The best drawing tablets for 2025
Creative pen tablets and displays – sometimes called “drawing tablets” – are essential tools for creative professionals or hobbyists across industries, from comics to animation to film to photography to graphic design to architecture – and beyond. When you’re working at a high level and need ergonomics, precision, and innovative features to level up your creative workflow, a mouse or trackpad just isn’t going to cut it.
These are the best drawing tablets for 2024 – whether you’re a student, beginner, hobbyist, amateur, or professional – no matter what type of creativity you’re pursuing.
Why should I get a drawing tablet?
If you want to get serious about your digital art, a mouse, trackpad, or finger just isn’t going to cut it. You need the precision and control so your creation conforms to your exact vision. You need the pressure sensitivity to mimic the fluid controls of traditional art media. You need the ergonomics for long creative sessions. And you need the efficiency digital art makes possible — ExpressKeys, shortcuts, and digital collaboration.
Precision and control: A tablet gives you precise control that a mouse or trackpad simply can’t match. With a digital stylus, you can make precise movements, which can be especially useful when working on small details.
Harness PC power: In contrast to an all-in-one device or a mobile phone, a drawing tablet connects to your PC, meaning you can use its full power. Run multiple full, desktop versions of your creative applications simultaneously — and save everything on your PC so you don’t have to send and share projects back and forth.
Pressure sensitivity: Most pen tablets and pen displays, like those made by Wacom, are pressure-sensitive, which means when you press down harder with the stylus, the power or intensity of whatever tool you’re using increases. This gives you much more refined control.
Ergonomics: Using a drawing tablet can be more comfortable and ergonomic than using a mouse or trackpad for extended editing sessions.
Which drawing tablet is right for me?
The best creative pen display or pen tablet will depend on your specific needs, preferences, and workflow. Consider all of these options:
- What you create
- Your budget
- Pen tablet vs. Pen display
- The size of the device’s active area or display
- The level of pen sensitivity and precision
- Keys and shortcut options for added workflow customization
Below, we’ve broken down the best options for you depending on whether you’re a beginner, a pro, or somewhere in between.
The best drawing tablets for beginners, hobbyists, & students
The best drawing tablet for students: One by Wacom
With its simple USB connection, One by Wacom is easy to use. It’s Works with Chromebook™ certified, so you won’t have to download or fiddle with drivers – just plug it in and go.
Available in two convenient sizes, it also works with Mac OS, Windows, and some Android devices, too. The battery-free pen never needs charging, and 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity are plenty for basic photo editing, digital drawing like comics or fanart, taking notes or marking up documents, or jazzing up classroom presentations. It even comes with a suite of educational software for 21st-century teachers.
The best drawing tablet for beginners: Wacom One
With a Wacom One pen tablet, passionate early creatives of all kinds get more than just a first-class creative tool. It’s customizable: choose the perfect pen color combo on the redesigned Wacom One pen to match their style. It’s convenient and portable: whether via Bluetooth or USB-C, Wacom One is compatible with Mac, PC, most Chromebooks, and even some Android devices.
Whether for designing flyers for a garage band’s next show, making social media content pop, or learning the art of digital painting, a Wacom One pen tablet is the perfect partner to bring creative passions to life. And it comes with so much more: every purchase includes free trials to a suite of creative and educational software programs, as well as exclusive access to tips, video tutorials, and resources in the Wacom One Adventure program and a trial of Skillshare to extend learning even further.
The best drawing tablet for hobbyists: Wacom Intuos
Wacom Intuos is designed for anyone who’s getting a little more serious about digital drawing, designing, or editing. The battery-free pen, with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, is much more precise and comfortable to use than a mouse. It’s lightweight, sturdy, and the built-in ExpressKeys mean it can be totally customized with keyboard shortcuts. Both sizes are super-portable, especially the Bluetooth Wireless versions – and Android compatibility makes it even more convenient on the go.
Available in multiple sizes and colors, as well as wired and Bluetooth versions, there’s a Wacom Intuos for everyone – art school students refining their digital process on the way to future creative stardom, digital nomad freelancers who need a portable, powerful creative input device, or photographers looking for a capable, durable tablet for when they’re editing on location. No matter who they are, Wacom Intuos can help bring their creative passions to life.
The best drawing tablets for art students and enthusiasts
The best drawing tablet for enthusiasts: Wacom One
A Wacom One pen display is perfect for anyone who wants to level up their creative expression with the intuitive experience of drawing directly on screen. The redesigned and updated Wacom One pen is precise, powerful, and customizable, and the full HD display is bright and vibrant. The 13” size also supports multi-touch gesture controls, nearly unheard of at this price point.
It’s an excellent choice for beginning enthusiasts doing digital drawing, content creation, video editing, animation, or any other artistic pursuit. It has the simplest connectivity of any Wacom display, includes a ton of free software trials, and every purchase gains you exclusive access to tips, video tutorials, and resources in the Wacom One Adventure program.
The best drawing tablet for art students: Wacom Movink
Wacom Movink is Wacom’s slimmest, lightest pen display ever. From 4-6.6mm thick, weighing less than 1lb, and with an extremely slim bezel, every inch of Wacom Movink’s 13.3″ full HD screen is used to powerful effect. This level of performance has never been so portable. It’s perfect for bringing professional power wherever you go: from your dorm to the coffee shop to class to the studio and back.
The best drawing tablet for serious amateurs: Wacom Cintiq
Perfect for serious amateurs and budget-minded professionals alike, Wacom Cintiq features everything needed to take art and design from the sketchbook to the digital realm: the incredibly precise, comfortable, battery-free Pro Pen 2 and a brilliant, full HD display that’s a dream to draw, design, or edit on. Like all Wacom products, it has the build quality and world-class customer support that’s made us the industry leader for 40 years.
It’s ideal for creating fanart or a webcomic, designing emotes for Twitch streams or logos for small businesses, or for professional illustrators, animators, photo editors, or graphic designers.
The best drawing tablets for professional creatives
The best flat drawing tablet for professional creatives: Wacom Intuos Pro
Creative workflows are part work and part flow. The new Intuos Pro is designed to help artists accomplish their work as quickly and intuitively as possible so they can immerse themselves in the creative flow.
The ergonomic layout of mechanical dials and ExpressKeys is perfect for right and left-handed users and their tactile, mechanical feel provides unmatched precision. It also works with Pro Pen 3 and features an improved report rate for reduced pen latency, leading to our most sensitive, accurate, and natural pen performance ever.
It’s the right tool for photo editors who need more precision for tracing out masks or layering, 3D artists sculpting new characters or innovative products, and motion designers working in the highest-resolution video workflows.
The best pen display for professional creatives: Wacom Cintiq Pro
Wacom Cintiq Pro is Wacom’s most powerful, versatile creative pen display – there’s a reason it’s been topping “Best Of” lists for years. Pro creatives love drawing, designing, editing, and creating directly on the anti-glare, textured glass screen, which boasts best-in-class brightness and color fidelity. And the ergonomic, battery-free Wacom Pro Pen has 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity, virtually lag-free accuracy, and incredible tilt recognition for precise creative input.
Some models come with an ExpressKey Remote – 17 programmable buttons and a Touch Ring for limitless workflow customization – and others have built-in ExpressKeys, so your workflow can be customized to be as creative as your work is.