Comparison

ibis Paint vs HEAVYPAINT Classic

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

Head to head
About

ibis Paint

This app offers a comprehensive suite of tools for drawing and animation, suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike. It provides a vast array of brushes, materials, and filters, enabling the creation of illustrations, animations, and even videos with music. The ad-free experience ensures uninterrupted creativity.

Highlights
  • Over 130,000 brushes
  • 30,000+ materials
  • Frame-by-frame animation
  • Vector tools
  • 86 image filters
  • Time-lapse video recording
Features
Read full description

For everyone around the world who wants to draw and animate, freely and without pressure. ibisPaint is a full-featured illustration and animation app for smartphones and tablets, with over 500 million cumulative downloads across the series. "Drawing looks hard" — this app is made especially for people who think that. A creative experience that doesn't compromise, an interface simple enough to use without hesitation, and a comfortable familiarity that grows the more you use it. ibisPaint keeps serving as an easy entry point for anyone to start "drawing," while continually expanding what's possible — from a single illustration to frame-by-frame animation, and on to videos with background music and audio. This app is the ad-free version of ibisPaint X. Unlocking all features additionally requires purchasing Premium Membership (an in-app purchase); in that case, downloading ibisPaint X and purchasing Premium Membership there works out cheaper. With over 130,000 brushes, 30,000+ materials, 3,000+ fonts, 86 image filters, 46 screentones, 27 layer blending modes, vector tools, a reference window, radial and symmetry rulers, animated filters, and an AI Disturbance feature, ibisPaint packs in serious functionality that rivals PC illustration software. It's a one-stop app that goes beyond drawing illustrations — into animation production, and even recording and sharing your creative process as a time-lapse video. It's chosen by people of all ages, countries, and experience levels around the world. *Drawing Tutorial YouTube Channel We post lots of videos on how to make the most of ibisPaint. Please subscribe! https://youtube.com/ibisPaint *Supported Digital Styluses https://ibispaint.com/stylus/supported_digital_stylus.jsp?platformType=1 *About Purchase Plans https://ibispaint.com/lecture/index.jsp?no=26 * If you do not cancel auto-renewal at least 24 hours before the free trial ends, you will be automatically charged upon renewal. *About App Access Permissions This app may access various device features to provide the service and improve usability. No access permission is required to use this app — all of the following are optional. You may decline any of these optional permissions. Even if declined, the app's core features remain available, but some features that require the relevant permission may be limited. •Photos/videos in your photo library To import artwork files and images, and to save the artwork files, images, and videos you create •Microphone audio input To connect and communicate with supported peripherals such as digital styluses •Bluetooth communication To connect and communicate with supported peripherals such as digital styluses •Push notifications To deliver notifications related to your artwork, app update information, and important announcements *Questions & Bug Reports We're unable to respond to questions or bug reports left in reviews. Please contact our support desk below instead. https://ssl.ibis.ne.jp/en/support/Entry?svid=25 *ibisPaint Terms of Service https://ibispaint.com/agreement.jsp

About

HEAVYPAINT Classic

A streamlined painting application focused on pure colors and shapes. It offers essential tools for artists, including improved smudge and blur, layers, masking, and erasing. Ideal for quick sketches, studies, and plein air work.

Highlights
  • Improved Smudge tool
  • Improved Blur tool
  • Layers
  • Masking
  • Clipping
  • Erase tool
Features
Read full description

HEAVYPAINT ClassicA simple yet secretly powerful painting app! Focus on pure colors and shapes with a streamlined interface. Ideal for plein air painting, color notes, sketches and studies. + Improved Smudge + Improved Blur + Layers + Masking + Erase + Clipping 30 day trial with full functionality.

Screenshots

ibis Paint4 screens
HEAVYPAINT Classic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: HEAVYPAINT Classic at Free against ibis Paint's $15.99. HEAVYPAINT Classic also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). ibis Paint's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.1) and review sentiment (86% vs 54%). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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

HEAVYPAINT Classic is free to download; ibis Paint costs $15.99 up front. ibis Paint sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.49 per month and HEAVYPAINT Classic sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ibis Paint holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ibis Paint has 4.1K ratings behind it against 179, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of ibis Paint's written reviews are positive against 54% of HEAVYPAINT Classic's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ibis Paint ships an update monthly, HEAVYPAINT Classic every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
ibis Paint versus HEAVYPAINT Classic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameteribis PaintHEAVYPAINT Classic
Price$15.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (4.1K ratings) — better4.1 (179 ratings)
Positive reviews86.3% of reviews — better54.5% of reviews
Number of ratings4.1K — better179
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#5 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size118 MB51 MB
Age rating+44+
Developeribis inc.HEAVYPOLY, Inc.

