Comparison

Pixen vs Pixel Studio

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

Head to head
About

Pixen

Create detailed pixel art and animations with a comprehensive suite of tools. Manage projects, import/export various file formats, and utilize Apple Pencil features for precise drawing. Supports layers, color palettes, and pattern creation for advanced designs.

Highlights
  • Pixel art and animation creation
  • Extensive toolset (Pencil, Eraser, Fill, etc.)
  • Apple Pencil support with gestures
  • Color palette management
  • Animation frame editing
  • Import/export various file formats
  • iCloud sync for macOS users
Read full description

Pixen is a native pixel art editor for iOS and macOS, designed for working with low-resolution raster art such as those 8-bit sprites found in old-school video games. Pixen packs all the tools pixel artists need in an intuitive, native interface including support for high zoom levels, animation editing, color palettes, and a lot more. PROJECTS GALLERY The Pixen experience starts in the projects gallery, which allows you to manage all of your creations in one place. You can import and export files in various file formats including PNG, JPEG, GIF, ICO, BMP, TIFF, SVG, and PSD. Files can be imported from your Photos library, the Files app, or the clipboard. Pixen for macOS users can take advantage of seamless iCloud sync. When you're ready, you can share your creations with friends. TOOLS AND APPLE PENCIL Leverage Pixen's wide array of tools when composing pixel art: Pencil, Eraser, Brightness, Text, Eyedropper, Zoom, Rectangular Selection, Magic Wand, Lasso, Move, Fill, Line, Rectangle, and Ellipse. All of Pixen's tools are fully compatible with Apple Pencil on iPad. You can take advantage of the double-tap gesture on Apple Pencil 2 to quickly switch to your last tool, switch to the eraser, or bring up the color picker. Pixen even has hover support when using Apple Pencil Pro, so you can see a preview of what you're about to draw before your Apple Pencil touches the screen. COLOR PALETTES With Pixen, you can add and organize commonly-used colors into palettes. Pixen can also import and export color palettes in the Adobe Color Table, Microsoft Palette, JASC Palette, and GIMP Palette formats. You can even perform palette operations such as sorting colors and removing duplicate colors directly in the app. ANIMATIONS Create and arrange image frames in the filmstrip view to piece together animations. Pixen can import animated PNGs, animated GIFs, and sprite sheets. It can export animations as animated GIFs, animated PNGs, movies, image sequences, and sprite sheets! GRID Take advantage of Pixen's grid and alignment tools and create pixel-perfect artwork. PATTERNS Define custom patterns to use while drawing with the Pencil, Line, or Eraser tool (instead of a single pixel). You can even import patterns from 1-bit images. PREVIEW While editing at high zoom levels, use the Preview feature to view the canvas scaled out. You can play back animations and tile small images, useful when working on repeated patterns. AND A LOT MORE... - Sync your creations with Pixen for Mac over iCloud and resume your work right where you left off, regardless of device. - Take advantage of the flexibility of layers and change opacities, blend modes, and more to compose creative effects. - Invert colors, convert to grayscale, apply sepia tone, remove alpha components, palettize, pixellate, adjust hue, exposure, brightness, contrast, and more. - Pixel Perfect mode removes extra pixels while drawing such that any drawn paths are at most 1 pixel in width. In other words, it removes the middle pixel of an L shape. - Pick a flat, striped, or checkered background to be drawn beneath the canvas, or set a reference image. - If you use your iPad with a keyboard, increase productivity with Pixen's wide array of keyboard shortcuts. - Export your artwork in PNG, JPEG, GIF, ICO, BMP, TIFF, SVG, and PSD file formats. - Share your creations quickly and easily via AirDrop, Messages, email, and more! - Adjust the size and position of Pixen's sidebars, customize the Apple Pencil 2 double-tap gesture, and more. Pixen is also available for macOS and is the only pixel art maker of its class that syncs projects with iCloud!

About

Pixel Studio

Create pixel art, animated sprites, and game assets with a comprehensive suite of drawing, animation, and color tools. Supports layers, frame-by-frame animation, and various export formats. Offers Apple Pencil support and a customizable workspace for efficient design.

Highlights
  • Layer-based pixel art drawing
  • Frame-by-frame sprite animation
  • Onion skinning for animation
  • Customizable brushes and tools
  • Palette creation and management
  • Export as GIF, MP4, and sprite sheets
  • Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

