Comparison

Paintstorm Studio vs Realistic Paint Studio

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

Head to head
About

Paintstorm Studio

This app offers a professional digital painting experience on iOS devices, leveraging Apple Pencil for advanced control. It provides a vast array of customizable brushes, stroke correction, and intuitive tools for artists of all levels to create masterpieces on the go.

Highlights
  • Advanced brush customization
  • Stroke post-correction
  • Perspective-aware parameters
  • Dynamic and custom interface
  • Mask brush functionality
  • Photoshop PSD and ABR support
  • Apple Pencil integration
Read full description

Paintstorm Studio is the first iOS App designed not only for simple sketches, but professional digital painting of any level, genre and technique. Paintstorm helps you to discover the magnificence and unleash the full potential of Apple Pencil and brings you to a whole new level of drawing. Creating an art masterpiece has never been so mobile. A major feature of Paintstorm Studio is the array of brushes to choose from. We did our best so that you can easily and quickly adjust the brushes suitable to your painting style. Anyone who has ever painted knows it's hard to overestimate the painting tool and the importance of all the seemingly insignificant details. We tried not to miss any of them. Our goal was to create an intuitive, simple-to-use but at the same time functionally powerful tool that brings the process of digital painting to a new level, making it as comfortable as possible. - Full control of all brush options (Incredible possibilities for brush settings) - Bristle brushes of any form and kind - Stroke post correction (You can take an action on any option. Not only on the stroke thickness) - Parameters binding to the perspective - Dynamic interface (Global interface scale, panels scale, opacity, color) - Custom panels - Full controlled mask-brush (Each brush can work as mask for other brush) - Takes underlayer's color while blending - "Close gaps" function when you fill or select - Dirty brush mode - Stroke stabilizer - Usable color mixer - Different gradient strokes - Mirror drawing - Standart tools pack (Lasso, Magic wand, Crop, Fill, Gradient and etc) - Control of the random amounts - Photoshop PSD and ABR supported - Apple Pencil support (Pressure, Tilt, Direction)

About

Realistic Paint Studio

This digital art software offers a familiar art station experience with realistic brushes, pencils, and markers. It allows users to create art in drawing, watercolor, and oil painting styles with a unique color engine and diverse canvas textures. Step-by-step tutorials and live demonstrations guide users through the creative process.

Highlights
  • Realistic color engine
  • Drawing, Watercolor, Oil Painting styles
  • Realistic brushes and tools
  • Realistic canvases with diverse textures
  • Live demonstration of drawing methods
  • Step-by-step tutorials
Read full description

Realistic Paint Studio is a unique digital art software. The program combines the simplicity of traditional tools and pioneering innovations in digital art. No special education is required to work in Realistic Paint Studio. The interface is designed to show a familiar art station with real paper, brushes, pencils, pens, and markers, etc. instead of a complicated and hard-to-understand graphic editor. With Realistic Paint Studio you will forget that you are using a digital editor, being completely absorbed in the art process! Easy-to-use, yet powerful engine allows to draw and paint in any desirable style! - "Realistic color" - Unique color engine! - 3 creative styles: Drawing, Watercolor, Oil Painting "Realistic brushes" carefully designed to convey all the nuances of real brushes, pencils, pens, markers, etc. - “Realistic showcase” - You can instantly have a look at your picture within a beautiful scene - “Realistic Canvases” - 15 types of sketchbooks, paper sheets, and canvases with 45 different textures scanned from real materials. - “Realistic palettes” - Most of the brushes have their own palette's presets. - “Live demonstration” - Instant demonstration of drawing methods for the selected tool - Live liquid watercolor drops - Step by step tutorials - Сoloring with the edge control function

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Paintstorm Studio at none against Realistic Paint Studio's 12. Realistic Paint Studio's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 4 months). On review sentiment, ratings volume, ads and device support 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

