Model Colors vs The Paint Picker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Model Colors
This app helps hobbyists manage their paint collections for models. Track colors you own, colors you need, and easily share lists. Find similar colors and organize them into custom lists for different projects.
- Track owned and needed paint colors
- Browse over 40,000 colors from various brands
- Share color lists via email and messaging
- Set favorite colors for quick access
- Find similar colors using standards or calculations
- Create custom color lists for projects
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Model Colors is an application for helping you keep track of your hobby model colors and projects. Have you ever ended up buying the wrong colors because you didn’t remember the exact code of the color you needed or forgot to get that pesky Dunkelgelb that you needed to finish that glorious tank you’re working on? If so, then Model Colors helps you keep track of the colors that you own and the colors that you need to buy. The application contains lists of all colors from a set of brands and you can browse these lists and mark the ones you already own and the ones you need to buy. Currently the app has over 50000 colors included from most big and many small manufacturers. The lists of your own colors and colors that you need to buy can be easily shared via mail, iMessage etc. If you mainly use some particular color types or individual colors you can set them as favorites and easily access them from the main menu. You can check for colors that are similar to a certain color either via color standards like FS, RAL, RLM etc, or via industry standard CIE deltaE 2000 calculations. Various colors can also be grouped together for quick access into custom color lists. You can keep the colors you normally use for US airplanes in one list and colors you use for fantasy miniatures in another, making them easy to find. Some of the included brands: Abteilung 502, Agama, AKAN, AK Interactive, Alclad II, Ammo, Andrea, AOK Silveroaks, Apple Barrell, Arcus Hobby Colors, Army Painter, Badger, Bits of War, Coat D'Arms, Colour Forge, Craft Smart, Createx, Creature Caster, Daler-Rowney, Darkstar Miniatures, Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy, Dwarven Forge, E7, Fantasy Flight Games, Faskolor, Fire Scale Modeler, Flames of War, Flory Models, ForgeWorld, Gaia, Gamescraft, Games Workshop, Golden, Gravity Colors, Green Stuff World, Hannants, Hataka, Heller, Hobby Mio, Huge Miniatures, Humbrol, ICM, Instar, Italeri, Jo Sonja's, Jumpwind, Kimera Models, Lefranc Bourgeois, LifeColor, Liquitex, Meng, Microscale, MIG Productions, Minuteman Scale Models, Mission Models, Modellers World, Modo, Monkey Modelling Paints, Monument Hobbies, Mr. Hobby, MR Paint, Nocturna Models, Paasche, Pacific88, Pactra, Pledge, Prince August, Privateer Press, ProScale Paints, Rackham, Reaper, Rembrandt, Revell, Rust-Oleum, Scale75, Scale Colors, Scale Modellers Supply, Sovereign Hobbies, Splash Paints, Tamiya, Testors, Titans Hobby, Tru-Color, True Earth, TT Combat, Turbo Dork, Ultimate Modelling Products, Vallejo, Vantage Modelling Solutions, Warcolours, Wargames Foundry, Warlord Games, Wilder, Winsor & Newton. You can also add the models that you are working on or plan to build in the future. For each model you can register the colors that are required and make sure that you don't forget to buy any essential colors. Each model can have a photos associated with it as well as notes. Using the notes and photos it is easy to keep a build diary or just keep track of things that you need to do at some point. Model Colors requires iCloud and iCloud Drive to be enabled for the app to work. iCloud Drive is used to save photos and documents for our models. Model Colors uses a subscription in order to support the application development and there's a trial period that lets you evaluate the app. Please see the link https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ for the End User License Agreement.
The Paint Picker
This app assists miniature painters in selecting optimal paint schemes for their armies. It leverages color theory to suggest visually striking combinations, helping users find matching paints and complementary colors.
- Select starting color
- Find matching paints
- Discover complementary paints
- Save and share schemes
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The Paint Picker is designed to help wargamers choose the perfect paint scheme for their armies. The app utilises the principles of color theory to suggest paint schemes that will really pop on the battlefield. Features: • Select a starting color from the color wheel. • Find the nearest matching paint from a variety of manufacturers. • Discover complementary paints. • Save and share the results.
Screenshots
Verdict
Model Colors and The Paint Picker both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 89% of The Paint Picker's written reviews are positive against 61% of Model Colors's. The Paint Picker also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). Model Colors's advantage is ratings volume (449 vs 90). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. Model Colors sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and The Paint Picker sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Model Colors against 4.7 for The Paint Picker. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 449 and 90 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 61% of Model Colors's written reviews are positive against 89% of The Paint Picker's.
Model Colors ships an update monthly, The Paint Picker every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Model Colors | The Paint Picker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (449 ratings) | 4.7 (90 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.6% of reviews | 88.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 449 — better | 90 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | D-Pointer Oy | Aaron Tunney |
Customer experience
Model Colors
The Paint Picker
In-app purchases
Model Colors
- 1 month subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- 3 month subscription14 Days trial$1.993 Months
- 6 month subscription1 Month trial$3.496 Months
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- 1 year subscription1 Month trial$5.991 Year
The Paint Picker
- Tip$0.99
- Big Tip$2.99
- Enormous Tip$4.99
Questions
Is Model Colors free?
Is The Paint Picker free?
Which has better reviews, Model Colors or The Paint Picker?
Do Model Colors or The Paint Picker have ads?
Which is updated more often, Model Colors or The Paint Picker?
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