Comparison

Looom vs Zen Brush 3

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

Head to head
About

Looom

Create hand-drawn animations with a playful, instrument-like interface. This robust app focuses on loopable animation, offering a dynamic, non-destructive workflow for both beginners and professionals. Explore lines, shapes, and colors in a delightful environment designed for learning and experimentation.

Highlights
  • Hand-drawn animation creation
  • Loopable animation focus
  • Musical interface inspiration
  • Dynamic non-destructive workflow
  • Fluid time control
  • Infinite canvas
  • SVG native file format
Features
Read full description

A new way to create hand-drawn animation. So playful you’ll think it’s a toy, but it's secretly a robust app with a reimagined UI for animators and creators. Taking inspiration from music creation tools, using Looom feels more like playing an instrument than operating software - exploring lines, shapes and colors through loopable time and rhythm. Looom is all about looping animation with a smile. It was designed for professionals and beginners of any age and is already being used by some influential indie animators. A delightful environment to learn, experiment, practice and create drawn animation. Wonderfully musical, Next-gen dynamic non-destructive workflow. FLUID TIME No first frame or last. Looom’s threads are independent in length and speed, always tweak-able. INFINITE CANVAS Lets you go as deep or as far as you want thanks to a completely resolution-independent vector engine. OPEN-ENDED Looom uses SVG as it’s native file format. Your work can be viewed in browsers and opened in desktop animation software.

About

Zen Brush 3

This app allows users to create beautiful East Asian ink art, including calligraphy and painting. It simulates an ink brush with adjustable water and color features, offering a rich expressive range for both beginners and experienced artists. Easily share and edit your creations with various export options and background templates.

Highlights
  • Simulated 3D ink brush drawing
  • Adjustable water and color effects
  • Layer functionality for flexible editing
  • Import photos for tracing or backgrounds
  • Rich background and paper templates
  • Export to JPEG, PNG, and transparent PNG
Features
Read full description

Zen Brush 3 is a drawing app focused on the strong yet beautiful feel of the East Asian ink brush which can be used to perform calligraphy, ink painting and more. The drawing system that brings to life a feeling of silky fluent and delicate painting now allows an even wider range of expression thanks to the addition of "water" and "color". Providing a new simple and intuitive user interface, this app is designed to be optimal for performing Zen art. Simply start the app and you are immediately ready to draw. Anyone, anywhere, can create superb Zen art with this app’s uniquely rich expressiveness. You can also easily share and edit your calligraphy and images with other apps using the Export functionality. Skillfully use the rich background style templates to create and share atmospheric artwork. - The drawing system simulates a 3D model of an East Asian ink brush to enable varied and natural styles of brush handling. - The adjustable amount of water makes it possible to create expressions ranging from powerful edge effects to "nijimi" (bleeding) and "bokashi" (blurring) where colors mix. - You can also enjoy creating colored-ink paintings as well as watercolor paintings by making use of 30 selected traditional Japanese colors. - The layer functionality allows more flexible editing. - Import photos to add text to them or use them as background images for tracing. - Create fascinating artwork with a rich assortment of background style templates. - Traditional Japanese paper templates provide an authentic feel. Features: - 5 main tools (ink brush, color brush, water brush, eraser, blotting paper). - 10 levels of thickness. - 5 levels of water (not applicable to blotting paper). - 10 levels of ink tone (not applicable to water brush and blotting paper). - Color palette with 30 colors. - 89 background style templates. - Drying functionality (fast dry, instant dry, adjustable natural dry). - Layers functionality (import image / color adjustment / move / rotate / scale / reverse left and right / white transparency / gradation effect). - Guide display (character guides / partition guides / grid guides). - Movable toolbar (top / bottom / left / right). - Canvas zoom (zoom in and out with pinch gestures). - Undo / redo (5 levels). - Export functionality (formats: JPEG, PNG, transparent PNG (no background)). - Support for Apple Pencil (1st and 2nd generation). - Support for 3D Touch (where available: iPhone 6S - XS). - Drawing tool selection (finger and stylus / stylus only). - Adjustable brush pressure sensitivity (5 levels, with supported stylus only). - Adjustable tilt sensitivity (5 levels, with supported stylus only). - Gesture functionality (pinch zoom and drag, zoom toggle with 2-finger tap). - 3D brush display (enable / disable). - Pointer display (enable / disable). - 5 levels of canvas resolution with a maximum of 3072 x 4096 pixels (the higher resolutions do not work on devices with lower specs).

