Comparison

Paintrix vs Drawing App Studio

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

Head to head
About

Paintrix

Create digital art with a powerful suite of professional tools. Features include advanced brush options, robust layer management, and intuitive selection tools. Perfect for artists on iPad and Apple Pencil.

Highlights
  • Handcrafted brushes
  • Advanced layer system
  • Squeeze-to-undo gesture
  • Customizable palettes
  • Drag-to-fill functionality
  • Distortion and liquid effects
  • Mirror mode for symmetry
Features
Read full description

Paint like you're in a real studio, on the iPad or iPhone you already own. Paintrix Studio is a full digital painting app with 60 brushes, unlimited layers, gradients, paintable materials and live drawing with a friend. Every tool is free to use. Everything runs on the GPU through Apple's Metal, so brushes, filters and effects stay smooth even on big canvases. BRUSHES THAT FEEL LIKE PAINT • 60 brushes in nine families: Oil Paints, Manga, Watercolor, Pencils, Charcoals, Pens, Spraypaint, Basic and Water Brushes • Oil brushes leave raised impasto and bristle grooves, and blend into the paint already on the canvas • Apple Pencil pressure, tilt and hover, plus squeeze to undo on Apple Pencil Pro LAYERS YOU CAN KEEP CHANGING • Unlimited layers with clipping masks and alpha lock • Live, always-editable adjustments: brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, vibrance, temperature, bloom and shadows COLOR, GRADIENTS AND MATERIALS • Build palettes by hand or generate one from any photo • Import .swatches palette files with every color intact • Linear, radial and angular gradients that follow your brush • 14 materials, including gold, marble, mahogany and halftone, that paint real texture and shading DRAW TOGETHER, LIVE Invite a friend with a six-character code or a link and paint on the same canvas at the same time. You see their cursor and strokes as they happen, layers sync between you, and you both keep a copy when you're done. No accounts needed. TOOLS FOR EVERY STYLE • Mirror mode with vertical, horizontal, quadrant and radial symmetry • Quick Shapes: hold at the end of a stroke to snap it into a clean shape • Smudge, Pinch, Bubble and Liquid Mode to push paint around • Magic selection, lasso and shape selections, plus a clone stamp • Visual history panel to jump back to any step SHARE YOUR PROCESS • A timelapse records every painting automatically. Export it as a video in a tap • Export PNG or JPEG at any PPI • Back up full layered projects to iCloud Drive ONE APP, BOTH DEVICES Paintrix Studio runs on iPad and iPhone with the same features. The layout adapts to each screen, and one subscription covers every device on your Apple Account. FREE TO START Download free and use every brush, layer, tool and export with no limits. Paintrix Pro, an optional monthly subscription, unlocks one thing: reopening projects you saved earlier. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. The subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it any time in your Apple Account settings. Guides in 12 languages: paintrix.studio/documentation Privacy Policy: https://paintrix.studio/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://paintrix.studio/terms.html

About

Drawing App Studio

Features
Read full description

Drawing App Studio is a powerful and professional creative application designed primarily for iPad, delivering an advanced digital art experience for illustrators, designers, artists, students, architects, and creative enthusiasts. Built to take full advantage of the iPad’s large display and precision touch controls, the app transforms the device into a complete portable art studio. At the same time, Drawing App Studio also works seamlessly on iPhone and iMac, allowing users to continue their creative projects across multiple Apple devices with total flexibility and convenience. Users can purchase items within the app to enhance their overall experience. The application combines professional-grade drawing and painting tools with an intuitive and elegant interface, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced digital artists. Whether creating detailed sketches, expressive paintings, concept art, technical illustrations, storyboards, logos, or visual presentations, Drawing App Studio provides the performance and precision required for high-quality creative work. One of the standout features of Drawing App Studio is its advanced brush engine. The app includes a wide variety of carefully designed brushes that simulate real artistic materials such as pencils, inks, markers, charcoal, airbrushes, acrylics, and watercolours. Users can create highly detailed illustrations with realistic textures, smooth strokes, and accurate pressure sensitivity support when using compatible styluses such as Apple Pencil. The result is a natural drawing experience that closely resembles working with traditional artistic tools while benefiting from the flexibility of digital technology. Drawing App Studio was developed with professional workflows in mind. The app supports high-resolution canvases, multiple layers, blending modes, opacity controls, and precision editing tools that allow artists to create sophisticated compositions with exceptional detail and colour accuracy. From quick sketches to complete commercial artwork, the application offers the stability and performance needed for demanding creative projects. Another major advantage is its support for importing external files and resources. Users can easily import images, references, textures, sketches, PDFs, and other compatible files directly into their projects. This functionality makes the app ideal for professional workflows that involve editing existing artwork, creating mixed-media compositions, tracing references, or collaborating with clients and creative teams. Imported files can be integrated smoothly into layered projects, giving artists complete creative control over their work. Sharing artwork is equally simple and efficient. Drawing App Studio allows users to export and share their creations in multiple formats suitable for printing, social media, presentations, portfolios, and professional publishing. Projects can be shared directly with colleagues, clients, friends, or online communities, making collaboration and showcasing work fast and convenient. This cross-device compatibility also ensures that users can start a project on an iPad, refine details on an iMac, and review or present artwork on an iPhone whenever needed. Performance optimisation is another key strength of the app. Drawing App Studio was carefully engineered to provide smooth rendering, responsive controls, and stable performance even when working on complex projects with numerous layers and high-resolution assets. The clean and modern user interface helps artists stay focused on creativity without unnecessary distractions, while still offering access to advanced professional tools whenever required. By combining portability, professional features, cross-device compatibility, file import capabilities, and effortless sharing options, Drawing App Studio delivers a complete digital art solution for modern creators. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Paintrix4 screens
Drawing App Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Paintrix at every 5 days against Drawing App Studio's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Paintrix sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Drawing App Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paintrix ships an update every 5 days, Drawing App Studio every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Paintrix versus Drawing App Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaintrixDrawing App Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (19 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings19 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB4 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperhtappsSavio Colombo

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Paintrix

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly$14.991 Year
1 purchases

Drawing App Studio

One-time1
  • Premium Pencil$4.99

Questions

Is Paintrix free?
Paintrix is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drawing App Studio free?
Drawing App Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Paintrix or Drawing App Studio have ads?
Neither Paintrix nor Drawing App Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paintrix or Drawing App Studio?
Paintrix ships an update every 5 days, and Drawing App Studio every 3 weeks. Most recently, Paintrix was updated on November 5, 2026 and Drawing App Studio on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons