Comparison

Simply HDR vs HDR Plus+

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

Head to head
About

Simply HDR

Transform ordinary photos into vibrant HDR images with exceptional light and detail. This app offers a powerful HDR engine, presets, and adjustable controls to create stunning, artistic, or realistic HDR effects easily.

Highlights
  • Powerful HDR engine
  • Adjustable controls for HDR, color, vignette, and grain
  • HDR presets for one-click results
  • Save custom presets for consistent workflow
  • Six HDR styles (Realistic, B&W, Contrasted, etc.)
  • Library of artistic color gradients
Features
Read full description

Turn your photo in a vibrant HDR with unparalleled ranges of light and detail --- Top Selling App in All Countries --- Simply HDR is a powerful HDR tool that instantly creates stunning and mesmerizing imagery from otherwise bland subjects or compositions. Have you ever looked at a well-executed HDR photo with a dramatic sky and wish you could take a shot like that? Now you can! With Simply HDR this stunning art form is now accessible to everyone. Simply HDR comes with a powerful HDR engine, an easy-to-use interface, options to choose HDR presets for quick one-click results and the ability to experiment with the controls to evolve your own photographic style. Once you’ve found the settings that work best for you ‘save preset’ for future projects. This cool features allows you to maintain a consistent HDR workflow. With six HDR Styles and a library of artistic content you can create both realistic HDR photos or stylized ones—the result will be outstanding work that is captivating, mesmerizing, revealing and beautifully detailed. HDR STYLES • High Dynamic Range (HDR) • Black and White HDR • Contrasted HDR • Shadows and Lights • Contrasted Light FEATURES Fully adjustable control on all aspects of the process: HDR, Color Gradients, Vignette, and Grain. INCLUDES A library of HDArt Color Gradients UNIVERSAL FEATURES All JixiPix Apps come with: Superior Customer Service, Support for High-Resolution Images & Output, Undo, Randomize Button, Quick Presets and the ability to create Custom Presets, Cropping with the ability to specify aspect ratio, Quick Preview, Email, Print, and the ability to post directly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. We also have an online art gallery and invite our user’s to display their artistic creations on it: http://www.flickr.com/groups/jixipixcreations/ *************** “JixiPix turns any photo into a masterpiece. All that is required of you is the appreciation — we’ll take care of the rest!” JixiPix.com “Creative Tools for Creative People” Photography | Artistic | Graphic Apps ***If you are missing presets then please uninstall and re-install the app

About

HDR Plus+

Capture and edit stunning HDR photos with advanced AI and manual controls. Offers RAW image capture and a wide range of editing tools, including custom presets and filters. Unlock full features with a subscription or one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • AI-powered auto HDR capture
  • Manual ISO and exposure control
  • RAW photo capture and merging
  • Customizable EV presets
  • Extensive photo editing filters
  • Create and apply custom presets
  • Edit LDRs with real-time HDR impact
Read full description

Capture brilliant HDR Photos like a pro or easily using the power of Machine Learning. Choose from JPEG exposure capturing and merging to DSLR-like RAW photos. • Auto: capture HDR photos using artificial intelligence to choose the best EVs. • Manual: adjust ISO and exposure time for each area in the scene. Exposure is automatically locked when touching different areas of the screen. • RAW: capture a series of RAW photos, align and merge them to achieve a beautifully detailed, noiseless, RAW photo.* • EV Presets: create your own EV Presets (ex -2, 0, 2) and choose the one you need with a touch. • Disable HDR and capture photos like your iPhone would with control over ISO, exposure time, and white balance. Edit HDR-captured photos or import some from your phone. • Use any of the following filters to edit your photos: • HDR: MergeStyle, Colors, Definition, Vibrance, BW, Skin smoothing, deghosting, depth control • LDR + HDR: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Exposure, Gamma, Denoise, Hue, RGBT Levels, Highlights, Shadows • Create presets with these filters and applies them to any image. • Edit LDRs while checking real-time how it impacts the final HDR photo. • Automatically edit RAW photos individually or for every captured image. Hint for the best result: Auto mode: Move the indicator to a darker area in the scene Manual mode: Before capturing, select the indicator with the biggest exposure (darkest area in the scene). * RAW capturing and editing is available on devices with GPU Family 4 and newer (iPhone 8 and above). *****Subscription***** Capture 4 HDR (JPEG/HEIC) Brackets every 12 hours and save for free or unlock HDR Plus+ by choosing one of the auto-renewing subscriptions/one-time purchase through an In-App Purchase. • Auto-renewable subscription • 1 month ($2.99) • 1 year ($27.99), 7-day trial • one-time purchase ($57.99) • Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration selected) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Current subscription may not be canceled during the active subscription period; however, you can manage your subscription and/or turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. • Privacy policy: https://hdr-plus.com/privacy.html • Terms of Use (EULA): https://hdr-plus.com/terms.html

