Comparison

Pixen vs Pixbit Studio

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

Head to head
About

Pixen

This native pixel art editor offers a comprehensive suite of tools for creating low-resolution raster art and animations. It supports high zoom levels, custom color palettes, and seamless iCloud sync across iOS and macOS devices. Ideal for game sprites and retro art.

Highlights
  • Pixel art creation tools
  • Animation editing
  • Customizable color palettes
  • High zoom levels
  • iCloud sync
  • Multiple export formats
  • Apple Pencil support
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

Pixbit Studio

Create pixel art and animate sprites with a comprehensive set of tools. Features include layers, onion skinning, and custom color palettes. Sync your work across devices and export in various formats for game development or retro graphics.

Highlights
  • Pixel-perfect drawing tools
  • Frame-by-frame animation
  • Onion skinning
  • Layer management
  • Customizable color palettes
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Multiple export formats
Features
Read full description

Create pixel art and animate sprites on your mobile and desktop devices. Pixbit Studio is a pixel editor with layers, frame-by-frame animation, onion skin, and sync across devices. Built for game developers, artists, and retro-style graphics creators. Free to use. Export up to 3 times to try all features. One-time purchase for unlimited exports. Drawing tools: -Pixel-perfect pencil (true pixel control) -Eraser, selection, move, bucket fill, eyedropper -Shapes: lines, rectangles, circles -Mirror: symmetrical drawing along horizontal, vertical, or both axes -Gradient -Grid with zoom support Frame-by-frame animation: -Timeline with per-frame duration editor and FPS presets -Loop modes: Loop, Once, and Ping-Pong -Onion skin to preview previous/next frames -Playback preview at different speeds Layers: -Multiple layers per frame -Show/hide, duplicate, reorder, lock -Layer thumbnails Color palettes: -Create custom palettes -Import palettes from images -Eyedropper tool -Apply any palette to your entire drawing in one tap — every pixel remapped to the closest palette color Tile preview: -Preview how your sprite tiles horizontally, vertically, or in all directions -Adjustable opacity for tile previews -Visual only — does not affect the canvas Export formats: -PNG with transparency -Animated GIF -Spritesheets (for game engines) -MP4 video Sync across devices: -Projects, palettes, and collections sync across all your devices Session tabs: -Keep multiple projects open at once during your session -Switch between related projects instantly from the start screen -Reorder and close tabs like a browser — tabs clear when you close the app Collections: -Organize projects into collections and subcollections -Multi-select collections and projects for bulk management

Screenshots

Pixen4 screens
Pixbit Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pixbit Studio at 100% against Pixen's 67%. Pixen's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, ads 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 Pixbit Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixen holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixen has 180 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Pixen's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pixbit Studio's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixen ships an update monthly, Pixbit Studio every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pixen versus Pixbit Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixenPixbit Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (180 ratings) — better4.3 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings180 — better3
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFurnace Creek Software LLCLuis Rosas

Customer experience

Pixen

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

Pixbit Studio

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Pixbit Studio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pixen

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

Pixbit Studio

One-time1
  • Premium - Unlimited Exports$9.99

Questions

Is Pixen free?
Pixen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pixbit Studio free?
Pixbit Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixen or Pixbit Studio?
Pixen is rated higher. Pixen averages 4.7 out of 5 from 180 ratings, while Pixbit Studio averages 4.3 from 3 ratings.
Do Pixen or Pixbit Studio have ads?
Neither Pixen nor Pixbit Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixen or Pixbit Studio?
Pixen ships an update monthly, and Pixbit Studio every 4 weeks. Most recently, Pixen was updated on November 4, 2026 and Pixbit Studio on October 30, 2026.

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