Infinite Painter vs Art Set 4

Price

Both are free to download, but they charge for different things.

Infinite Painter is free to download. The free version includes every built-in brush, brush editing and up to 5 layers, and a 7-day trial unlocks everything. The Pro upgrade is a one-time $9.99 purchase on the US App Store, with no subscription.

Art Set 4 is free to download with its core realistic tools. A single $12.99 Unlock All purchase adds 200 advanced brushes, layer features, symmetry and adjustments, with no subscription.

Platforms

Both run on iPad. Only Infinite Painter runs on iPhone, Mac, Android and Chromebook.

Infinite Painter is one app across iPad and iPhone, also runs on Apple silicon Macs, and has an Android version for phones, tablets and Chromebooks. Pro is bought separately through the App Store or Google Play.

Art Set 4: On the App Store, Art Set 4 is available for iPad and Apple Vision Pro only, not iPhone or Mac, and the app was last updated in November 2023.

Brushes

Infinite Painter has hundreds of built-in brushes with more than 100 settings each. It imports and exports its own brushes and sets, can sample lower layers when blending, and applies live color adjustments and filters to any brush.

Art Set 4 is all about realistic traditional media: oil paint, fluid watercolor that flows as you paint, oil pastel, pencil, marker, wax crayon and 3D paint you can etch back into. The canvas tracks where paint is wet or dry, and Pro adds 200 more brushes.

Comics and manga

Infinite Painter includes screentone brushes, editable shapes and text layers, but it does not advertise comic panel layouts.

Art Set 4 is a traditional-media painting app and does not advertise comic page or screentone tools.

Layers and editing

Infinite Painter: In Pro it offers live adjustment and filter layers with more than 40 filters, masks on layers, adjustments and groups, and 30 blend modes, so you can change an effect later without repainting. The free version stops at 5 layers.

Art Set 4: Pro unlocks layer masks, blend modes, alpha lock and transforms, plus localized adjustments for hue, saturation, brightness, contrast and blur through quick masking.

Drawing tools and extras

Infinite Painter: Drawing aids include five perspective guides, a hatching guide, radial and kaleidoscope symmetry, smart shape detection, a gradient fill tool and editable text layers. It also has seamless pattern projects and CMYK print presets. It does not advertise animation.

Art Set 4: Drawing aids are simple: flood fill, symmetry and shape primitives in Pro, Slow Draw for smooth lines, and textured papers and canvases. It records a timelapse and exports layered PSD files.