Pixen vs Pixel Studio PRO
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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!
Pixel Studio PRO
This app is a powerful yet user-friendly pixel art editor designed for artists and game developers. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for creating detailed pixel art, including support for layers, animations, and custom palettes. Seamlessly sync your work across devices and share your creations with a vibrant community.
- Layers for advanced editing
- Frame-by-frame animation
- MP4 video export with music
- Google Drive sync
- Customizable palettes
- Cross-platform compatibility
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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 PRO brings drawing, animation and color tools together, with Apple Pencil support and a customizable workspace. Get PRO features with a one-time purchase, including an ad-free workspace, Google Drive sync and advanced creative tools. 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 • Create seamless textures with Tile Mode 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 without limits WORK WITH COLOR • Create your own palettes with up to 256 colors 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 • Adjust hue, saturation and lightness without limits SAVE AND SHARE • Use autosave and backups to help protect your projects • Sync your work between supported devices and platforms with Google Drive • Work with PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TGA and Pixel Studio Project files • Import Aseprite files • Share your artwork with the Pixel Network community PRO FEATURES INCLUDED • No ads • Google Drive sync across supported platforms • Dark theme • 256-color palettes • Tile Mode for seamless textures • Extended maximum project size • Unlimited color adjustments and MP4 exports • Additional format support • Extended Pixel Network storage 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
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pixen at Free against Pixel Studio PRO's $12.99. Pixen also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Pixel Studio PRO's advantage is review sentiment (85% vs 67%) and chart position (#96 vs unranked). On ratings volume, update cadence, 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
Pixen is free to download; Pixel Studio PRO costs $12.99 up front. Pixen sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pixel Studio PRO sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Pixen holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 181 and 74 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Pixen's written reviews are positive against 85% of Pixel Studio PRO's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pixen ships an update monthly, Pixel Studio PRO every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pixen | Pixel Studio PRO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $12.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (181 ratings) — better | 4.5 (74 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 84.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 181 — better | 74 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #96 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 144 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Furnace Creek Software LLC | Farida Yarullina |
Customer experience
Pixen
Pixel Studio PRO
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
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- 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
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- Spill bucket eraser
- Larger button size option
- Undo button on left side for left-handed users
Pixel Studio PRO
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Pixen
- Pro: One Time Purchase$9.99
Pixel Studio PRO
- PREMIUM subscription$3.991 Month
- PROMOTION IN PIXEL NETWORK$0.99
- EXTRA STORAGE IN PIXEL NETWORK$3.99
- PRO CROSS GIFT -50%!$8.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- PRO CROSS$17.99









