Comparison

ZBrush vs ArtDeck

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

ArtDeck

Organize visual inspiration and study images with this app. Create moodboards by collecting images, videos, links, and notes, then analyze their composition, color, and values. Seamlessly sync your boards across all your Apple devices for easy access.

Highlights
  • Collect images, videos, and links
  • Create moodboards and reference boards
  • Analyze image values, color, and composition
  • Sync boards across Apple devices
  • Offline access to boards
  • Annotate and draw on images
  • Organize with infinite canvas
Features
Read full description

ArtDeck is a reference board for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Collect images, videos, links, and notes, then arrange and zoom them on an infinite canvas. Make a moodboard or open the built-in tools when you want to analyze value, color, composition, or motion. You can also keep references next to Procreate on iPad or your creative apps on Mac. iCloud sync is optional. CAPTURE NOW, USE IT ANYWHERE See a texture, a color combination, or a striking composition while you're out? Take a photo right inside ArtDeck and drop it on a board. Because your boards sync, it's there on your Mac and iPad, ready next to your design, 3D, or drawing tools. COLLECT FROM ANYWHERE • Shoot photos and video on iPhone and iPad; on Mac, take the photo with the webcam or your iPhone • Import from Photos or Files • Scan a document on iPhone or iPad, or use Continuity Camera on Mac • Save any link as a card, or paste a link to an image, video, or PDF to import it • Drag and drop, paste, or use the Share menu from any other app • Opens all common image formats, plus WebP, AVIF, JXL, HDR, EXR, and SVG. Video, GIFs, and PDFs up to 300 pages • HDR images and video at full brightness on capable screens, for the whole app or per board STUDY WHAT YOU COLLECT Study any image or video frame through the ToolBox's five lenses, without touching the original: • Values: grayscale, a value ladder, and Notan to read your darks and lights • Color: pull a palette from any image, or see its temperature and saturation zones • Composition: overlay grids, test new framings, or check the symmetry • Read: simplify to the big shapes, find where detail piles up, follow the edge hierarchy • Measure: drop plumb lines, read an angle off a snapping guide, and compare two lengths The Analysis panel shows value range, a histogram, hue, saturation, and color distribution. Export a study, or keep a copy on your board. Step through GIFs and video frame by frame, with onion skin and a GIF filmstrip ANNOTATE AND DRAW • Mark up an image, or draw directly: pen, highlighter, and shapes • Draw a stroke, then hold at the end to straighten it ARRANGE IT YOUR WAY • An infinite canvas to drag, scale, rotate, and zoom • Snap to objects and grid; align, distribute, and tidy up • Group and nest, reorder, lock, with undo and redo YOUR BOARDS, EVERYWHERE • The same boards on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, synced through your iCloud • Works fully offline: sync catches up when you're back online • Choose which boards sync • Split View and Stage Manager on iPad • Keep your window on top of the others on Mac YOUR GALLERY • Carousel and grid views of every board • Labels and multi-label filtering • Favorite, archive, rename, or duplicate any board MAKE IT YOURS • Dark, light, and high-contrast themes • Set one theme for the whole app, or one per board • An editor to fine-tune the colors and create your own themes • Import and export themes by file or link ACCESSIBILITY • VoiceOver support across the app, including items on the canvas • Respects Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion • A theme editor that checks color contrast and flags colors that are hard to tell apart EXPORT AND HAND OFF • Export a whole board or just a selection • PNG, JPEG, HEIC, or PDF, up to 8K, with a transparent background where the format allows • Save a whole board as one .artdeck file to back up or hand off TRY IT FREE, KEEP IT FOR LIFE Start with a free, individual 7-Day Trial. It does not renew. Lifetime Access is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription. No separate ArtDeck account is required. Keep what catches your eye.

Screenshots

ArtDeck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ArtDeck at 4.8 against ZBrush's 4.1. ArtDeck also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). ZBrush's advantage is ratings volume (254 vs 4). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. ZBrush sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. ArtDeck asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ArtDeck holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ZBrush has 254 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of ZBrush's written reviews are positive against 100% of ArtDeck's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ZBrush ships an update monthly, ArtDeck weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
ZBrush versus ArtDeck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZBrushArtDeck
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (254 ratings)4.8 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings254 — better4
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.1 GB76 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMAXON Computer GmbHAlexandre Alves

Customer experience

ZBrush

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

ArtDeck

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

ZBrush

Subscriptions2
  • ZBrush Monthly$9.991 Month
  • ZBrush Annual$89.991 Year
None

ArtDeck

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ZBrush free?
ZBrush is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ArtDeck free?
ArtDeck is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ZBrush or ArtDeck?
ArtDeck is rated higher. ZBrush averages 4.1 out of 5 from 254 ratings, while ArtDeck averages 4.8 from 4 ratings.
Do ZBrush or ArtDeck have ads?
Neither ZBrush nor ArtDeck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ZBrush or ArtDeck?
ZBrush ships an update monthly, and ArtDeck weekly. Most recently, ZBrush was updated on October 17, 2026 and ArtDeck on October 8, 2026.

Other comparisons