# Anime Maker vs Animation Desk® Ultimate

The clearest difference is price: Anime Maker at Free against Animation Desk® Ultimate's $9.99. Anime Maker also leads on update cadence (every 11 days vs monthly) and review sentiment (54% vs 39%). Animation Desk® Ultimate's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.4) and ads (none vs shown). On in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Anime Maker is free to download; Animation Desk® Ultimate costs $9.99 up front. Anime Maker sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Animation Desk® Ultimate sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Animation Desk® Ultimate holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 299 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of Anime Maker's written reviews are positive against 39% of Animation Desk® Ultimate's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Anime Maker ships an update every 11 days, Animation Desk® Ultimate monthly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Anime Maker | Animation Desk® Ultimate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $9.99 |
| Rating | [3.4 (1.1K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/anime-maker/id405622194/reviews) | **[4.0 (299 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-desk-ultimate/id1152147166/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **1.1K** | 299 |
| Positive reviews | **53.5% of reviews** | 39.4% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Every 11 days** | Monthly |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 11 MB | 374 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **10.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Kentaro Matsumae](https://appshunter.io/developer/290852801) | [Kdan Mobile Software LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/318936474) |

## What reviewers say

### Anime Maker

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/anime-maker/id405622194)

Create and share your own flip-book style animations. Draw with various brushes, manage frames, and adjust animation speed. Upload your creations to a global platform and interact with other users through comments.

**Highlights:** Drawing with touch, Flipbook animation creation, Multiple brush colors, Frame management, Adjustable animation speed, Save and upload animations, User comments and communication

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium Membership | $0.99 | per month |
| 20 frames limitation unlock | $7.99 | one-time |
| Hide Advertise Banner | $7.99 | one-time |
| Background Layer | $7.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🎨 Good for animating
- 👍 Helpful community
- 🤝 Ability to share animations

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Limited frames without paying
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 🙅‍♀️ Inappropriate content
- 🤖 Presence of bots/spammers

**Reported bugs**

- Logging in issues
- Randomly logging out users
- Inconsistent performance across devices
- Unexpected behavior when adding frames

**Requested features**

- Add more drawing tools (e.g. fill bucket, layers)
- Increase frame limit for free users
- Implement better content moderation
- Improve search and discovery features


### Animation Desk® Ultimate

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-desk-ultimate/id1152147166)

Create frame-by-frame animations from scratch or over existing media. This app offers a robust set of drawing tools, layer support, and various export options for your animated projects. It's designed for both beginners and experienced animators.

**Highlights:** Frame-by-frame animation creation, Import Photoshop layers (PSD), Animate over videos and images, Advanced drawing tools and brushes, Onion skinning with color-coding, Multiple export formats (video, GIF, PDF, PSD), Add music to animations

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, iMessage stickers, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kdan Cloud | $2.99 | per month |
| All Access Pack－1 Month | $9.99 | per month |
| Kdan Cloud | $9.99 | per year |
| All Access Pack－3 Months | $19.99 | per 3 months |
| All Access Pack - 1 Year | $59.99 | per year |
| 10 Kdan Credits | $0.99 | one-time |
| 100 Kdan Credits | $7.99 | one-time |
| 200 Kdan Credits | $15.99 | one-time |
| 500 Kdan Credits | $37.99 | one-time |
| 1000 Kdan Credits | $59.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Good for beginners/amateurs
- 🎨 Decent set of brushes and tools
- 💯 Excellent for frame-by-frame animation
- 🎥 Useful for creating storyboards and rough animations

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Laggy and unresponsive at times
- 🎨 Drawing tools lack precision and smoothness
- 🔀 Issues with layer management and frame duplication
- 💰 Expensive for the current feature set

**Reported bugs**

- Frames randomly disappearing or getting corrupted
- Layers merging unexpectedly or not behaving as expected
- Crashes when trying to import certain media files
- Onion skin and playback issues causing problems

**Requested features**

- Add more brush customization options
- Improve the timeline and layer management tools
- Implement a better undo/redo system
- Allow importing and syncing of audio for lip-syncing
- Provide more export options beyond just video


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Anime Maker free?

Anime Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Animation Desk® Ultimate free?

Animation Desk® Ultimate costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Anime Maker or Animation Desk® Ultimate?

Animation Desk® Ultimate is rated higher. Anime Maker averages 3.4 out of 5 from 1.1K ratings, while Animation Desk® Ultimate averages 4.0 from 299 ratings.

### Do Anime Maker or Animation Desk® Ultimate have ads?

Anime Maker shows ads; Animation Desk® Ultimate does not.

### Which is updated more often, Anime Maker or Animation Desk® Ultimate?

Anime Maker ships an update every 11 days, and Animation Desk® Ultimate monthly. Most recently, Anime Maker was updated on September 24, 2026 and Animation Desk® Ultimate on September 24, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*