Comparison

PuppetMaster vs Zu3D Ed

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

Head to head
About

PuppetMaster

Create animated videos by acting out scenes or touching the screen. Record your voice to bring characters to life in real-time. Features motion capture, multi-touch control, and the ability to use custom puppets and backgrounds.

Highlights
  • Real-time animation
  • Motion capture
  • Multi-touch animation
  • Create custom puppets
  • Create custom backgrounds
  • Export and share videos
Read full description

PuppetMaster: Animate. Literally. Anything. This animation app lets you instantly bring to life anything you want, just by acting things out in front of the camera or touching the screen. Your voice is recorded as well. The result is your own animated video you can save and share! The app even has fun guided activities that kids can follow along and do, making arts and crafts and then animating them. Features include: * Real-time animation - you animate in the moment, while you talk, and your puppet comes to life in front of your eyes. * Motion capture - intuitively animate characters just by moving your body in front of the device camera. Use front or back camera. (Best results are usually with back camera of newer devices.) * Multi-touch - animate by touching and dragging the puppet and its body parts on the screen, even using both hands or working together with a friend. * Animate one or two puppets - you can have one puppet on its own, or two puppets where both can move and you can control which one is talking at any time. * Create your own puppets - bring to life your physical artwork, your favorite toys, a person or animal, random stuff like your snacks arranged as a character, really anything you like! * Create your own backgrounds - use a painting you made, a diorama, some interesting place, or anything else you want as your background. * Choose from our designs - the app comes with a bunch of cool puppets and backgrounds already in it, in a cute hand drawn style that you can mix and match with your own creations. * Export and share videos with audio - save a video of your puppet show, complete with the audio of your performance, locally and also to social media, cloud storage, or any other typical sharing method. * In-app streaming tutorials and activities - guiding kids through using the app for visual storytelling, and teaching them how to create various physical art pieces and animate them. On our website and social media you'll find more project ideas, educational support, and lesson plans for teachers and homeschooling parents. PuppetMaster was named one of the Best Apps for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians. It's a great open ended creative activity for children, supports ISTE standards, and is a great way to integrate the arts into any academic subject for a more engaging class. (Teachers say they prefer it to stop motion animation because it's so much easier and faster.) See our privacy and terms here: https://www.shmonster.com/privacyterms/

About

Zu3D Ed

Create stop-motion animations and videos with this intuitive app. Add pictures, videos, sounds, and special effects to produce your own films. Export your creations in various qualities to share online.

Highlights
  • Stop-motion animation studio
  • Video editing tools
  • Import music and sounds
  • Automatic green screening
  • Draw directly onto frames
  • Publish to Zu3D.com or YouTube
  • Export in HD quality
Features
Read full description

This is the school edition of Zu3D. You need a school Zu3D account to use it. -------------------------------------------------------- Zu3D is a powerful yet intuitive stop-motion and video creation app. Create your own films by taking pictures, importing videos, sprites and gifs. Then import & record sounds and music, add titles, credits and speech bubbles. When you're finished just export your animation to share with friends or upload directly to YouTube or Zu3D.com Check out the tutorial video on http://www.zu3d.com/ipad to see just how easy it is. Features: Stop-motion animation -Fully featured stop motion animation studio. Auto-capture - Turn on this feature (press and hold capture button) and Zu3D will detect when your hand leaves the scene and automatically take a picture. Video editing -Zoom out of your film to to use powerful editing tools. Import music and sounds -Zu3D comes with a library of sound effects and music. You can also import audio from your computer. Automatic green screening -Incredibly easy and powerful blue/green screening with multiple keys, and eraser tools. Draw directly onto frames -Add lasers and special effects. Create hand drawn animations. Import sprites and animated GIFs -Combine PNG and GIFs with your film. Record narration & dialogue -Or your own sound effects. Speech bubbles -Choose from a variety of different speech bubbles to overlay over your film. Titles & credits -Add exciting titles and scrolling credits using one of our many templates or build your own. Time-lapse -Create amazing time-lapse films. Publish on Zu3D.com or YouTube -Share your film with friends, family and the entire world on our moderated, child friendly animation gallery. Export your film in three different qualities including HD. -Turn your animation into a .mp4 file that you can share with friends. Retina Display -Get the full benefits of your retina display. Exposure, white balance and focus lock -Easy to use camera settings to create a professional finish. Use front or back camera -Switch between the front and back camera at any point Autosave -Your animation saves automatically so no need to worry about losing your work. Here’s what people have said about Zu3D for the PC "Zu3D is an intuitive and surprisingly powerful piece of software. It can be tailored to cover all age ranges and abilities. " Jason Stansfield PC Pro Magazine. "This is great software! If you want creative, intuitive and motivational stop-motion software then look no further. Everything about this software has been very well thought out. My class absolutely love using it." Chris WildAdvanced Skills Teacher (ICT) "Zu3D is really great software. Really powerful but the user interface is perfectly pitched; child friendly but not dumbed." Dom Breadmore Digital Media Artist

Screenshots

PuppetMaster4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zu3D Ed at none against PuppetMaster's 6. Zu3D Ed also leads on review sentiment (62% vs 39%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs monthly). PuppetMaster's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.7) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, 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

Both are free to download. PuppetMaster sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Zu3D Ed asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PuppetMaster holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 52 and 22 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 39% of PuppetMaster's written reviews are positive against 62% of Zu3D Ed's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PuppetMaster ships an update monthly, Zu3D Ed fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
PuppetMaster versus Zu3D Ed: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppetMasterZu3D Ed
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (52 ratings) — better3.7 (22 ratings)
Positive reviews39.5% of reviews61.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings52 — better22
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS13.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size415 MB333 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShmonster LLCZuLogic Ltd

Customer experience

PuppetMaster

All ratings50 ratings
Positive70.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative22.0%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive39.5%
Neutral13.2%
Negative47.4%

Zu3D Ed

All ratings22 ratings
Positive63.6%
Neutral9.1%
Negative27.3%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive61.9%
Neutral19.0%
Negative19.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

PuppetMaster

Subscriptions4
  • Creative Kids' Activities7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Animation7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Creative Kids' Activities7 Days trial$24.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Animation7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time2
  • Animation$2.99
  • Animation$24.99
None

Zu3D Ed

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PuppetMaster free?
PuppetMaster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Zu3D Ed free?
Zu3D Ed is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PuppetMaster or Zu3D Ed?
PuppetMaster is rated higher. PuppetMaster averages 4.0 out of 5 from 52 ratings, while Zu3D Ed averages 3.7 from 22 ratings.
Do PuppetMaster or Zu3D Ed have ads?
Neither PuppetMaster nor Zu3D Ed shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PuppetMaster or Zu3D Ed?
PuppetMaster ships an update monthly, and Zu3D Ed fortnightly. Most recently, PuppetMaster was updated on October 12, 2026 and Zu3D Ed on October 7, 2026.

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