Comparison

ArtRage vs Pixelable

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

Head to head
About

ArtRage

This app offers a realistic digital painting experience, simulating the behavior of real-world art supplies like oils, watercolors, and pencils. It allows for smearing, blending, and texture application, making it accessible for aspiring artists without the mess or expense of traditional materials.

Highlights
  • Realistic paint simulation (oils, watercolors, etc.)
  • Smearing and blending capabilities
  • Layer support with blend modes
  • Import images as reference or tracing
  • Apple Pencil pressure and tilt support
  • Customizable interface
Features
Read full description

The most advanced simulation of real paint on iOS! Get creative on a digital canvas with smearing, blending oils, delicate watercolor, and much more! Ever wanted to try painting your masterpiece but were put off by the mess and expense? Now you can! ArtRage isn't just about color: It knows how much paint you've used so you can smear it around to spread it over the canvas. It knows how wet your paint is so you can blend it with other paints. It even knows about the roughness of your paper so your pencils can be used for soft shading. It's not just a special effect either - ArtRage is a live simulation of the properties of real artistic media that lets you can get creative with colors and textures using tools you already know how to use! ArtRage takes full advantage of the features of your device like larger canvases on iPad Pro, Apple Pencil support for pressure & tilt, and 3D touch on your iPhone. Join the ArtRage community: Forums: forums.artrage.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/artrage Features: Real world painting tools: Oils, Watercolors, Paint Rollers, Pencils, Crayons and more. Each tool has a range of familiar properties such as how much thinner is applied to the paint, or how soft a pencil tip is. Tools apply texture as well as color, and blend under the brush. Add Layers to your painting and work on individual elements without damaging others. ArtRage supports a wide range of Layer Blend Modes, and layer contents can be scaled moved and rotated independently. Import images, converting them to oil for smearing or as Reference Images pinned to the canvas as a visual guide. Load photos as Tracing Images which are overlaid on the canvas, and have ArtRage select colors automatically as you paint. The interface has been designed to maximize your creative space without hiding away critical functions such as tool and color selection. As you paint, it gets out of the way so that you don’t have to stop and manually adjust panels. Record your paintings! The ArtRage Script system lets you record strokes while you paint for playback in desktop versions of the product at higher resolution. Import and Export using external services such as Dropbox, and iCloud Drive. Share your images on Facebook, Twitter, and any other sharing app on your device. Tools: • Oil Brush, Watercolor, Airbrush, Palette Knife, Paint Roller, Paint Tube, Inking Pen, Pencil, Marker Pen, Chalk, Crayon, Glitter Tube, Gloop Pen, Eraser, Flood Fill. • Paint simulation monitors the physical properties of your paints to allow natural blending, smearing, and other real world behavior. • Preset support to save your favorite settings for later use. • Supports the Apple Pencil's Pressure and Tilt properties, and 3D Touch where available to add realism to the simulated paint strokes. Layers: • Unlimited layers with Photoshop standard blend modes, visibility and opacity controls. Scale, rotate, and position layer contents independently. Utilities: • Record your paintings as Scripts then play them back in a desktop version of ArtRage. • Unlimited Undo / Redo. Load photos as References or Tracing images. Store color samples for later use. Files: • Create paintings up to 2048 x 2048 or 4096 x 4096 on iPad Pro. • Control the texture and color of the canvas to create different effects. Canvas presets can be stored to save your favorite settings for later. • Export PTG, JPG or PNG to services such as Email, iOS11 Files, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, and more. Share images on Facebook or Twitter. Import photos to a new file or a layer, with camera support. Interface: • Easy access pods provide functionality without getting in the way. Elements vanish as you paint so you can paint underneath. Multi-Touch shortcuts for canvas manipulation, Undo/Redo, and Brush Size. • Adapts to suit iPhone layouts. Stylus & Input Support: • Apple Pencil Pressure & Tilt. • Supports 3D Touch. • Includes support for Wacom, Adonit, Adobe, and Pogo styluses.

About

Pixelable

Create pixel art with intuitive tools and advanced features like layer editing and color customization. Export your creations as animated GIFs or PNG files. Save multiple projects and adjust canvas sizes for detailed artwork.

