Comparison

Paint World vs Art Set 4

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

Head to head
About

Paint World

Explore a vibrant world of digital art where you can freely express your creativity through drawing. Connect with other artists by sharing your creations and engaging in visual communication.

Highlights
  • Freeform drawing tools
  • Share artwork with others
  • Visual communication with users
  • Explore user-created art
  • Social art platform
Features
Read full description

In this app, you will enter a world of painting. where you can draw as you will, and you can see pictures painted by others, and communicate with others by pictures, it is very cool, does not it?

About

Art Set 4

Experience hyper-realistic digital art creation with advanced tools for painting and drawing. Explore a vast array of brushes, fluid simulations, and 3D paint effects. This app offers a customizable workspace and professional features for artists of all levels.

Highlights
  • Hyper-realistic art tools
  • Fluid watercolor simulation
  • 3D paint effects
  • Customizable workspace
  • Time-lapse video recording
  • PSD export
  • Layer masks
Features
Read full description

Art Set has been No.1 iPad app in over 30 countries around the world. Now completely re-written with some of the most advanced artistic digital painting and drawing tools ever created! An 'App of Day', this giant new version has tools with incredible levels of realism and many professional features. Exclusive artistically created brushes, from real world art mediums through to the purely digital for all styles of artwork. Watch fluid Watercolor flow and run as you paint. Express your strokes in 3D giving thick gloopy paint you can even etch back into. It's also a must for any Apple Pencil owner! Art Set brushes have many additional expressions that come into play, some deeply integrated, with new levels of sensitivity you may have never experienced before! It's now free to download for the first time ever! INCLUDED FOR FREE : HYPER-REAL TOOLS - Oil Paint, Watercolors, Oil Pastel, Pencil, Biro Pen, Marker, Wax Crayon, Blenders and more! - Fluid dynamic simulation for Watercolor - 3D Paint - Custom blending achieving rich deep color - Art Set keeps track of where the canvas is wet, dry when needed - Turn on Slow Draw for drawing to lag your stroke. Create smooth curves and lines; great for calligraphy! - Blur Filter with localised quick masking - Color Wheel - User Editable Palette - Metallic Colors - Time-lapse Video Recording; share how you made your artwork stroke by stroke. - PSD Export UI - Fully customizable workspace; have just a single brush or tools on every side of your screen. - Zoom, Pan and Rotate the canvas for fine detail - Light low contrast or Dark high contrast mode - Minimalist UI for less interference with your artwork WORKFLOW - Latest graphics technology written entirely in METAL 2 - Supports the iOS Files app to manage or or transfer documents - iTunes File Sharing - Auto save - Split Screen Multitasking - use a reference image whilst you draw side by side - Export to your photo album, email, AirDrop or social networks etc. - In-depth User Guide in the app complete with video - Import photos and images at screen resolution PREMIUM PRO FEATURES - Single Upgrade Unlocks everything : 200 ADVANCED BRUSHES - Wide variety of extra hyper-real Paints, Pens, Pencils, Inks, Chalks, Pastels, Charcoal, Wet media, Stamps, Splatters, Form, Graphics, Patterns, Fabric, 3D Texture, Neon to basic Pixel and Flat Digital - You can try out all premium brushes on a test area before upgrading! DRAWING - Flood fill - Symmetry - Pixel Art - Shape primitives for Ellipse, Circle, Square, Rectangle and Line in any brush - Echo shapes for special FX - Erase mode - use any brush as an eraser - Adjust brush Size, Opacity, Flow, Grain, Loading and Dynamics LAYERS - Layer Masks - Transform, move, rotate and scale - Flip - Adjust Opacity - Layer maintains resolution whilst transformed - Blend Modes - Alpha lock - Cut, Copy and Paste, to and from other documents or other Apps - Drag and drop layers from other apps - Import from your photos CUSTOM HIGH-RESOLUTION CANVASES - Choose any resolution canvas size, the highest being dependent on your device capabilities - Set DPI and canvas dimensions in millimeters, inches or Points and Pixels - Great for pixel art or tens of millions of pixels - if device allows - Papers and Canvases from old cardboard, raw canvas, graph, squared and isometric paper COLOR - Display P3 WideColor on supported devices - Auto Color Sample, allows you to easily turn photos into paintings - Color picker - Toolbar placable HSB and RGB sliders ADJUSTMENTS - Localized adjustments, allow you to tweak all or just part of your image via quick masking - Change Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Recolor, Invert, Contrast and Blur WORKFLOW - Auto backup, saves snapshots - iOS Pasteboard or Drag and Drop to or from other apps - Import photos and images and high resolution Art Set is a wonderful creative addition to any iPad!

Screenshots

Paint World2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Art Set 4 at 4.6 against Paint World's 2.3. Art Set 4 also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (29K vs 3). Paint World's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (95% vs 63%). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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

Both are free to download. Art Set 4 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Paint World asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Art Set 4 holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Art Set 4 has 29K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 95% of Paint World's written reviews are positive against 63% of Art Set 4's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paint World ships an update every 3 months, Art Set 4 every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Paint World versus Art Set 4: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaint WorldArt Set 4
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.3 (3 ratings)4.6 (29K ratings) — better
Positive reviews95.0% of reviews — better63.1% of reviews
Number of ratings329K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better12.4
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB158 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperColin ShockleyLOFOPI

Customer experience

Paint World

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive95.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.0%

Art Set 4

All ratings25,885 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews1,708 reviews
Positive63.1%
Neutral10.9%
Negative25.9%

Bugs and requests

Paint World

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Art Set 4

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when opening color palette or blending
  • Unexpected loss of work and canvas resets
  • Inability to resize canvas or change aspect ratio
  • Brush size and settings not preserved when switching tools

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more free brushes and tools
  • Improve layer management and export options
  • Allow more brush size and customization options in free version
  • Provide better documentation and tutorials
  • Add undo/redo gesture support
Show 1 more
  • Improve color management and palette tools

In-app purchases

None

Paint World

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Art Set 4

One-time1
  • Unlock All$12.99

Questions

Is Paint World free?
Paint World is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Art Set 4 free?
Art Set 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Paint World or Art Set 4?
Art Set 4 is rated higher. Paint World averages 2.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Art Set 4 averages 4.6 from 29K ratings.
Do Paint World or Art Set 4 have ads?
Neither Paint World nor Art Set 4 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paint World or Art Set 4?
Paint World ships an update every 3 months, and Art Set 4 every 6 days. Most recently, Paint World was updated on October 24, 2026 and Art Set 4 on October 29, 2026.

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