Comparison

Pixquare vs SpritePixels

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

Head to head
About

Pixquare

This application is a comprehensive pixel art editor designed for both beginners and professionals. It offers a wide array of tools for creating game assets, animations, and digital art. The interface is intuitive and customizable, supporting various input methods and advanced features for detailed artwork.

Highlights
  • Intuitive and customizable UI
  • RGB and Indexed color modes
  • Tileset/Tilemap system
  • Timelapse recording
  • Apple Pencil support
  • Animation timeline panel
  • Aseprite file compatibility
Features
Read full description

Pixquare is the #1 pixel art editor, recommended by top pixel artists, game developers, and creators worldwide! Whether you're a beginner or a pro, its simple interface and rich toolset make pixel art creation easy and fun! Download now to create game assets, animate, or simply doodle pixel art! With feedback from thousands of artists, Pixquare is designed for your best pixel art experience ever! • HIGHLIGHTS: - Support both iPads & iPhones - Highly customizable and intuitive UI with left-hand mode available - RGB and Indexed mode - Tileset/Tilemap system - Timelapse recording - Apple Pencil support: gestures, sensitivity, touch rejection - Manual & auto-save modes - Shortcut options: keyboard, gesture pad, joystick - Custom themes • VERSATILE TOOLS: - Brush: spray, pixel perfect, pressure sensitivity, contour, dithering, custom brush, jumble, blur - Eraser: pixel perfect, pressure sensitivity, dithering - Move: transformation and snapping supported - Line: straight & curve mode, perfect angle - Shape: ellipse & rectangle mode, filled, perfect ratio - Selection: 5 types & 5 modes - Color: solid/gradient fill, contiguous/non-contiguous, and more - Color picker: 4 modes (HSV, HSL, Wheel, RGB), history, drag-to-fill - All tools offer shading - Additional tools: + Color replace + Color adjustment + Outline + Text with font import capability + Custom object • LAYER/TIMELINE PANEL: - Optimized for animation & organized layers - Multi-selection, layer grouping, frame tagging, and bulk operations - Visibility and editing-lock toggle - Supports reference layers - Frame duration and cel opacity - Linked cells, onion skin, and clipping mask • ADDITIONAL FEATURES: - Symmetry tool with unlimited axes - Reference images - Color palette: save/load from Lospec, import/export, color gradient generator - Blending modes, alpha lock - Preview with a separate animation loop - Canvas rotation, Finder-like file system - Guideline • FILE IMPORT/EXPORT: - Aseprite file compatibility (importing & exporting) - GIF importing with all frames - PNG, GIF, MOV, Sprite sheet export options (layers, frames, size, and animation) - Import Photos and files as reference layers and images ------------------------------- WHY ARTISTS LOVE PIXQUARE? "Genuinely the best pixel art app for the iPad that I would recommend anyone to get!" - Jon Davies, Pixel Artist on Super House of Dead Ninjas, Binding of Isaac. "Pixquare has more than meets the eye. A seemingly simple interface that has the intuitive control you look for. The gesture pad is comparable to a desktop keypad." - Michael, Pixel Artist, Author of Pixel Logic book "I've been sharing it with basically everyone I know with an iPad because I think it's one of the best software out there for creating pixels on the iPad." - CupOhJoe, Game Developer "This is one fine app to pixel on the iPad! You can tell there's a lot of love for the craft poured in here" - Ota Jaider, Pixel Artist ------------------------------- • SCREENSHOT ARTWORK AUTHORS: - FICO (@FicoPx) - Tofu (@tofupixel.bsky.social) - Mossy (@MossyPixe) - chili (@ryviolie) - Lesma (@pixe_lesma) - ue_voxel (@UeVoxel) - TransientCode (@TransientCode) - 08games (@the08games) - Rinspirit_art(@rinspiritart.bsky.social) - natalie (@cafeaunat) ------------------------------- SUPPORT: User guide: https://docs.pixquare.art Email: info@pixquare.art Twitter: https://twitter.com/pixquare_app Website: https://www.pixquare.art/ NO SUBSCRIPTION. BUY ONCE AND ENJOY FREE UPDATES FOREVER!

About

SpritePixels

Create pixel art with intuitive multi-touch controls for fluid painting and precise editing. Zoom in for detail, copy and paste sections, and customize extensive color palettes. Save and export your creations as high-resolution PNGs.

Highlights
  • Multi-touch painting
  • Zoomable canvas
  • Drag-and-drop copying
  • Area fill tool
  • Rectangular region copy
  • Customizable 16-color palettes
  • Large canvas size
  • iCloud sync
Read full description

Designed for multi-touch! No more pecking one pixel at a time – fluidly paint pixel art using several touches at once. Tap a tile to zoom in and work with precision. The companion mini-view shows what it looks like at normal size. Drag any tile to instantly copy it to another tile. Great for making similar versions of a sprite. Press and hold with one touch to fill an area. Press and hold with two touches to lift and copy a rectangular region. Customize a palette of up to an incredible 16 colors! Expand your canvas to a staggering 512 by 512 pixels! Press and hold any color in the palette to adjust it to any of a mind-blowing 4,096 possible values! Experiment with color sets by pressing and holding the palette to replace an entire row of colors. Save your work in iCloud and resume it from another device. Export your art as a pixel-perfect PNG image.

Screenshots

Pixquare4 screens
SpritePixels2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pixquare at 89% against SpritePixels's 0%. Pixquare also leads on price (Free vs $0.99) and update cadence (weekly vs every 15 months). SpritePixels's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On ads 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

Pixquare is free to download; SpritePixels costs $0.99 up front. Pixquare sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. SpritePixels asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SpritePixels holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixquare has 3.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 89% of Pixquare's written reviews are positive against 0% of SpritePixels's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixquare ships an update weekly, SpritePixels every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and August 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Pixquare versus SpritePixels: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixquareSpritePixels
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.8 (3.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.8% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3.2K — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 15 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#194 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSon NguyenSteve Barnes

Customer experience

Pixquare

All ratings3,150 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews677 reviews
Positive88.8%
Neutral4.4%
Negative6.8%

SpritePixels

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Pixquare

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Duplicate layers that cannot be removed
  • Drawn content disappearing from layers
  • Lack of save functionality

Requested features

8 requests
  • Ability to merge layers
  • Option to customize imported palette colors
  • Radial symmetry tool
  • Polyline tool
  • Separate layer and timeline sections
Show 3 more
  • Brush stabilizer
  • Ability to rotate symmetry lines
  • Higher canvas resolution

SpritePixels

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Pixquare

One-time6
  • Buy me a coffee$1.99
  • Full access for iPhones$7.99
  • Life-time full access$9.99
Show 3 more
  • Life-time full access$12.99
  • Life-time full access2 variants$19.99
  • Life-time full access$24.99
None

SpritePixels

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pixquare free?
Pixquare is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SpritePixels free?
SpritePixels costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pixquare or SpritePixels?
SpritePixels is rated higher. Pixquare averages 4.8 out of 5 from 3.2K ratings, while SpritePixels averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Pixquare or SpritePixels have ads?
Neither Pixquare nor SpritePixels shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixquare or SpritePixels?
Pixquare ships an update weekly, and SpritePixels every 15 months. Most recently, Pixquare was updated on September 25, 2026 and SpritePixels on August 23, 2026.

Other comparisons