Comparison

Pixel Paint Pro vs Chroma8

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Paint Pro

Features
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Pixel Paint Pro is a focused pixel art and bitmap editor for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Create sprites, icons, game assets and small illustrations with precise pixel-level control. Start with a blank canvas or open an existing image, edit it and save your changes in a popular image format. PRECISION TOOLS • Pencil, eraser, fill and eyedropper • Line, rectangle and ellipse tools • Adjustable brush size • Pixel-perfect zoom and optional grid • Crisp nearest-neighbor canvas rendering SELECTION AND TRANSFORM • Select, move, cut, copy, paste and delete • Move selected content partially outside the canvas • Apply only the portion that remains inside the canvas • Rotate left or right • Flip horizontally or vertically • Select all and deselect COLOR CONTROL • Expanded color palette • Individual red, green, blue and alpha controls • HEX color input • Transparency support • Checkerboard transparency preview APPLE PENCIL AND NAVIGATION On supported iPad models, Apple Pencil mode separates drawing from navigation. Draw and edit with Apple Pencil while using your fingers to pan and navigate around the canvas. The Hand tool also provides dedicated canvas navigation without modifying your artwork. OPEN, EDIT AND SAVE Open existing image files, edit them directly and save your changes. Pixel Paint Pro supports popular bitmap formats including: • PNG • JPEG • GIF • BMP • ICO WORK FASTER Use keyboard shortcuts with a connected keyboard on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Quickly switch tools, undo or redo changes, manage selections, adjust zoom and perform common editing actions. Whether you are creating retro game graphics, refining a sprite, designing an icon or editing a bitmap image, Pixel Paint Pro keeps the canvas clear and the tools within reach.

About

Chroma8

Features
Read full description

Chroma8 is a focused pixel-art studio for iPhone and iPad — draw, layer, and animate at true pixel resolution, then export your work anywhere. No account required to start creating. NEW: AI ASSIST Describe what you want and Chroma8 draws it onto your canvas, where you can edit every pixel of it. Free for everyone. • Text to sprite — type "a small green slime with a highlight" and get pixel art, not a photo • Photo to pixel — turn any picture into a clean sprite on a reduced palette • Auto-shade and auto-outline, plus a clean-up pass that tidies stray pixels and jagged edges • Animation rigs — turn one sprite into a walk, run, idle, attack, hit, death, explode or spin cycle • Tween between two keyframes and let Chroma8 draw the in-betweens • Choose a video of yourself moving and Chroma8 retargets that motion onto your sprite • Fill empty space with a pattern learned from what you have already drawn • Find the sprites in a sheet and split them into frames automatically • Ask for a variation, a matching piece, or the same idea drawn across separate layers • Every generation is kept in a history you can revisit, put back on the canvas, or branch into a new Art It all runs on your device and works with no network, no account and no API key. BRING YOUR OWN MODEL — OPTIONAL Already pay for an AI service? Point Chroma8 at it and let it draw for you instead. • Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or Anthropic • Works with OpenRouter, OpenAI, Groq, or an Ollama running on your own machine • Your key is held in the Keychain on that device only, and is never synced or sent anywhere else • If a provider is unreachable, Chroma8 quietly draws it on device instead — you are never left unable to work On devices with Apple Intelligence, Chroma8 also uses the on-device model to make better sense of what you asked for. DRAW WITH PRECISION • Grid-accurate pixel canvas with brush, eraser, paint bucket, and selection tools • Reference photo import to trace or match colors • Hand tool for panning and zooming without touching your art • Undo and redo that span the whole frame, including layers you add, delete or reorder LAYERS & FRAMES • Unlimited layers per frame with visibility, lock, and opacity control • Frame-by-frame animation with onion skinning to keep motion consistent • Adjustable playback speed ORGANIZE YOUR WORK • Group related Arts into Projects • Search your library by name, or by what a piece actually looks like • Copy or reuse Arts across Projects without losing the original • Everything saved locally on your device — works fully offline EXPORT ANYWHERE • PNG for single frames or full spritesheets • Animated GIF and MP4 video for sharing your animations • SVG for crisp, scalable vector output • Game-ready sprite sheet generation CHROMA8 PRO Chroma8 is free to use, supported by ads. Chroma8 Pro removes ads and unlocks Cloud Sync (sign in with email, Google, or Apple to back up and access your library across devices), offered as an auto-renewing subscription: • Monthly: $3.99/month after a 7-day free trial • Yearly: $24.99/year after a 7-day free trial Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Terms of Use: https://colondev.com/apps/chroma8/Terms.html Privacy Policy: https://colondev.com/apps/chroma8/Privacy.html Chroma8 — pixel art, the way it's meant to be made.

Screenshots

Pixel Paint Pro4 screens
Chroma84 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chroma8 at Free against Pixel Paint Pro's $1.99. Chroma8 also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). Pixel Paint Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). On device support 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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Chroma8 is free to download; Pixel Paint Pro costs $1.99 up front. Chroma8 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Pixel Paint Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard4 real differences Ā· 2 level
Pixel Paint Pro versus Chroma8: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Paint ProChroma8
Price$1.99Free — better
Update frequency—Every 4 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMert Can Kusseer99 PVT LTD

In-app purchases

None

Pixel Paint Pro

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Chroma8

Subscriptions2
  • Chroma8 Pro7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Chroma8 Pro7 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Pixel Paint Pro free?
Pixel Paint Pro costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chroma8 free?
Chroma8 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pixel Paint Pro or Chroma8 have ads?
Chroma8 shows ads; Pixel Paint Pro does not.

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