Comparison

Phorma vs Layerz Canvas

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

Head to head
About

Phorma

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Create stunning generative art with Phorma. No coding required and no AI involved. Generate unlimited unique designs with a few simple taps. Features: • 10 Algorithms to choose from: Each offers a unique artistic style. More coming soon! • Customizable parameters: Adjust settings like color, line weight, and tile size for endless combinations. • Pick colors your way: Use a minimal picker or the full system color picker. • Autogenerate designs: Hit play to generate new designs on a timer. • Full screen mode: Hide controls to immerse yourself in your creations. • Save & Share: Easily save your art or share your designs with friends.

About

Layerz Canvas

Features
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Layerz Canvas turns a design into a promo video without leaving the document — on iPhone and iPad, with the same files as the Mac app. DESIGN Rectangles, ellipses, polygons, pen paths and text. Frames that clip, groups, constraints that follow resizes, masks, boolean shapes, gradients you edit on the canvas, shadows, blur, glow and grain. Text that flows along a path. Repeaters that lay copies out in grids, rings and rows, and a stack of shape modifiers. Drag any number in the inspector sideways to scrub it. ANIMATE Turn on the timeline, move the playhead and change anything — keyframes are recorded for you. Select many keyframes and move, stretch or reverse them together; snap to keys and markers; shape every curve in the graph editor or pick a named easing. Springs, kinetic type with range selectors, entrance presets, loops and wiggle, counters, shape morphs, 2.5D rotation, camera moves with depth and lens blur, scene transitions and beat markers. Make a layer follow a path, link one property to another, add oscillation, drive keyframes from the music, or let physics drop, bounce and pile things up. Pinch the tracks to zoom; drag clips to move, trim, split and slip them. READY-MADE MOTION Charts that grow from pasted data, code that types itself, a virtual cursor that glides and clicks, iPhone, iPad, Mac window and browser window frames for your screenshots and recordings — flat, or as 3D models you can turn and light, or any USDZ model of your own — particles — confetti, sparkles, snow, bubbles and bursts — and distortion effects: RGB split, glitch, wave and noise warp. SOUND Generate a soundtrack and sound effects that follow what moves on screen, right inside the app. MEDIA Bring in photos and videos from your library, and images, video, sound, SVG, Lottie animations and fonts from the Files app — or drop them onto the canvas. Trim, split and loop clips on the timeline; shape volume with fades. RECORD (iOS 27) Record your screen through the system picker, with narration from the microphone, and the recording lands on the canvas as a video layer. LANGUAGES One document, every language. Add the languages your app ships in, type each text layer's words per language and switch what the canvas shows — the same design, keyframes and all. Export every language from one source: stills for all of them in one go, video in the language you pick. PRESENT Play your animation full screen, or present your frames like slides — with links from one frame to another, auto-advance and transitions. EXPORT PNG, JPEG, SVG and PDF for stills, at the playhead or of just the selection. MP4, MOV (HEVC, with alpha), ProRes 4444, GIF, APNG, PNG sequence, Lottie JSON, animated SVG — and HTML, a web page that plays your animation without a video file, with hover and click states. Export every frame at once. MAC AND IPAD Documents live in iCloud Drive, so you can start on the iPad and finish on the Mac. On iPad, a keyboard brings the Mac's shortcuts and menu bar; the Files app shows thumbnails and Quick Look previews of your documents. LAYERZ CANVAS PRO Pro removes the "Made with Layerz Canvas" mark from video exports and unlocks HEVC with alpha, ProRes 4444, Lottie and HTML export. Available as a monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time Lifetime purchase, with Family Sharing — one purchase covers the Mac, iPhone and iPad. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage them in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.layerz.app/canvas/privacy

Screenshots

Phorma3 screens
Layerz Canvas4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Phorma at none against Layerz Canvas's 3. Phorma also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). Layerz Canvas's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Layerz Canvas sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Phorma asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Phorma ships an update every 2 weeks, Layerz Canvas weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level
Phorma versus Layerz Canvas: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhormaLayerz Canvas
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJose VillegasLayerz Corp.

In-app purchases

None

Phorma

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Layerz Canvas

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$69.99

Questions

Is Phorma free?
Phorma is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Layerz Canvas free?
Layerz Canvas is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Phorma or Layerz Canvas have ads?
Neither Phorma nor Layerz Canvas shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phorma or Layerz Canvas?
Phorma ships an update every 2 weeks, and Layerz Canvas weekly. Most recently, Phorma was updated on November 8, 2026 and Layerz Canvas on November 13, 2026.

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