Pixel Painter vs PixelPencil
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pixel Painter
Create pixel art with a variety of tools and export options. Customize your creations with different pixel styles and built-in color palettes. The app features a scrollable canvas for easy pattern creation and selection tools for precise editing.
- Basic drawing and editing tools
- Apply various pixel export styles
- Erase mode for clearing colors
- Selection and cropping tools
- Scrollable canvas for patterns
- Customizable color palettes
- Downsample/Upsample pixel resolution
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Create pixel art with various pixel styles. Pixel Painter is an easy to use pixel art editor, with these main features: • Basic Tools: pencil tool, block tool, color bucket tool, selection tool, eyedropper tool, scroll tool. • Pixel Styles: apply a style to pixels when export, such as perler, circle, square. • Erase Mode: in this mode, pencil, block tool and color bucket tool are used to clear colors. • Selection: crop to selection, duplicate selected pixels, or remove selected pixels. • Scrollable Canvas: the canvas is scrollable, which allow you create repeatedly patterns more easier. • Color Palette: select a builtin color palette, then customize it if you like. • Downsample/Upsample pixels to get less/more pixels. If you have any questions, please contact me at email: arrowgraphics@icloud.com
PixelPencil
Create pixel art with a robust set of tools, including layers, blend modes, and various brushes. Easily zoom, rotate, and manage multiple projects. Export your creations as animated GIFs.
- Layer editing with grouping and blend modes
- Comprehensive set of drawing tools
- Undo/Redo functionality
- Animated GIF export
- Color creation tools
- Pinch-to-zoom and canvas rotation
- Save multiple works with iCloud support
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PixelPencil is an app that was created to comfortably draw pixel art. In addition to the layer function, there are also functions such as layer grouping and blend mode. You can pinch in and out to zoom in and out, and you can rotate the canvas for intuitive operation. The main functions are as follows. ・ Layer editing Add, delete, duplicate, show / hide, sort, transparent, blend, group There are abundant functions such as. ・ Various tools Pen, eyedropper, eraser, fill, move, selection, flip, rotate, scale, shape We have all the basic tools. ・ UndoRedo Of course you can also undo redo. ・ Animated GIF export function Each layer becomes one frame and you can create an animation. ・ Color creation You can easily create your own favorite color. ・ Pinch in / out You can zoom in and out and rotate by pinching in and out. ・ Saving multiple works Since it uses a file system, you can save multiple projects. You can also save it on iCloud. ・ Canvas size setting You can set any size from 5 * 5 to 512 * 512.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PixelPencil at 79% against Pixel Painter's 0%. PixelPencil also leads on ratings volume (110 vs 3) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). Pixel Painter's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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 Painter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PixelPencil sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PixelPencil holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PixelPencil has 110 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Pixel Painter's written reviews are positive against 79% of PixelPencil's.
Pixel Painter ships an update every 4 days, PixelPencil every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 4, 2026 and September 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pixel Painter | PixelPencil |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (3 ratings) | 4.6 (110 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 78.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 110 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.1 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 光建 张 | Yosuke Seki |
Customer experience
Pixel Painter
PixelPencil
In-app purchases
Pixel Painter
- Size Limits Removal$1.99
PixelPencil
- Remove ads$4.99
Questions
Is Pixel Painter free?
Is PixelPencil free?
Which has better reviews, Pixel Painter or PixelPencil?
Do Pixel Painter or PixelPencil have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pixel Painter or PixelPencil?
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