Comparison

Sprite Pencil vs PxPad

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

Head to head
About

Sprite Pencil

Create pixel art for games and icons with a focused set of tools. Features automatic shading brushes, symmetry mode, and easy palette management. Save and share your creations as crisp PNG files.

Highlights
  • Pencil, eraser, and fill tools
  • Automatic highlight and shadow brushes
  • Symmetry mode for mirrored strokes
  • Dithering for classic patterns
  • Handpicked and importable color palettes
  • Save as crisp PNG files
Features
Read full description

Pixel art, made simple and made to feel great. Sprite Pencil is a focused pixel-art editor for sprites, icons, and game assets. A small set of carefully chosen tools and a drawing engine built exclusively for Apple devices make every pixel land exactly where you meant it, whether you draw with a finger or with Apple Pencil. Draw • Pencil, eraser, and fill tools • Highlight and shadow brushes that shade automatically • Symmetry mode to mirror strokes as you draw • Dithering for classic checkered patterns • Flip, rotate, and outline a whole sprite in a tap • Full undo and redo Color • Handpicked palettes, plus seasonal picks • Building Bricks colors • Import any palette from Lospec Your Files, Your Way • Sprites are plain PNG files, so any app can open them • Edit images in place wherever they live, including iCloud Drive • Share your art scaled up so it stays crisp Show It Off • Pin a favorite sprite to your Home Screen with a widget • Draw and send pixel-art stickers right in Messages

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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

Sprite Pencil4 screens
PxPad4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: PxPad at none against Sprite Pencil's shown. PxPad also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 69%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Sprite Pencil's advantage is ratings volume (61 vs 1). On price, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PxPad holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sprite Pencil has 61 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Sprite Pencil's written reviews are positive against 100% of PxPad's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sprite Pencil ships an update every 5 weeks, PxPad fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Sprite Pencil versus PxPad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSprite PencilPxPad
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (61 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings61 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS27.018.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer256 ArtsAndrew Moloney

Customer experience

Sprite Pencil

All ratings61 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral6.6%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive69.0%
Neutral7.1%
Negative23.8%

PxPad

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sprite Pencil

No in-app purchases

None

PxPad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sprite Pencil free?
Sprite Pencil is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PxPad free?
PxPad is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sprite Pencil or PxPad?
PxPad is rated higher. Sprite Pencil averages 4.6 out of 5 from 61 ratings, while PxPad averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Sprite Pencil or PxPad have ads?
Sprite Pencil shows ads; PxPad does not.
Which is updated more often, Sprite Pencil or PxPad?
Sprite Pencil ships an update every 5 weeks, and PxPad fortnightly. Most recently, Sprite Pencil was updated on November 2, 2026 and PxPad on October 30, 2026.

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