to make each item quick. Image-to-image works on every model with a strength control, so you can restyle a photo lightly or heavily. A Refine loop lets you keep iterating on a result and keeps the earlier versions. Masked inpainting, where you paint an area and regenerate just that part, works with the free fast model only. Resize and background removal run on the device, and everything you make lands in an on-device gallery with history.

Onhand does not do outpainting, and its resize is a plain resize rather than an AI upscaler. Results also pass an on-device safety check, since the app is aimed at safe-for-work output.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Onhand if

  • You want to type a prompt or open a photo and get a result without learning a settings panel.
  • You want a curated shortlist of model packs instead of choosing among many model families.
  • You want an app with no cloud option at all, not even one you could enable later.
  • You prefer a single one-time purchase to any subscription or compute credits.
  • You only need generation, restyling, inpainting, resize and background removal.

Pick Draw Things if

  • You want LoRA training, ControlNet, pose editing or scribble-to-image.
  • You want many model families in one app, including video models.
  • You want outpainting or an infinite canvas.
  • You want a Mac or Apple Vision version, or an app that supports older iOS releases.
  • You want a mature app with years of releases and a public track record, at no cost for local use.

Frequently asked questions

Is Draw Things free?

Yes, for local use. As listed on 18 September 2026 it is a free download with in-app purchases, and the listing says no internet or subscription is needed to create locally. The paid options, Draw Things+ at $8.99 and one-time Boost Bundles at $0.99, $4.99 and $19.99, are described on its website as cloud compute.

Does Draw Things work offline?

Its App Store listing says you can create art fully offline and that prompts and images stay on your device. Its website separately describes an option to send generation to Draw Things' managed servers, which is a choice you make rather than a default. Onhand has no server option, so it is offline once a model pack finishes downloading.

Is there a Draw Things alternative that is simpler?

That is the gap Onhand aims at. Draw Things exposes many model families, LoRA training and ControlNet, which is a lot to learn if you only want a picture. Onhand offers a short catalog of model packs and a small set of edits, and it will not do the deeper work Draw Things does. If you only need proof that generation stays on the phone, start with the offline guide linked in Sources and Related guides; this page is for choosing between the two apps.

Which one runs on my iPhone?

Draw Things lists support for iOS 15.4 or later and does not state a memory minimum on its listing. Onhand requires iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 and is not available on Mac. For Onhand, which model packs you can run depends on your device's available memory rather than its chip speed, and the developer's test floor is an iPhone 14 Pro with 6 GB.

Can Onhand import custom models or LoRAs?

No. Onhand only runs the model packs in its own catalog, and it has no LoRA or ControlNet support. Draw Things lists on-device LoRA training and full ControlNet support, so that is the app to use if custom models matter to you.

Is "Draw Things Ai Generation Art" the same app?

No. The app compared here is "Draw Things: Offline AI Art" by Draw Things, Inc. A separate, unrelated app with a similar name, "Draw Things Ai Generation Art" by a different developer, also exists on the App Store. Check the developer name before you install.

Is Onhand on the App Store today?

Not yet. Onhand is coming soon to iPhone and iPad. Join the launch list on this site to hear first. Draw Things is already available on the App Store.

Sources

Facts about other products come from their own listings and documentation, last checked on the date shown. Corrections are welcome at the address on the About page.