Palettes vs Collections Database
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Palettes
Create and manage color palettes from various sources like photos, websites, or manually. Supports multiple color models and schemes for design projects. Offers import/export options and cloud backup.
- Create palettes from photos, websites, or manually
- Supports RGB, HSV, HSL, CMYK, and Grayscale
- Import/export with design software
- Cloud backup and restore
- Color blending and schemes
- Color information display
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Palettes is a powerful productivity tool for creating and maintaining color palettes. Great for creating color schemes. Now you can create a color palette anywhere at anytime. Grab colors from a photograph, a website, or add colors using any one of 5 color models. Quickly find matching colors with support for many different color schemes. You may create and store any number of palettes. This application runs at one of three levels: Free, Basic, and Pro. The initial free version runs at the Pro level for a limited time allowing you to fully test the application. It will then revert back to the Free level. Use the included in-application purchasing to upgrade to either the Basic or Pro level at any time. Key features include: • Single universal application works on all your iOS devices including iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. • Quickly create a color palette from a web site, image, camera, or color scheme. • Unlimited number of palettes (Free only supports 3). • 25 colors per palette (Free and Basic allows 5). • Undo/Redo support. • Import/Export palettes from/to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks, GIMP, Paintshop Pro, Procreate, and OS X Color Chooser. (Pro) • Import/Export palettes via email. Team development made easy with one click import. (Pro) • Backup and restore your Palettes data directly to/from your own computer, iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, or FTP servers. (Basic, Pro) • Import and export palette files directly to/from your own computer, iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, FTP servers, or another app. (Pro) • Email color palettes to friends and co-workers. (Pro adds more options) • Pick colors from: • RGB, HSV (HSB), HSL, CMYK, or Gray scale sliders • Standard colors lists (SVG, Web Safe, HTML, Java, Apple) or other palettes. • A website URL (webpage, image, CSS file, 3rd party palette file (Pro)). • An image or camera. • Any valid CSS3 color representation. • Create colors via: • Color blending (Pro adds using 1 of 4 color models). • Color schemes (monochromatic (Pro), analogous, triadic, complementary (Pro), split complementary (Pro)). • Review color information: • Details (integer, hex, percent, decimal, CSS). • As both a foreground and background color. • "Palette Flow" (not on iPad) • Display a color full screen to compare against a real world item (press and hold color briefly). • Palette preview screen. • Backup a palette as an image in your photo library for later restore. • Rename, reorder, or delete palettes. • Sort palette colors by RGB, HSV/B, HSL, CMYK, or Gray color model. • All work is saved as you go. • Always remembers where you left off last. • Built in context sensitive help system. • Preferences can be set from within the application. (Basic, Pro) • Excellent customer support. Palettes can be used to create color palettes for: • Web site design • Marketing campaigns • Home decorating • Wardrobe • Artists • Color coordinating • Anywhere colors are needed - just use your imagination Please visit http://www.maddysoft.com/iphone/palettes to see a more complete set of screen shots and additional information on the features of "Palettes". The website includes contact information for leaving feedback, asking questions, or reporting any issues. NOTE: Known limitation - this version is unable to import binary OS X palette files (.clr) from ~/Library/Colors. NOTE: Screenshots are after upgrading to the Pro level.
Collections Database
Organize anything with a personal database app. It offers over 20 field types, customizable layouts, and pre-built templates for common uses like books or expenses. Advanced features and iCloud sync are available.
- 20+ field types (text, number, picture, barcode, etc.)
- Customizable fields and display styles
- Pre-built templates (books, contacts, expenses, etc.)
- Organize with collections and subcollections
- Password, Face ID, and Touch ID protection
- iCloud synchronization across devices
- Advanced fields and calculations (Pro version)
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Collections is a personal database app to organize anything. 1. A field for every use Collections supports over 20+ field types: • Text, Number • Boolean • Picture • Select • Email, URL, Phone • Password • Date, Time • Color • Barcode And with the Pro version you can use even more advanced fields. • Document reference - Link documents together • Group - Add multiple values for a field • Formula - Create a formula for calculated values. Powerful formula editor with full support to math functions like SUM, AVG • Sources - Import documents from external APIs with Javascript 2. Customizable • Add and reorder fields • Add a separator between fields to better visualize them • Fields have different display styles like primary, secondary, thumbnail • Filter and sort data 3. Templates Collections includes basic templates to get started: • Books • Contacts • Expenses • Subscriptions • Credentials • Inventory • School 5. Advanced management Collections has different tools to help you creating the data model. SUBCOLLECTIONS Organize data into collections and subcollections. Simply said, they are like folders. LISTS A list contains items used in documents and it's very flexible. It could represent a Genre for a book or a Status like 'Available', 'Out of stock' for an object in the inventory. 6. Security • Protect collections using a password, Face ID or Touch ID • Sensitive data such as passwords are encrypted by default 7. iCloud Sync Data is synced automatically between devices through iCloud. 8. Apple's Shortcuts support Expand the app capabilities with Apple's Shortcuts support. 9. Pro version features • Add unlimited documents (free version is limited to 100 documents) • Add files to documents • Add advanced fields • Views • Grid • Use Summary to perform calculations across documents
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Collections Database at 4.6 against Palettes's 3.6. Collections Database also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 46%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). Palettes's advantage is iOS requirement (8.1 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Palettes sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Collections Database sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Collections Database holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Collections Database has 187 ratings behind it against 23, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Palettes's written reviews are positive against 87% of Collections Database's.
Palettes ships an update every 4 months, Collections Database fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on July 3, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Palettes | Collections Database |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (23 ratings) | 4.6 (187 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.2% of reviews | 87.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 23 | 187 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.1 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Richard Maddy | Matteo D'Ignazio |
Customer experience
Palettes
Collections Database
Bugs and requests
Palettes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Collections Database
Reported bugs
2 issues- Keyboard issues when using search
- Inconsistent behavior between iOS and macOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Collaborative features for sharing databases
- More advanced reporting and visualization options
- Improved import/export functionality
- Ability to customize the appearance and layout
In-app purchases
Palettes
- Upgrade Palettes Free to Palettes Basic$1.99
- Upgrade Palettes Basic to Palettes Pro$1.99
- Upgrade Palettes Free to Palettes Pro$3.99
Collections Database
- Collections Ultra (Upgrade)$1.99
- Collections Pro$7.99
- Collections Ultra$9.99
Questions
Is Palettes free?
Is Collections Database free?
Which has better reviews, Palettes or Collections Database?
Do Palettes or Collections Database have ads?
Which is updated more often, Palettes or Collections Database?
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