Comparison

Microsoft Designer vs Color

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

Head to head
About

Microsoft Designer

Visually create and edit anything imaginable with AI. Generate unique images from text, design personalized cards and wallpapers, and enhance photos by removing distractions or backgrounds.

Highlights
  • AI image generation
  • Custom sticker creation
  • Generative erase tool
  • Background removal
  • Custom wallpaper design
  • Greeting card creation
  • Photo restyling
Read full description

Unleash your creativity — visually create, design, and edit just about anything you can imagine with AI. Use the power of generative AI to create eye-catching images with your words, craft next-level designs that pop like personalized birthday cards, holiday cards, wallpapers for your phone, and even use AI to edit photos like an expert - removing backgrounds and erasing distractions from photos. Create what you want, when and where you need it. Key capabilities: • Images: Create any image you can imagine. Sci-fi art, surreal scenes, funny images? Dream it, describe it, and create it with AI. Your imagination is limitless! • Stickers: Create something that sticks. Make custom stickers that help you stick out on messaging apps, social, and more. • Edit with AI: make your photos and images picture perfect with AI. o Generative erase: Erase distractions to make objects you don’t want in your image disappear. o Remove background: Say bye-bye to bad backgrounds. Easily remove unwanted image backgrounds in one step. o Blur background: Bring what’s most important into focus. Blur the background of any image to make your subject pop. o Add filters, adjust brightness, resize: Customize to fit your creative vision, including resizing to turn your creations into a square or custom size that fits just right. • Wallpapers/Backgrounds: Put it all on display. Create custom wallpaper or background to fit your current mood, make a statement, or to keep a special occasion front and center on your phone screen. • Greeting cards: Craft the perfect greeting for any occasion. From birthday cards to holiday cards and beyond, create a thoughtful greeting card with personalized messages and images even if you’re at a loss for words. • Restyle image: Transform photos into a work of art—like turning portraits, landscapes, and pet photos into artwork. • Monograms: Make your mark. Add some personal pop to your everyday life or for a special occasion like a wedding with custom crafted monograms that use letters and more to define your mark. • Invitations: Create invitations that wow. Customize your invitations for every occasion and any event like birthdays, weddings, and anything else big or small. • Social posts: Stand out online. Elevate and craft your next social post with Designer to create the perfect image and text to share online. • Icons: Express yourself visually. Create icons to easily communicate your vision and decorate your designs. • Emojis: Express yourself! Have the perfect reaction on hand with custom crafted emojis to fit any mood. • Coloring book pages: Color it in and get in your flow. Create custom coloring book pages to make coloring more exciting. Great for all ages. • Frame image: Turn your photos into a customized framed memory that you can share everywhere. • Collages: Bring your favorite photos, styles, and descriptions together create a custom collage from your favorite memories. • Banners: Create banners for newsletter headers, social profiles, and more to grab attention and stand out. Microsoft Designer is available for free with a Microsoft account. Your Microsoft account provides 5 GB of free cloud storage that you can use to save your designs, files, and photos across your devices. Additional information about terms of use can be found here: https://designer.microsoft.com/consumerTermsOfUse/en-US/consumerTermsOfUse.pdf Download Designer and create something new today!

About

Color

Features
Read full description

Color accuracy shouldn't be a guessing game. Whether you are an engineer in a factory or a designer in a studio, ambient light often distorts what your eyes see. Color-Meter turns your iPhone into a high-precision color identification tool. Designed by industry professionals with 15 years of experience in manufacturing, this app helps you bridge the gap between "looking right" and "being right." Key Features: Real-time Color Detection: Instantly capture HEX, RGB, and CMYK values from any object. Lighting Compensation: Advanced algorithms to help normalize color readings under different light sources. Project Management: Save and organize your color palettes for industrial standards or creative projects. Minimalist Interface: A clean, dark-themed UI that focuses on data clarity and efficiency. Whether you are matching industrial coatings or selecting a palette for a digital project, Color-Meter provides the objective data you need to make decisions with confidence.

Screenshots

Microsoft Designer4 screens
Color3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Microsoft Designer at Free against Color's $0.99. Microsoft Designer also leads on chart position (#140 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Color's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Microsoft Designer is free to download; Color costs $0.99 up front. Microsoft Designer sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Color sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Microsoft Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, Color weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Microsoft Designer versus Color: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicrosoft DesignerColor
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.5 (552 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings552 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#140 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB4 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft Corporation鑫 金

Bugs and requests

Microsoft Designer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inconsistent performance and loading issues
  • Inability to view or manage past designs on mobile
  • Unexpected content restrictions and rejections

Requested features

4 requests
  • AI-powered video editing capabilities
  • More advanced image editing tools
  • Improved handling of diverse character designs
  • Better organization and navigation of past projects

Color

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Microsoft Designer

Subscriptions7
  • Microsoft 365 Basic Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Personal Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Family Monthly1 Month trial$12.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Microsoft 365 Premium Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Microsoft Copilot Pro$20.001 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Personal Yearly1 Month trial$99.991 Year
  • Microsoft 365 Family Yearly1 Month trial$129.991 Year
1 purchases

Color

One-time1
  • Remove ads$0.99

Questions

Is Microsoft Designer free?
Microsoft Designer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Color free?
Color costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Do Microsoft Designer or Color have ads?
Neither Microsoft Designer nor Color shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Designer or Color?
Microsoft Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, and Color weekly. Most recently, Microsoft Designer was updated on September 30, 2026 and Color on September 29, 2026.

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