Comparison

Valence 3D vs Wafer

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

Head to head
About

Valence 3D

This app is a powerful yet user-friendly 3D modeling and design tool for iPad and iPhone. It offers a comprehensive set of tools for creating, importing, editing, and exporting 3D models, suitable for both beginners and professionals across various industries.

Highlights
  • Extensive primitive shapes library
  • Import and export various 3D file formats
  • Advanced modeling and mesh operations
  • Non-destructive mesh modifiers
  • Intuitive navigation and context-aware tools
  • Automatic saving and iCloud syncing
Features
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Valence 3D is a powerful, beautiful, minimal, and easy-to-use 3D Polygon & SubD modeling app for iPad & iPhone. No matter whether you're learning 3D modeling for the first time or a professional working in design, construction, gaming, web dev, digital fabrication, architecture, or spatial computing, Valence 3D has what you need to get started! CREATE, IMPORT, EDIT & EXPORT 3D MODELS • 25 primitive shapes are built-in & ready to help you start modeling: plane, box, sphere, squircle, rounded box, arc, circle, cylinder, tube, cone, capsule, torus, icosphere, pipe, revolve, helix, voronoi, text, super shape, noise surfaces, torus knot, faceted gem & tube. • Import existing models, reference images, lidar scans and room plans • Imports: OBJ, STL, USD, USDZ • Exports: PNG, SVG, OBJ, STL, USD, USDZ, GLTF, GLB • Knife tool to create complex and detailed geometry • Move, Rotate, & Scale gizmos make it easy to transform nodes, faces, edges & vertices • Powerful modeling gizmos for extruding, insetting, beveling, poking, creasing & cutting • Multiple selection & automatic loop selection help accelerate your modeling • Tap on one of the gizmo handles to bring up an input field for precise transformations & mesh operations • Robust snapping & alignment commands • Selection operations: grow, shrink, select shell & deselect • Mesh operations: duplicate, instance, set / center pivot, trim by plane, boolean, apply transform & subdivide • Face operations: separate, combine, bridge, extract, poke, collapse, delete, dissolve, harden & soften • Edge operations: extrude, insert vertex, collapse, dissolve, bridge, harden & soften • Vertex operations: insert edge, dissolve, delete & merge • Non-destructive & configurable mesh modifiers: mirror & subdivision • Apply complex transformations using different gizmo pivot points & orientations EASILY NAVIGATE & STAY IN FLOW WHILE DESIGNING • Carefully crafted & fully optimized for iPhone & iPad • Designed to minimize cognitive overload by only showing tools & commands that are contextually relevant • Easily navigate to any part of your model by dragging and pinching: two finger pinch to zoom and roll, and one finger drag to rotate • Pop into the standard orthographic views by tapping one of the handles of the orientation gizmo • Use two & three finger tap gestures to undo & redo • Select components by dragging or using the rectangular selection mode • Your work is saved automatically every two minutes and every time you go back to the gallery • Get an overview of your scene’s structure from the Outliner • Long press on a node in the Outliner to easily rename, duplicate, instance, delete, parent & reorder any object in your scene • Precisely adjust any node’s position, rotation & scale with the Inspector • Adjust material properties, display & modifier options with the Inspector STAY ORGANIZED ACROSS ALL YOUR DEVICES • Preview, share, duplicate, delete & rename your models from the gallery • iCloud syncing keeps all your models up to date, private & accessible across all your devices PREVIEW, MEASURE, & RENDER YOUR CREATIONS • 6 powerful rendering modes: Matcap, Modeling, Wireframe, Physically Based, X-Ray & Path Traced • Export renders in any aspect ratio & scale • Preview your model in AR in two taps • Export your scene as a USDZ & be confident it’ll look consistent on all Apple devices • Tweak your model’s material & see changes in real-time • Tweak-able scene settings: camera field of view, background type, blurriness, intensity & rotation • Get model measurements in one click • Add persistent dimensions between any two surfaces in your scene PURCHASE & COMPATIBILITY • One time purchase unlocks both iPhone & iPad versions • Apple Pencil supported on select iPads • 120 FPS supported on devices with ProMotion displays • Path Tracing is supported on iPads with M series chips & iPhones with A15 Bionic & later • Lidar Scan & Room Plan is supported on devices with a lidar sensor

