ZBrush pricing has changed more in the last three years than in the twenty before it: perpetual licenses are gone, the cheap Core editions are gone, and an iPad version arrived with its own free tier. Every Maxon price below was read off Maxon's own site in October 2026.
One disclosure, because this post ends with alternatives: we build Re:Form, a browser sculpting app that competes with ZBrush at the low end. ZBrush is the deeper, more mature tool, and we'll say so wherever it matters.
How much does ZBrush cost in 2026?
As of October 2026, ZBrush costs $49 per month on a monthly plan, or $399 per year billed annually, which works out to $33.25 a month. Both plans are subscriptions from Maxon and include ZBrush on desktop (Windows and macOS) plus ZBrush for iPad. There is no one-time purchase option for new buyers.
Here is the full list for individuals, straight from Maxon's plans page in October 2026 (US prices; Maxon notes that the final price, including any VAT, shows in the cart):
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZBrush | $49/mo | $399/yr ($33.25/mo) | ZBrush desktop + ZBrush for iPad |
| ZBrush for iPad (standalone) | — | $89.99/yr | iPad app only, full features |
| ZBrush for iPad — Free | $0 | $0 | 28 brushes, limited ZRemesher and other tools |
| Maxon One | $169/mo | $1,265/yr ($105.42/mo) | ZBrush, Cinema 4D, Redshift, Red Giant, Universe |
| Maxon One Student | — | $60/yr | Full Maxon One bundle, education use only |
The jump from monthly to annual billing is large. Twelve months at $49 is $588, so the yearly plan saves $189, about a third. Maxon advertises the annual discount as "30% or more," and for ZBrush that holds. If you know you'll sculpt for a year, the monthly plan only makes sense as a short-term bridge, for a single project or a test month after the trial runs out.
What's included in a ZBrush subscription
Per Maxon's ZBrush page (October 2026), a ZBrush subscription covers the desktop app, ZBrush for iPad with premium features, Redshift CPU rendering, and access to Maxon's training libraries (ZClassroom and Cineversity). The license is dual-platform, so you can move between desktop and iPad, and ZTool and ZProject files transfer between the two.
Is ZBrush free?
No. As of October 2026, desktop ZBrush is paid only, from $49/month or $399/year. The free options are a 14-day desktop trial and ZBrush for iPad's free tier, which includes 28 brushes and limited versions of tools like Dynamesh, ZRemesher, and ZSpheres. ZBrushCoreMini, the old free desktop edition, was discontinued in May 2025.
The history explains why so many old answers to this question are now wrong:
- ZBrushCoreMini was a free, cut-down desktop ZBrush for non-commercial use. Maxon stopped offering it for download on May 30, 2025, along with ZBrushCore (the cheap paid edition). Existing installs keep working, but nothing new ships for them.
- Maxon said a freemium desktop ZBrush was on the way when it retired Core and CoreMini. As of October 2026 we found no sign that it has launched; Maxon's plans page lists no free desktop tier.
- ZBrush for iPad Free is the real free ZBrush today. It is a genuine sculpting app, not a viewer, but it is iPad-only and the brush set and key tools are deliberately limited.
- The 14-day trial runs through the Maxon App and is the full desktop product. It's the best way to find out whether ZBrush's famously unusual interface clicks for you before paying.
Download sites that list "ZBrush 2026 — Free" are listing the trial installer, or worse. Get ZBrush from Maxon.
Can you still buy ZBrush outright?
No. Maxon ended perpetual ZBrush licenses with ZBrush 2024, released in November 2023, which shipped as subscription-only. Anyone who already owns a perpetual license of an older version can keep using it, but new buyers can only subscribe. As of October 2026, the cheapest way to get desktop ZBrush is the $399 annual plan.
This is the change that pushed many hobbyists to look elsewhere. Under Pixologic, ZBrush was a famous one-time purchase with years of free upgrades. Maxon bought Pixologic at the end of 2021, ended free upgrades for new perpetual buyers shortly after, and then ended perpetual sales with the 2024 release. If you see a "lifetime ZBrush license" offered for sale today, it is either an old license being resold (check Maxon's transfer terms) or not legitimate.
Is there a ZBrush student discount?
Yes, and it is the best deal Maxon offers. As of October 2026, Maxon One Student costs $60 per year, charged once, and includes ZBrush, ZBrush for iPad, Cinema 4D, Redshift, and Red Giant. It requires enrollment at an accredited university or school, verified by a third party, and is for personal learning only.
A few conditions are worth knowing before you buy:
- You verify with your school email plus proof of enrollment and a government ID.
- The license runs for one year from purchase, on one activated computer at a time.
- It is not for commercial work. Maxon's terms allow it to terminate a license it suspects of commercial use.
There are also Teacher and Classroom licenses priced separately. If you're a student who plans to sculpt seriously, $60 for the whole Maxon bundle is a better price than any alternative's paid tier, including ours.
Is ZBrush worth the money?
For professional character, creature, and collectible work, usually yes. ZBrush at $399 a year buys the industry-standard sculpting toolset, with ZRemesher, ZModeler, FiberMesh, Polypaint, a huge brush library, and decades of tutorials. For hobbyists, beginners, or occasional sculptors, a free tool often covers what you'll actually use, and the money is better spent elsewhere.
Some questions that settle it quickly:
- Do you get paid for sculpting, or want to? Studio job listings still ask for ZBrush by name. Learning it is part of the job, and $33 a month is a normal tool cost.