Screenshots

Simply HDR4 screens
HDR Plus+4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Simply HDR at 81% against HDR Plus+'s 20%. Simply HDR also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.9) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). HDR Plus+'s advantage is price (Free vs $2.99). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

HDR Plus+ is free to download; Simply HDR costs $2.99 up front. HDR Plus+ sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Simply HDR asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simply HDR holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simply HDR has 1.5K ratings behind it against 143, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Simply HDR's written reviews are positive against 20% of HDR Plus+'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simply HDR ships an update every 2 months, HDR Plus+ every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Simply HDR versus HDR Plus+: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimply HDRHDR Plus+
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.5K ratings) — better3.9 (143 ratings)
Positive reviews81.2% of reviews — better20.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better143
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#87 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB134 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJixiPix, LLCCUTEPXL SRL

Customer experience

Simply HDR

All ratings1,464 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral1.8%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews762 reviews
Positive81.2%
Neutral4.1%
Negative14.7%

HDR Plus+

All ratings142 ratings
Positive73.2%
Neutral4.2%
Negative22.5%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive20.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative70.0%

User reviews

Simply HDR

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Great photo effects
  • 💫 Produces stunning results
  • 🔥 Addictive app
  • 🌟 Excellent HDR app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes/doesn't work
  • 🚫 Not true HDR
  • 📉 Poor image quality
  • 🔍 Limited features
  • 🔧 Needs more customization

HDR Plus+

From 143 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Supports HDR bracketing of multiple images
  • 💡 Can import drone/DSLR images
  • 💡 Allows import of JPG and DNG files
  • 💡 Produces awesome results (when working)
  • 💡 Smartest HDR solution

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashing during HDR merge
  • 🐛 App crashes when exporting images
  • 🐛 Manual HDR merging crashes app
  • 🐛 No way to buy premium version
  • 🐛 Broken app support website link

Bugs and requests

Simply HDR

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on iOS 15 update
  • Buttons/controls not working properly
  • Compatibility issues with newer devices
  • Slow save times
  • Screen controls get corrupted

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to merge multiple exposures
  • More filters and editing options
  • Improved performance and stability
  • Rotate image before saving
  • Higher export resolution

HDR Plus+

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • App keeps crashing
  • Crashes during HDR merge processing
  • Crashes in deghosting mode
  • Crashes when trying to merge 3 exposures
  • Crashes immediately after trying to open the app
Show 9 more
  • Won't save images correctly, splits them
  • Crashes with two or three photos
  • Crashes when going to put in bracketed photos
  • Cannot save pics, crashes every single time
  • App crashes in between merges
  • App closes and kicks you out when starting a second HDR merge
  • Buying premium does not remove the watermark
  • App support website link is broken
  • No way to buy premium version

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow selection of image groups for auto-sandwiching
  • Predefined edits for auto-sandwiching (ghost removal, shadow enhance)
  • iPad version
  • Add pictures into the gallery
  • Directions for editing 4 pixel colors with the graph
Show 1 more
  • Full 12-megapixel resolution output

In-app purchases

None

Simply HDR

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

HDR Plus+

Subscriptions2
  • HDR Plus+ Monthly$3.991 Month
  • HDR Plus+ Yearly7 Days trial$21.991 Year
One-time1
  • HDR Plus+$43.99

Questions

Is Simply HDR free?
Simply HDR costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is HDR Plus+ free?
HDR Plus+ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Simply HDR or HDR Plus+?
Simply HDR is rated higher. Simply HDR averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while HDR Plus+ averages 3.9 from 143 ratings.
Do Simply HDR or HDR Plus+ have ads?
Neither Simply HDR nor HDR Plus+ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simply HDR or HDR Plus+?
Simply HDR ships an update every 2 months, and HDR Plus+ every 6 weeks. Most recently, Simply HDR was updated on October 29, 2026 and HDR Plus+ on October 24, 2026.

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