Comparison

Drawing Pad vs Simple Drawing Pad

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

Head to head
About

Drawing Pad

Unleash your creativity with a mobile art studio for all ages. This app offers a wide array of realistic art tools, from crayons and markers to paint brushes and colored pencils. Easily import photos as backgrounds or stickers, blend colors, and share your masterpieces.

Highlights
  • Photo-realistic art tools
  • Crayons, markers, paint brushes, colored pencils
  • Stickers and roller pens
  • Photo background import
  • Color blending tool
  • Export and sharing options
Features
Read full description

Get the app that was mentioned on TV ABC 7 CHICAGO as a top school app! Watch http://abc7chicago.com/education/back-to-school-tech-shopping-tips/952242/ short link: abc7.ws/1h5RDj9 Previously iPad App of the Week in 12 countries! (http://drawingpadapp.com/apple-features-drawing-pad-as-ipad-app-of-the-week) Drawing Pad is a mobile art studio for all ages! Create your own art using photo-realistic crayons, markers, paint brushes, colored pencils, stickers, roller pens and more! ■ ACCOLADES Winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award (bit.ly/parents-choice) Featured on nytimes.com (bit.ly/nytimes-drawingpad) Featured on usatoday.com (usat.ly/2x5xrKx) Featured on the iLounge 2011 Buyer's Guide 100 Essential Apps of 2010! Featured by iLounge as First runner up to kids' iPad App of the Year! Featured on Gizmodo's 2010 Gift Guide (bit.ly/gizmodo-drawingpad) Featured in November 2010 MacWorld Magazine in the UK 4 out of 5 stars Awarded Editor's Choice Award from Children's Technology Review ■ IN BOOKS Featured in the book “iPad Apps for Kids for Dummies” - by Jinny Gudmundsen Featured in the O’Reilly book “Best iPad Apps” - by Peter Meyers ■ IN MUSEUMS As seen in the Star Studio Exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art! (bit.ly/ima-museum) ■ QUOTES "Drawing Pad is a fantastic drawing app!" 9to5mac.com “Wonderful chalk tools! You can almost taste the dust!” Mickey Paraskevas, Illustrator and Creator of the Maggie and the Ferocious Beast TV show. "Drawing Pad is a fun and easy to use iPad art app for kids and adults alike. It has very visual menus giving you instant access to a broad range of useful art tools. There are amazing features for kids including downloadable colouring books and additional advanced features for more ambitious artists." Kyle Lambert - Artist - www.kylelambert.com ■ HOW TO USE DRAWING PAD Watch the video inside the App! (or drawingpadapp.com/tutorial) Tap a tool, choose a color, and start drawing. It’s really that simple. Your artwork is automatically saved in the Drawing Pad album. For brush options like size and spacing, tap the brush thumbnail at the bottom of the drawer. Import photo backgrounds by first tapping the stationary icon in the drawer, then the filmstrip. Import photo stickers by first tapping the sticker icon, then the stack of photos. Use one finger to move your photo and two fingers to rotate and resize. Blender tool allows you to soften and blend colors! ■ SHARING OPTIONS Export to the Device Camera Roll, print via AirPrint, share via Email, and other favorite apps like Instagram & Facebook. Even assign your artwork to a contact in your address book! ■ ALL THESE TOOLS ARE INCLUDED! Crayons Markers Paint Brushes Colored Pencils Sketch Pencils Roller Stamp Pens Erasures Stickers Construction Paper Blenders Text Sticker Tool Photo Background Import Photo Stickers Gradient Brushes & Crayons Advanced Brush Control Color wheel and Gradient Panel Pinch Zoom Autosave Two Coloring Books ■ EXTRA FUN Download extra coloring books via in app purchase! Restore prior "Coloring Book in app purchases" by tapping the "Redeem prior purchase" button on the Coloring Book store details page. See drawingpadapp.com/restore ■ DEMONSTRATION Video at http://drawingpadapp.com ■ CONTACT Email us at "support" -at- "drawingpadapp.com" BUY NOW! Don't have an iPad yet? Don't let it stop you! Great price today! Buy now and tell your friends. CREDITS: "Birds," "Panda Bear," and "Turtle" by Igor Cheban instagram.com/icheban "Dinosaur," and "Kitten" by Kyle Lambert www.kylelambert.com

About

Simple Drawing Pad

Easily create drawings, take notes, or doodle with a variety of colors and pen thicknesses. Supports multi-touch for collaborative drawing and allows you to save your creations.