Customer experience

ibis Paint

All ratings4,115 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.3%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews1,198 reviews
Positive86.3%
Neutral5.3%
Negative8.4%

HEAVYPAINT Classic

All ratings179 ratings
Positive77.7%
Neutral3.4%
Negative19.0%
Written reviews101 reviews
Positive54.5%
Neutral13.9%
Negative31.7%

User reviews

ibis Paint

From 4.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent brushes and tools
  • 🎨 Customizable brushes and textures
  • 🔍 Helpful tutorials and guidance
  • 🚀 Smooth performance and responsiveness
  • 👍 Easy to use and navigate

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Premium features locked behind subscription
  • 🗂️ Lack of organization tools like folders
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding specific brushes
  • 🔋 High battery consumption

HEAVYPAINT Classic

From 179 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Unique, innovative painting tools and brushes
  • 💡 Forces deliberate, decisive artistic decisions
  • 🎯 Minimalist interface encourages focus on fundamentals
  • 🔄 Playback feature to review artwork creation
  • 🎪 Fun, experimental approach to digital art

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and data loss
  • 😤 Confusing, unintuitive UI/UX
  • 🔄 Inconsistent UI changes between updates
  • 💰 Switched from one-time purchase to subscription model
  • 🚫 Poor documentation and lack of tutorials

Bugs and requests

ibis Paint

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Speedpaint feature not recording all actions
  • Blurring tool causing color leakage
  • Layers not working as expected on certain devices
  • Crashes when opening large files

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add animation tools and features
  • Implement better organization options like folders
  • Improve search and filtering for brushes
  • Add blending and liquify tools
  • Allow importing custom brushes and textures
Show 1 more
  • Improve speed and stability for larger canvases

HEAVYPAINT Classic

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • App crashes frequently, causing work loss
  • Auto-save feature unreliable despite crashes
  • Canvas flips upside down randomly
  • Transform tool deletes paintings
  • Undo button requires multiple taps
Show 13 more
  • Zoom functionality buggy and destabilizes canvas
  • Canvas resize not working
  • Image corruption with layer duplication
  • Eye dropper functionality haphazard
  • Fill tool doesn't work with selected colors
  • Pressure setting eliminates mark-making
  • Brush size settings change across all tools
  • Some brush textures cannot be changed
  • Random blobs appear on export
  • App crashes when switching between drawings
  • Trial period not clearing for paid users
  • Incompatibility with SE2 and older devices
  • Speaker popping on undo action

Requested features

15 requests
  • Gesture controls (2-finger undo, 3-finger redo)
  • Pressure sensitivity for brush size
  • Lasso tool for moving selections
  • Redo button functionality
  • Canvas zoom capability
Show 10 more
  • Resizable/collapsible UI elements
  • Ability to move canvas with single finger
  • Line work capabilities
  • Better brush texture preset selection
  • Canvas size input field
  • Eraser tool
  • Moveable UI panels
  • Tutorial or onboarding guide
  • Better save/export documentation
  • Pressure control for size on all tools

In-app purchases

7 purchases

ibis Paint

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Membership (Monthly plan)7 Days trial$4.491 Month
  • Premium Membership (Yearly plan)1 Month trial$27.991 Year
One-time5
  • Smart Credit 300pt$2.99
  • Smart Credit 900pt$8.99
  • Smart Credit 2,500pt$23.99
Show 2 more
  • Smart Credit 5,000pt$44.99
  • Smart Credit 10,000pt$79.99
2 purchases

HEAVYPAINT Classic

One-time2
  • Seurat Texture Brushes$4.99
  • HEAVYPAINT Pro$9.99

Questions

Is ibis Paint free?
ibis Paint costs $15.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is HEAVYPAINT Classic free?
HEAVYPAINT Classic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ibis Paint or HEAVYPAINT Classic?
ibis Paint is rated higher. ibis Paint averages 4.7 out of 5 from 4.1K ratings, while HEAVYPAINT Classic averages 4.1 from 179 ratings.
Do ibis Paint or HEAVYPAINT Classic have ads?
Neither ibis Paint nor HEAVYPAINT Classic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ibis Paint or HEAVYPAINT Classic?
ibis Paint ships an update monthly, and HEAVYPAINT Classic every 5 days. Most recently, ibis Paint was updated on November 8, 2026 and HEAVYPAINT Classic on November 3, 2026.

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