Comparison

Pastela vs Micapaint

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

Head to head
About

Pastela

This app offers a seamless drawing and illustration experience with a spacious canvas, a wide variety of brushes, and cloud-based autosave. It features screen customization for iPad users and integrates with pixiv for easy sharing of your artwork.

Highlights
  • Spacious canvas
  • Variety of brushes
  • Cloud-based autosave
  • iPad screen customization
  • Pixiv integration
  • Detailed brush customization
Read full description

− 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.

About

Micapaint

This drawing application offers a fluid and intuitive painting experience with a focus on performance and a clean interface. It provides a wide array of free tools and features, with optional pro features available for purchase.

Highlights
  • 120fps smooth brush performance
  • Slime Brush for precise filling
  • Workspace-first UI
  • Unlimited layers
  • Filter layers for non-destructive adjustments
  • Liquify tools
  • PSD import/export
Features
Read full description

Made with a love of painting, Micapaint puts a delightful drawing experience above everything else. Key Features - Smooth brush performance at 120fps: even 1000×1000 blending brushes run fluidly. - "Slime Brush" that fills regions without spilling outside broken lines. - A simple, workspace-first UI that maximizes your canvas. - No ads. Use most tools without limits, for free. Free Features - Pencil, G-pen, watercolor blending, blur - Lasso fill - Unlimited layers (as long as memory allows) - Layer folders - Clipping masks (yes, even for folders!) - Canvas flip for preview - Alpha lock - Filters (Hue/Saturation/Lightness, Brightness & Contrast, Tone Curve, Noise, Dither, Gradient Map, Blur, Chromatic Aberration) - Filter Layers (Non-destructive adjustment layers) - Saturation adjustment that preserves perceived brightness - Selection & transform - Liquify (push, expand, pinch, rotate, reset) - Paint bucket fill - Image import - Standard blend modes - Mini canvas view - Reference images displayed over the canvas - PSD import / export - Undo / redo - Adjustable stabilizer strength - Barrel roll support - Customizable toolbar (button count & layout) - Color history and swatches - Timelapse recording - Crop / resize the canvas you're editing (free up to 5 times) Pro Features (available with in-app purchase) - Canvas reordering - Brush export and import - Unlimited canvas crop / resize

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Micapaint at none against Pastela's shown. Micapaint also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 87%). Pastela's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (100 vs 12). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pastela sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Micapaint sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pastela holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pastela has 100 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 87% of Pastela's written reviews are positive against 100% of Micapaint's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pastela ships an update every 10 days, Micapaint every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pastela versus Micapaint: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPastelaMicapaint
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (100 ratings) — better4.4 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews86.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings100 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 9 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS17.017
Further details — not scored
Size203 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerpixiv Inc.SHOGO SEKI

Customer experience

Pastela

All ratings98 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral4.1%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews174 reviews
Positive86.8%
Neutral9.8%
Negative3.4%

Micapaint

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Pastela

Subscriptions4
  • Light plan$3.991 Month
  • Standard plan$7.991 Month
  • Advanced plan$15.991 Month
Show 1 more
  • Deluxe plan$23.991 Month
1 purchases

Micapaint

One-time1
  • Micapaint Pro (Lifetime)$11.99

Questions

Is Pastela free?
Pastela is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Micapaint free?
Micapaint is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pastela or Micapaint?
Pastela is rated higher. Pastela averages 4.6 out of 5 from 100 ratings, while Micapaint averages 4.4 from 12 ratings.
Do Pastela or Micapaint have ads?
Pastela shows ads; Micapaint does not.
Which is updated more often, Pastela or Micapaint?
Pastela ships an update every 10 days, and Micapaint every 9 days. Most recently, Pastela was updated on November 4, 2026 and Micapaint on November 8, 2026.

Other comparisons