Comparison

Model Colors vs Hobby Life

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Hobby Life

Track your miniature collecting and army building progress. Log your backlog, monitor monthly progress and spending, and predict completion times. Link painting projects to army lists and view progress with attached photos.

Highlights
  • Collectibles tracking
  • Army building progress
  • Backlog prediction
  • Monthly progress monitoring
  • Spending habit analysis
  • Painting project linking
  • Photo gallery
Features
Read full description

Hobby Life allows you to track your miniature collecting and army building progress and even predict when you will finish preparing your army based on the current backlog. Start by building your collection and wishlist, then view your current monthly progress and spending habit to make choices about your next hobby steps. You can even link your painting projects to army lists which automatically update when you make some progress, so you can see how close you are to finishing your lists. This app is not a comprehensive list builder but does have some tools to help you bring in your lists from list builders. You can attach photos to your projects and view them in a gallery. Try out the seasonal scoring, try to get the lowest score each season. Customisation is encouraged, the app will transform to light and dark mode based on your system settings and also provides a number of colour theme options.

Screenshots

Model Colors4 screens
Hobby Life4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hobby Life at none against Model Colors's 4. Hobby Life also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 61%) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). Model Colors's advantage is ratings volume (449 vs 5) and rating (4.6 vs 4.4). On price, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Model Colors sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Hobby Life asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Model Colors holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Model Colors has 449 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Model Colors's written reviews are positive against 85% of Hobby Life's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Model Colors ships an update monthly, Hobby Life every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Model Colors versus Hobby Life: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterModel ColorsHobby Life
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (449 ratings) — better4.4 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews60.6% of reviews84.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings449 — better5
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperD-Pointer OyNeil North

Customer experience

Model Colors

All ratings447 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral2.9%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews193 reviews
Positive60.6%
Neutral3.6%
Negative35.8%

Hobby Life

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Model Colors

Subscriptions4
  • 1 month subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • 3 month subscription14 Days trial$1.993 Months
  • 6 month subscription1 Month trial$3.496 Months
Show 1 more
  • 1 year subscription1 Month trial$5.991 Year
None

Hobby Life

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Model Colors free?
Model Colors is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hobby Life free?
Hobby Life is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Model Colors or Hobby Life?
Model Colors is rated higher. Model Colors averages 4.6 out of 5 from 449 ratings, while Hobby Life averages 4.4 from 5 ratings.
Do Model Colors or Hobby Life have ads?
Neither Model Colors nor Hobby Life shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Model Colors or Hobby Life?
Model Colors ships an update monthly, and Hobby Life every 3 weeks. Most recently, Model Colors was updated on October 24, 2026 and Hobby Life on October 24, 2026.

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