Comparison

Drawing Box Ltd vs pixiv Sketch

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

Head to head
About

Drawing Box Ltd

This mobile studio offers a wide range of tools for sketching and painting, from pencils and brushes to creative pen effects and stickers. Users can enjoy features like symmetrical drawing, unlimited undo, and video replays of their creations. It's ideal for quick sketches, artistic studies, and sharing finished artwork.

Highlights
  • Multiple pencil modes and art brushes
  • Creative pen effects and stickers
  • Symmetrical drawing and painting
  • Video replay of artwork
  • Unlimited undo/redo functionality
  • Pictures for coloring and leisure
Features
Read full description

Enjoy the LIGHT VERSION of one of the most awarded painting app on the market. You will be surprised by the incredible number of features provided by this app. Bring along this small mobile studio with you, make life sketching, studying forms, shapes, architecture, human figures. This is an excellent tool for a quick sketch, even drawn with small modeling effects with the smooth art brushes. Publish your works directly on Twitter, Facebook or Sina Weibo. Send them to the photo library or to your friends by mail. Main features:  - 3 pencil modes  - 3 art brushes - 2 paint rollers - 3 eraser sizes  - 78 premixed and ready to use colors. - 10 incredible creative pen effects. - 187 stickers in 3 sizes  - Video replay of your paintings  - Symmetrical drawing and painting. - Unlimited undo, redo, clear drawing page  - Pictures for coloring and leisure activities - Drawing lessons (in-app purchase) - You can choose a color for the canvas background from the 78 premixed colors. How it works: just push the color tube to the top and release it.

About

pixiv Sketch

This app allows users to draw and communicate with a large community of artists. It offers easy-to-use drawing tools, AI-powered coloring, and collaborative features like "Redraw" and "Reply" to interact with other users' artwork.

Highlights
  • Easy-to-use pens and brushes
  • AI automatic coloring
  • Drawing Motivator Voice
  • Redraw feature for collaboration
  • Reply feature for illustration conversations
  • Community feed with millions of illustrations
Features
Read full description

Over 10 million users! A drawing and communication app that makes your daily creative activities more fun! It includes a Draw feature that allows you to easily draw at any time, and a community with over 11 million illustrations posted! About pixiv Sketch pixiv Sketch is a drawing and communication app by pixiv Inc. ・The Draw feature makes drawing feel just like sketching on paper, so you'll have no trouble getting exactly the results you want. ・The app features the latest drawing support technology, including automatic coloring using AI. About pixiv Sketch's Draw feature pixiv Sketch's Draw feature is the simplest you'll find around! Enjoy drawing digitally right away, even if it's your first time. ● Easy-to-use pens and brushes ・The app comes with pens and brushes that are easy for anyone to use, including first-time painters. ・The Sketch pencil feels as smooth as a real pencil. ・The variety of available brushes covers a wide range of media, including watercolor. ● Simple and intuitive interface ・The clean UI leaves room for a wider drawing canvas. ・The app includes special layouts for both right-handed and left-handed artists. ・No menus or tools getting in the way, allowing you a smooth drawing experience. ● Unique features to enhance your drawing experience ・Color your line drawings with AI! An automatic coloring feature is available for no-hassle coloring. ・The Drawing Motivator Voice feature will let you experience a new height of motivation! ・The Redraw feature allows you to add to other people's illustrations and daily themes. Find new drawing friends with the Community feature Communicate with your drawing buddies in a community where a total of over 11 million illustrations have already been posted. ● Enjoy a constant flow of illustrations on your Timeline ・Many new illustrations are posted every day. Check them out on your very own wall! ・Interact with your favorite illustrations by leaving a heart. ・Follow artists you like and connect with them. ● The Reply feature lets you respond to an illustration with another illustration ・Reply to everyone's posts with your illustrations. ・Use the Reply feature to easily join contests or post your own interpretation of daily themes. ・Send illustrations to other artists, or even have entire conversations using only artwork; how you use the Reply feature is up to you! ● Use the Redraw feature to add to existing illustrations ・Draw on the illustrations that others have posted. ・It's a great way to collaborate with other artists, for example by joining in on the daily theme or by coloring other people's line art drawings. Notes: A pixiv account is required to use some of the features. If you have any questions or to report a problem, please contact pixiv Sketch Support. https://www.pixiv.net/support.php?mode=select_type&service=sketch

