Pastela vs HyperRef
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pastela
This app offers a seamless drawing and illustration experience with a spacious canvas and a variety of brushes. It features cloud-based autosave, iPad-specific customization, and integration with pixiv for easy sharing. Enhance your creative process with powerful tools and flexible options.
- Spacious canvas
- Variety of brushes
- Cloud-based autosave
- iPad customization
- pixiv integration
- Layer management
- Filters
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− Enhance your drawing experience, day by day.− With a spacious canvas, a variety of brushes, and cloud-based autosave, Pastela has everything you need for a smooth illustration process. Draw freely, anytime, anywhere. ____ Pastela features ■ An experience tailored for iPad users - Screen customization options that suit your dominant hand - Move panels to fit your creative style ■ A wide range of illustration tools - An extensive collection of brushes, including pencils, G pens, round pens, watercolors, sprays, markers, and more - Detailed brush customization options - Bucket tool: fill closed path, lasso fill - Easily set layer names from a list with one tap - Many filters including chromatic aberration and Gaussian blur ■ Cloud storage (*1) - Automatically save your work to the cloud - Restore data to any previous version - 1 GB of cloud storage included * To learn more about Pastela, please check out the official website. ■ pixiv account integration (*2) - Post your work directly to pixiv - With Pastela Plus (*3), you can even update your pixiv posts with new versions of your art. (*1) To use cloud sync, you need to log in with your pixiv account. (*2) To post your work from Pastela to pixiv, you need to log in with your pixiv account. (*3) To learn more about Pastela Plus, please check out the official website.
HyperRef
Create and organize your personal art reference library with powerful import and study tools. Analyze images by value, contrast, and color, and track your artistic progress with attached studies. Secure your sensitive collections with biometric protection.
- Web import for bulk image saving
- Analyze images by value, contrast, color
- Timed practice and study modes
- Attach sketches to references
- Biometric collection protection
- Smart collections and organization
- Offline access with iCloud sync
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HyperRef provides a focused, distraction-free environment with no infinite scrolling or algorithms deciding what you see. Use your own curated reference library to accelerate your drawing and painting study. Features: - Powerful Web Import: Bulk-save multiple images instantly from almost any website or app. Select exactly what you need for fast, organized importing. - Advanced Study Filters: Isolate value, contrast, and color for a deeper understanding of lighting and composition. Essential for serious art study. - Timed Practice Mode: Use customizable, distraction-free slideshows for quick figure drawing or anatomy study sessions. - Study Mode: Attach your own sketches and studies directly to reference images to track your progress over time. - Biometric Protection: Lock sensitive collections with Face ID or Touch ID for maximum privacy. - Smart Collections: Organize thousands of visual references with a gorgeous, efficient layout. - Offline First with iCloud Sync: Access your entire visual library instantly, anywhere on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Whether you're studying anatomy, lighting, composition, or preparing a detailed mood board, HyperRef keeps your visual library organized, secure, and always accessible. Start your reference library with 5 collections and 50 images free. Unlock unlimited storage and all Pro features with a single, one-time upgrade. No subscriptions, ever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: HyperRef at none against Pastela's shown. HyperRef also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 87%) and device support (3 vs 1). Pastela's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (98 vs 3). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Pastela sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and HyperRef sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Pastela against 4.7 for HyperRef. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pastela has 98 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Pastela's written reviews are positive against 100% of HyperRef's.
Pastela ships an update every 2 weeks, HyperRef every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 23, 2026 and June 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pastela | HyperRef |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (98 ratings) | 4.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 86.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 98 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 209 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | pixiv Inc. | Seth Kenneth Berggren |
Customer experience
Pastela
HyperRef
In-app purchases
Pastela
- Light plan$3.991 Month
- Standard plan$7.991 Month
- Advanced plan$15.991 Month
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- Deluxe plan$23.991 Month
HyperRef
- HyperRef Pro$4.99









