StampFX vs Pixel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
StampFX
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Whether you're 8 or 80, a complete beginner or seasoned artist, StampFX makes pixel art animation approachable and fun for everyone. Create stunning animated stickers, GIFs, and pixel art with an intuitive frame-by-frame animation tool designed for all skill levels. No artistic experience required. Just tap, draw, and watch your creations come to life. Perfect for animated stickers, reaction GIFs, retro-style animations, and creative projects on your iPhone or iPad. POWERFUL ANIMATION TOOLS Bring your pixel art to life with intuitive creative features: ⢠Frame-by-frame animation with instant preview ⢠12 specialized drawing tools (pixel, line, circle, rectangle, flood fill, and more) ⢠Customizable brush sizes and shapes for pencil, eraser, ellipse, rectangle, and line tools ⢠Quick frame cloning, duplication, and rearrangement ⢠Pervasive undo for fearless creativity ⢠Mini Sprites: stamp hand-picked 1-bit mini sprites right onto your canvas ⢠Import Image: bring any photo or image onto your canvas to pixelate and remix ⢠Rotation and flipping tools ⢠Two-finger pinch and zoom for precise control ⢠Eyedropper for perfect color matching CREATE FUN ANIMATIONS StampFX is perfect for making: ⢠Animated stickers for iMessage ⢠Reaction GIFs to share with friends ⢠Pixel art characters and animations ⢠Retro-style animated art ⢠Creative projects and personal artwork BEAUTIFUL COLOR PALETTES Create your own, generate a palette from any image, or choose from carefully curated palettes inspired by: ⢠Classic video game consoles ⢠Retro operating systems ⢠Nature themes (fire, ocean, forest) ⢠Monochrome options (17 shades of gray, sepia) ⢠Web-safe colors ⢠Custom hue ranges FLEXIBLE CANVAS SIZES Create at your ideal resolution with canvases up to 512x512: ⢠Tiny (perfect for 16x16 icons) ⢠Small (great for 32x32 sprites) ⢠Medium (ideal for detailed work) ⢠Large (for high-resolution assets) ⢠Custom sizes up to 512x512 pixels ANIMATION SPEED CONTROL Fine-tune your animation timing: ⢠Slow (study details) ⢠Medium (natural motion) ⢠Fast (rapid action) EXPORT & SHARE ANYWHERE Your creations work everywhere: ⢠Animated GIF export ⢠iMessage sticker integration ⢠AirDrop to Mac or other devices ⢠Email sharing ⢠Save to Files app ⢠Compatible with any app that supports GIFs PRIVACY FIRST We respect your creativity: ⢠Zero personal data collection ⢠No analytics or tracking ⢠Your art stays yours ⢠Work offline anytime Whether you're creating animated stickers for messaging, making reaction GIFs for social media, or exploring pixel art as a creative hobby, StampFX gives you powerful frame-by-frame animation tools in a simple, fun iOS app. Download StampFX and start animating today!
Pixel
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Your photo, turned into a pattern you can actually make. Pixela turns any picture into a crisp pixel grid with a tidy color palette and a printable chart ā so you can recreate it however you like: ⢠Perler / Hama beads ā get the bead-by-bead layout for your next fuse-bead art. ⢠Cross-stitch & embroidery ā symbols per color and a printable chart to stitch from. ⢠Knitting & crochet ā color-work charts (intarsia, tapestry, C2C, jacquard): one square per stitch/block. ⢠Quilting & patchwork ā each pixel becomes a fabric square. ⢠Pixel art, sprites & icons ā turn a photo or your own drawing/sketch into true pixels with a controlled palette; export a clean PNG. ⢠Event & stadium mosaics ā plan "pixel performances" and card stunts, seat by seat, sized in meters. ⢠Wall decor & murals ā set the centimeters per tile and get the real wall size to paint or tile. ⢠LEGO & brick mosaics ā each pixel is one brick on the baseplate. ⢠LED matrices & low-res screens ā a pixel map to wire or program each LED. ⢠Gifts & keepsakes ā turn a pet, a portrait, or a logo into a handmade piece. ⢠Drawings, coloring pages & templates ā a ready-made grid to trace, color, or hand off. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT ⢠Pick a photo ā Pixela builds the pattern in seconds. ⢠Control the look ā set the number of columns and palette colors with live sliders. ⢠Color symbols ā every color gets a letter so it's easy to follow (great for color-vision needs). ⢠Printable PDF ā a clean legend plus the full symbol chart, ready to print or share. ⢠Export a clean PNG ā the pure pixel art with no grid or symbols, ready to use as a sprite, sticker, or poster. ⢠Real thread colors ā see the nearest DMC floss for every color, and swap any color for the one you prefer. ⢠Real finished size at any scale ā stitches (Aida), beads, or big tiles; shown in cm or meters, so you can size a wall mural or a whole stadium mosaic. ⢠Track your progress ā mark finished cells and watch your % climb. ⢠Pinch to zoom, tap "1:1" to see the whole thing ā built for big, detailed pieces. ⢠Works offline ā everything is processed on your device. Your photos never leave it. FAIR PRICING Unlock everything with a single one-time purchase ā no subscription, ever. Private by design: your photos are processed on-device and are never uploaded.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Pixel at every 4 days against StampFX's fortnightly. Pixel also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. StampFX sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pixel sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
StampFX ships an update fortnightly, Pixel every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | StampFX | Pixel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 4 days ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cyclic Software Development Inc. | Abraham Munguia |
In-app purchases
StampFX
- StampFX Pro$1.99
Pixel
- Pixel-A Pro$4.99








