Top 8 alternatives to Wacom pen displays for artists
Let’s face it, more often than not, the stereotype of the starving artist applies - and even if it doesn’t, not all of us can or want to spend a lot of money on art supplies.
Well, here’s the truth: alternatives sometimes work as good as the big brands do, perhaps even better.
So, here’s a list of affordable graphic tablets and pen displays.
First, let’s see what Wacom has to offer.
Wacom is the leader company when it comes to digital products for artists. These products are not flawless, but they’re made with artists and photographers in mind.
Wacom Cintiq is an interactive pen display that comes in various sizes, from the smaller Wacom One to the giant Wacom Cintiq Pro 32.
Wacom MobileStudio Pro is a computer and a portable small Cintiq, much like a Microsoft Surface (side note, if you’re looking for a similar device, you may consider investing your money in the iPad Pro, which is mentioned later in the list).
To discuss pros and cons of all these products would take a couple of hours or another post, so we’ll just say that if Wacom is the number one brand, there’s a reason. In the industry, most artists use Wacom products because of their quality, durability and superior pressure sensitivity and response.
Still, they have one noticeable flaw: the price.
We can’t say that Huion is the alternative to Wacom, but it’s close. Every year their products get better and better and the Huion Kamvas is a good alternative to the Cintiq.
Huion Kamvas comes in different versions, from Kamvas 13 to Pro 22. These displays have a very good resolution, a nice texture applied to the surface of the display (which is a new feature, absent in older Huions), minimum screen parallax, express keys and battery-free pen.
One detail that proves the improvement of these tablets is the former position of the cables that tended to bend and get in the way in the older pen displays. That’s not an issue in the new ones.
The Artist Series Displays of XP-PEN is very similar to Huion’s design and quality-wise. They have the same features (laminated, matte display, battery-free pen, shortcut buttons) but there are slight differences.
The new Artist Displays have a red dial to zoom, rotate, scroll, change the size of your brush etc. It’s a cool new feature that looks more elegant compared to Huion’s touch bar.
This series of pen displays is slightly more affordable than Huion’s.
A lesser-known brand is Artisul. This company has a series of pen displays in various sizes. These tablets have good resolutions, build and the now beloved battery-free pens.
However, there are small things that other companies (Huion, XP-PEN) have already improved like parallax, the texture of the display and driver problems. As seen with Huion, however, Artisul may work on this cons in the future.
This one was a pleasant new discovery. Gaomon’s pen displays seem to be as good as Huion and Wacom’s, but have a much more affordable price.
These tablets offer the standard features (high resolution, laminated screen, touch keys, battery-free pen…) but still have a few imperfections such as parallax and driver problems.
Parblo pen displays are as good and cheap as the brands already mentioned.
Parblo tablets have pens with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity (battery-free in the new models); express keys on the smaller displays (the 22″ screens don’t have express keys); a dial ring (Coast 13/16); laminated screen to terminate parallax (again, new models).
If you’re looking for a small tablet, Parblo may be a good choice.
The Ugee pen displays are still a few steps behind Huions and XP-PENs, but worth mentioning.
The tablet has a good resolution, but a glossy glass screen. The pen has 2048 levels of pressure (vs the 8192 levels of other brands) and is rechargeable.
Not exactly a pen display, the iPad Pro + Apple Pencil is the perfect alternative to the Cintiq if you don’t mind it being smaller but something more than a graphic tablet.
The iPad Pro offers the best drawing experience. The pencil has a very good pressure sensitivity and there’s no parallax or lag - drawing on the iPad is like drawing on paper.
The iPad Pro isn’t cheap - Wacom One costs less - but it’s a good alternative for portability and quality in certain aspects.
Finally, the most affordable tablet, the PicassoTab by Simbans. This is a portable and cute solution for artists that need a small pen display.
The tablet runs Android Oreo, the pen has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity and the device supports Autodesk Sketchbook and other Android apps.
It’s not the most professional tablet and it’s several steps behind other brands, but it’s the equivalent of older pen displays and its perfect for artists that are starting out and don’t have a big budget.
Warning! Non-objective statement ahead.
We didn’t add the Dell Canvas to the list because it’s not affordable (it is compared to the Cintiq, but not that much), it works with Windows 10 only, and it’s not worth the money. If you have a good budget, we suggest going for the Cintiq. Even the new Huions work better.
Also, to make a more informed decision, we suggest watching reviews, possibly made by artists that work in the same industry you’re interested in as they tend to go into details that other reviewers ignore.
We hope you’ll find this list useful!
If you think there are other tablets that should have made this list, don’t hesitate to let us know.
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