Highlights
  • Draw pictures
  • Take handwritten notes
  • Doodle
  • 16 color options
  • Adjustable pen thickness
  • Multi-touch support
  • Save drawings
Features
Read full description

A simple drawing app. You can easily use it to draw pictures, take handwritten notes, doodle, etc. There are 16 different colors to choose from You can also change the thickness of the pen Multi-touch support allows multiple people to draw at the same time You can also save the images you draw

Screenshots

Simple Drawing Pad3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Simple Drawing Pad at Free against Drawing Pad's $5.99. Simple Drawing Pad also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 11) and review sentiment (100% vs 83%). Drawing Pad's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.2 vs 3.9).

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

Simple Drawing Pad is free to download; Drawing Pad costs $5.99 up front. Drawing Pad sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Simple Drawing Pad asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drawing Pad holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 123 and 35 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of Drawing Pad's written reviews are positive against 100% of Simple Drawing Pad's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drawing Pad ships an update monthly, Simple Drawing Pad every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard11 real differences · 0 level
Drawing Pad versus Simple Drawing Pad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrawing PadSimple Drawing Pad
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (123 ratings) — better3.9 (35 ratings)
Positive reviews82.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings123 — better35
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#130 — better—
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size223 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMurtha Design LLCRyouhei Azuma

Customer experience

Drawing Pad

All ratings123 ratings
Positive80.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative15.4%
Written reviews583 reviews
Positive82.7%
Neutral7.0%
Negative10.3%

Simple Drawing Pad

All ratings35 ratings
Positive74.3%
Neutral8.6%
Negative17.1%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Drawing Pad

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes and deletes drawings
  • Undo button erases too much work
  • Drawings disappear from album
  • Sticker placement issues
  • Incompatible with newer iPads

Requested features

10 requests
  • Add layers feature
  • Implement zoom/pan functionality
  • Add text tool
  • Provide more advanced drawing tools
  • Include more adult-oriented coloring books
Show 5 more
  • Improve sticker/stamp UI
  • Add sound effects
  • Implement auto-save feature
  • Add ability to mix/create custom colors
  • Provide more brushes/pencils (e.g. HB-9B pencils)

Simple Drawing Pad

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Drawing Pad

One-time11
  • Occupations Coloring BookFree
  • More Fun Coloring BookFree
  • Fairy Tale Coloring BookFree
Show 8 more
  • Sea Life Coloring BookFree
  • Winter Holiday Coloring BookFree
  • Farm Coloring BookFree
  • Dinosaur Coloring BookFree
  • Robots Coloring BookFree
  • Space Coloring BookFree
  • Halloween Coloring BookFree
  • Adult Coloring Book 1Free
None

Simple Drawing Pad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drawing Pad free?
Drawing Pad costs $5.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Simple Drawing Pad free?
Simple Drawing Pad is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Drawing Pad or Simple Drawing Pad?
Drawing Pad is rated higher. Drawing Pad averages 4.2 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while Simple Drawing Pad averages 3.9 from 35 ratings.
Do Drawing Pad or Simple Drawing Pad have ads?
Simple Drawing Pad shows ads; Drawing Pad does not.
Which is updated more often, Drawing Pad or Simple Drawing Pad?
Drawing Pad ships an update monthly, and Simple Drawing Pad every 2 months. Most recently, Drawing Pad was updated on October 18, 2026 and Simple Drawing Pad on October 7, 2026.

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