About

Wafer

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Drawing Tools: - Brushes with full pressure and tilt support - Lasso clips, gradients, wet painting and blur - Stencils, decals and stamps - Custom brush tip shapes and alphas Layers: - Full layer system with canvas and procedural fills. - Paint on layer masks for multi-layer painting and non-destructive workflows. - Color blend modes and opacity controls. Painting System: - Paint on the 3D mesh or the 2D UV view - 3D brush falloff with no seam artifacts - 3D and 2D symmetry with configurable pivots - Configurable unlit, shaded and PBR viewport rendering. Multichannel Painting: - Paint color, roughness, metallic at the same time with any tool. - Standard PBR channels or custom shader domain inputs per layer - Apply complete materials with masks and fill layers Performance: - Brush speed stays the same regardless of texture resolution or layer count - Texture resolution and layer count only limited by device memory. - Supports 16K textures on any compatible iPad, to 24K on iPad Pro 3rd gen 2018. - Energy efficient for long painting sessions Scene and Exporting: - Multiple meshes and texture sets per document. - Configurable exporter to pack channels into any texture setup - Configurable over resolution, format, texture content and packing. Extras - Built-in image reference board - Influence system to control tool effect by normals, topology, UV islands or custom maps - Asset library with stencils, triplanar projections, brush alphas and decals

Screenshots

Valence 3D4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Wafer at Free against Valence 3D's $19.99. Wafer also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). Valence 3D's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (4.2 vs 3.9). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads 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

Wafer is free to download; Valence 3D costs $19.99 up front. Wafer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Valence 3D asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Valence 3D holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Valence 3D has 121 ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Valence 3D's written reviews are positive against 57% of Wafer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Valence 3D ships an update weekly, Wafer every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Valence 3D versus Wafer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterValence 3DWafer
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (121 ratings) — better3.9 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews60.8% of reviews — better57.1% of reviews
Number of ratings121 — better17
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#51 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS18.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size196 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHi-Rez, LLCSparseal SL

Customer experience

Valence 3D

All ratings121 ratings
Positive76.0%
Neutral13.2%
Negative10.7%
Written reviews158 reviews
Positive60.8%
Neutral15.8%
Negative23.4%

Wafer

All ratings17 ratings
Positive76.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative17.6%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral14.3%
Negative28.6%

Bugs and requests

Valence 3D

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on launch
  • Saved files not loading properly
  • Unreliable vertex/edge/face selection
  • Mesh corruption and data loss
  • Gizmo and navigation issues

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add boolean operations
  • Improve selection and navigation tools
  • Implement curve/spline primitives
  • Add more modeling modifiers (bevel, subdivision, etc.)
  • Provide more detailed documentation and tutorials
Show 3 more
  • Improve performance and stability
  • Add UV editing and texture support
  • Implement keyboard shortcuts and power user features

Wafer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Valence 3D

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Wafer

One-time1
  • Exporting and Saving Documents$19.99

Questions

Is Valence 3D free?
Valence 3D costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Wafer free?
Wafer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Valence 3D or Wafer?
Valence 3D is rated higher. Valence 3D averages 4.2 out of 5 from 121 ratings, while Wafer averages 3.9 from 17 ratings.
Do Valence 3D or Wafer have ads?
Neither Valence 3D nor Wafer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Valence 3D or Wafer?
Valence 3D ships an update weekly, and Wafer every 5 days. Most recently, Valence 3D was updated on November 3, 2026 and Wafer on November 5, 2026.

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