Model Colors vs Model Paints
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.
Model Paints
This app provides a comprehensive database of over 20,000 paints from numerous manufacturers, assisting scale model builders. It offers tools for browsing paint charts, matching colors from photos or the camera, and calculating scale conversions. The database is automatically updated with new colors and paint information.
- Extensive paint manufacturer database
- Color matching from photos and camera
- Scale calculation tools
- Paint blending for new colors
- Automatic database updates
- Search by barcode
- Paints lists support
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A database of paints from most of the manufacturers designed for modellers (more than 20000 paints). Model Paints simplifies scale model builder work by providing a set of easy to use and comprehensive tools. With Model Paints you can: - Browse paint charts from colour standards and model kit paint manufacturers; - Matching paints from whole database or your favourite paints only; - Matching from selected photo from you library; - Online matching from camera; - Get detailed information about paint; - Scale calculation; - Paint matching for a manually specified color - Search for paints by barcode - Paints lists support - Lightening result can depends scale - Getting new colors when blending paints - Database automatically update Current paint manufactures are include: - Abteilung 502 - Agama - AK Interactive - AMMO by Mig Jimenez - Andrea Miniatures - Arion Models - Aztek - Badger - Citadel Paints - Coat D'Arms - Createx Colors - CreateFX - Flames Of War - Floquil - Forge World - Gianonotes - Gravity Colors - Hannants - Hataka - Heki - Heller - Humbrol - Italeri - IPP - Jim Scale - Lefranc Bourgeois - LifeColor - Meng - Mig Productions - Mission Models - Model Master - Molotow - mr.Hobby - Mr.Paint - Pactra - Privateer Press - Pro Acryl - RailMatch - Reaper Miniatures - Revell - Scale75 - Scalecoat - Scale Colors - SMS Paints - Sovereign Hobbies - Splash Paints - Tamiya - Testors - The Army Painter - Vallejo - Wargames Foundry - Wilder - Winsor & Newton - [ ARM.PNT ] - Акан - Моделист - ZIPMaket - Zvezda ... and more References Charts: - Army-Navy Aeronautical (ANA) - British Standard 381C - British Standard 4800 - Federal Standard 595C - RLM - RAL Classic
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Model Colors at none against Model Paints's shown. Model Colors also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (445 vs 37). Model Paints's advantage is review sentiment (81% vs 60%) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 Model Paints sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Model Colors holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Model Colors has 445 ratings behind it against 37, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of Model Colors's written reviews are positive against 81% of Model Paints's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Model Colors ships an update monthly, Model Paints every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and August 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Model Colors | Model Paints |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (445 ratings) — better | 4.3 (37 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 60.4% of reviews | 80.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 445 — better | 37 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| 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 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | D-Pointer Oy | Valentin Ozerov |
Customer experience
Model Colors
Model Paints
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
Model Paints
- Annual subscription$2.991 Year
- Remove Ads$5.99
Questions
Is Model Colors free?
Is Model Paints free?
Which has better reviews, Model Colors or Model Paints?
Do Model Colors or Model Paints have ads?
Which is updated more often, Model Colors or Model Paints?
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