Clip Studio Paint vs Pixel Studio for pixel art
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Clip Studio Paint
Create digital art with a vast array of brushes, textures, and colors. This app offers tools for drawing, painting, comic creation, and animation, with features like 3D models for reference and advanced layer options. It provides a free trial and subscription plans for full access.
- Unlimited custom brushes
- Realistic color mixing
- Artist-made materials
- 3D model references
- Comic creation tools
- Animation features
- Advanced layer editing
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Start drawing and painting in a free 30-day trial. ・Up to 3 months free with your first plan ・Subscribe for the time you want to use it. Get all the latest features, materials, and cloud storage (10 GB)! *Please note that after your trial, you will need to make an in-app payment to save and export. Clip Studio Paint makes drawing a piece of cake, in any style! Whether you are a beginner or a pro, Clip Studio Paint will improve your creative experience while helping you grow. Now with new, powerful features! Unlimited amount of brushes at your fingertips to recreate any style - Use brushes with the same textures as real art materials - Adjust details such as brush shape and paper quality to your liking - Make unique colors with realistic color mixing, like traditional paints - Draw with transparency to erase, so no need to switch brushes Countless artist-made materials - Level up your art with free materials, for backgrounds and more - Discover community-made brushes from creators worldwide - Add details with materials like frills and more Coloring made easy - Easily color even with line gaps using the magnetic lasso tool - Lock transparency to paint over layers without affecting other areas - Set light source and shadow position with Shading Assist - Instantly reference and apply colors from an image to your art using Color Match - Enhance your art with filters like Chromatic Aberration, Retro Film, Pencil, and more Learn alongside other creators - Loads of official tutorials and creator tips available - Watch tutorials on our YouTube channel, for step-by-step advice - Ask questions on the Clip Studio Ask community Create the perfect reference with 3D models - Use 3D drawing figures to help with drawing anatomy - Customize character face and body models with beginner-friendly tools - Attach 3D objects like hats and shoes to characters for more specific references - Use 3D shapes to draw perspective Adjust after you draw - Liquify to make adjustments to the balance of your illustrations - Mesh Transformation allows you to transform to different shapes - Change up the poses of your character drawings with Puppet warp - Non-destructive color adjustment layers to get your art just right - Gradient maps give color to your grayscale illustrations Stress-free layer features - Assign colors and make multiple columns of layers to browse them at a glance - Enjoy the freedom of masking and clipping on multiple layers to edit and move your work - Add various effects to apply to the layer in a non-destructive way The ultimate comic creation app - All the tools you need for comic creation, from storyboard to finishing touches - Panel frames, speech balloons, text, effect lines, and screen tones in an instant - Make data for prints, web comics, manga, or webtoons (6 GB+ memory recommended) - Manage multi-page projects Professional animation, on any device - Use all the same tools as animation studios - Unique features allow you to draw your frames as you like - Enjoy a pencil and paper look and feel, but digitally - Expand your drawings to 4K resolution without losing quality by saving it as vector data ●Grade features ・PRO: All the tools you need to create stunning illustrations & short animations ・EX: All the above + multi-page functionality for comic/manga artists and unlimited animation frames *Clip Studio account needed to buy a plan. ● Target Devices and Specifications ・Minimum free storage space: 3GB, 4GB recommended ・Recommended display size: 10.5"+ Please see the following for supported devices. https://support.clip-studio.com/en-us/faq/articles/20200153 Supported pressure-sensitive pens ・Apple Pencil ● In-app purchases ・Required to save the canvas and export it to various file formats on iPad. Note: You will be charged to the Apple ID used for subscription. Terms of Service https://www.celsys.com/en/information/csp/ https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Pixel Studio for pixel art
This app is a powerful yet simple pixel art editor designed for artists and game developers. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for creating detailed pixel art, including layers, animations, and advanced color manipulation. Sync your work across devices and share it with a vibrant community.
