Comparison

ArtRage vs LightBox Expo

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

Head to head
About

ArtRage

This app offers a realistic digital painting experience, simulating the behavior of real-world art supplies like oils, watercolors, and pencils. It allows for smearing, blending, and texture application, making it accessible for aspiring artists without the mess or expense of traditional materials.

Highlights
  • Realistic paint simulation (oils, watercolors, etc.)
  • Smearing and blending capabilities
  • Layer support with blend modes
  • Import images as reference or tracing
  • Apple Pencil pressure and tilt support
  • Customizable interface
Features
Read full description

The most advanced simulation of real paint on iOS! Get creative on a digital canvas with smearing, blending oils, delicate watercolor, and much more! Ever wanted to try painting your masterpiece but were put off by the mess and expense? Now you can! ArtRage isn't just about color: It knows how much paint you've used so you can smear it around to spread it over the canvas. It knows how wet your paint is so you can blend it with other paints. It even knows about the roughness of your paper so your pencils can be used for soft shading. It's not just a special effect either - ArtRage is a live simulation of the properties of real artistic media that lets you can get creative with colors and textures using tools you already know how to use! ArtRage takes full advantage of the features of your device like larger canvases on iPad Pro, Apple Pencil support for pressure & tilt, and 3D touch on your iPhone. Join the ArtRage community: Forums: forums.artrage.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/artrage Features: Real world painting tools: Oils, Watercolors, Paint Rollers, Pencils, Crayons and more. Each tool has a range of familiar properties such as how much thinner is applied to the paint, or how soft a pencil tip is. Tools apply texture as well as color, and blend under the brush. Add Layers to your painting and work on individual elements without damaging others. ArtRage supports a wide range of Layer Blend Modes, and layer contents can be scaled moved and rotated independently. Import images, converting them to oil for smearing or as Reference Images pinned to the canvas as a visual guide. Load photos as Tracing Images which are overlaid on the canvas, and have ArtRage select colors automatically as you paint. The interface has been designed to maximize your creative space without hiding away critical functions such as tool and color selection. As you paint, it gets out of the way so that you don’t have to stop and manually adjust panels. Record your paintings! The ArtRage Script system lets you record strokes while you paint for playback in desktop versions of the product at higher resolution. Import and Export using external services such as Dropbox, and iCloud Drive. Share your images on Facebook, Twitter, and any other sharing app on your device. Tools: • Oil Brush, Watercolor, Airbrush, Palette Knife, Paint Roller, Paint Tube, Inking Pen, Pencil, Marker Pen, Chalk, Crayon, Glitter Tube, Gloop Pen, Eraser, Flood Fill. • Paint simulation monitors the physical properties of your paints to allow natural blending, smearing, and other real world behavior. • Preset support to save your favorite settings for later use. • Supports the Apple Pencil's Pressure and Tilt properties, and 3D Touch where available to add realism to the simulated paint strokes. Layers: • Unlimited layers with Photoshop standard blend modes, visibility and opacity controls. Scale, rotate, and position layer contents independently. Utilities: • Record your paintings as Scripts then play them back in a desktop version of ArtRage. • Unlimited Undo / Redo. Load photos as References or Tracing images. Store color samples for later use. Files: • Create paintings up to 2048 x 2048 or 4096 x 4096 on iPad Pro. • Control the texture and color of the canvas to create different effects. Canvas presets can be stored to save your favorite settings for later. • Export PTG, JPG or PNG to services such as Email, iOS11 Files, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, and more. Share images on Facebook or Twitter. Import photos to a new file or a layer, with camera support. Interface: • Easy access pods provide functionality without getting in the way. Elements vanish as you paint so you can paint underneath. Multi-Touch shortcuts for canvas manipulation, Undo/Redo, and Brush Size. • Adapts to suit iPhone layouts. Stylus & Input Support: • Apple Pencil Pressure & Tilt. • Supports 3D Touch. • Includes support for Wacom, Adonit, Adobe, and Pogo styluses.

About

LightBox Expo

This app connects artists in the entertainment industry, offering a mobile guide to events, exhibitors, and programming. Plan your weekend, navigate the venue with maps, and discover your favorite creators. It aims to inspire and elevate artistic careers.

Highlights
  • Exhibitor and Artist Alley list
  • Schedule planning for panels and demos
  • Favorite programming and events
  • Venue navigation with maps
  • Event discovery and planning tool
Features
Read full description

LightBox Expo (LBX) is the Annie Award-winning gathering of artists who work in the entertainment industry bringing your favorite films, animation, games, TV shows and illustrations to life. At LBX, we aim to ignite your passion, fuel your imagination, and propel you to new artistic heights! LBX provides a vibrant space for artists to congregate, meet and celebrate their craft with fellow creatives. It’s a place for artists to share their work with the public, further their skills in their respective industries, and make meaningful connections that will help artists thrive in the entertainment industry. The LBX mobile app provides you with the Exhibitor and Artist Alley list, allows you to start planning your weekend by adding Panels, Demos and Programming to your schedule (and favorite everything you want to see), you can use the maps to navigate around the show, and much more! LightBox Expo takes place every October at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.

Screenshots

ArtRage4 screens
LightBox Expo3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ArtRage at 57% against LightBox Expo's 0%. ArtRage also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 12 months) and ratings volume (171 vs 18). LightBox Expo's advantage is price (Free vs $2.99) and rating (4.2 vs 3.5). On ads and in-app purchases 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

LightBox Expo is free to download; ArtRage costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LightBox Expo holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ArtRage has 171 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of ArtRage's written reviews are positive against 0% of LightBox Expo's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ArtRage ships an update monthly, LightBox Expo every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
ArtRage versus LightBox Expo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArtRageLightBox Expo
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.5 (171 ratings)4.2 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.3% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings171 — better18
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 12 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS10.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB37 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperAmbient Design Ltd.LightBox Expo LLC

Customer experience

ArtRage

All ratings171 ratings
Positive57.9%
Neutral11.7%
Negative30.4%
Written reviews737 reviews
Positive57.3%
Neutral14.8%
Negative28.0%

LightBox Expo

All ratings18 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral5.6%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

ArtRage

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes and loss of unsaved work
  • Bugs with color picker and blending tools
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between tools

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to resize and rotate canvas
  • Improved palm rejection and touch controls
  • Larger brush sizes and more customization options
  • Support for higher resolution canvases and export
  • Autosave and cloud sync functionality

LightBox Expo

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

ArtRage

No in-app purchases

None

LightBox Expo

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ArtRage free?
ArtRage costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is LightBox Expo free?
LightBox Expo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ArtRage or LightBox Expo?
LightBox Expo is rated higher. ArtRage averages 3.5 out of 5 from 171 ratings, while LightBox Expo averages 4.2 from 18 ratings.
Do ArtRage or LightBox Expo have ads?
Neither ArtRage nor LightBox Expo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ArtRage or LightBox Expo?
ArtRage ships an update monthly, and LightBox Expo every 12 months. Most recently, ArtRage was updated on October 19, 2026 and LightBox Expo on October 18, 2026.

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