Comparison

Patchwork vs Pixel

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

Head to head
About

Patchwork

Create detailed charts for various crafts like cross stitch, knitting, and crochet. Transform photos into stitchable patterns, generate designs with AI, and match real-world thread colors. Export your work and track progress stitch by stitch.

Highlights
  • Design on a live pixel grid
  • Convert photos to patterns
  • AI-generated design starting points
  • Match real thread colors (DMC, Anchor, Madeira)
  • Export charts, PDFs, and shopping lists
  • Crafting mode for progress tracking
  • Private and ad-free
Features
Read full description

If it lives on a grid of color, you can make it in Patchwork. Cross stitch, knitting, crochet, needlepoint, and more. Built natively for iPhone, so it feels fast and at home on your device. Here is what you can do. Design on a live pixel grid. Place stitches one at a time or fill whole areas at once. Draw lines and shapes, copy and paste sections, work in layers, and step back through your history whenever you need to. Turn a photo into a pattern. Bring in any picture and Patchwork maps it to threads you can actually buy. No tracing, no guesswork. You get a chart you can start stitching instead of a screenshot you have to squint at. Generate with AI. Describe what you want and get a starting point in a tap, then refine it however you like. It is a head start, not a black box, and your work stays yours. Match real thread colors. The full DMC, Anchor, and Madeira libraries are built in, over 900 colors, so what you see on screen matches the floss in your hands. Export anything. Save your chart, your symbol key, or a print-ready PDF, plus a shopping list with stitch counts so you know exactly what to buy. Crafting Mode. Track your progress stitch by stitch. Patchwork remembers exactly where you left off. Make it yours with color themes that follow your style. Now the part that matters as much as the features. Your patterns are private. There is no account to make and no server of ours collecting your work. Everything stays on your device and syncs through your own iCloud, which only you can see. No advertising, no tracking, no analytics watching what you make. Patchwork is free to download so you can try it. When you are ready for everything, Patchwork Pro unlocks the full toolkit with one purchase. No subscription. iPad and Mac support are on the way, and your purchase and your patterns will come right along with you. If you stitch, knit, crochet, or design on a grid, Patchwork was made for you. Come make something. Questions or ideas? Write to support@withpatchwork.com. A real person reads every message. From pixels to stitches.

About

Pixel

Features
Read full description

Your photo, turned into a pattern you can actually make. Pixela turns any picture into a crisp pixel grid with a tidy color palette and a printable chart — so you can recreate it however you like: • Perler / Hama beads — get the bead-by-bead layout for your next fuse-bead art. • Cross-stitch & embroidery — symbols per color and a printable chart to stitch from. • Knitting & crochet — color-work charts (intarsia, tapestry, C2C, jacquard): one square per stitch/block. • Quilting & patchwork — each pixel becomes a fabric square. • Pixel art, sprites & icons — turn a photo or your own drawing/sketch into true pixels with a controlled palette; export a clean PNG. • Event & stadium mosaics — plan "pixel performances" and card stunts, seat by seat, sized in meters. • Wall decor & murals — set the centimeters per tile and get the real wall size to paint or tile. • LEGO & brick mosaics — each pixel is one brick on the baseplate. • LED matrices & low-res screens — a pixel map to wire or program each LED. • Gifts & keepsakes — turn a pet, a portrait, or a logo into a handmade piece. • Drawings, coloring pages & templates — a ready-made grid to trace, color, or hand off. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT • Pick a photo — Pixela builds the pattern in seconds. • Control the look — set the number of columns and palette colors with live sliders. • Color symbols — every color gets a letter so it's easy to follow (great for color-vision needs). • Printable PDF — a clean legend plus the full symbol chart, ready to print or share. • Export a clean PNG — the pure pixel art with no grid or symbols, ready to use as a sprite, sticker, or poster. • Real thread colors — see the nearest DMC floss for every color, and swap any color for the one you prefer. • Real finished size at any scale — stitches (Aida), beads, or big tiles; shown in cm or meters, so you can size a wall mural or a whole stadium mosaic. • Track your progress — mark finished cells and watch your % climb. • Pinch to zoom, tap "1:1" to see the whole thing — built for big, detailed pieces. • Works offline — everything is processed on your device. Your photos never leave it. FAIR PRICING Unlock everything with a single one-time purchase — no subscription, ever. Private by design: your photos are processed on-device and are never uploaded.

Screenshots

Patchwork4 screens
Pixel4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Pixel at 16.4 against Patchwork's 26.0. On price, 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

Both are free to download. Patchwork sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pixel sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Patchwork versus Pixel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPatchworkPixel
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequency—Every 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB65 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTroy ThomasAbraham Munguia

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Patchwork

One-time1
  • Patchwork Pro$29.99
1 purchases

Pixel

One-time1
  • Pixel-A Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Patchwork free?
Patchwork is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pixel free?
Pixel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Patchwork or Pixel have ads?
Neither Patchwork nor Pixel shows ads.

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