Comparison

ZBrush vs HEAVYPAINT

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

Head to head
About

ZBrush

Create professional 3D models and digital sculptures on your iPad. This app offers advanced sculpting, painting, and modeling tools with desktop-quality performance, ideal for artists on the go. Seamlessly integrate with desktop workflows for a complete creative experience.

Highlights
  • Pressure-sensitive sculpting with Apple Pencil
  • 200+ digital sculpting brushes
  • Advanced 3D modeling tools
  • Seamless desktop-iPad workflow
  • High-resolution polygon support
  • 3D painting without UV setup
Read full description

ZBrush for iPad. Create stunning 3D models, digital sculptures, concept art, and detailed characters with ZBrush for iPad—the award-winning, industry-leading digital sculpting app trusted by professional artists across film, AAA games, collectibles, toy design, jewelry, illustration, and 3D design. ZBrush for iPad brings unrivaled desktop-grade digital sculpting and 3D painting power into an intuitive, touch-first mobile environment optimized for Apple Pencil. Take complete creative freedom on the go with high-poly mesh density, proprietary digital clay brushes, procedural detailing, and seamless cross-platform interoperability. Subscribers to Maxon One or ZBrush desktop can download the iPad app and sign in to activate full access instantly. A comprehensive free tier is also available to start sculpting immediately. NEW FOR IPAD • Spotlight Integration: Seamlessly load reference images directly onto the canvas, apply projection painting and texture mapping across complex mesh surfaces, and extract custom 3D geometry from 2D source imagery. • 3D Layers: Store high-resolution sculpting details, PolyPaint color channels, and masking non-destructively. Effortlessly toggle layer visibility, blend sculpt deformations, and refine feature intensity with precise slider controls. CORE SCULPTING & MODELING FEATURES • 200+ Sculpting Brushes: Pressure-sensitive digital brushes engineered for Apple Pencil and Apple Pencil Pro, supporting squeeze, roll, hover, double-tap gestures, and haptic feedback. • Sculptris Pro & Dynamic Tessellation: Add local mesh detail on the fly without manual topology management. • DynaMesh Digital Clay: Re-topologize mesh density evenly during early concept exploration. • ZRemesher: Industry-standard automatic retopology for clean, optimized edge flow. • Live Boolean: Non-destructive real-time union, subtraction, and intersection modeling. • PolyPaint: High-resolution 3D painting directly on vertex geometry without preliminary UV unwrapping. • Advanced Detailing: VDM Brushes, Surface Noise, Retopo Brush, Subdivision Modeling, NanoMesh, and ArrayMesh. DESKTOP INTEROPERABILITY & EXPORT • One-Click GoZ: Seamless transfer of ZTool and ZProject files between iPad and desktop ZBrush. • 3D Print Hub: Direct export for additive manufacturing and 3D printing workflows. HIGH-PERFORMANCE HARDWARE OPTIMIZATION Handles up to 90+ million polygons per mesh on M4 iPad hardware. Optimized for multi-touch gestures, custom hotkey bars, rapid undo/redo touch shortcuts, and real-world photogrammetry base mesh imports for high-end digital asset creation. TARGET CREATIVE USE CASES 1. Game Developers: Hero character modeling, creature design, and environment asset creation. 2. Collectibles & Toy Designers: High-detail prototyping and precise 3D print preparation. 3. Film & VFX Artists: Production-grade concept sculpting and digital asset creation. 4. Industrial & Jewelry Designers: Precision organic detailing for consumer products, apparel, and hardware. 5. 2D Illustrators & Concept Artists: Fast 3D block-outs and visual design expansion. LANGUAGE SUPPORT English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese (BR).

About

HEAVYPAINT

This app offers a raw digital painting experience with unique tools for creating textured art and quick studies. It's designed for artists who embrace digital chaos and seek a streamlined, mobile art studio.

