Comparison

PuppetPad vs iPaint

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

Head to head
About

PuppetPad

Easily animate any image by adding pins to create movement and keyframes. Turn doodles, photos, or drawings into animated GIFs without needing professional animation skills. Ideal for creating unique memes, bringing kids' art to life, or making profile pictures move.

Highlights
  • Import any image (PNG)
  • Automatic mesh generation
  • Pin-based animation system
  • Keyframe creation
  • GIF export
  • Offline functionality
  • Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

Behind a toy, a powerful animation tool. You stare at one of your drawings and think "I wish this thing would actually move." PuppetPad makes that happen. Plus a few uses you haven't thought of yet. Grab an image. A doodle from Procreate, a photo of your dog, your boss mid yawn, a regrettable selfie. The app opens it, builds an invisible mesh around the figure, and hands you pins. Drag a pin and the figure moves with it. Drag again and it becomes animation. That is the entire workflow. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AN ANIMATOR PuppetPad was made for: . People who want memes more elaborate than Photoshop copy and paste . Parents who want their kid's drawing to actually walk . Graphic designers blocked on what to do with their right hand . Anyone who wants to animate someone's profile picture without their consent . Anyone who wants to animate someone's profile picture WITH their consent . Beginning animators who find Live2D and Spine intimidating (rightfully so) . Pro animators who just want a quick iPad rough . You, who opened the App Store out of boredom HOW IT WORKS 1. Import a PNG. The contour mesh is generated automatically. You won't see it. It just works. 2. Tap anywhere to place a pin. Pins are joints. 3. Drag pins to animate. Every move becomes a keyframe by itself. 4. Hit play. 5. Export as GIF. Send to the family group chat. THINGS PEOPLE END UP MAKING . Characters waving arms like they actually exist . Cat photos performing snake dances . Company logos pulsing like an anxious heart . Kid drawings waving goodbye to grandma over FaceTime . Caricatures of questionable taste . Story vignettes . That one meme that needed that one detail to move . Loading animations for your own app project . Character rough drafts before doing the polished work elsewhere WHAT'S INSIDE THE TOY Underneath the playful surface, PuppetPad runs a real animation engine. Alpha aware mesh generation, an ARAP solver for natural deformation, keyframed timeline, multi pin selection, bone rigs with inverse kinematics, mesh density control, undo and redo via multi finger taps. You don't need to know what any of that means to use the app. But the engineer in you might appreciate that it's there. FEATURES . Apple Pencil supported (works with fingers too, if that's how you live) . iPad landscape, full screen, zero clutter . Works offline . No login, no signup, no newsletter . No ads. Ever. . GIF export . Undo and redo (you will need them) PRICE One time purchase. Pay once, it's yours. No monthly subscription, no "pro version" upsell, no paywall popping up when you try to do something useful. Forever yours, the way software used to be. WORK IN PROGRESS PuppetPad is built by one person in the hours that life leaves over. Every bug report and every suggestion turns into a real improvement in a future version. If you want to request a feature, complain about something, send fan art of the app, or just say you liked it: leonardoamoraleite@gmail.com Human reply, in whatever language you write to me in, from the same person who wrote this text. XD Thanks for considering the app. Now go animate something absurd.

About

iPaint

Features
Read full description

Inkora — Pro Drawing Studio Create stunning digital art with powerful brushes, ultra-smooth strokes, and professional creative tools designed for iPhone and iPad. Inkora combines a modern painting engine with advanced Apple Pencil optimization to deliver a fast, fluid, and immersive drawing experience for artists, designers, illustrators, and creators. Whether you sketch ideas, paint illustrations, design concepts, or create manga and animations, Inkora gives you everything you need in one professional studio. Features Ultra-smooth drawing engine Advanced pressure-sensitive brushes Apple Pencil hover & tilt support Professional layer system Real-time blend modes & effects Massive high-resolution canvases Symmetry rulers & perspective guides Custom brush creator Animation timeline support PSD import & export Time-lapse recording Dark mode optimized interface Professional Brushes Choose from hundreds of customizable brushes including: Pencil Ink Watercolor Airbrush Marker Texture brushes Smudge tools Erasers Designed for Performance Inkora is powered by a modern Metal-based rendering engine optimized for: Low latency strokes 120Hz ProMotion displays Large canvases Smooth zooming & rotation Efficient GPU rendering Built for Creativity Perfect for: Digital painting Illustration Character design Manga & comics Concept art Graphic design Storyboarding Creative sketching Download Inkora today and turn your ideas into beautiful artwork. #Inkora offers auto-renewing subscription options: -$5.99 per week -$7.99 per month -$29.99 per year • You can subscribe for unlimited access to all features and content offered for purchases within Inkora • Subscriptions are billed monthly on the subscription plan • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user’s Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Terms of Use: https://tos.vidanimate.co Privacy Policy https://privacy.vidanimate.co

Screenshots

iPaint3 screens

Verdict

The call

PuppetPad and iPaint are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. PuppetPad sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and iPaint sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PuppetPad ships an update every 2 weeks, iPaint every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
PuppetPad versus iPaint: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppetPadiPaint
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLeonardo AmoraPolymath Company Limited

In-app purchases

4 purchases

PuppetPad

One-time4
  • 3 Export Tokens$0.99
  • 10 Export Tokens$1.99
  • 25 Export Tokens$2.99
Show 1 more
  • unlimited Exports$9.99
4 purchases

iPaint

Subscriptions3
  • Inkora Premium Weekly$5.997 Days
  • Inkora Premium Monthly$7.991 Month
  • Inkora Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Inkora Premium Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is PuppetPad free?
PuppetPad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iPaint free?
iPaint is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PuppetPad or iPaint have ads?
Neither PuppetPad nor iPaint shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PuppetPad or iPaint?
PuppetPad ships an update every 2 weeks, and iPaint every 4 weeks. Most recently, PuppetPad was updated on October 1, 2026 and iPaint on October 6, 2026.

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