- Layers for advanced pixel art
- Frame-by-frame animations
- Export animations to GIF, MP4, or sprite sheets
- Google Drive sync for cross-device use
- Customizable palettes and color picker
- Support for various popular image formats
- Pixel art scaling and rotation tools
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Pixel Studio is a new pixel art editor for artists and game developers. Simple, fast and portable. No matter whether you are a beginner or a professional. Create amazing pixel art anywhere and anytime! We support layers and animations and have a ton of useful tools - all you need to create cool projects. Add music to your animations and export videos to MP4. Use Google Drive to sync your work between different devices. Join Pixel Network™ - our new pixel art community! Don't doubt, just try it and make sure you've chosen the best pixel art tool ever! Over 5.000.000 downloads around the world, translated to 23 languages! Features: • It's super simple, intuitive and user friendly • Use it on mobile and desktop with Google Drive sync • Use layers for advanced pixel art • Create frame-by-frame animations • Save animations to GIF or sprite sheets • Extend animations with music and export videos to MP4 • Share arts with friends and Pixel Network community • Create custom palettes, use built-in or download palettes from Lospec • Advanced color picker with RGBA and HSV modes • Simple zoom and move with gestures and joysticks • Use Portrait mode for mobile and Landscape for tablets and PC • Customizable toolbar and a lot of other settings • We support Apple Pencil! • We support all popular formats: PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TGA, PSP (Pixel Studio Project), PSD (Adobe Photoshop), EXR • Autosave and backup - don't lose your work! • Discover a ton of other useful tools and features! More features: • Shape Tool for primitives • Gradient Tool • Built-in and custom brushes • Sprite Library for your image patterns • Tile Mode for brushes • Symmetry drawing (X, Y, X+Y) • Dot Pen for precise drawing with a cursor • Text Tool with different fonts • Dithering Pen for shadows and flares • Pixel art rotation with Fast RotSprite algorithm • Pixel art scaler (Scale2x/AdvMAME2x, Scale3x/AdvMAME3x) • Onion Skin for advanced animation • Apply palettes to images • Grab palettes from images • Mini-map and Pixel Perfect preview • Unlimited canvas size • Canvas resizing and rotation • Customizable background color • Customizable grid • Multithreaded image processing • JASC Palette (PAL) format support • Aseprite files support (import only) You can support us by purchasing PRO (it's one-time purchase): • No ads • Google Drive sync • Dark Theme • 256-color palettes • Tile mode for making seamless textures • Extended max project size • Extra formats support: AI, EPS, HEIC, PDF, SVG, WEBP (cloud read only) and PSD (cloud read/write) • Unlimited color adjustment (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) • Unlimited export to MP4 • Extended storage in Pixel Network System requirements: • 2GB+ of RAM for large projects and animations • Powerful CPU (AnTuTu score 100.000+) Sample images made by lorddkno, Redshrike, Calciumtrice, Buch, Tomoe Mami are used under CC BY 3.0 license. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period • Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Privacy Policy: https://github.com/hippogamesunity/PixelStudioHub/wiki/Privacy-Policy Terms of Use: https://github.com/hippogamesunity/PixelStudioHub/wiki/EULA
Screenshots
Verdict
Clip Studio Paint and Pixel Studio for pixel art both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 94% of Pixel Studio for pixel art's written reviews are positive against 46% of Clip Studio Paint's. Pixel Studio for pixel art also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Clip Studio Paint's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Clip Studio Paint sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.89 per month and Pixel Studio for pixel art sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Clip Studio Paint against 4.7 for Pixel Studio for pixel art. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14K and 6.1K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 46% of Clip Studio Paint's written reviews are positive against 94% of Pixel Studio for pixel art's.
Clip Studio Paint ships an update every 3 weeks, Pixel Studio for pixel art every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Clip Studio Paint | Pixel Studio for pixel art |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (14K ratings) | 4.7 (6.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.8% of reviews | 93.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 14K — better | 6.1K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 583 MB | 133 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | CELSYS,Inc. | Farida Yarullina |
Customer experience
Clip Studio Paint
Pixel Studio for pixel art
User reviews
Clip Studio Paint
From 14K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Best drawing software for iPad
- 🎨 Powerful features like vector layers
- 💻 Seamless transition from desktop to iPad
- 👍 Great for comics and illustrations
- 🎨 Diverse brushes and materials
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🔍 Confusing interface for beginners
- 🔒 Requires internet connection to save
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 💻 Lacks full desktop feature parity
Pixel Studio for pixel art
From 6.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Great tools for pixel art
- 💡 Helpful tutorials
- 🔍 Detailed features
- 🌟 High-quality app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 🔀 Confusing navigation
- 🔍 Difficult to find certain features
- 🖌️ Brush size issues
- 🎨 Limited color palette options
Bugs and requests
Clip Studio Paint
Reported bugs
4 issues- Inability to save work without subscription
- Laggy performance with large files
- Unreliable auto-save and recovery
- Issues with brush and tool responsiveness
Requested features
4 requests- One-time purchase option
- Improved file management and cloud integration
- Simplified interface for casual users
- More animation and 3D tools
Pixel Studio for pixel art
Reported bugs
4 issues- Exporting animations not working as expected
- Unexpected behavior when merging layers
- Inconsistent performance on larger canvases
- Glitches with the reference image feature
Requested features
7 requests- Add custom brush options
- Improve layer management
- Implement a color wheel
- Add canvas resizing capabilities
- Introduce mirroring/symmetry tools
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- Enhance the animation workflow
- Provide a more intuitive file management system
In-app purchases
Clip Studio Paint
- PRO Monthly$4.891 Month
- PRO Monthly Single-Device Plan3 Days trial$4.891 Month
- PRO Monthly Single-Device Plan3 Months trial$4.891 Month
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- PRO Monthly Dual-Device Plan3 Days trial$7.991 Month
- EX Monthly3 Months trial$9.691 Month
- EX Monthly Single-Device Plan3 Months trial$9.691 Month
- EX Monthly Single-Device Plan3 Days trial$9.691 Month
- EX Monthly Dual-Device Plan3 Days trial$13.491 Month
- PRO Annual$28.901 Year
- PRO Annual Single-Device Plan3 Days trial$28.901 Year
- PRO Annual Single-Device Plan3 Months trial$28.901 Year
Pixel Studio for pixel art
- PREMIUM subscription$3.991 Month
- Sprite collection$0.99
- PROMOTION IN PIXEL NETWORK$0.99
- Disable Ads$1.99
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- EXTRA STORAGE IN PIXEL NETWORK$3.99
- PRO -50%!$5.99
- PRO PROMO -50%$5.99
- PRO CROSS -50%!$8.99
- PRO CROSS GIFT -50%!$8.99
- PRO$12.99
- PRO CROSS$17.99
Questions
Is Clip Studio Paint free?
Is Pixel Studio for pixel art free?
Which has better reviews, Clip Studio Paint or Pixel Studio for pixel art?
Do Clip Studio Paint or Pixel Studio for pixel art have ads?
Which is updated more often, Clip Studio Paint or Pixel Studio for pixel art?
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