Hive vs DotShake Brush Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hive
This app helps designers, creators, and innovators organize and manage all their creative assets in one place. It offers smart photo organization, an integrated video player, and multiple ways to save inspirations, streamlining your creative process. Effortlessly sort, categorize, and find your ideas with advanced filtering and search capabilities.
- Organize creative assets
- Smart photo organizer
- Integrated video player
- Multiple save methods
- Web capture
- Multi-level folder system
- Advanced search and filter
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Hive is a private visual reference library for designers, illustrators, photographers, and creative teams. Save references the moment you find them—Share Sheet, clipboard, Safari, and links—then keep images, video, and files in one library you actually control. No feed. No tracking theater. Just a calm place to store and reopen what you need. Organize for real work • Folders, tags, filters, and search built for reference retrieval • Smart Folders to surface the set you need for a project • Mixed media in one place: images, video, links, and files Built for mobile creative workflows • Fast capture on iPhone and iPad • Browse and reuse references on the go • Works with an Eagle-compatible library workflow on mobile Privacy by default • Your library stays yours Hive is for people who already collect inspiration in Pinterest, moodboards, or Eagle on the desktop—and need a private, organized library on iOS. Download Hive and turn scattered references into a library you can find again. Privacy Policy: https://hive.ink/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
DotShake Brush Studio
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DotShake Brush Studio is where DotShake's brushes are made. Start from a brush that already exists, tune it until it feels right, and save it as your own. A CABINET OF BRUSHES, EACH SHOWING ITS OWN STROKE Every row draws a real stroke, so you never have to open a brush to find out what it looks like. The categories are on the row too: Line, Dab, Airbrush, Oil Paint, Palette Knife, Liquid, Optical Glass, Liquid Metal, Halftone, Particles, Noise, Volumetric, Dynamic Field — and a whole family of type that runs along the stroke. NOT JUST LINES Pencil, charcoal, marker, calligraphy, impasto, gouache and fan brush for the traditional hand. Then glass, liquid chrome, meteor and flame — and butterflies, moths, clouds and maple leaves that chase the stroke. TYPE THAT FOLLOWS THE STROKE Kinetic type, pop type, glass type, falling poems, and leader brushes that trail a small shape behind them. EVERY BRUSH IS EDITABLE • Size and opacity, with the preview updating as you go • Customise the pressure curve so the tip answers to your hand • Enough parameters that there is a search field for them • Preview in light or dark, and reset in one tap • Save as a copy — the original stays as it was IMPORT AND EXPORT Export the brushes you make, and import the ones other people made. Requires DotShake.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Hive at Free against DotShake Brush Studio's $0.99. DotShake Brush Studio's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). 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
Hive is free to download; DotShake Brush Studio costs $0.99 up front. Hive sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. DotShake Brush Studio asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hive | DotShake Brush Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (37 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 78.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 37 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 174 MB | 108 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 易泓 刘 | Zhen Chen |
In-app purchases
Hive
- Monthly$3.991 Month
- Annually$19.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime$34.99
DotShake Brush Studio
No in-app purchases









