# Pixel Studio vs ToonSquid

The clearest difference is price: Pixel Studio at Free against ToonSquid's $9.99. Pixel Studio also leads on ratings volume (6.1K vs 1.3K) and device support (3 vs 1). ToonSquid's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Pixel Studio is free to download; ToonSquid costs $9.99 up front. Pixel Studio sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. ToonSquid asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pixel Studio against 4.6 for ToonSquid. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6.1K and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Pixel Studio's written reviews are positive against 89% of ToonSquid's.

Pixel Studio ships an update monthly, ToonSquid every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Pixel Studio | ToonSquid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $9.99 |
| Rating | **[4.7 (6.1K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pixel-studio-pixel-art-editor/id1404203859/reviews)** | [4.6 (1.3K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/toonsquid/id1573778812/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **6.1K** | 1.3K |
| Positive reviews | **93.7% of reviews** | 88.6% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Every 2 weeks** |
| Monetization | **Free with in-app purchases** | Paid |
| Size | 144 MB | 48 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPad |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Farida Yarullina](https://appshunter.io/developer/846630437) | [Keiwan Donyagard](https://appshunter.io/developer/1166607047) |

## What reviewers say

### Pixel Studio

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pixel-studio-pixel-art-editor/id1404203859)

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:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PREMIUM subscription | $3.99 | per month |
| Sprite collection | $0.99 | one-time |
| PROMOTION IN PIXEL NETWORK | $0.99 | one-time |
| Disable Ads | $1.99 | one-time |
| PRO -50%! | $5.99 | one-time |
| PRO PROMO -50% | $5.99 | one-time |
| PRO CROSS -50%! | $8.99 | one-time |
| PRO CROSS GIFT -50%! | $8.99 | one-time |
| PRO | $12.99 | one-time |
| PRO CROSS | $17.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Great tools for pixel art
- 💡 Helpful tutorials
- 🔍 Detailed features
- 🌟 High-quality app

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 🔀 Confusing navigation
- 🔍 Difficult to find certain features
- 🖌️ Brush size issues
- 🎨 Limited color palette options

**Reported bugs**

- Exporting animations not working as expected
- Unexpected behavior when merging layers
- Inconsistent performance on larger canvases
- Glitches with the reference image feature

**Requested features**

- Add custom brush options
- Improve layer management
- Implement a color wheel
- Add canvas resizing capabilities
- Introduce mirroring/symmetry tools


### ToonSquid

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/toonsquid/id1573778812)

This powerful 2D art and animation studio for iPad combines traditional frame-by-frame animation with keyframe animation for layer properties. It offers a robust layer system, customizable brushes, vector shapes, animatable effects, and symbols to bring your creative visions to life.

**Highlights:** Frame-by-frame traditional animation, Keyframe animation for layer properties, Flexible layer system with blend modes, Customizable brushes with Apple Pencil support, Vector shapes and path tools, Animatable effects and inverse kinematics, Symbol workflow for reusable clips

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 AMAZING APP!!!
- 🚀 This is an absolute LIFESAVER
- 👍 Super solid animation App!
- 👍 Great app just one suggestion
- 👍 Absolutely Amazing App

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 AMAZING APP!!! One recommendation tho.
- 🐛 Snapping
- 🐛 Crashes
- 🐛 Keyframing doesn't work
- 🐛 Randomly ill get a warning that i have low memory

**Reported bugs**

- Keyframing doesn't work
- Randomly ill get a warning that i have low memory
- The lasso tool thing isnt working for me
- Bug
- Whenever I use the fill bucket tool my app will randomly crash sometimes

**Requested features**

- Custom graphs
- Bevel Shading
- Drawing to drawing transform
- Record Audio
- Extract audio from video


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Pixel Studio free?

Pixel Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is ToonSquid free?

ToonSquid costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Pixel Studio or ToonSquid?

Pixel Studio is rated higher. Pixel Studio averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.1K ratings, while ToonSquid averages 4.6 from 1.3K ratings.

### Do Pixel Studio or ToonSquid have ads?

Pixel Studio shows ads; ToonSquid does not.

### Which is updated more often, Pixel Studio or ToonSquid?

Pixel Studio ships an update monthly, and ToonSquid every 2 weeks. Most recently, Pixel Studio was updated on November 6, 2026 and ToonSquid on November 5, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*