Comparison

impcat vs VMRE BC

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

Head to head
About

impcat

This app simulates photorealistic painting results for gaming and tabletop miniatures. It allows users to customize miniature sections with colors they own or plan to buy, using manufacturer-promoted palettes. The simulation includes base coloring, layering, shading, and highlighting.

Highlights
  • Photorealistic painting simulation
  • Customizable miniature sections
  • Manufacturer-promoted color palettes
  • Automated color complement recommendations
  • Shopping list generator
  • Custom color creation and mixing
  • Color scheme inspiration randomizer
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

impcat (short for Interactive Miniature Painting Catalogue) is a simulator for photorealistic painting results on gaming and tabletop miniatures. This tool gives you a variety of miniature images with individually customizable body sections, that you can paint with colours you own or perhaps wish to purchase. It works with predefined colour palettes, using names and values as promoted by their manufacturers. To achieve a high quality result the system simulates a four step painting process: Base colouring, layering, shading and highlighting. Features: - A set of 6 built-in miniatures, by Artel "W", with up to nearly 30 individually paintable sections - A set of built-in colour palettes, as well as additional palettes from our DLC server (around 1000 paints to choose from, and growing) - A file handling system for importing custom image and paint templates (visit impcat.de/faq for instructions) - Access to a growing online library of free DLCs (visit impcat.de/about for full list of contents) - An automated complement recommendation mode that lets you select a base colour and then automatically applies harmonizing layer, shade and highlight paints, which you can then customize at will. - A photorealistic simulation of the applied paints. - A shopping list generator that collects the data of all applied colours and gives you the links to the corresponding shop pages - Saving and loading options for your colour configurations - A colour creating tool, for creating opaque and metallic paints of any colour you like - A colour mixing tool, for testing mix results of your paints - A randomizer, for getting colour scheme inspiration by letting impcat ramdomly distribute a set of colours across the model

About

VMRE BC

Features
Read full description

Desk bookings and meeting room bookings VMRE Business Center

Screenshots

impcat4 screens
VMRE BC3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: VMRE BC at Free against impcat's $2.99. VMRE BC also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 18 months) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 18.0). impcat's advantage is chart position (#42 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases 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

VMRE BC is free to download; impcat costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

impcat ships an update every 18 months, VMRE BC fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
impcat versus VMRE BC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterimpcatVMRE BC
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating2.7 (48 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews32.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings48 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 18 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#42 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB138 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperDesign Bench - Immersive Agencyzapfloor

Bugs and requests

impcat

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • In-app store not working
  • App restarts when using mixed colors
  • Update broke Apple Pencil functionality on iPad
  • File browser is annoying
  • Importing models on iOS not functional
Show 1 more
  • Touch locations for buttons are off

Requested features

12 requests
  • Add more Warhammer 40K .SVG models
  • Include Citadel paint color references
  • Permanent toggle-off for auto mode
  • Landscape mode
  • Easier way to import minis
Show 7 more
  • Add GW paint sets or equivalents
  • Improve UI/UX design
  • Add option to save work as an image
  • Add more paint manufacturers
  • Improve stability and performance
  • Add Apple Pencil support for iPad version
  • Make import process more intuitive

VMRE BC

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

impcat

No in-app purchases

None

VMRE BC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is impcat free?
impcat costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is VMRE BC free?
VMRE BC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do impcat or VMRE BC have ads?
Neither impcat nor VMRE BC shows ads.
Which is updated more often, impcat or VMRE BC?
impcat ships an update every 18 months, and VMRE BC fortnightly. Most recently, impcat was updated on October 2, 2026 and VMRE BC on September 29, 2026.

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