Screenshots

pixiv Sketch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: pixiv Sketch at none against Drawing Box Ltd's 2. pixiv Sketch also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (213 vs 9). Drawing Box Ltd's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (95% vs 73%). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Drawing Box Ltd sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. pixiv Sketch asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Drawing Box Ltd against 4.7 for pixiv Sketch. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: pixiv Sketch has 213 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of Drawing Box Ltd's written reviews are positive against 73% of pixiv Sketch's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drawing Box Ltd ships an update every 3 months, pixiv Sketch monthly. The most recent releases landed on July 5, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Drawing Box Ltd versus pixiv Sketch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrawing Box Ltdpixiv Sketch
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (9 ratings)4.7 (213 ratings) — better
Positive reviews94.6% of reviews — better72.8% of reviews
Number of ratings9213 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size117 MB90 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperEtienne Nguyen Tan Honpixiv Inc.

Customer experience

Drawing Box Ltd

All ratings9 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral22.2%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews242 reviews
Positive94.6%
Neutral3.7%
Negative1.7%

pixiv Sketch

All ratings213 ratings
Positive91.1%
Neutral3.8%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews81 reviews
Positive72.8%
Neutral12.3%
Negative14.8%

User reviews

Drawing Box Ltd

From 9 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Lots of drawing tools and features
  • 💡 Helpful for kids and adults
  • 🎨 Wide range of colors and brushes
  • 👍 Intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and glitches
  • 🐛 Blending issues with colors
  • 🔒 Limited save/export options in free version
  • 💡 Could use more advanced tools (e.g. smudge, bucket fill)

pixiv Sketch

From 213 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Kind and supportive community
  • 🎨 Simple and fun to use
  • 👍 Easy to upload art
  • 🖼️ Great for showcasing artwork
  • 💖 Feels safe to share art

Room to improve

  • 🌐 Mostly in different languages
  • 🤔 Hard to draw on
  • 📉 Live stream quality is bad
  • 🚫 No full screen/high quality option
  • 🗣️ User base mostly Japanese

Bugs and requests

Drawing Box Ltd

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when importing images
  • Drawings sometimes rotate the wrong way
  • Occasional freezing when saving drawings

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add a bucket fill tool
  • Improve color blending capabilities
  • Increase save/export options in free version
  • Implement a smudge tool

pixiv Sketch

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App freezes when trying to sketch/stream
  • App crashes when trying to remove photo layer
  • App crashes on opening
  • Login always failed
  • Live stream quality is very bad
Show 6 more
  • No full screen and high quality option for live stream
  • Cannot save art to photos
  • New update drawing feature is hard to adapt
  • Cannot login with existing Pixiv account
  • Verification code not sent for account creation
  • Newest update: unable to see new posts, notifications, follows, followers, posted works, or liked works.

Requested features

19 requests
  • Add translations for non-Japanese users
  • Add furigana on posts
  • Add layer zooming edit tool
  • Add month-by-month history section
  • Improve image quality on upload
Show 14 more
  • Better censorship options
  • Add image editing options (pen, lasso, stickers)
  • Add English translation feature
  • Add option to choose highest quality for live stream
  • Co-stream live function on iPad
  • Allow importing more than one photo
  • Add an eyedropper/color picker tool
  • Add a mirror option for drawings
  • Add landscape drawing mode
  • Add finger canvas rotation
  • Add image transform tool (resize on canvas)
  • Add English version of the app
  • Add Facebook, Twitter, and Google login options
  • Add a color tool

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Drawing Box Ltd

One-time2
  • Pencil Sketching Lessons$0.99
  • Buy Drawing Box Full version$2.99
None

pixiv Sketch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drawing Box Ltd free?
Drawing Box Ltd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is pixiv Sketch free?
pixiv Sketch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Drawing Box Ltd or pixiv Sketch?
pixiv Sketch is rated higher. Drawing Box Ltd averages 4.6 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while pixiv Sketch averages 4.7 from 213 ratings.
Do Drawing Box Ltd or pixiv Sketch have ads?
pixiv Sketch shows ads; Drawing Box Ltd does not.
Which is updated more often, Drawing Box Ltd or pixiv Sketch?
Drawing Box Ltd ships an update every 3 months, and pixiv Sketch monthly. Most recently, Drawing Box Ltd was updated on July 5, 2026 and pixiv Sketch on September 21, 2026.

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