Comparison

Lux Draw vs makeART

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

Head to head
About

Lux Draw

Create unique art with light-inspired tools and gritty textures. Draw from scratch or enhance photos with glow pens and special effects. Offers advanced features like HDR brushes and Apple Pencil support for a professional artistic experience.

Highlights
  • Live-calculated HDR brushes
  • Glow Pen, Hot Pen, Light Spheres
  • Gritty paper/canvas textures
  • Smear tool for flame art
  • Apple Pencil support
  • Multiple layers
  • Photo tracing mode (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Draw with light-inspired tools, for a unique art style! Create a drawing from scratch, or add effects to your photos. Let your creativity run wild! • LIVE-CALCULATED HDR BRUSHES • The app features live-calculated brushes and strokes, that together with HDR values make it feel like drawing with light! Drawing tools include Glow Pen, Hot Pen, Light Spheres, and more. Tip: Use the Smear tool on a photo or drawing to achieve immensely cool flame art (seriously, try it!). • GRITTY PAPER/CANVAS TEXTURES • Having a paper/canvas texture interacting in real-time with the drawing tools will give your artwork a satisfying, gritty look. You can remove or change the default-generated texture to something else. • UNIVERSAL PURCHASE • If you choose to buy the Pro upgrade, this one-time in-app purchase will unlock all Pro features in the app on all available platforms (iPad-iPhone-Mac)! • METAL • The engine is based on Metal, with 128-bit color and floating-point arithmetic. • SWIFT • The app was developed entirely using Swift (earlier versions used C++). • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • CHANGE SIZE/FORCE/COLOR WHILE DRAWING • • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN DRAWING • SEAMLESS PATTERN EDITING MODE • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •

About

makeART

Create unique collages by combining art, photos, GIFs, and stickers. Customize styles, add layers, animate elements, and draw directly on your creations. Save, edit, and share your artwork across various social platforms.

Highlights
  • Tap-to-create art with curated styles
  • Mix photos, GIFs, and stickers
  • Customizable art styles
  • Layering and drawing tools
  • Animation and time-lapse recording
  • Save and edit artwork
Features
Read full description

Tap the canvas and art appears. makeART is a collage art studio for iPhone and iPad. Mix art pieces, photos, gifs and stickers into art that looks like you. Start with curated art styles or make your own, then layer it, animate it, draw on it and share it. TAP TO MAKE ART • Pick an art style, then tap or swipe: pieces land where your finger goes • Shuffle for a fresh mix, or change every piece at once • Size and opacity sliders, plus undo and redo • Move, scale and rotate any piece CURATED + DESIGNED ART STYLES TO MIX • glass, flowers+time, new classics, rain, neomesh, freestyle and more • Several variants inside each style • Search art styles by name and jump back into recent canvases MAKE YOUR OWN ART STYLE • Mix art pieces, photos and gifs from every style into a set that is all yours • Name it, save it, and make art with it like any other style • Build mood boards, vision boards and scrapbook pages from your own pieces COLLAGE PHOTOS, GIFS + STICKERS • Add photos from your library • Search gifs and stickers from GIPHY and photos from Unsplash • Cut the subject out of a photo and use it like a sticker • Make images with Image Playground on supported devices LAYERS, TEXT + BACKGROUNDS • Background, pieces, overlay and text layers • Drag pieces to reorder them • Backgrounds in solid colors, gradient meshes (iOS 18 and later) or your own photo • Tap any piece to swap it, add filters, duplicate it or change its order, with a live preview BRING YOUR ART TO LIFE • Animations: appear, bounce, change, cloud, grow, rotate, shift, thunder and wave • Animation is part of the makeART+ membership • Record a time-lapse video of your art coming together DRAW ON YOUR ART • Sketch right on top of your pieces with your finger • Use Apple Pencil on iPad SAVE, KEEP EDITING + SHARE • Save to your gallery and reopen any artwork to keep editing • Download to Photos • Share in sizes for Instagram posts and Stories, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook and X • Choose fill or fit and a background color before you share makeART+ MEMBERSHIP Choose monthly or annual. Membership includes: • Every art style and variant • Unlimited art styles of your own • Animation • Every saved version of your art • Unlimited gallery • All filters, tools and canvases • Sharing with no watermark We read every note: thoughts@makeartapp.com Designed by humans who love art and tech. Standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA): http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

Lux Draw4 screens
makeART4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Lux Draw at 939 against makeART's 11. Lux Draw also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17). makeART's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 82%). On price, rating, 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

Both are free to download. Lux Draw sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and makeART sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Lux Draw against 4.7 for makeART. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lux Draw has 939 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Lux Draw's written reviews are positive against 100% of makeART's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lux Draw ships an update every 2 months, makeART every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Lux Draw versus makeART: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLux DrawmakeART
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (939 ratings)4.7 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings939 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB428 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNorbyteMake Art Inc.

Customer experience

Lux Draw

All ratings939 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral4.7%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral10.9%
Negative7.6%

makeART

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Lux Draw

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and unresponsiveness when switching tools
  • Leaving unwanted color dots when erasing
  • Compatibility issues with certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add fill tool, shapes, and text capabilities
  • Improve compatibility with tablets and styluses
  • Provide more customization options for brushes and colors
  • Implement undo/redo functionality
  • Add ability to export/share drawings easily

makeART

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Lux Draw

One-time6
  • Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
  • Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
  • Pro Upgrade$5.00
Show 3 more
  • Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
  • Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
  • Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
2 purchases

makeART

Subscriptions2
  • makeART+ Monthly Membership$7.991 Month
  • makeART+ Annual Membership$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Lux Draw free?
Lux Draw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is makeART free?
makeART is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lux Draw or makeART?
makeART is rated higher. Lux Draw averages 4.7 out of 5 from 939 ratings, while makeART averages 4.7 from 11 ratings.
Do Lux Draw or makeART have ads?
Neither Lux Draw nor makeART shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lux Draw or makeART?
Lux Draw ships an update every 2 months, and makeART every 3 weeks. Most recently, Lux Draw was updated on November 6, 2026 and makeART on November 5, 2026.

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