Create pixel art, animated sprites and game assets on iPhone and iPad. Draw with layers, animate frame by frame, and export your work as images, GIFs or sprite sheets. Start with a small character or build a detailed scene. Pixel Studio brings drawing, animation and color tools together, with Apple Pencil support and a customizable workspace. DRAW PIXEL ART • Work with layers, built-in and custom brushes, shapes and gradients • Draw symmetrically and add shading with the Dithering Pen • Use Dot Pen for precise drawing with a cursor • Customize your grid, background and toolbar • Resize and rotate your canvas, with pixel art scaling and rotation tools ANIMATE YOUR SPRITES • Create frame-by-frame animations with Onion Skin • Export animations as GIFs or sprite sheets • Add music and export videos to MP4 WORK WITH COLOR • Create your own palettes or use built-in palettes and palettes from Lospec • Pick colors with RGBA and HSV controls • Extract palettes from images and apply palettes to your artwork SAVE AND SHARE • Use autosave and backups to help protect your projects • Work with PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TGA and Pixel Studio Project files • Import Aseprite files • Share your artwork with the Pixel Network community UPGRADE TO PRO PRO is a one-time purchase. It removes ads and unlocks Google Drive sync, a dark theme, 256-color palettes, seamless texture tile mode, larger projects, unlimited color adjustments and MP4 exports, additional format support and extended Pixel Network storage. Google Drive sync requires PRO. Some export options and advanced features also require PRO. Sample images by lorddkno, Redshrike, Calciumtrice, Buch and Tomoe Mami are used under CC BY 3.0. Privacy Policy: https://github.com/hippogamesunity/PixelStudioHub/wiki/Privacy-Policy Terms of Use: https://github.com/hippogamesunity/PixelStudioHub/wiki/EULA

Screenshots

Pixen4 screens
Pixel Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Pixen at none against Pixel Studio's shown. Pixen also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Pixel Studio's advantage is review sentiment (94% vs 67%) and ratings volume (6.1K vs 180). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Pixen sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pixel Studio sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pixen against 4.7 for Pixel Studio. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Studio has 6.1K ratings behind it against 180, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Pixen's written reviews are positive against 94% of Pixel Studio's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pixen versus Pixel Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixenPixel Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (180 ratings)4.7 (6.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews93.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1806.1K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB144 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperFurnace Creek Software LLCFarida Yarullina

Customer experience

Pixen

All ratings180 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral3.9%
Negative29.4%

Pixel Studio

All ratings6,087 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.1%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews2,349 reviews
Positive93.7%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.8%

User reviews

Pixen

From 180 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use for beginners
  • 🚀 Great for pixel game art
  • 💡 iCloud sync with Mac version
  • ✨ No ads whatsoever
  • 👍 Responsive developer

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Little buggy
  • 🐛 More tapping in menus than necessary
  • 🐛 Low quality export
  • 🐛 Hard to navigate for beginners
  • 🐛 Too much extra work for frame duplication

Pixel Studio

From 6.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Great tools for pixel art
  • 💡 Helpful tutorials
  • 🔍 Detailed features
  • 🌟 High-quality app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 🔀 Confusing navigation
  • 🔍 Difficult to find certain features
  • 🖌️ Brush size issues
  • 🎨 Limited color palette options

Bugs and requests

Pixen

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • App crashes
  • Cannot make anything else after one image
  • Cannot export
  • App crashes when exporting
  • Export as JPG without transparent background
Show 9 more
  • Artwork doesn't save latest edit
  • Crashes when undoing
  • Crashes when exiting artwork
  • Doesn't save
  • App won't open
  • Crashes on boot
  • Export in gif to photos bug
  • Cannot save images to camera roll (app crashes)
  • Crash on startup

Requested features

8 requests
  • Undo gestures
  • Gallery for artworks
  • Redo button
  • Keep animation preview screen up while working
  • Option to choose background color
Show 3 more
  • Spill bucket eraser
  • Larger button size option
  • Undo button on left side for left-handed users

Pixel Studio

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Exporting animations not working as expected
  • Unexpected behavior when merging layers
  • Inconsistent performance on larger canvases
  • Glitches with the reference image feature

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add custom brush options
  • Improve layer management
  • Implement a color wheel
  • Add canvas resizing capabilities
  • Introduce mirroring/symmetry tools
Show 2 more
  • Enhance the animation workflow
  • Provide a more intuitive file management system

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pixen

One-time1
  • Pro: One Time Purchase$9.99
10 purchases

Pixel Studio

Subscriptions1
  • PREMIUM subscription$3.991 Month
One-time9
  • Sprite collection$0.99
  • PROMOTION IN PIXEL NETWORK$0.99
  • Disable Ads$1.99
Show 6 more
  • PRO -50%!$5.99
  • PRO PROMO -50%$5.99
  • PRO CROSS -50%!$8.99
  • PRO CROSS GIFT -50%!$8.99
  • PRO$12.99
  • PRO CROSS$17.99

Questions

Is Pixen free?
Pixen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pixel Studio free?
Pixel Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixen or Pixel Studio?
Pixel Studio is rated higher. Pixen averages 4.7 out of 5 from 180 ratings, while Pixel Studio averages 4.7 from 6.1K ratings.
Do Pixen or Pixel Studio have ads?
Pixel Studio shows ads; Pixen does not.
Which is updated more often, Pixen or Pixel Studio?
Pixen ships an update monthly, and Pixel Studio monthly. Most recently, Pixen was updated on November 6, 2026 and Pixel Studio on November 6, 2026.

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