Paintstorm Studio costs $12.99 and Realistic Paint Studio $11.99 up front. Realistic Paint Studio sells 12 one-off in-app purchases. Paintstorm Studio asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Realistic Paint Studio holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 368 and 735 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Paintstorm Studio's written reviews are positive against 67% of Realistic Paint Studio's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paintstorm Studio ships an update every 4 months, Realistic Paint Studio every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 6, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Paintstorm Studio versus Realistic Paint Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaintstorm StudioRealistic Paint Studio
Price$12.99$11.99 — better
Rating4.4 (368 ratings)4.7 (735 ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.6% of reviews67.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings368735 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS13.111.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size103 MB1005 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSergei KomarovAleksandr Komarov

Customer experience

Paintstorm Studio

All ratings368 ratings
Positive84.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative11.4%
Written reviews178 reviews
Positive59.6%
Neutral9.0%
Negative31.5%

Realistic Paint Studio

All ratings735 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral4.4%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews343 reviews
Positive67.3%
Neutral16.3%
Negative16.3%

User reviews

Paintstorm Studio

From 368 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful desktop-class features
  • 🎨 Excellent brush engine and blending
  • 📚 Highly customizable interface
  • 💻 Seamless desktop-to-iPad experience
  • 🖌️ Realistic painting simulation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔍 Cluttered and confusing UI
  • 🔋 Performance and memory issues
  • 🔒 Lack of cloud/online integration
  • 📁 Limited file management and export options

Realistic Paint Studio

From 735 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Realistic and immersive painting experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🎨 Excellent brush dynamics and color blending
  • 🎨 Wide variety of traditional media tools
  • 🎨 Aesthetically pleasing presentation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 🔒 Limited export options (no PSD, no transparent background)
  • 🔒 Restricted canvas size and resolution
  • 🔒 Lack of customization for brushes and tools

Bugs and requests

Paintstorm Studio

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on startup or when using certain tools
  • Brush lag and performance issues with large canvases
  • Unreliable autosave and file management
  • Unresponsive or glitchy UI elements
  • Incompatibility with older iPad models

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved brush customization and management
  • Seamless canvas rotation and zooming
  • Expanded layer and selection tools
  • Better text and typography support
  • Integrated cloud/online sync and sharing

Realistic Paint Studio

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when using the camera feature
  • Inconsistent behavior with the undo/redo function
  • Issues with the color mixing in the palette
  • Delayed response and lag when using Apple Pencil

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for PSD export with layers
  • Implement canvas rotation and resizing options
  • Allow for more brush customization and pressure sensitivity
  • Improve color picker and palette functionality
  • Introduce a simple, distraction-free canvas mode

In-app purchases

None

Paintstorm Studio

No in-app purchases

12 purchases

Realistic Paint Studio

One-time12
  • Artistic brushFree
  • Mechanical penFree
  • Glitz penFree
Show 9 more
  • Glass penFree
  • Fountain penFree
  • Calligraphy brushFree
  • Hieroglyph brushFree
  • Diamond brushFree
  • Album with six color sheetsFree
  • All brushes from the VIP boxFree
  • Dragon brush$0.99
  • Crystal brush$0.99

Questions

Is Paintstorm Studio free?
Paintstorm Studio costs $12.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Realistic Paint Studio free?
Realistic Paint Studio costs $11.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Paintstorm Studio or Realistic Paint Studio?
Realistic Paint Studio is rated higher. Paintstorm Studio averages 4.4 out of 5 from 368 ratings, while Realistic Paint Studio averages 4.7 from 735 ratings.
Do Paintstorm Studio or Realistic Paint Studio have ads?
Neither Paintstorm Studio nor Realistic Paint Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paintstorm Studio or Realistic Paint Studio?
Paintstorm Studio ships an update every 4 months, and Realistic Paint Studio every 5 weeks. Most recently, Paintstorm Studio was updated on September 6, 2026 and Realistic Paint Studio on September 20, 2026.

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