Live sketch is in beta

Sketch together is here. After weeks of building behind the scenes, we are opening live sketch in beta. Open a sketch, start a session, and draw on the same canvas with someone else in real time, right inside the editor you already use.

If you read our earlier post about sketching with friends, this is that feature, now available to try.

What live sketch is

Live sketch lets you and the people you invite work on one shared canvas at the same time. Strokes appear for everyone as they happen. You see who is in the room, where their cursor is, and what they are drawing, without exporting files or waiting for someone to accept a copy.

It is the same Sketchbug editor: layers, brushes, shapes, text, and fonts from Font Hub. The difference is that other people can join you inside it.

How to start a session

1. Open a sketch from your library (or start a new one and save it first). 2. Click Live sketch in the header. 3. Invite someone by email or share the session link.

Hosting requires a Pro subscription. If you are on the free plan, clicking Live sketch will show the upgrade screen with Sketch together listed as a Pro feature. Anyone you invite can join without Pro. They just need a Sketchbug account and the link or invite.

Why hosting is not free

I want to be straight with you about this, because I know it is disappointing if you were hoping to host live sessions on the free plan.

Live sketch is not a one-time feature you download and forget about. While a session is running, Sketchbug has to keep a live connection open for every person in the room. Strokes, cursors, and layer changes move back and forth in real time. That means ongoing infrastructure cost: realtime servers, database connections, and bandwidth that scale with how many people are drawing and how long they stay connected.

Sketchbug is still a small project. The core editor, library, Brush Hub, and Font Hub can run on a much lighter footprint. Live sketch is different. It costs money every time someone uses it, whether the session lasts five minutes or an hour.

I thought hard about making it free for everyone. I genuinely wish I could. But offering unlimited live hosting on the free tier would mean paying those costs out of pocket with no sustainable way to cover them as usage grows. That is not a position I can put the product in if I want Sketchbug to keep improving long term.

So for now, hosting is a Pro feature. Joining a session someone else started is still free. If a friend with Pro sends you an invite or a link, you can draw together without paying anything.

I am not ruling out a free tier for hosting forever. If Sketchbug grows and more people upgrade to Pro, that revenue can help carry the realtime costs for everyone. That is the model I am hoping for: Pro users who get value from unlimited storage, exports, and live sketch help keep the lights on, and over time that might make it possible to open hosting up more broadly. I do not have a timeline for that. It depends on whether enough people find Pro worth it.

If the paywall is what stops you from trying live sketch, ask a Pro friend to host and join their session first. See if it is something you would actually use. If it is, I hope the upgrade feels fair. If it does not, I would rather you tell me that than quietly leave.

Inviting people

There are two ways to bring someone into a session:

• Sketchbug user — enter their email and send an invite. They get a popup to join live.
• Session link — copy the link and send it anywhere. Anyone with the link can join while the session is active.

If someone is already in the room when you open the invite modal, you will see a note letting you know.

What you will see in the editor

When a live session is running, the header updates to show:

• A Live together badge so you know the session is active
• Avatars for everyone in the room
• Named cursors on the canvas
• An Invite button to add more people

If you are hosting, you can click a participant to see who is in the session and remove someone if you need to. Click Live together to open a menu and end the session for everyone when you are done.

Guests can use the same menu to leave the session without ending it for the host.

Why beta

We are calling this a beta because collaborative drawing is hard to get perfectly right on the first try. Connections drop. People join late. Three people draw on the same layer at once. We have spent a lot of time on stroke sync, session stability, and making the flow feel natural, but we expect rough edges.

That is exactly why we are shipping it now instead of waiting until it feels finished. Real sessions with real people will tell us what to fix next.

You will see a small beta label on live sketch controls and mentions throughout the app. That is intentional. It means the feature works, we are proud of it, and we are still actively improving it.

What we would love from you

If you try live sketch, tell us how it goes:

• Did invites arrive quickly?
• Did strokes stay in sync?
• Was anything confusing about starting, joining, or ending a session?
• What would you use this for: fun, work, teaching, something else?

Use the Give feedback link in the site footer. We read everything, and beta feedback goes straight into what we build next.

Try it

Sign in at sketchbug.art, open a sketch, and click Live sketch. If you are on Pro, you can host right away. If not, upgrade when you are ready, or ask a Pro friend to start the session and send you the link.

Draw it. Keep it. Together.