Comparison

VanillaPen vs Artleap by Lightricks

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

Head to head
About

VanillaPen

Create professional artwork, stories, and designs with a vast library of over a million elements. This powerful studio offers advanced editing tools and a user-friendly workflow, making design accessible to everyone, regardless of experience.

Highlights
  • Over 1 million design elements
  • Advanced editing tools
  • User-friendly workflow
  • Design stories and posts
  • Create logos and artwork
  • Album and movie poster design
Features
Read full description

VanillaPen is a powerful design studio that will transform your ideas into professional-grade artwork without the need of prior design experience. VanillaPen’s comprehensive libraries - over 1 million elements - are powered with a set of advanced editing tools and a seamless workflow that makes your design process a piece of butterscotch walnut cake. Whether you need to design a story, post, collage, album artwork, movie poster, website header, business card, invitation, book cover, Ad and more, Vanillapen got you covered. — We’re extremely excited to announce VanillaPen Premium! Vanillapen Premium comes with a 7 day free trial and is offered as a $4.99 monthly subscription or a $49.99 annual subscription. — Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. Manage your subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. — Privacy policy http://www.roadrocks.com/privacy-policy/ Terms and conditions http://www.roadrocks.com/terms/ Have questions, suggestions or feedback? We love to hear from you! Reach out to us at RoadRocks.com or shoot us an email at contact@roadrocks.com

About

Artleap by Lightricks

Effortlessly create stunning visual art with one-tap photo editing. Achieve popular effects like double exposures, dispersions, and surreal sky replacements without prior experience. Explore endless combinations of filters and art styles to express your creativity.

Highlights
  • One-tap photo editing
  • Double exposure effects
  • Dispersion effects
  • Collage creation
  • Sky replacement
  • Art filters and combinations
Features
Read full description

It used to take a whole lot of effort and time to get a beautiful double exposure or a fragmenting dispersion effect, or to even be able to imagine these results. Now, they’re at your fingertips with Artleap by Lightricks (formerly Quickart). The whole world of photo editing and digital art is now encapsulated in single tap edits. So if you’ve always wanted to create imaginative, surreal, or just plain funky art, but have struggled to learn or simply don’t have the time, here’s a tool made just for you. We’ve made self-expression effortless with technology that helps you reach some of the most popular and visually stunning effects without any necessary experience, and without any struggle. With Artleap, the art of popular effects like double exposures, dispersion, tiny planet, and many, many more will be at your fingertips, while still maintaining the ability to make each result uniquely your own. GET BEAUTIFUL DOUBLE EXPOSURES - Choose a portrait of yourself or someone else, and then select one of our handpicked overlays for your double exposure - Adjust placements and other details to get exactly the look you’re searching for APPLY ACTION PACKED DISPERSIONS - Tap once to see the edges of a person or object shatter and disperse in your digital art - Choose the shapes, spread, and more to personalize the look MAKE FUN AND UNIQUE COLLAGES - Pick your favorite images, and have them intelligently placed into a beautiful collage - Play around with the amount of pics REIMAGINE THE SKY - The sky is no longer the limit - choose what your sky looks like according to your imagination - Explore the abstract and completely surreal options TRY AN ENDLESS AMOUNT OF COMBINATIONS - With a wide selection of art filters that can be used together, the possibilities are endless - From traditional art filters made modern to the most cutting edge effects in the art world, anyone can be a digital artist! UNLIMITED ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION - Subscribe for unlimited access to all features and content offered for purchase within Artleap. - Subscriptions are billed monthly or annually at the rate selected depending on the subscription plan. Alternatively, a one-time payment plan is available (this is not a subscription). - Subscriptions auto-renew at the cost of the chosen package, unless canceled 24-hours in advance prior to the end of the current period. The subscription fee is charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. You may manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Per Apple policy, no cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. Once purchased, refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term. - Terms of use: https://static.lightricks.com/legal/terms-of-use.pdf - Privacy policy: https://static.lightricks.com/legal/privacy-policy.pdf

Screenshots

VanillaPen4 screens
Artleap by Lightricks4 screens

Verdict

The call

VanillaPen and Artleap by Lightricks both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 61% of VanillaPen's written reviews are positive against 36% of Artleap by Lightricks's. VanillaPen also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). Artleap by Lightricks's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (19K vs 3.5K). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. VanillaPen sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Artleap by Lightricks sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Artleap by Lightricks holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Artleap by Lightricks has 19K ratings behind it against 3.5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of VanillaPen's written reviews are positive against 36% of Artleap by Lightricks's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

VanillaPen ships an update every 6 weeks, Artleap by Lightricks fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
VanillaPen versus Artleap by Lightricks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVanillaPenArtleap by Lightricks
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (3.5K ratings)4.7 (19K ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.7% of reviews — better36.4% of reviews
Number of ratings3.5K19K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size344 MB271 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRoadRocksLightricks Ltd.

Customer experience

VanillaPen

All ratings3,536 ratings
Positive90.4%
Neutral3.9%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews392 reviews
Positive60.7%
Neutral11.7%
Negative27.6%

Artleap by Lightricks

All ratings19,371 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral3.3%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews690 reviews
Positive36.4%
Neutral7.0%
Negative56.7%

User reviews

VanillaPen

From 3.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Variety of design elements
  • 💡 Helpful for creating posters and graphics
  • 🎨 Great for small jobs

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
  • 🔒 Limited access to features without subscription
  • 🔒 Paid version doesn't transfer across devices
  • 📵 Inability to save work in progress

Artleap by Lightricks

From 19K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easily create artistic photos
  • 👍 Fun and creative effects
  • 💡 Unique and innovative features

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Paywall for many features
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔋 App not compatible with latest iOS versions

Bugs and requests

VanillaPen

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text formatting issues
  • Distortion of designs when saving
  • Disappearing text and elements
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to import custom images
  • Improve text editing functionality
  • Provide more free design elements
  • Add option to lock layers and elements in place
  • Implement auto-save feature

Artleap by Lightricks

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes immediately on launch
  • Purchased content unavailable or unable to download
  • Syncing and sharing issues across devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • More customization options for overlays and filters
  • Ability to save and export edited photos without paying
  • Better customer support and communication from developers

In-app purchases

2 purchases

VanillaPen

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Vanillapen yearly subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
6 purchases

Artleap by Lightricks

Subscriptions5
  • Unlimited access$7.991 Month
  • Unlimited access$9.991 Month
  • Unlimited access$19.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Unlimited access3 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Unlimited access$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited access$59.99

Questions

Is VanillaPen free?
VanillaPen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Artleap by Lightricks free?
Artleap by Lightricks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, VanillaPen or Artleap by Lightricks?
Artleap by Lightricks is rated higher. VanillaPen averages 4.5 out of 5 from 3.5K ratings, while Artleap by Lightricks averages 4.7 from 19K ratings.
Do VanillaPen or Artleap by Lightricks have ads?
Neither VanillaPen nor Artleap by Lightricks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, VanillaPen or Artleap by Lightricks?
VanillaPen ships an update every 6 weeks, and Artleap by Lightricks fortnightly. Most recently, VanillaPen was updated on October 29, 2026 and Artleap by Lightricks on October 29, 2026.

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