Comparison

Grungetastic vs Pixel Playground

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

Head to head
About

Grungetastic

Apply a variety of aggressive and "unwell" textures and tones to your photos. This app offers seven distinct grunge styles with adjustable controls for color, textures, and borders, allowing for unique artistic creations.

Highlights
  • Seven grunge styles
  • Adjustable color, textures, and borders
  • Randomize button
  • Texture and border library
  • Customizable presets
  • High-resolution output
Features
Read full description

Rock your Photo with Unwell Textures and Tones Grungetastic cranks your photos to 11 with seven hot and heavy looks: Classic Grunge, Bleached Grunge, Worn Pop, Worn Grunge, Gritty Grunge, Distressed and Pop Grunge. These seven fun and aggressive styles let you get down and dirty with your photos. Faster than you can say "filthy," these styles and Grungetastic's easy, hands-on interface will have you smushing delightfully unwell textures and tones with deeply satisfying contrasts, and explosively pleasurable pops for dangerously-addictive ultra-Grungy art. Grungetastic is for the Photographer that loves everything grungy! Shadows, Rubbing, Scratching, Ripping, Shredding, Stressing, Distressing, Popping, Exploding, Splatters, Smudging, Glowing, Glaring, Smoking – just some of the wildness that Grungetastic hooks you up with. GRUNGETASTIC MAKES DIRTY PHOTOS - REALLY DIRTY PHOTOS! 
SO DIRTY THAT THEY HAVE THEIR OWN LITTLE DIRT STORMS
SWIRLING AROUND THEM—the styles are creative madness—or clearer visions of reality, whatever it is, they go to an artistic place few ever get. You can't get a cooler, hotter photo anywhere! ULTRA-GRUNGE STYLES Classic Grunge, Bleached, Pop Grunge, Pop Worn, Worn, Gritty and Distressed Grunge FEATURES Adjustable control over all aspect of the process: Color, multiple textures and borders INCLUDES Seven grungy styles: Classic Grunge, Bleached, Pop Grunge, Pop Worn, Worn, Gritty and Distressed Grunge "Randomize" button to quickly show off the power of the app A full library of textures and borders Quick, efficient, and very user-friendly interface Support for full-size images Presets with the ability to create custom presets Preview mode for quick workflow (Larger image rendered on save or when emailed) UNIVERSAL FEATURES All JixiPix Apps come with: Superior Customer Service, Support for High-Resolution Images & Output, Undo, Randomize Button, Quick Presets, the ability to create Custom Presets and Quick Preview. Our mobile version can Email and post directly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. ‘Like us on facebook’ for tips & tricks, quick announcements and interaction with the Jixi team! https://www.facebook.com/pages/JixiPixcom/338304329530235?ref=hl *************** “JixiPix turns any photo into a masterpiece. The only requirement is art appreciation — we will take care of the rest!” JixiPix.com “Creative Tools for Creative Types” Photography | Artistic | Graphic Apps Mac • iPad • iPhone

About

Pixel Playground

Create stunning retro graphics with a powerful, intuitive pixel art editor. Offers a clean interface, extensive tools, and smart color management for professionals and hobbyists alike. Seamlessly save and share your creations.

Highlights
  • Freehand, lines, boxes, ellipses, flood-fill tools
  • Auto contour and selection tools
  • Smart color palette with auto naming
  • Unlimited undo steps
  • iCloud sync and auto-save
  • Export as PNG
Features
Read full description

- "Wow — just wow, I've played with nearly ALL of the pixel editors out there (I use them daily) and none come close to this in terms of slickness.", UK Do pixel editors have to be as retro as pixel art itself? No! Professionals, hobbyists and newcomers – rejoice! Pixel Playground is here, and it's powerful, beautiful and simple. INTERFACE - Document bounds grow as needed - Simple & clean with no clutter between you and your art - Super responsive drawing, pan & zoom - Unlimited undo steps - Portrait or landscape anytime TOOLS - Freehand, lines, boxes, ellipses, flood-fill - Cool auto contour tool - Powerful selection: paint mask using regular tools - Intuitive tool size: matches finger-tip size at any zoom level - Cut, copy, paste COLORS - Smart palette with existing document colors - Extensive palette with all recent colors - Paint opacity setting - Automatic color naming for easy reference - Long press to sample existing colors - Lock all pixels of one color - Lock all pixels except one color - Easily adjust existing document colors - Auto erase when drawing on same color SAVING - Syncs using iCloud - Auto saves your work - Export as regular PNGs - Save to photos, air drop, facebook, twitter, etc. BONUS - No in-app purchases - Magic undo/redo transitions - Minimal file size (1,5 MB!) WHAT USERS THINK - "I'm a HUGE fan of Pixel [Playground]! It's the only iOS pixel art app that's as well designed as iOS itself. Almost every design decision is perfect.", US - "This is Absolutely what you should expect from a great pixel art tool. Some of the tools here work like magic. Nice touches everywhere in the app.", UK - "Extremely feature rich but not bloated. Love the factual names of the colours too.", UK - "This really is a great pixel editor. The interface is refreshing and there’s a surprisingly robust toolset augmented with useful gesture controls. Pixel drawing is precise.", US - "The tutorials are fun and very effective at teaching the app’s features.", US - "Inuitive, fast. Really surprised to see several really cool tools. Lock color. Draw to select. Long press to sample. Nice.", Denmark

Screenshots

Grungetastic4 screens
Pixel Playground4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Grungetastic at 4.8 against Pixel Playground's 4.2. Grungetastic also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and ratings volume (187 vs 5). Pixel Playground's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Grungetastic holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Grungetastic has 187 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Grungetastic's written reviews are positive against 71% of Pixel Playground's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Grungetastic ships an update every 6 months, Pixel Playground every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Grungetastic versus Pixel Playground: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGrungetasticPixel Playground
Price$2.99 — better—
Rating4.8 (187 ratings) — better4.2 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews81.4% of reviews — better71.4% of reviews
Number of ratings187 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJixiPix, LLCStudio Mee

Customer experience

Grungetastic

All ratings187 ratings
Positive96.8%
Neutral0.5%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews301 reviews
Positive81.4%
Neutral5.3%
Negative13.3%

Pixel Playground

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral40.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral28.6%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Grungetastic

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unable to upload/load photos
  • Presets not applying correctly
  • Crashes or freezes on certain devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Undo button
  • More color/hue options
  • Color swapping
  • Higher resolution exports
  • Native iPad support
Show 1 more
  • Ability to stack multiple borders

Pixel Playground

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Grungetastic

No in-app purchases

None

Pixel Playground

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Grungetastic free?
Grungetastic costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pixel Playground free?
Pricing for Pixel Playground is not currently listed on the App Store.
Which has better reviews, Grungetastic or Pixel Playground?
Grungetastic is rated higher. Grungetastic averages 4.8 out of 5 from 187 ratings, while Pixel Playground averages 4.2 from 5 ratings.
Do Grungetastic or Pixel Playground have ads?
Neither Grungetastic nor Pixel Playground shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Grungetastic or Pixel Playground?
Grungetastic ships an update every 6 months, and Pixel Playground every 3 months. Most recently, Grungetastic was updated on October 13, 2026 and Pixel Playground on October 1, 2026.

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