Comparison

Swift Pixels vs Glyphon

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

Head to head
About

Swift Pixels

Create pixel art with a unique color palette and diverse rendering options. Save your creations as PNGs with transparency or high-resolution images to share. Import photos from your library or camera to use as a base for your designs.

Highlights
  • Unique color palette with universal categories
  • Render pixels as squares, 3D boxes, beads, towels, or hexels
  • Save images as PNG with transparency
  • High-resolution export and sharing
  • Import photos from library or camera
Features
Read full description

Simple and easy to use drawing application to create pixel art. Features: * Unique color palette based on universal color categories. Each color category expands a continuous gamut for that color. * Render pixels as simple squares, 3D boxes, beads, a towel, or as hexagons (hexels). * Save small images as PNG images with transparency (alpha/mask), or save them in hi-res and share them with the world :) * Load and import pictures from your Photo Library, or directly take a picture from your camera.

About

Glyphon

Create pixel fonts for retro games or unique display faces. Draw, refine, and export your typeface in industry-standard formats. Sync your work across Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

Highlights
  • Pixel-perfect glyph drawing
  • Full Unicode support
  • Export to TTF, BDF, and JSON
  • Per-glyph advance width control
  • Live text preview
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Glyphon is a pixel font editor built for anyone who loves the craft of bitmap typography. Whether you're designing a retro game font, a lo-fi display face, or a complete character set, Glyphon gives you the tools to draw, refine, and ship your typeface — at your desk or in your pocket. DRAW PIXEL-PERFECT GLYPHS Work in a large pixel grid with pinch-to-zoom, a toggleable grid overlay, and draggable typographic guides for baseline, cap height, x-height, ascender, and descender. Drag any guide directly on the canvas for instant precision. Every stroke is undo-able. FULL UNICODE SUPPORT Your font isn't limited to the ASCII alphabet. Add glyphs for any Unicode range — Basic Latin, Latin Extended, Cyrillic, Greek, Hiragana, Katakana, Box Drawing, and more — in a single step. EXPORT TO INDUSTRY FORMATS When your font is ready, export it as: - TTF — install directly on your Mac or share with other designers - BDF — the open bitmap standard used in embedded and terminal applications - JSON — a portable format for round-tripping with the Glyphon web app DESIGN WITH PRECISION - Per-glyph advance width with a live visual indicator on the canvas - Origin-aware horizontal flip that keeps your left-bearing columns in place - Shift pixels in any direction with a single tap or keyboard shortcut - Copy and paste pixel designs between glyphs - Flood fill for closed areas LIVE PREVIEW See your font render real text as you draw. Type any sentence into the preview strip to test spacing, rhythm, and readability at a glance. SYNC ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Start a typeface on your Mac, refine it on iPad, finish a stubborn glyph on your phone. iCloud sync keeps every font current on every device — automatically. Each font is still a self-contained file you own. DESIGNED FOR MAC, iPAD, AND iPHONE Glyphon is a native SwiftUI app, at home on every Apple device. On Mac, every action has a keyboard shortcut. On iPad, pinch to zoom and swipe between glyphs. On iPhone, the full editor fits in your pocket — draw a font in a boring meeting and it'll be waiting on your Mac when you get back.

Screenshots

Swift Pixels4 screens
Glyphon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Glyphon at Free against Swift Pixels's $1.99. Glyphon also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 60%) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 5 months). Swift Pixels's advantage is ratings volume (14 vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.7 vs 26.0). 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

Glyphon is free to download; Swift Pixels costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Glyphon holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Swift Pixels has 14 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Swift Pixels's written reviews are positive against 100% of Glyphon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Swift Pixels ships an update every 5 months, Glyphon every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Swift Pixels versus Glyphon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSwift PixelsGlyphon
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (14 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS14.7 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid GavilanJussi Edlund

Customer experience

Swift Pixels

All ratings14 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

Glyphon

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Swift Pixels

No in-app purchases

None

Glyphon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Swift Pixels free?
Swift Pixels costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Glyphon free?
Glyphon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Swift Pixels or Glyphon?
Glyphon is rated higher. Swift Pixels averages 4.7 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Glyphon averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Swift Pixels or Glyphon have ads?
Neither Swift Pixels nor Glyphon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Swift Pixels or Glyphon?
Swift Pixels ships an update every 5 months, and Glyphon every 10 days. Most recently, Swift Pixels was updated on October 2, 2026 and Glyphon on October 17, 2026.

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