Pixel Studio vs PxPad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
PxPad
Create pixel art and game sprites with a powerful native editor for iOS. Offers a full suite of tools, layers, and export options for retro art enthusiasts and game developers.
- Brush, eraser, fill, select, move, eyedropper tools
- Layers and undo/redo functionality
- Zoom, pan, and rotate gestures
- Image import and export (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, ICO, PX)
- iCloud integration and Files app previews
- Dark mode and left-handed mode
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Create stunning pixel art with PxPad, a powerful native sprite editor for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Perfect for game developers, artists, and retro art enthusiasts. Features • Brush, eraser, fill, select, move, and eyedropper tools • Undo / redo feature • Zoom / pan / rotate gestures • Layers • Multiple artboards in one document • Image imports • iCloud integration • Files app icon previews • Dark mode • Export PNG / JPG / GIF / WebP / ICO / PX • Export multiple artboards at once • Canvas resizing • Full color picker • Haptics • Apple Pencil support on compatible iPads • Left-handed mode • Sample files • 41 Languages Create retro art, game graphics and sprite sheets across iPhone, iPad and Mac, with iCloud integration, native sharing and file previews. Touch shortcuts and gestures • Double-tap with the brush to fill an area (enable in Settings). • Press and hold on the canvas while using the brush, eraser or fill tool to pick a color. • 2 finger tap: Undo • 3 finger tap: Redo • 2 finger pan: Pan view • 2 finger pinch: Zoom view • 2 finger rotate: Rotate canvas • Swipe gesture on folder previews, in the grid view, to cycle through previews. • Drag eyedropper onto canvas to activate with one gesture. Notes • When editing, an orange circle by the file name indicates the file is unsaved. Green briefly confirms a successful save. Red indicates a save error. • Import .px files by moving them into the PxPad folder (see Settings). If you like PxPad, please let me know in a review! Thank you, Andy (The Developer) License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PxPad at none against Pixel Studio's 10. PxPad also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Pixel Studio's advantage is ratings volume (6.1K vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.5). On price, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Pixel Studio sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. PxPad asks for nothing beyond the download.
PxPad holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Studio has 6.1K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Pixel Studio's written reviews are positive against 100% of PxPad's.
Pixel Studio ships an update monthly, PxPad fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pixel Studio | PxPad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6.1K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 93.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6.1K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 144 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Farida Yarullina | Andrew Moloney |
Customer experience
Pixel Studio
PxPad
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
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- Enhance the animation workflow
- Provide a more intuitive file management system
PxPad
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Pixel Studio
- PREMIUM subscription$3.991 Month
- Sprite collection$0.99
- PROMOTION IN PIXEL NETWORK$0.99
- Disable Ads$1.99
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- 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
PxPad
No in-app purchases