Screenshots

Looom4 screens
Zen Brush 34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Zen Brush 3 at 4.4 against Looom's 3.8. Zen Brush 3 also leads on price ($4.99 vs $9.99). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence 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

Looom costs $9.99 and Zen Brush 3 $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Zen Brush 3 holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 122 and 55 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 62% of Looom's written reviews are positive against 60% of Zen Brush 3's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Looom ships an update every 4 months, Zen Brush 3 every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Looom versus Zen Brush 3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLooomZen Brush 3
Price$9.99$4.99 — better
Rating3.8 (122 ratings)4.4 (55 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.7% of reviews — better59.8% of reviews
Number of ratings122 — better55
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#113#84 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB226 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIORAMA ABPSOFT

Customer experience

Looom

All ratings122 ratings
Positive68.9%
Neutral9.8%
Negative21.3%
Written reviews180 reviews
Positive61.7%
Neutral12.8%
Negative25.6%

Zen Brush 3

All ratings55 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral5.5%
Negative12.7%
Written reviews117 reviews
Positive59.8%
Neutral12.0%
Negative28.2%

User reviews

Looom

From 122 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Innovative and unique animation interface
  • 🎨 Intuitive drawing experience once learned
  • 🎬 Real-time animation playback while drawing
  • 📱 Works seamlessly on iPad and iPhone
  • 🎯 Simple and minimalist design approach

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes losing user work
  • 😕 Non-intuitive UI despite minimalist design
  • 🎨 Limited to single color per layer/thread
  • 🖌️ Only one basic brush option available
  • 📤 Extremely cumbersome export process

Zen Brush 3

From 55 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Realistic brush simulation and ink blending
  • 💧 Innovative water simulation and wet ink effects
  • 🎯 Natural brush stroke behavior and responsiveness
  • 🌈 Color palette addition in version 3
  • 📄 Multiple paper textures and backgrounds

Room to improve

  • 🔄 Significant downgrade from version 2 in brush feel
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and app instability
  • 🔋 Excessive battery drain and device heating
  • ❌ Limited undo functionality (only 5 levels)
  • 🎨 Mushy brush strokes at default resolution

Bugs and requests

Looom

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App crashes mid-animation causing work loss
  • Grey screen on launch preventing app opening
  • Drawing not registering properly
  • Frame navigation swiping goes wrong direction
  • Accidental marks appearing from sensitive touch controls
Show 7 more
  • Eraser functionality not working on some devices
  • Zoom controls triggering timeline instead
  • Disappearing artwork when switching frames
  • Export controls not grabbable on iPad Pro
  • Accidental deletion of projects with no recovery option
  • Non-Apple Pencil input not recognized without settings change
  • Performance issues and stuttering

Requested features

23 requests
  • Better export options (GIF, video, SVG with proper formatting)
  • Increase frame limit beyond 24 frames
  • More than 5 layers/threads
  • Multiple colors and brush sizes per layer
  • Frame duplication and copy-paste functionality
Show 18 more
  • Undo/redo gesture support (two-finger tap)
  • Shape tools (circles, rectangles, lines)
  • Background image import for reference tracing
  • Hex color input and color picker tool
  • Partial eraser (erase parts of lines, not entire lines)
  • Double-tap Apple Pencil to toggle eraser
  • Layer naming and hiding capabilities
  • Adjustable frame rate and FPS control
  • Sound/audio support
  • Ability to rearrange frame order
  • Onion skin customization (forward and backward)
  • Static/pinned layers
  • Higher resolution export options
  • Video import for rotoscoping
  • Pressure sensitivity support
  • Animation scene management
  • Seamless looping export
  • Left-hand mode accessibility

Zen Brush 3

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • App crashes when setting maximum resolution
  • Crashes when adding layers or importing images
  • Crashes during high-resolution JPEG export
  • iPad Pro M2 overheating and battery drain
  • Apple Pencil input not recognized
Show 9 more
  • Finger pressure detection not working
  • Brush lag and motion prediction issues
  • Dithering too large at default resolution
  • Support link returns blank screen
  • Cannot delete saved works
  • Import from Zen Brush 2 not functional
  • iMessage function removed without explanation
  • App closed unexpectedly with PSOFT MOBILE message
  • Pressure sensitivity inconsistent across devices

Requested features

23 requests
  • Canvas rotation with two-finger gestures
  • Increased undo/redo levels (more than 5)
  • Grid or guide line display for practice
  • Custom color wheel/palette picker
  • Instant erase without animations
Show 18 more
  • Larger grid options for quadrant practice
  • Brush size slider with fine-grained control
  • Drawing correction/smoothing adjustment
  • Layer blending modes (multiply, etc.)
  • High DPI and vector export options
  • Sketch import for tracing/reference
  • Text tool with adjustable sizing
  • Cross-device cloud synchronization
  • Trial/demo period before purchase
  • Subscription model with regular updates instead of new app versions
  • Larger UI elements and palette buttons
  • Tutorial or guided introduction
  • Gold and silver color options
  • Batch character/kanji saving and arrangement
  • Community sharing feature or official gallery
  • Customizable drawing correction levels
  • Disable finger optimizations for stylus users
  • Motion prediction control for faster strokes

In-app purchases

None

Looom

No in-app purchases

None

Zen Brush 3

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Looom free?
Looom costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Zen Brush 3 free?
Zen Brush 3 costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Looom or Zen Brush 3?
Zen Brush 3 is rated higher. Looom averages 3.8 out of 5 from 122 ratings, while Zen Brush 3 averages 4.4 from 55 ratings.
Do Looom or Zen Brush 3 have ads?
Neither Looom nor Zen Brush 3 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Looom or Zen Brush 3?
Looom ships an update every 4 months, and Zen Brush 3 every 3 months. Most recently, Looom was updated on October 19, 2026 and Zen Brush 3 on October 17, 2026.
Which is more popular, Looom or Zen Brush 3?
Looom currently peaks at #113 in the App Store charts, and Zen Brush 3 at #84. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons