# Animation Desk® Ultimate vs ARIVE

The clearest difference is price: ARIVE at Free against Animation Desk® Ultimate's $9.99. ARIVE also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10). Animation Desk® Ultimate's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 9 months) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 13.0). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

ARIVE is free to download; Animation Desk® Ultimate costs $9.99 up front. Animation Desk® Ultimate sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. ARIVE asks for nothing beyond the download.

Animation Desk® Ultimate ships an update monthly, ARIVE every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and December 5, 2025 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Animation Desk® Ultimate | ARIVE |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $9.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | **[4.0 (299 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-desk-ultimate/id1152147166/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **299** | — |
| Positive reviews | 39.4% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Monthly** | Every 9 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 374 MB | 105 MB |
| Requires iOS | **10.0** | 13.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Kdan Mobile Software LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/318936474) | [Hideki Fushiki](https://appshunter.io/developer/1476660356) |

## What reviewers say

### Animation Desk® Ultimate

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-desk-ultimate/id1152147166)

Create frame-by-frame animations from scratch or over existing media. This app offers a robust set of drawing tools, layer support, and various export options for your animated projects. It's designed for both beginners and experienced animators.

**Highlights:** Frame-by-frame animation creation, Import Photoshop layers (PSD), Animate over videos and images, Advanced drawing tools and brushes, Onion skinning with color-coding, Multiple export formats (video, GIF, PDF, PSD), Add music to animations

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, iMessage stickers, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kdan Cloud | $2.99 | per month |
| All Access Pack－1 Month | $9.99 | per month |
| Kdan Cloud | $9.99 | per year |
| All Access Pack－3 Months | $19.99 | per 3 months |
| All Access Pack - 1 Year | $59.99 | per year |
| 10 Kdan Credits | $0.99 | one-time |
| 100 Kdan Credits | $7.99 | one-time |
| 200 Kdan Credits | $15.99 | one-time |
| 500 Kdan Credits | $37.99 | one-time |
| 1000 Kdan Credits | $59.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Good for beginners/amateurs
- 🎨 Decent set of brushes and tools
- 💯 Excellent for frame-by-frame animation
- 🎥 Useful for creating storyboards and rough animations

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Laggy and unresponsive at times
- 🎨 Drawing tools lack precision and smoothness
- 🔀 Issues with layer management and frame duplication
- 💰 Expensive for the current feature set

**Reported bugs**

- Frames randomly disappearing or getting corrupted
- Layers merging unexpectedly or not behaving as expected
- Crashes when trying to import certain media files
- Onion skin and playback issues causing problems

**Requested features**

- Add more brush customization options
- Improve the timeline and layer management tools
- Implement a better undo/redo system
- Allow importing and syncing of audio for lip-syncing
- Provide more export options beyond just video


### ARIVE

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/arive/id1594847806)

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Animation Desk® Ultimate free?

Animation Desk® Ultimate costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.

### Is ARIVE free?

ARIVE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Animation Desk® Ultimate or ARIVE have ads?

Neither Animation Desk® Ultimate nor ARIVE shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Animation Desk® Ultimate or ARIVE?

Animation Desk® Ultimate ships an update monthly, and ARIVE every 9 months. Most recently, Animation Desk® Ultimate was updated on September 24, 2026 and ARIVE on December 5, 2025.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*