Highlights
  • Unique digital brushes
  • Color Jitter for texture
  • Fast color blocking tools
  • Line Blend for gradients
  • Liquify tool
  • Minimalist interface
  • Gallery for creations
Features
Read full description

Raw digital painting with unique brushes & color chaos. The painter's painting app that celebrates digital chaos. HEAVYPAINT is unapologetically digital and a bit unhinged. It’s a celebration of digital impressionism. Whether you're sketching on the train, painting outdoors, or creating quick color studies, this is your pocket art studio. Unique Digital Tools Color Jitter: Unleash beautiful digital chaos and texture Fan Fill and Lasso Fill for fast color blockins, textured foliage, notan, organic shapes. Rake tool for softening up edges in a graphic way Line Blend for instant gradients
Liquify to adjust proportions and shapes Built for Speed & Mobility Perfect pochade box replacement for pleinair painting. Great for quick paintings on public transit, many will finger paint on their phones. Streamlined interface.Focus on pure color and shape without digital clutter. Streamlined Experience Minimalist interface puts painting first Customizable tools that adapt to your style Strong shape design tools for bold, crisp artwork Gallery to review and organize your creations + Plein air painters who want to ditch heavy supplies + Quick color studies and concept sketches + Figure painting and gesture drawing + Artists wanting to rediscover digital painting joy + Anyone seeking a uniquely digital aesthetic HEAVYPAINT balances professional capabilities with unhinged creativity. Embrace procedural randomness / crunchiness / glitchiness that digital enables. Touch grass. Ideal for pleinair painting and quick studies This app is subject to Apple's standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

HEAVYPAINT4 screens

Verdict

The call

ZBrush and HEAVYPAINT both sit at 4.1 stars, but that hides the real split: 85% of ZBrush's written reviews are positive against 58% of HEAVYPAINT's. ZBrush also leads on ratings volume (255 vs 66). HEAVYPAINT's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. ZBrush sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and HEAVYPAINT sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 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 — 4.1 for ZBrush against 4.0 for HEAVYPAINT. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 255 and 66 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of ZBrush's written reviews are positive against 58% of HEAVYPAINT's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ZBrush ships an update monthly, HEAVYPAINT every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ZBrush versus HEAVYPAINT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZBrushHEAVYPAINT
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (255 ratings) — better4.0 (66 ratings)
Positive reviews85.0% of reviews — better58.4% of reviews
Number of ratings255 — better66
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.1 GB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMAXON Computer GmbHHEAVYPOLY, Inc.

Customer experience

ZBrush

All ratings254 ratings
Positive77.6%
Neutral4.3%
Negative18.1%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive85.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.0%

HEAVYPAINT

All ratings66 ratings
Positive68.2%
Neutral13.6%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive58.4%
Neutral15.6%
Negative26.0%

Bugs and requests

ZBrush

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

HEAVYPAINT

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Gallery crashes
  • Artwork files not saving properly
  • Eyedropper tool not working as expected

Requested features

3 requests
  • Improved layer management
  • More customization options
  • Better color controls and eyedropper tool

In-app purchases

2 purchases

ZBrush

Subscriptions2
  • ZBrush Monthly$9.991 Month
  • ZBrush Annual$89.991 Year
3 purchases

HEAVYPAINT

Subscriptions2
  • Gallery Sync Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Gallery Sync Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlock Full Version$9.99

Questions

Is ZBrush free?
ZBrush is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HEAVYPAINT free?
HEAVYPAINT is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ZBrush or HEAVYPAINT?
ZBrush is rated higher. ZBrush averages 4.1 out of 5 from 255 ratings, while HEAVYPAINT averages 4.0 from 66 ratings.
Do ZBrush or HEAVYPAINT have ads?
Neither ZBrush nor HEAVYPAINT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ZBrush or HEAVYPAINT?
ZBrush ships an update monthly, and HEAVYPAINT every 5 weeks. Most recently, ZBrush was updated on October 21, 2026 and HEAVYPAINT on October 22, 2026.

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