Software Alternatives & Reviews

PureRef VS Epic Pen

Compare PureRef VS Epic Pen and see what are their differences

PureRef logo PureRef

The simple way to view and organize your multiple reference images.

Epic Pen logo Epic Pen

A windows tool for drawing over your desktop and applications
  • PureRef Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-23
  • Epic Pen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-01

Epic Pen allows you to draw over any application on Windows and Mac. Epic Pen never interrupts your work, allowing you to continue using your applications seamlessly even with drawings on the screen.

PureRef videos

The Best Free Tool for Artists - PureRef

More videos:

  • Tutorial - PureRef tutorial: a free, cross-platform virtual board for artists!
  • Review - PureRef Review

Epic Pen videos

Write on screen with Epic Pen Free | Zoom in Windows 10 | Magnifier Tool

More videos:

  • Review - Epic Pen Marking Tool - Write Draw and Highlight on your computer Desktop Screen
  • Review - CBT Nuggets Style On Screen Drawing (Annotations) for free! Software Review Epic Pen & ZoomIt

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PureRef and Epic Pen)
Image Editing
24 24%
76% 76
Digital Drawing And Painting
Document Automation
27 27%
73% 73
Graphic Design Software
10 10%
90% 90

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare PureRef and Epic Pen

PureRef Reviews

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Epic Pen Reviews

Scribble on your PC/Mac screen with these annotation tools
Epic Pen is a tool similar to ZoomIt. There are both free and paid versions of the tool. The free version is limited with pen and eraser tool. The paid version has all the features which include Text, Shapes, and whiteboard. Epic Pen has almost all the features of ZoomIt except the zoom and break features. With Epic Pen, you can switch between drawing mode and windows cursor...
How To Turn Your Computer Screen Into A Digital Whiteboard
Now, what about Windows? Fortunately, there are some FlySketch alternatives for Windows users. One is called Epic Pen. This is an open source application which allows you to draw on top of your screen. Epic Pen is free to download but provides only basic drawing functionality and has no support.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Epic Pen should be more popular than PureRef. It has been mentiond 12 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

PureRef mentions (4)

  • how do u guys organize your visual inspiration/refs digitally?
    I mainly use offline means: organising all my files in a hierarchy of folders and using pureref (which I highly recommend) to make moodboards, and ofc an external hard drive to save backups. The only online means I use is google drive for online backups. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • HELP! So I want to trace this Image(704x702) into a Pixel art (32 x 32 or 40 x 40) but when I resize it, it gets like this (2nd picture) and if I don't, then the pixels are too small, What do i do?
    If you just want the image to be a transparent overlay while you draw 'through the image'(with it being unchanged) you can use something like Pureref(pureref.com) to set the image as always on top + turn opacity down a bit. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Hide user name in menu bar.
    If you can’t get it to work inside of max, I thought of a free easy workaround you could try. I use the software pureref to manage and quickly access reference images. You could just resize an empty pureref window to cover your username. Change the color and opacity to whatever you want, lock the window and switch turn on the transparent to mouse option and you should be good to go! Source: about 2 years ago
  • Hello Reddit! this is my 1st time posting and i'm excited to share some of my sketches with you guys. I like drawing dynamic poses, it's a really fun exercise!. These 4 girls are from reference pics out of Pinterest. Suggestions are welcome :D. Have a great day!
    The high kicking girl on the right is in a PureRef board I keep to practice gesture. Source: over 2 years ago

Epic Pen mentions (12)

  • Epic Pen not opening
    So I downloaded the epic pen so I can show things better to my friends on a discord call. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Surface Pro Pen Drawing Presentation software / whiteboard?
    -Nearly all MS Office tools have a draw function. -Snip and Sketch in Windows -Web capture in Edge -I know they are making changes to OneNote, but I don't see them getting rid of it. -Microsoft Whiteboard -You might check out Epic Pen: https://epicpen.com/. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Sent here from r/ui_design .. long shot.. anyone know where or who I can contact or get this interactive User Interface for personal use?? Thank you
    You need a giant touchscreen and a pc, but I use epic pen in my studio- Epic pen. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Best app for Drawing on the Screen
    The only two apps I have discovered so far are Presentify ($8) and Epic Pen (Free|$35 for Pro). Does anyone have any experience with these apps or other similar apps? Source: over 1 year ago
  • Draw on your screen without a toolbar or your stuff being erased when you stop drawing
    Epicpen is even closer to what I'm looking for, but the only problem with it is that there is an annoying toolbar that pops out when you use it. The “hide toolbar” hotkey it has also hides the drawing, and even minimized the toolbar is not small enough to put off the screen. Source: over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing PureRef and Epic Pen, you can also consider the following products

Kuadro - Kuadro is an image viewer that allows you to open as many windows as you want, lay them out as you...

ZoomIt - Presentation utility for zooming and drawing on the screen.

MacinCloud - MacinCloud is a Mac cloud platform that provides on-demand Mac cloud servers, flexible dev workload infrastructure and comprehensive Mac in the Cloud solutions

Krita - Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to seaffordable art tools for everyone. Concept art. texture and matte painters, illustrations and comics.

VirtualMacOSX.com - vmOSX -- is your affordable, Mac-based home on the web.

gInk - An on-screen on-screen annotation software for Windows.