Cosmic Brush vs Draw & Play
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cosmic Brush
Unleash your creativity with a powerful digital art application. Explore unique painting tools, intuitive stroke size adjustments based on finger contact, and customizable parameters. Supports left-handed users and offers a universal Pro upgrade for expanded features across Apple devices.
- Unique painting tools (3D-Shaded, Halo, Plasma Chain)
- Dynamic stroke size based on finger contact
- Adjustable parameters during painting
- Left-handed toolbar option
- Universal Pro upgrade
- Multiple layers
- Photo tracing mode (Pro)
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Paint a beautiful piece of art or just doodle on a photo. Only your imagination sets the limits for what you can create! • INSPIRING PAINTING TOOLS • Be as creative as you want with inspiring out-of-this-world painting tools like 3D-Shaded Brush, Halo Brush, Plasma Chain Brush, and Translucent Brush. It also has Lighten and Darken tools, a tremendous help when you want to add some depth and life to your drawings. • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • When you paint, the app measures how much of your finger is touching the screen and changes the stroke size accordingly. Apply just the corner of your fingertip for a thin line, or the whole fingerprint area for a broad stroke. A 2nd tool assigned to your finger will still use this feature, so don’t ignore it just because you have an Apple Pencil! • LEFT-HANDED? • Just swipe the toolbar over to the other side! • PARAMETERS CAN BE CHANGED LIVE • Use any buttons or controls to change/adjust color, size, force, simultaneously while painting. • 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++). • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN PAINTING • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •
Draw & Play
Color pages from a digital book, then scan your creations into the app. Watch your artwork magically come to life on screen.
- Digital coloring book pages
- Scan drawings into the app
- Animated artwork
- Bring art to life
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Draw & Play is where coloring meets magic. Color in one of our Draw & Play coloring book pages, scan it in the app, and watch your art come alive.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Draw & Play at none against Cosmic Brush's 6. Draw & Play also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). Cosmic Brush's advantage is ratings volume (132 vs 5). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Cosmic Brush sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Draw & Play asks for nothing beyond the download.
Draw & Play holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cosmic Brush has 132 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Cosmic Brush's written reviews are positive against 100% of Draw & Play's.
Cosmic Brush ships an update every 2 months, Draw & Play every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cosmic Brush | Draw & Play |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (132 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 132 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 616 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Norbyte | Kai Hovland |
Customer experience
Cosmic Brush
Draw & Play
In-app purchases
Cosmic Brush
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
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- Pro Upgrade$6.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Draw & Play
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Cosmic Brush free?
Is Draw & Play free?
Which has better reviews, Cosmic Brush or Draw & Play?
Do Cosmic Brush or Draw & Play have ads?
Which is updated more often, Cosmic Brush or Draw & Play?
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