Comparison

Model Colors vs Mini Paint Recipe Manager

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

Mini Paint Recipe Manager

Features
Read full description

Stop losing track of your paint collection and forgetting the mixes that worked. Mini Paint Recipes keeps your paints and mixing recipes in one place, with a camera scanner for adding paints fast. AT YOUR WORKBENCH • Create Detailed Recipes – Record mixing ratios as exact percentages, with photos of the result • Recipe Cards – Turn any recipe into a clean card you can share anywhere • Paint Scanner – Point your camera at a paint label to add it to your collection • Track 2,400+ Paints – Mark what you own and what you want, across all major brands AT THE HOBBY STORE • Check Your Inventory – See which paints you already own before you buy • Browse Your Wishlist – Keep your planned purchases at hand while shopping • Add New Paints – Scan new purchases straight into your collection KEY FEATURES • 2,400+ paint database – Citadel, Warhammer Tone Pro, Vallejo, Army Painter, AK Interactive, Reaper and more • Paint label scanner – Camera recognition to find and add paints quickly • Recipe cards – Shareable layouts with your photos and mix percentages • Photo-based recipes – See every mix at a glance • Inventory and wishlist – Track what you own and what to buy next • iCloud sync – Your recipes, photos and collection on all your devices • Search and filter – Find paints by name, brand or type, or show only the ones you own SUPPORTED PAINT RANGES Citadel (Base, Layer, Shade, Contrast, Dry, Technical, Air) • Warhammer Tone Pro • Vallejo Model Color, Game Color, Game Air and Panzer Aces • Army Painter, including Speedpaint 2.0 and Masterclass • AK Interactive 3rd Gen, Real Colors and QuickGen • Reaper MSP Great for Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D miniatures, scale modeling and any hobby painting. Whether you own dozens of paints or hundreds, Mini Paint Recipes keeps them organized.

Screenshots

Model Colors4 screens
Mini Paint Recipe Manager4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Model Colors at 3 against Mini Paint Recipe Manager's 1. Mini Paint Recipe Manager's advantage is iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.0). 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. Model Colors sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Mini Paint Recipe Manager sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Model Colors versus Mini Paint Recipe Manager: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterModel ColorsMini Paint Recipe Manager
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (449 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings449 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperD-Pointer OyPiotr Pluta

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
1 purchases

Mini Paint Recipe Manager

One-time1
  • Full Version Lifetime Unlock$8.99

Questions

Is Model Colors free?
Model Colors is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mini Paint Recipe Manager free?
Mini Paint Recipe Manager is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Model Colors or Mini Paint Recipe Manager have ads?
Neither Model Colors nor Mini Paint Recipe Manager shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Model Colors or Mini Paint Recipe Manager?
Model Colors ships an update monthly, and Mini Paint Recipe Manager monthly. Most recently, Model Colors was updated on October 24, 2026 and Mini Paint Recipe Manager on October 28, 2026.

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