Comparison

Dot Lab vs BeadNeko

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

Head to head
About

Dot Lab

Create pixel art for NFTs, avatars, or fuse bead patterns with intuitive drawing tools and customizable palettes. Generate detailed patterns for crafts like perler beads and crochet, with options for efficient creation and sharing.

Highlights
  • Efficient drawing tools
  • Multiple canvas sizes
  • Rich color options and palette management
  • Automatic pattern generation for crafts
  • Workstation for secondary creations
  • Share and save artwork
  • Data backup and canvas lock
Features
Read full description

Welcome to "Dot Lab"! "Dot Lab" is a simple and user-friendly pixel art creation app, designed for both beginners and experienced artists. With our app, you can effortlessly create stunning works of art. It's the perfect tool for creating NFTs, pixel avatars, and fuse bead patterns. Key Features: - Efficient Drawing Tools: Includes bucket fill, continuous drawing, selection, move, mirror, and reference (guidelines) tools to help you create efficiently. - Multiple Canvas Sizes: Choose from various canvas sizes to suit different creative needs. - Canvas Zoom and Drag: Pinch to zoom or drag the canvas, allowing precise edits and easy drawing on mobile devices. - Rich Color Options: Access a wide range of built-in colors or customize your palette by selecting any color or inputting a Hex code. - Palette Management: Create or import palettes and quickly switch colors within a palette. When exporting, you can generate diagrams with corresponding color codes. - Share and Save: Share your artwork with one tap or save it directly to your gallery. - Batch Operations: Easily manage your creations by copying or deleting multiple works at once. - Share Source File: You can quickly share your pixel art work source files with friends or other devices. The source files can be opened directly with the Dot Lab app. - Data Backup: You can backup your data regularly to ensure data security. - Canvas Lock: Lock your canvas once a project is complete to prevent accidental edits. Premium Features: - Pattern Generation: Automatically generate patterns with grid numbers, color codes, and more—perfect for teaching pixel art or secondary creations like fuse beads, crochet, and cross-stitch. Also provides multiple options such as material count statistics, shadow, watermark, palette name, etc., allowing users to create personalized artwork customization. - Work Station The work station is designed to assist you in efficiently completing secondary creations after drawing, such as perler beads, crochet, beading, cross-stitch, and more. ·Highlight Same Colors: Quickly highlight areas with the same color to improve crafting efficiency. ·Get Pixel Position: Tap on a pixel to view its position, helping with precise alignment. ·Segmented Work: Break down a large canvas into smaller sections for easier handling, especially useful for perler beads, crochet, and beading projects. - Custom Canvas Sizes: Choose from popular aspect ratios like 1:1, 2:3, 3:4, 3:5, 4:5, and 9:16, or set a custom ratio to create canvases freely. - Advanced Drawing Tools (Symmetry, Move, Mirror, etc.): Powerful tools to help you complete or refine your creations efficiently. - Unlimited Palettes: Free users can create or import up to 3 palettes, while premium users can create or import an unlimited number. - Additional Premium Features in Development Join the "Dot Lab" community and unleash your creativity! As an independent developer, your support means the world to us. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at dotlab.app@gmail.com. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

BeadNeko

Transform your photos into detailed pixel bead patterns. Easily import images, adjust grid size, and match colors to a specific palette. Export your finished designs with all necessary details for your crafting projects.

Highlights
  • Generate bead patterns from photos
  • Color matching to Mard palette
  • Adjustable grid size and algorithm
  • View grid with coordinates and color totals
  • Export pattern with materials list
  • Light, dark, or system appearance options
Features
Read full description

Turn a favorite photo into a clear, editable bead pattern with BeadNeko. Import an image from your library or camera, crop it to a square, and generate a pattern matched to the built-in Mard palette. Adjust the grid size and pattern algorithm to make a design that fits your project. Create with confidence: • Generate bead patterns from photos • Match colors to the Mard palette • View a grid with coordinates and color usage totals • Zoom and move around the pattern while you work • Export a pattern with grid, color numbers, and a materials list • Choose light, dark, or system appearance BeadNeko Pro unlocks background removal, manual pattern creation, advanced editing tools, and more export options.

Screenshots

Dot Lab4 screens
BeadNeko4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Dot Lab at 96% against BeadNeko's 40%. Dot Lab also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). BeadNeko's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Dot Lab sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and BeadNeko 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

BeadNeko holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 4 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 96% of Dot Lab's written reviews are positive against 40% of BeadNeko's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dot Lab ships an update fortnightly, BeadNeko every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Dot Lab versus BeadNeko: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDot LabBeadNeko
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (10 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews96.4% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings10 — better4
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer桂华 冉利龙 张

Customer experience

Dot Lab

All ratings10 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive96.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.6%

BeadNeko

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative40.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Dot Lab

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time3
  • Annual member$19.99
  • Lifetime$22.99
  • Lifetime$29.99
1 purchases

BeadNeko

One-time1
  • 拼豆猫 Pro$0.99

Questions

Is Dot Lab free?
Dot Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BeadNeko free?
BeadNeko is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Dot Lab or BeadNeko?
BeadNeko is rated higher. Dot Lab averages 4.5 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while BeadNeko averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Dot Lab or BeadNeko have ads?
Neither Dot Lab nor BeadNeko shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dot Lab or BeadNeko?
Dot Lab ships an update fortnightly, and BeadNeko every 9 days. Most recently, Dot Lab was updated on September 23, 2026 and BeadNeko on September 11, 2026.

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