Simple Pixel Art Maker vs PIXIO Pixel Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Simple Pixel Art Maker
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Pixel art, made simple. Simple Pixel Art Maker is a clean, fast drawing studio for iPhone and iPad ā designed for the way pixel art actually works: a precise grid, a tight set of tools, and colors that snap to curated palettes. Tap a square. Pick a color. Build a tiny world, one pixel at a time. EVERYTHING YOU NEED, NOTHING YOU DON'T ⢠Pencil, Eraser and Fill ā the three tools you actually use ⢠Adjustable brush size from 1 to 8 pixels ⢠Eyedropper to sample any pixel on the canvas ⢠Pixel-perfect Line, Rectangle and Circle tools ⢠Move tool to nudge layer pixels around ⢠Unlimited Undo and Redo CANVAS SIZES FROM 8Ć8 TO 128Ć128 Pick a preset ā 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 ā or set a custom width and height up to 256 px. Lock the 1:1 aspect or go rectangular. Pixel grid lines and a checkerboard background are toggles, not requirements. LAYERS Build sky, mountains and the cactus on separate layers. Hide them, lock them, and reorder them as you sketch. The free version supports a comfortable starting stack; Pixel Pro unlocks unlimited layers for more ambitious scenes. CURATED COLOR PALETTES Swipe through Basics, Beach, Forest, Sunset, Retro and more ā each carefully picked so your art looks intentional from the first pixel. Or use the eyedropper to grab any color already on the canvas. MIRROR MODE Horizontal, vertical, or both. Perfect for sprites, faces and symmetrical icons ā every stroke mirrors instantly. EXPORT TO PHOTOS Save your art to the Photo Library as a PNG at 1Ć, 2Ć, 4Ć or 8Ć scale, with an optional transparent background. Your pixel art stays crisp at every size. PIXEL PRO ā $2.99, ONCE Simple Pixel Arts Maker is free to download with non-personalized ads. A single in-app purchase unlocks Pixel Pro for $2.99: ⢠Unlimited Layers ā build complex scenes with as many layers as you need ⢠Unlimited Projects ā the free version keeps 4 recent projects; Pixel Pro removes that ceiling ⢠No Ads ā no banners, no interstitials, ever ⢠One-time purchase. No subscriptions. Yours forever. QUIETLY PRIVATE No account. No sign-up. No analytics. Your pixel-art projects are stored locally on your device and are never uploaded anywhere. The free version uses Google AdMob to serve ads; if you choose "Ask App Not to Track," only non-personalized ads are served. PERFECT FOR ⢠Game designers prototyping sprites and tile art ⢠Kids and beginners discovering pixel art for the first time ⢠Logo, icon, and emoji designers who want pixel-perfect output ⢠Anyone who finds drawing on a grid relaxing
PIXIO Pixel Studio
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PIXIO is a small, focused pixel-art studio for iPhone and iPad. Pick a canvas, pick a colour and start painting; when the picture is done, bring it to life as a looping animation. DRAW ⢠8Ć8, 16Ć16, 32Ć32 and 64Ć64 canvases. Switching size is lossless: the picture is always kept at 64Ć64, and a coarser size simply paints whole blocks. ⢠Pencil, eraser, flood fill and colour picker. ⢠Horizontal, vertical or both-ways symmetry, plus flip and rotate. ⢠Layers on every frame: add, reorder, hide and delete them, with 50 steps of undo and redo per layer. ⢠A quick palette of the colours already in your picture, a 132-colour grid, a saturation/brightness panel and a hue slider. ANIMATE ⢠A frame timeline with duplicate and delete. ⢠Onion skin with adjustable opacity, so the previous frame shows through while you draw the next one. ⢠Playback from 1 to 60 frames per second. GESTURES ⢠One finger paints. Two fingers pan, and pinch to zoom around your fingers. ⢠Two-finger tap to undo, three-finger tap to redo. ⢠Tap the zoom percentage to snap back to 100 %. EXPORT ⢠Save the current frame as a crisp 2048Ć2048 PNG to Photos. ⢠Export the whole animation as a looping 512Ć512 GIF and share it anywhere. Optional chiptune background music, silent until you choose a song. No accounts, no ads, no in-app purchases and no tracking: your artwork stays on your device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PIXIO Pixel Studio at none against Simple Pixel Art Maker's 1. PIXIO Pixel Studio also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Simple Pixel Art Maker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PIXIO Pixel Studio asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Simple Pixel Art Maker | PIXIO Pixel Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Ads | Yes | No ā better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No ā better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.4 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chaleepa Mallawa | Bitfarm AS |
In-app purchases
Simple Pixel Art Maker
- Pixel Pro$2.99
PIXIO Pixel Studio
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Simple Pixel Art Maker free?
Is PIXIO Pixel Studio free?
Do Simple Pixel Art Maker or PIXIO Pixel Studio have ads?
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