Comparison

RoughAnimator vs DrawMaps

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

Head to head
About

RoughAnimator

Create traditional hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animations on your iPad. This app offers professional-grade tools like unlimited layers, onion skinning, and audio import, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced animators. Export your work in various formats or import it into professional animation software.

Highlights
  • Timeline with unlimited layers
  • Onion skinning
  • Audio and video import
  • Custom brushes
  • Apple Pencil support
  • Export to video, GIF, image sequence
  • Import to professional software
Read full description

A fully featured hand drawn animation application for iPad. Made by an animator, for animators. Powerful enough for professionals, simple enough for beginners. Everything you need to create traditional hand drawn frame-by-frame animation, anywhere you go! Features: - Timeline with unlimited layers and easily adjustable exposure length of individual drawings, for pose-to-pose or straight-ahead animating - Onion skinning - Preview playback - Scrub along timeline - Import audio for lip syncing - Import video for rotoscoping animation - Custom brushes - Supports Apple Pencil, Logitech Crayon - Control framerate and resolution - Export animation to Quicktime video, GIF, or image sequence - RoughAnimator projects can be imported to Adobe Flash/Animate, After Effects, and Toon Boom Harmony - Also available on desktop See a short film animated with RoughAnimator: https://youtu.be/vaHuJNNPoMM

About

DrawMaps

This creative mapping tool lets you draw directly on interactive maps to plan trips, mark locations, or sketch ideas. Customize your maps with various drawing tools and save your creations securely to the cloud.

Highlights
  • Draw freehand routes and doodle on maps
  • Customizable brush sizes, opacity, and colors
  • Drop custom pins for important locations
  • Real-time cloud synchronization across devices
  • Intuitive glassmorphism-inspired interface
  • User profile to track creative activity
Features
Read full description

DrawMaps is a shared global canvas built on a real-world map. Explore the map and try drawing as a guest. Sign in to publish your practice, save drawings, place public pins, and join a creative map shared with people around the world. DRAW ON THE WORLD Use freehand drawing tools directly on the map. Choose colors, brush size, and opacity, switch naturally between pencil and eraser, then pan and zoom to work at the scale you need. PUBLIC MAP PINS Place colored pins with short messages to mark ideas, discoveries, meet-up points, or places that matter to you. Drawings, pins, names, and messages are public by default. FAIR INK SYSTEM The ink allowance keeps the shared canvas responsive and gives everyone a fair opportunity to create. Ink regenerates over time and is never a currency or paid item. FAST SHARED CANVAS DrawMaps loads map content by visible tiles and securely synchronizes your contributions through its cloud backend. The interface stays focused on the map with compact, glass-inspired controls. ACCOUNT AND SAFETY CONTROLS Sign in with Apple or email, customize your avatar, review your contribution statistics, report inappropriate content, and block users. You can permanently delete your account and associated content from inside the app. EXPORT AND LANGUAGES Export a view of the map and use DrawMaps in English, Simplified Chinese, or Japanese. DrawMaps does not request GPS location permission. The coordinates saved by the service are locations you intentionally choose on the map. Map content is collaborative artwork and should not be used for navigation, emergencies, or other high-risk decisions.

Screenshots

RoughAnimator1 screens
DrawMaps2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: DrawMaps at Free against RoughAnimator's $7.99. DrawMaps also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6). RoughAnimator's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (2.9K vs 1). On 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

DrawMaps is free to download; RoughAnimator costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DrawMaps holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RoughAnimator has 2.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RoughAnimator ships an update fortnightly, DrawMaps every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
RoughAnimator versus DrawMaps: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRoughAnimatorDrawMaps
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (2.9K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.9K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#8 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacob KAFKA玉竹智能

Customer experience

RoughAnimator

All ratings2,936 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral3.3%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews850 reviews
Positive78.7%
Neutral9.4%
Negative11.9%

DrawMaps

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

RoughAnimator

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when importing audio
  • Onion skin not working
  • Pixelated drawings when playing animation
  • Laggy performance with larger projects

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add transparency support for exports
  • Implement a text tool
  • Provide more brush options and customization
  • Add a ruler/shape tool
  • Improve audio handling (record, import, sync)
Show 3 more
  • Implement a tween/animation feature
  • Add layer grouping and organization tools
  • Provide a dark mode option

DrawMaps

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

RoughAnimator

No in-app purchases

None

DrawMaps

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RoughAnimator free?
RoughAnimator costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is DrawMaps free?
DrawMaps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, RoughAnimator or DrawMaps?
DrawMaps is rated higher. RoughAnimator averages 4.6 out of 5 from 2.9K ratings, while DrawMaps averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do RoughAnimator or DrawMaps have ads?
Neither RoughAnimator nor DrawMaps shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RoughAnimator or DrawMaps?
RoughAnimator ships an update fortnightly, and DrawMaps every 4 months. Most recently, RoughAnimator was updated on October 15, 2026 and DrawMaps on October 8, 2026.

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