Forma3D vs Meld
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Forma3D
Create, edit, and repair 3D models directly on your iPhone or iPad. Features include sculpting, sketching, painting, and splitting meshes for printing. Supports a wide range of import/export formats and offline use.
- Sculpting with gesture-based brushes
- Sketching and SVG import to 3D
- Per-face color painting for 3MF export
- Lithophane generator from photos
- Splitting meshes with integrated joints
- Extensive mesh editing tools
- 3D scanning with LiDAR
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Forma3D is a professional 3D mesh editor for iPhone and iPad — built for makers, 3D printing enthusiasts, and anyone who needs to create, fix, or modify 3D models on the go. No laptop. No cloud. Everything runs locally on your device, offline, with desktop-grade mesh editing. ▸ PAINT & MULTI-FILAMENT 3MF EXPORT Paint with a brush directly on your model, then export a 3MF file with per-face color data ready for multi-filament printing. Bambu Studio and Creality Print read the embedded colors automatically — your paint job travels to the slicer intact. ▸ SCULPT MODE Sculpt meshes with a gesture-based brush — push, pull, and smooth with falloff presets and Apple Pencil support. ▸ SKETCH MODE Draw a shape or import an SVG and turn it into 3D geometry in one tap. ▸ LITHOPHANE GENERATOR Turn any photo into a printable lithophane — a depth-mapped relief that comes alive when backlit. ▸ SPLIT WITH JOINTS Split meshes along edge loops into printable parts with built-in joints — cylinder, square peg, cone, or ball. Perfect for models bigger than your build plate. ▸ EDGE LOOP TOOLS Select entire edge loops and fill them with clean topology: Grid Fill for quad surfaces, Bridge for connecting boundaries. ▸ MESH EDITING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Switch between Object Mode and Edit Mode. Select and edit vertices, edges, and faces with Single, Rectangle, Oval, or Brush selection. Move, rotate, and scale with a transform gizmo or numeric input. ▸ PROFESSIONAL MODELING TOOLS • Extrude — live preview with direction toggle • Inset — adjustable depth • Bevel — custom segments and profile control • Boolean — Union and Subtract (Manifold CSG) • Cut — Line, Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon, Freehand • Mirror — across X, Y, or Z • Revolve — lathe geometry from a profile • Subdivide / Simplify — resolution where you need it • Remesh — uniform quad topology with quality control • 3D Text — extruded text objects ▸ PRIMITIVES & FILE FORMATS Cube, Sphere, Soft variants, Cylinder, Torus, Pyramid, Plane, Tube, Bolt, Nut. Import STL, 3MF, OBJ, PLY, DAE, ABC, USD, FBX and GLB — plus native Blender .blend scenes with mirror modifiers and object transforms applied. Export to STL, 3MF (Bambu-ready), OBJ, FBX, GLB or USDZ — with colors. ▸ 3D SCANNING (LiDAR) Scan real objects and edit the mesh immediately — scan, fix, print without switching apps. ▸ PRECISION & MEASUREMENT Ruler in millimeters, 20 mm build-plate grid, snap-to-grid, keyboard numeric input. ▸ VISUALIZATION Orthographic view cube, X-Ray mode, wireframe (triangles/quads), custom lighting and viewport colors. ▸ UNDO / REDO & PROJECTS Full history, native .forma3d projects, objects list panel. ▸ APPLE PENCIL Hover tooltips and precise component editing optimized for Pencil. ▸ 21 LANGUAGES English, Deutsch, Français, 日本語, 简体中文, 繁體中文, Español, Italiano, 한국어, Português, Русский, Українська, Nederlands, Polski, Türkçe, Svenska, العربية, हिन्दी, ไทย, Tiếng Việt, Bahasa Indonesia.
Meld
Create and paint 3D models on your mobile device. Offers a range of polygon modeling tools, texture painting with Apple Pencil support, and scene rendering capabilities. Supports common 3D file formats for import and export.
- Polygon modeling tools
- Texture painting with Apple Pencil
- UV unwrapping
- Scene lighting and rendering
- OBJ, glTF, GLB, USDZ support
- Full undo/redo functionality
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Meld is a polygon modeler and texture painter built for iPad and iPhone. Topology editing tools, rebuilt for use with touch and Apple Pencil. MODELING Extrude, Inset, Bevel, Loop Cut, Knife, Edge Slide and Subdivide. Extrude along the region, the normals or each face individually. Bevel edges or vertices with adjustable segments and profile shape. Cut loops with even spacing and slide them into place. Every tool opens a settings panel after you commit, so you can dial in an exact amount, add a segment, or change a profile without undoing and starting again. Move, rotate and scale with gizmos in global or local orientation, or transform freely with an axis constraint when you need one direction only. TOPOLOGY Split, separate, dissolve and delete across every selection mode. Fill and bridge edges. Merge vertices by distance or at their center. Flip normals, shade smooth or flat, join objects together. Full undo and redo on everything. PAINTING Paint color directly onto your model with Apple Pencil, using pen pressure. Roughness, metallic and emissive channels let a surface read as worn metal, wet plastic or a glowing sign. Unwrap UVs with smart unwrap. LIGHTING AND RENDERING Point, spot, directional and area lights. Place cameras, frame a shot at the aspect ratio you want, and capture it. Ray traced shadows and reflections on supported devices. Import reference images to model against. Fly through your scene or orbit it, in perspective or orthographic, with instant front, side and top views. FILES Import and export OBJ, glTF, GLB and USDZ. Export a single object or the whole scene. Exporting models requires Meld Pro. Scenes autosave as you work, and the file browser shows a real 3D preview of every one. Your files stay on your device, and export to formats every other tool already speaks. Terms of Service: https://meld3d.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://meld3d.app/privacy.html NINE LANGUAGES English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Forma3D at 4.4 against Meld's 3.6. Forma3D also leads on review sentiment (83% vs 50%). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Forma3D sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Meld sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Forma3D holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Forma3D's written reviews are positive against 50% of Meld's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Forma3D | Meld |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (7 ratings) — better | 3.6 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 265 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Denis Vazyulya | Meld Systems LLC |
Customer experience
Forma3D
Meld
In-app purchases
Forma3D
- Forma3D subscription3 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Forma3D - Year3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Lifetime access to Forma3D$99.99
Meld
- Monthly$5.991 Month
- Annual$39.991 Year








