Comparison

Paint 98 vs Procreate Dreams

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Paint 98

Recreate the classic drawing experience of the late 90s. This app offers a straightforward interface for creating and editing images, free from modern complexities. Share your retro-style artwork with ease.

Highlights
  • Classic 1998 drawing interface
  • Image creation and editing
  • Simple and uncomplicated tools
  • Share created images
  • Retro art style
Read full description

Paint 98 is a simple yet powerful drawing tool that lets you to create, edit and share images without all the complications of today's image editors. Paint like it's 1998! -- Questions, comments or suggestions? Send us a line at support@paint98.com Privacy policy: http://paint98.com/privacy/ Terms of service: http://paint98.com/terms/

About

Procreate Dreams

Create stunning 2D animations, expressive videos, and captivating stories with powerful yet intuitive tools. This app offers a rich brush library, advanced frame-by-frame animation features, and seamless integration of video, audio, and text for professional-quality creations.

Highlights
  • Frame-by-frame animation tools
  • Multi-track timeline
  • Keyframe animation
  • 300+ textured brushes
  • Video, photo, and audio editing
  • Real-time rendering engine
Read full description

Procreate Dreams is an award-winning animation app, packed with powerful tools that anyone can use. Create rich 2D animations, expressive videos, and breathtaking stories on iPad. With over 300 beautifully textured Procreate brushes, Procreate Dreams is perfect for creating gorgeous hand drawn, frame-by-frame animations. Highlights: - Powerful frame-by-frame animation tools. - Responsive Multi-track timeline. - Keyframes for motion and cinematic animations. - Record motion or effects effortlessly through touch. - Handcrafted animation brush library. - Next generation, realtime rendering engine. Create frame-by-frame animations: - Explore over 300 beautifully textured brushes to bring artistic soul to your work. - Compatible with all Procreate brushes - Up to 16K resolution for drawings. - Paint outside your stage. - Customizable onion skins. - Automatic, freehand/lasso, and shape selections. - Permanently transform, warp and distort your drawings. - Blend modes and clipping, luminance, and layer masking - Apply permanent filters & adjustments. Compose video, photos, audio, and type: - Import, edit and trim video. - Draw-over your content. - Add voice-overs and music. - Craft titles, type and credits with typography styling, and design attributes. Add animated motion and effects: - Add keyframes to your content for precise transitions of motion and effects. - Modify easing to refine your timing. - Move, scale, rotate, warp & distort animations. - HSB, opacity, gaussian blur, lens blur, noise, and sharpen effects. - Group content to unlock the power of layered animations. Import existing assets and content: - Import video & photos in JPG, PNG, TGA, Procreate, MP4, GIF, and ProRes format. - Import audio in MP3, AIFF, WAV, FLAC, AAC, CAFF, M4A, AC3, and MP2 format. - Import custom and purchased Procreate brushes. - Import layered Procreate files. - Import Procreate Animation Assist as a Flipbook. Share your work with the world: - Export MP4s and MOVs in H264, HEVC, and ProRes codecs. - Export transparent video. - Export PNG sequences with transparency for professional pipelines. - Export your current frame as a transparent image. - Share your .drm files with your audio and video included. Next generation technology - Seamlessly mix drawing, frame-by-frame animation, keyframing, video editing, and compositing. - Real-time rendering makes waiting a thing of the past. - Never lose artwork again with continuous auto-save and undo history.

Screenshots

Paint 982 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Paint 98 at Free against Procreate Dreams's $12.99. Paint 98 also leads on review sentiment (72% vs 41%) and device support (3 vs 1). Procreate Dreams's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months). On rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Paint 98 is free to download; Procreate Dreams costs $12.99 up front. Paint 98 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Procreate Dreams asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.9 for Paint 98 against 3.9 for Procreate Dreams. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 361 and 537 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 72% of Paint 98's written reviews are positive against 41% of Procreate Dreams's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paint 98 ships an update every 4 months, Procreate Dreams monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Paint 98 versus Procreate Dreams: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaint 98Procreate Dreams
PriceFree — better$12.99
Rating3.9 (361 ratings) — better3.9 (537 ratings)
Positive reviews72.1% of reviews — better40.8% of reviews
Number of ratings361537 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.3
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB1.7 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCasl Media LLCSavage Interactive Pty Ltd

Customer experience

Paint 98

All ratings351 ratings
Positive71.5%
Neutral7.1%
Negative21.4%
Written reviews276 reviews
Positive72.1%
Neutral7.6%
Negative20.3%

Procreate Dreams

All ratings537 ratings
Positive71.9%
Neutral10.8%
Negative17.3%
Written reviews2,194 reviews
Positive40.8%
Neutral24.5%
Negative34.7%

User reviews

Paint 98

From 361 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Nostalgic MS Paint feel
  • 👍 Simple and straightforward UI
  • 💡 Useful for quick edits and doodles
  • 🎨 Good for pixel art and sketching
  • 🆓 Completely free with no ads

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy canvas resizing and text input
  • 🔀 Confusing mouse/touch controls
  • 🔍 Lack of advanced features like layers
  • 🔍 Limited canvas size and export options
  • 🔍 Undo/redo buttons hidden in settings

Procreate Dreams

From 537 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Smooth animation experience
  • 🚀 Intuitive interface
  • 💡 Potential for great app
  • 🚀 Powerful animation tools
  • 👍 Clean and simple UI

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • 🔍 Missing key features like lasso tool and layer management
  • 🔍 Lack of brush customization and import options
  • 🔍 Clunky timeline and onion skin functionality
  • 🔍 Unintuitive navigation and hidden features

Bugs and requests

Paint 98

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Canvas randomly resets when zooming
  • Text input not working for some users
  • Crashes when importing large images

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add layers and transparency support
  • Improve text tool and canvas resizing
  • Provide more intuitive mouse/touch controls
  • Allow exporting at higher resolutions
  • Add undo/redo buttons to main UI

Procreate Dreams

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Undo/redo issues, sometimes undoing more than intended
  • Crashes and freezes when working with complex animations
  • Inconsistent behavior when importing assets from Procreate

Requested features

6 requests
  • Lasso tool for selecting and transforming parts of drawings
  • Ability to merge, reorder, and manage layers
  • Custom brush creation and import options
  • Improved timeline controls and onion skin visibility
  • More intuitive UI and better discoverability of features
Show 1 more
  • Ability to set custom canvas size and frame rate

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Paint 98

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Tip$0.991 Month
  • Annual Tip$9.991 Year
One-time3
  • Tip$0.99
  • Ultra Tip$4.99
  • Super Ultra Tip$9.99
None

Procreate Dreams

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Paint 98 free?
Paint 98 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Procreate Dreams free?
Procreate Dreams costs $12.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Paint 98 or Procreate Dreams?
Paint 98 is rated higher. Paint 98 averages 3.9 out of 5 from 361 ratings, while Procreate Dreams averages 3.9 from 537 ratings.
Do Paint 98 or Procreate Dreams have ads?
Neither Paint 98 nor Procreate Dreams shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paint 98 or Procreate Dreams?
Paint 98 ships an update every 4 months, and Procreate Dreams monthly. Most recently, Paint 98 was updated on September 9, 2026 and Procreate Dreams on September 24, 2026.

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