- Do you need the tools around sculpting? Automatic retopology, polypaint, hair, and polymodeling are where ZBrush pulls furthest ahead of free options.
- Are you sculpting a few hours a month? Then you'll pay $399 for software that sits closed most of the year.
- Are you still learning the fundamentals? Form, proportion, and anatomy transfer between every sculpting app. You don't need the industry tool to learn them.
For a deeper side-by-side, our ZBrush vs Blender comparison covers the two most common choices, and the Re:Form vs ZBrush breakdown covers ours.
Cheaper ways to sculpt in 2026
If ZBrush's price is the obstacle, these are the real alternatives as of October 2026. None of them matches ZBrush's full toolset; each is strong at something specific.
Blender: free and open source
Blender is free for any use, including commercial work, and its sculpt mode is capable: dynamic topology, multiresolution, masking, face sets, and a solid brush set. It also models, rigs, animates, and renders, so it can be your whole pipeline. The tradeoff is a big interface to learn and sculpting performance that, at very high polygon counts, lags behind ZBrush. If you want one free program for everything, start with Blender. Our Re:Form vs Blender comparison goes into the sculpting side in detail.
ZBrush for iPad Free
If you already own an iPad and an Apple Pencil, the free ZBrush tier costs nothing and teaches you ZBrush's own workflow. The 28-brush limit and restricted tools will eventually push you toward a paid plan, and that's by design, but as a way to try ZBrush longer than 14 days, it works. Our Nomad Sculpt vs ZBrush for iPad comparison covers tablet options.
Re:Form: sculpting in a browser tab
Re:Form is our tool, so weigh this section accordingly. It's a 3D sculpting app that runs in desktop browsers on WebGPU: current Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, plus Safari 26 on macOS. There is nothing to install. You sign in for free and sculpt.
The free plan is the complete toolset, not a demo: every brush, sculpt layers, masking, symmetry, and remeshing, on meshes up to 12.5 million triangles, with OBJ import and export and five saved projects. Your models are never watermarked and no card is required. Free covers personal, non-commercial work, and free renders, turntables, and timelapses carry a small Re:Form mark.
Re:Form Pro is $9.99 a month or $99 a year. It raises the budget to 80 million triangles, adds STL, GLB, and FBX import and export, and includes a commercial license. Billing runs through Stripe and you can cancel from inside the app.
Re:Form is currently v0.8.9 Alpha. It ships updates fast, but it's not finished software, and it doesn't have ZBrush's surrounding toolset: no polypaint, no hair system, no ZModeler-style polygon modeling. It also needs a reasonably modern graphics card and doesn't work offline. If you want to try sculpting today without spending anything, open Re:Form in your browser and you'll be pushing clay in under a minute.
Side-by-side cost
| Option | Cost to start | Ongoing cost | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZBrush (desktop + iPad) | 14-day trial | $49/mo or $399/yr | Yes |
| Maxon One Student | $60/yr | $60/yr | No |
| ZBrush for iPad Free | $0 (needs an iPad) | $0, or $89.99/yr for full | Check Maxon's terms |
| Blender | $0 | $0 | Yes |
| Re:Form Free | $0 | $0 | No (personal use) |
| Re:Form Pro | $9.99/mo or $99/yr | Same | Yes |
ZBrush and Maxon prices as of October 2026. Re:Form prices from our pricing page.
For the wider field, including tools that have quietly died, see our roundup of free ZBrush alternatives.
How to choose
A simple way to decide, based on what you need rather than the price tag:
- You're a student at an accredited school: get Maxon One Student for $60. Nothing else comes close for the money.
- You're aiming for a sculpting career: take the 14-day ZBrush trial, then the $399 annual plan. Learn the industry tool.
- You want one free program for modeling, sculpting, and rendering: Blender.
- You sculpt on an iPad: start with ZBrush for iPad Free, then compare it with the paid tablet options.
- You want to try sculpting right now on a desktop, without installing or paying: Re:Form's free plan, with the alpha caveat above. Our first-sculpt guide walks you through the first session.
Pricing changes. Maxon has run time-limited discounts on annual plans, including a 40% first-year promotion in June 2026, so check Maxon's own plans page before you buy, and never buy ZBrush from a third-party "lifetime license" seller.
FAQ
Does ZBrush have a monthly plan?
Yes. As of October 2026, ZBrush costs $49 per month on monthly billing, with no annual commitment, and includes ZBrush for iPad. The annual plan is $399 a year, which saves $189 compared with paying monthly for twelve months. Monthly makes sense for a single project or a short evaluation after the 14-day free trial ends.
Is ZBrush for iPad included with desktop ZBrush?
Yes. As of October 2026, every ZBrush and Maxon One subscription includes ZBrush for iPad with its premium features, and the license works on desktop and iPad. You can also buy ZBrush for iPad by itself for $89.99 a year, or use its free tier, which is limited to 28 brushes and restricted versions of tools like ZRemesher and Dynamesh.
What's the cheapest legal way to use ZBrush?
For students, Maxon One Student at $60 a year, which includes full ZBrush, is the cheapest legal option as of October 2026. For everyone else, it's the free ZBrush for iPad tier if you own an iPad, or the 14-day desktop trial. After that, the lowest desktop price is the $399 annual subscription. Cracked or "lifetime" resale copies risk malware and license termination.