Comparison

CUBE vs Render

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

Head to head
About

CUBE

Create visually stunning videos and photos with unique, real-time effects inspired by popular movies. Apply motion trails, LiDAR-generated particles, and liquid metal transformations to your content. Easily customize and capture in Full HD.

Highlights
  • Motion Trail Effect
  • LiDAR Scanning Effect
  • Matrix Effect
  • Liquid Metal Effect
  • Real-time effect application
  • Customizable effects
  • Full HD video capture
Read full description

Motion Trail Effect: Inspired by "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners", CUBE copies the trail effect when David using the Sandevistan implant. LiDAR Scanning Effect: Sample real-time images and depth maps created by LiDAR Scanner to generate 3D particles (point clouds). Up to 3,000,000 points can be generated. Mixing the 3D particles with real-world scenes will make you feel like entering a surreal world. Matrix Effect: Inspired by Code Rain from the movie "The Matrix". This time, blue pill or red pill? Liquid Metal Effect: Take a trip back to 1991 and become the Terminator T-1000 of the movie "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" by James Cameron. CUBE is an app that combines the powerful capabilities of Metal and ARKit, allowing you to easily create fun videos and photos with real-time effects. Using CUBE, you can: - Instantly switch between effects - Apply effects to people, background or entire image - Customize effects with a range of options - Capture Full HD & High Bitrate Videos Body segmentation is only supported on iPhone XR/XS (A12) and above. LiDAR Scanning is supported on devices with LiDAR Scanner. Support for new features of iOS 16: - Enable HDR by default: HDR is enabled by default on devices running iOS 16, allowing photos and videos to have improved dynamic range. - Introduce 2K photo mode: Photos can be taken at a resolution of 2880 * 1620 for improved clarity.

About

Render

Create complex video compositions with layered media, effects, and keyframe animation. Import various media types, including 3D spatial photos and video, and apply a wide range of visual effects and blending modes. Offers advanced features like expressions and LUT import for professional-grade results.

Highlights
  • Layered video, image, and audio composition
  • Keyframe animation with bezier curves
  • Extensive visual effects and blending modes
  • Import/export 3D spatial photos and video
  • Support for expressions and LUTs
  • Pixel-level inspection and high color depth
Features
Read full description

Render compositions with layered videos, images, audio, visuals and effects. Import and export 3D spatial photos and video. Import media (images, videos, GIFs, SVGs, image sequences and RAW footage) from Photos and Files. A sequence is defined by a folder of images, each image is a frame of a video. Visuals: shapes (rectangle, circle, capsule, star, polygon, arc, line) and solids (color, noise, gradient). Create an adjustment layer to apply effects to all underlying layers. Effects: levels (brightness, contrast, invert), color shift (hue, saturation), blur, transform, kaleidoscope, corner pin, chroma key (green screen). Effect packs: funny mirror, glitch, CRT, smoke, vignette. Mask, displace or luma blur a layer with another layer. Blending modes: add, subtract, multiply, divide, screen, lighten, darken, minimum, maximum, gamma, power and difference. Timeline features: - Snapping of layers while dragging. - Keyframe properties with bezier curves. - Motion blur with blending modes. - Pre-compose layers. - Split layers. - Time remap. Zoom in to pixel level to inspect your graphics. Write expressions for any property. Import and export LUTs in the .cube format. There are rendered previews of visuals, blending modes, effects and samples. Samples is a way to visualize what the composition will look like for a property at different values. The render engine caches all played frames, so re-playing is quicker. Caches frames are indicated by a green bar in the top of the timeline. Render out a still frame as image, render a region or the full composition as a video or image sequence. Projects are saved in Files and media is bundled in the project file. XDR display support. Create graphics in high color depth (16bit & 32bit). Export video in h264 and ProRes on supported devices. Audio is supported.

Screenshots

CUBE4 screens
Render3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: CUBE at Free against Render's $9.99. CUBE also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.1) and review sentiment (83% vs 67%). Render's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly). On ratings volume 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

CUBE is free to download; Render costs $9.99 up front. CUBE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Render asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CUBE holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of CUBE's written reviews are positive against 67% of Render's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CUBE ships an update monthly, Render every 10 days. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
CUBE versus Render: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCUBERender
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.7 (16 ratings) — better3.1 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better10
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer银凯 朱Anton Heestand

Customer experience

CUBE

All ratings16 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

Render

All ratings10 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

CUBE

One-time3
  • Matrix Effect$1.99
  • LiDAR Scanning Effect$1.99
  • Liquid Metal Effect$1.99
None

Render

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CUBE free?
CUBE is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Render free?
Render costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, CUBE or Render?
CUBE is rated higher. CUBE averages 4.7 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while Render averages 3.1 from 10 ratings.
Do CUBE or Render have ads?
Neither CUBE nor Render shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CUBE or Render?
CUBE ships an update monthly, and Render every 10 days. Most recently, CUBE was updated on November 3, 2026 and Render on November 3, 2026.

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