Comparison

Palette Up vs Art Reference

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

Head to head
About

Palette Up

Features
Read full description

Palette Up offers a curated collection of 32 diverse categories to help you find the perfect color scheme for any project. Explore Endless Possibilities: β€’ General Themes like Monochromatic, Wedding, Rainbow, and Colorful, perfect for any occasion or style. β€’ Nature & Material palettes, bringing you earthy tones, neutral shades, and industrial vibes to create grounded, organic looks. β€’ Seasonal Inspirations that help you capture the essence of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter with stunning, seasonally inspired color schemes. β€’ Special Moods for when you want to convey specific emotions: Pastel, Skin, Vintage, or even Valentine-inspired tones. β€’ Atmospheric & Vibes palettes that include everything from fiery reds to cool ocean blues, neon glows to serene sunsets, offering the perfect vibe for your design. β€’ Color Families so you can easily explore palettes in every color, from warm Reds and Oranges to cool Blues, Greens, and beyond. Features You’ll Love: β€’ Like Your Favorite Palettes: Save your favorite palettes for easy access anytime. β€’ Hex Codes at Your Fingertips: See the exact color codes and copy them with a single tap – perfect for digital design or DIY projects. β€’ Clean, User-Friendly Interface: Browse palettes effortlessly with a sleek, intuitive design that makes color selection quick and fun. No more sifting through endless color charts – Palette Up brings a world of color inspiration to your fingertips. Whether you’re designing a website, decorating your home, or just experimenting with new ideas, you’ll always find the perfect palette to match your vision.

About

Art Reference

Features
Read full description

Art Reference: Value Study helps painters, illustrators, and traditional artists see any reference more clearly. Study values, simplify light and shadow, overlay grids, and paint side-by-side with your canvas. A value (or tone) is how light or dark a color is. Learning to see values is one of the fastest ways to improve your drawing and painting. But it's hard to read shadows and highlights through all the color. This app makes it effortless. SEE YOUR REFERENCE IN VALUES Instantly convert any photo to grayscale, or a 7-value posterized scale. Flick between levels of detail, start in simple black and white, then build up value by value to train your eye. CROP & FRAME TO YOUR CANVAS Match your reference's composition and aspect ratio to your canvas before your first stroke. GRIDLINES Overlay grids to lay in your under-sketch with correct proportions. CURATED COLLECTIONS Don't have a reference ready? Start with dozens of hand-picked photos across Animals, Architecture, Botanical, Figure, Landscape, Portrait, Still Life, Skulls, and Master Studies from the great painters. NO AI ART Every starter reference is a real photograph or artwork, attributed to the original artist with a link to their portfolio. No AI-generated images. And your own artwork stays private in your personal iCloud, never shared online, never used to train AI models. WORKS OFFLINE No connection needed. Perfect for the studio, plein air, or anywhere you paint. CLEAN, FOCUSED, NO ADS Just the reference tools you need.

Screenshots

Palette Up4 screens
Art Reference4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Art Reference at none against Palette Up's 1. Palette Up's advantage is iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Palette Up sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Art Reference asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Palette Up versus Art Reference: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPalette UpArt Reference
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksβ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo β€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size1 MB181 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAylin Yahya-zadaGil Osborne

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Palette Up

One-time1
  • Unlock All$1.99
None

Art Reference

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Palette Up free?
Palette Up is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Art Reference free?
Art Reference is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Palette Up or Art Reference have ads?
Neither Palette Up nor Art Reference shows ads.

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