Highlights
  • Layer editing
  • Color making
  • Basic drawing tools
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Animated GIF export
  • Pinch-to-zoom canvas
  • Multiple project saving
Features
Read full description

Here is a pleasant pixel art editor! This is an app which pursue the stress-free and intuitively drawing of pixel art. The app has genuine functions, like layer editing, color making, and various tools. Also, you can operate intuitively. For example you can enlarge and reduce the canvas by pinch in or pinch out. Main functions are below. - Layer editing You can add and erase, and copy layers. Also, you can select display or non-display mode, change the order of layers, and make a layer transparent. - Tools The app has basic tools to draw pixel arts. (For example, pen, spuit, filling and transfer) ・Undo and redo You can cancel drawing. - Animated GIF export Each layer is going to be one frame. - Color making You can make your favorite color easily. You can save 150 colors in maximum by a work. - Pinch in and pinch out You can enlarge and reduce the canvas by pinch in and out. It enables you to draw more details. - Saving multiple pictures You can save several projects, so that you can edit other projects later. - Setting canvas size You can select the size of canvas from 5*5 to 256*256. - Setting a exporting pixel size You can select exporting size. Pictures will be saved to camera roll as a png file. - Reflection function You can reflect the selected layer vertical and horizontal. ※There is another flunked app, ‘Dottable’. ※To prevent a crash, you need more than 150MB of free space to make a new project. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Screenshots

ArtRage4 screens
Pixelable4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pixelable at Free against ArtRage's $2.99. Pixelable also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.5) and review sentiment (78% vs 57%). ArtRage's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence 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

Pixelable is free to download; ArtRage costs $2.99 up front. Pixelable sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ArtRage asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixelable holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixelable has 3.4K ratings behind it against 171, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of ArtRage's written reviews are positive against 78% of Pixelable's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ArtRage ships an update monthly, Pixelable every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
ArtRage versus Pixelable: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArtRagePixelable
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.5 (171 ratings)4.7 (3.4K ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.3% of reviews77.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1713.4K — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#91 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAmbient Design Ltd.Yosuke Seki

Customer experience

ArtRage

All ratings171 ratings
Positive57.9%
Neutral11.7%
Negative30.4%
Written reviews737 reviews
Positive57.3%
Neutral14.8%
Negative28.0%

Pixelable

All ratings3,364 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral3.6%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews359 reviews
Positive77.7%
Neutral13.4%
Negative8.9%

User reviews

ArtRage

From 171 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Realistic paint simulation
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
  • 💡 Variety of tools and customization options
  • 🎨 Blending and mixing of colors works well
  • 🎨 Simulates traditional media like oil, watercolor, and pastels

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Laggy performance, especially with larger brushes
  • 🔍 Limited canvas size and resolution
  • 🐛 Bugs with layer handling and saving progress
  • 🔍 Missing some basic features like shapes and text

Pixelable

From 3.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Lots of tools and features
  • 👍 Good for pixel art and animation
  • 👍 Helpful tutorials
  • 👍 Unlimited color options

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 🐛 Issues with saving and auto-saving
  • 🐛 Bugs with certain features like mirroring and resizing
  • 🔍 Ads can be intrusive
  • 🔍 Limited canvas size

Bugs and requests

ArtRage

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes and loss of unsaved work
  • Bugs with color picker and blending tools
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between tools

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to resize and rotate canvas
  • Improved palm rejection and touch controls
  • Larger brush sizes and more customization options
  • Support for higher resolution canvases and export
  • Autosave and cloud sync functionality

Pixelable

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to save or create new projects
  • Issues with layers not working as expected
  • Color picker and eyedropper tool not functioning properly
  • Mirroring tool not aligning pixels correctly
  • Resizing canvas causes loss of work

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add ability to import/trace images
  • Increase canvas size limit
  • Add more layer management options
  • Improve color palette management
  • Add animation timeline and better animation tools
Show 2 more
  • Implement auto-save and better save/load functionality
  • Add option to remove ads for a one-time fee

In-app purchases

None

ArtRage

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Pixelable

One-time1
  • Remove ads$3.99

Questions

Is ArtRage free?
ArtRage costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pixelable free?
Pixelable is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ArtRage or Pixelable?
Pixelable is rated higher. ArtRage averages 3.5 out of 5 from 171 ratings, while Pixelable averages 4.7 from 3.4K ratings.
Do ArtRage or Pixelable have ads?
Pixelable shows ads; ArtRage does not.
Which is updated more often, ArtRage or Pixelable?
ArtRage ships an update monthly, and Pixelable every 5 weeks. Most recently, ArtRage was updated on October 1, 2026 and Pixelable on October 2, 2026.

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