PanoPainter vs Heartforge
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PanoPainter
Create immersive 360° illustrations and animations with a panoramic canvas. This software supports VR headsets, offering intuitive tools for sketching, painting, and animating in a full spherical environment.
- Immersive 360° panoramic canvas
- VR Painting support
- High-Performance GPU Accelerated Paint Engine
- Massive resolution up to 8K panorama
- Highly customizable brushes
- Layers and Timelapse
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PanoPainter is the first software ever made to enable an immersive experience for artists that want to sketch, paint, and animate on a full 360° panoramic canvas. Its native workflow allows artists to work in an intuitive environment and create amazing illustrations that can also be viewed using any virtual reality headset and be immersed inside the artwork. These are the main features you will find: - Import regular images and place them in the scene - Share across Apple devices using AirDrop - Copy/paste and transform the selection - Immersive 360° panoramic canvas - High-Performance GPU Accelerated Paint Engine - Intuitive gestures to navigate - Dynamic cross-platform User Interface - Native Apple Pencil support - Native Sonar Pen support - Massive resolution up to 8K panorama - Highly customizable brushes - Cloud Storage for device interoperability - Timelapse - Layers - Side panel for quick access to brush settings. - Popup panels. - Height-map tool for landscapes generation. - Ray-traced shadows generation. - Multi-threading for faster computation. - Overall performance optimized. - Import Photoshop Brushes ABR file. - Improved color picker. - Layer blending modes. - Improved Brush Engine with Dual-Brush and Patterns. - VR Painting - High DPI display support More features will be added as the software evolves.
Heartforge
This app is a digital assistant for the Daggerheart tabletop role-playing game, offering tools for both game masters and players. It facilitates character sheet management, campaign building, encounter tracking, and provides a searchable compendium of game content. Features include offline functionality, soundscapes, and guided leveling up.
- Character sheet management
- Campaign building tools
- Combat encounter tracker
- Searchable compendium
- Offline functionality
- Soundscape integration
- Guided character leveling
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Forge your next adventure. Heartforge is a powerful, tactile Daggerheart-compatible assistant for both game masters and players. Whether you’re building a campaign, running a tense encounter, or managing your character sheet, Heartforge brings your table together on iPad or iPhone. It’s designed to be fast, visual, and easy to use. For Game Masters • Adventures: Build, organize, and run your worlds with characters, loot, encounters, and locations. Link content with notes, @-mentions, and embedded statblocks. Invite your players to join to sync character stats and homebrew content. • Encounters: Track combat with tools built for Daggerheart. Manage Hit Points, Stress, and Fear with quick taps. Add adversaries directly from the environment your players are exploring. • Compendium: A searchable library of creatures, loot, equipment, and environments, now with Daggerheart SRD 2.0. Create your own, import content, and drop items into adventures or encounters with a tap. • Embed music and sounds in statblocks, encounters, and your prep notes for instant atmospheres at the tabletop. • Enjoy regular new creatures and environments, each with a One Page Adventure that works as a one-shot or a drop-in for ongoing campaigns. • Handy utilities like a dice calculator and Fear tracker. • Fully customizable Home view that works as your rules reference or a custom GM screen. For Players • Character Sheets: Track your abilities, Hope, Feats, equipment, and advancements in a clean, touch-friendly layout. • Join your GM’s adventure: Enter a join code to link your character to the adventure. Your GM can bring it into encounters and track its status, while its details and stats stay yours. • Level Up: Follow a guided flow to apply new traits and improvements without digging through reference material. • Companions & Beastforms: Manage companion stats and transformations right from your sheet. • Offline Ready: Everything works with or without an internet connection. Heartforge content is written by people, not AI, and the app is illustrated by real artists. Unlock the full Heartforge experience with a monthly or yearly subscription, granting access to all features and content drops. Why people love it • Supports user-generated content, free of charge • Scales from quick one-shots to sprawling campaigns • Tactile, approachable interface for both GMs and players • Built for Daggerheart from the ground up • Works offline Heartforge is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Darrington Press. Terms of use: https://www.heartforge.app/terms-of-use/ Privacy policy: https://www.heartforge.app/privacy-policy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Heartforge at Free against PanoPainter's $14.99. Heartforge also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 57%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). PanoPainter's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (9.2 vs 16.4). On rating, 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
Heartforge is free to download; PanoPainter costs $14.99 up front. Heartforge sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. PanoPainter asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.8 for PanoPainter against 3.8 for Heartforge. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 8 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 57% of PanoPainter's written reviews are positive against 100% of Heartforge's.
PanoPainter ships an update every 2 months, Heartforge fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PanoPainter | Heartforge |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (5 ratings) — better | 3.8 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 57.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 8 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 9.2 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 189 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | OmixLab ltd | Lauri Kieksi |
Customer experience
PanoPainter
Heartforge
In-app purchases
PanoPainter
No in-app purchases
Heartforge
- Heartforge Premium (Monthly)$2.991 Month
- Heartforge Premium Yearly$22.991 Year
- Heartforge Premium Lifetime$38.99
Questions
Is PanoPainter free?
Is Heartforge free?
Which has better reviews, PanoPainter or Heartforge?
Do PanoPainter or Heartforge have ads?
Which is updated more often, PanoPainter or Heartforge?
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