Realistic Paint Studio vs PicRef
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Realistic Paint Studio
This digital art software offers a familiar art station experience with realistic brushes, pencils, and markers. It allows users to create art in drawing, watercolor, and oil painting styles with a unique color engine and diverse canvas textures. Step-by-step tutorials and live demonstrations guide users through the creative process.
- Realistic color engine
- Drawing, Watercolor, Oil Painting styles
- Realistic brushes and tools
- Realistic canvases with diverse textures
- Live demonstration of drawing methods
- Step-by-step tutorials
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Realistic Paint Studio is a unique digital art software. The program combines the simplicity of traditional tools and pioneering innovations in digital art. No special education is required to work in Realistic Paint Studio. The interface is designed to show a familiar art station with real paper, brushes, pencils, pens, and markers, etc. instead of a complicated and hard-to-understand graphic editor. With Realistic Paint Studio you will forget that you are using a digital editor, being completely absorbed in the art process! Easy-to-use, yet powerful engine allows to draw and paint in any desirable style! - "Realistic color" - Unique color engine! - 3 creative styles: Drawing, Watercolor, Oil Painting "Realistic brushes" carefully designed to convey all the nuances of real brushes, pencils, pens, markers, etc. - “Realistic showcase” - You can instantly have a look at your picture within a beautiful scene - “Realistic Canvases” - 15 types of sketchbooks, paper sheets, and canvases with 45 different textures scanned from real materials. - “Realistic palettes” - Most of the brushes have their own palette's presets. - “Live demonstration” - Instant demonstration of drawing methods for the selected tool - Live liquid watercolor drops - Step by step tutorials - Сoloring with the edge control function
PicRef
This app allows users to view and manipulate reference images with no loss of quality. It offers tools for cropping, resizing, and batch editing, with an optional drawing feature for iPad users. The interface is designed for efficiency, supporting split-screen use with other graphics software.
- No loss of image quality
- Image dragging, cropping, resizing
- Batch editing (drag, delete, mirror, sort)
- Desaturate and mirror images
- Free rotation at any angle
- Split screen support
- Handwriting notes (iPad only)
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- No loss of image quality Optimize the graphic algorithm to view more images at the same time without missing any high-definition details. - Mark (iPad only) Write down your ideas by hand in any location. - Basic function Support image dragging, cropping, resizing and focus on single picture, one-click mediation. - Marquee Batch drag, delete, mirror, desaturate and sort. - Compact layout - Desaturate Quickly desaturate the selected images. - Rotation Supports free rotation at any angle. - Mirror Quickly mirror the selected images. - Split screen Can be used with other graphics software split screen.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: PicRef at $0.99 against Realistic Paint Studio's $11.99. PicRef also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 12) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). Realistic Paint Studio's advantage is ratings volume (735 vs 26) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 14.0). On rating and ads 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
Realistic Paint Studio costs $11.99 and PicRef $0.99 up front. Realistic Paint Studio sells 12 one-off in-app purchases. PicRef asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Realistic Paint Studio against 4.7 for PicRef. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Realistic Paint Studio has 735 ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Realistic Paint Studio's written reviews are positive against 84% of PicRef's.
Realistic Paint Studio ships an update every 5 weeks, PicRef weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Realistic Paint Studio | PicRef |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $11.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (735 ratings) | 4.7 (26 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 67.3% of reviews | 84.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 735 — better | 26 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #115 — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1005 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aleksandr Komarov | 祥 汤 |
Customer experience
Realistic Paint Studio
PicRef
Bugs and requests
Realistic Paint Studio
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when using the camera feature
- Inconsistent behavior with the undo/redo function
- Issues with the color mixing in the palette
- Delayed response and lag when using Apple Pencil
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for PSD export with layers
- Implement canvas rotation and resizing options
- Allow for more brush customization and pressure sensitivity
- Improve color picker and palette functionality
- Introduce a simple, distraction-free canvas mode
PicRef
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Realistic Paint Studio
- Artistic brushFree
- Mechanical penFree
- Glitz penFree
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- Glass penFree
- Fountain penFree
- Calligraphy brushFree
- Hieroglyph brushFree
- Diamond brushFree
- Album with six color sheetsFree
- All brushes from the VIP boxFree
- Dragon brush$0.99
- Crystal brush$0.99
PicRef
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Realistic Paint Studio free?
Is PicRef free?
Which has better reviews, Realistic Paint Studio or PicRef?
Do Realistic Paint Studio or PicRef have ads?
Which is updated more often, Realistic Paint Studio or PicRef?
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