Comparison

Pixel Studio vs Castle

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Studio

Create pixel art, animated sprites, and game assets with a comprehensive suite of drawing, animation, and color tools. Supports layers, frame-by-frame animation, and various export formats. Offers Apple Pencil support and a customizable workspace for efficient design.

Highlights
  • Layer-based pixel art drawing
  • Frame-by-frame sprite animation
  • Onion skinning for animation
  • Customizable brushes and tools
  • Palette creation and management
  • Export as GIF, MP4, and sprite sheets
  • Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

Create pixel art, animated sprites and game assets on iPhone and iPad. Draw with layers, animate frame by frame, and export your work as images, GIFs or sprite sheets. Start with a small character or build a detailed scene. Pixel Studio brings drawing, animation and color tools together, with Apple Pencil support and a customizable workspace. DRAW PIXEL ART • Work with layers, built-in and custom brushes, shapes and gradients • Draw symmetrically and add shading with the Dithering Pen • Use Dot Pen for precise drawing with a cursor • Customize your grid, background and toolbar • Resize and rotate your canvas, with pixel art scaling and rotation tools ANIMATE YOUR SPRITES • Create frame-by-frame animations with Onion Skin • Export animations as GIFs or sprite sheets • Add music and export videos to MP4 WORK WITH COLOR • Create your own palettes or use built-in palettes and palettes from Lospec • Pick colors with RGBA and HSV controls • Extract palettes from images and apply palettes to your artwork SAVE AND SHARE • Use autosave and backups to help protect your projects • Work with PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TGA and Pixel Studio Project files • Import Aseprite files • Share your artwork with the Pixel Network community UPGRADE TO PRO PRO is a one-time purchase. It removes ads and unlocks Google Drive sync, a dark theme, 256-color palettes, seamless texture tile mode, larger projects, unlimited color adjustments and MP4 exports, additional format support and extended Pixel Network storage. Google Drive sync requires PRO. Some export options and advanced features also require PRO. Sample images by lorddkno, Redshrike, Calciumtrice, Buch and Tomoe Mami are used under CC BY 3.0. Privacy Policy: https://github.com/hippogamesunity/PixelStudioHub/wiki/Privacy-Policy Terms of Use: https://github.com/hippogamesunity/PixelStudioHub/wiki/EULA

About

Castle

Create and play games with a vibrant community. Design your own games using a simple editor, share them with friends, or explore millions of creations from others. Engage with creators, compete for scores, and develop artistic and technical skills.

Highlights
  • Intuitive game editor
  • Community game exploration
  • Social interaction features
  • Game remixing and customization
  • Creative skill development tools
  • Achievement system
Features
Read full description

Castle is social media for creating and playing games! - Make your own games in our simple but powerful editor, then share them with friends, or post to the community and build a following. - Explore the millions of games, animations, and drawings made by the community. Every genre, zero ads, thousands posted every day! - Post comments, follow your favorite creators, compete for high scores, collect achievements, or just hang out. - Get started with our simple templates, or remix the games you see and add your own touch. Pull from a library of millions of game objects to create anything you can imagine. - Learn to bring your ideas to life with editor tools for art, physics, logic, music, and sound. Deepen your creativity and develop skills that last forever. Some features in Castle may require in-app purchase, such as boosting your game to reach more players. Creating and sharing games never requires in-app purchase. Some optional features are available with a subscription, such as setting a custom frame for your profile avatar. Creating and sharing games does not require a subscription.

Screenshots

Pixel Studio4 screens
Castle4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Castle at none against Pixel Studio's shown. Castle also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs monthly) and chart position (#192 vs unranked). Pixel Studio's advantage is review sentiment (94% vs 79%). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pixel Studio sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Castle sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pixel Studio against 4.7 for Castle. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Castle has 42K ratings behind it against 6.1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Pixel Studio's written reviews are positive against 79% of Castle's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Studio ships an update monthly, Castle fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Pixel Studio versus Castle: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel StudioCastle
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6.1K ratings)4.7 (42K ratings) — better
Positive reviews93.7% of reviews — better78.6% of reviews
Number of ratings6.1K42K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#192 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size144 MB88 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperFarida YarullinaMonterey's Coast, Inc.

Customer experience

Pixel Studio

All ratings6,087 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.1%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews2,349 reviews
Positive93.7%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.8%

Castle

All ratings39,622 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral2.7%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews2,226 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral7.5%
Negative13.8%

User reviews

Pixel Studio

From 6.1K App Store ratings

What 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

Castle

From 42K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to make games
  • 👍 Fun and entertaining
  • 🎨 Allows creativity and expression
  • ⭐ Best game app ever

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs
  • 🔧 Difficult for beginners
  • 🔒 Restricted features for younger users
  • 🔀 Issues with remixing and copying games

Bugs and requests

Pixel Studio

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
Show 2 more
  • Enhance the animation workflow
  • Provide a more intuitive file management system

Castle

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Keyboard issues and text input problems
  • Crashes when opening the app or creating new decks
  • Sound and audio not working properly
  • Decks not loading or disappearing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more colors and a color wheel
  • Implement a friends system and multiplayer
  • Allow longer audio tracks
  • Improve text and drawing tools
  • Add an undo/redo function

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Pixel Studio

Subscriptions1
  • PREMIUM subscription$3.991 Month
One-time9
  • Sprite collection$0.99
  • PROMOTION IN PIXEL NETWORK$0.99
  • Disable Ads$1.99
Show 6 more
  • 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
5 purchases

Castle

Subscriptions2
  • Dweller$3.991 Month
  • Dweller+$7.991 Month
One-time3
  • 100 bricks$0.99
  • 550 bricks$4.99
  • 1,200 bricks$9.99

Questions

Is Pixel Studio free?
Pixel Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Castle free?
Castle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Studio or Castle?
Castle is rated higher. Pixel Studio averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.1K ratings, while Castle averages 4.7 from 42K ratings.
Do Pixel Studio or Castle have ads?
Pixel Studio shows ads; Castle does not.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Studio or Castle?
Pixel Studio ships an update monthly, and Castle fortnightly. Most recently, Pixel Studio was updated on November 10, 2026 and Castle on November 10, 2026.

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