Comparison

Pixel Playground vs Add Text

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Playground

Create stunning retro graphics with a powerful, intuitive pixel art editor. Offers a clean interface, extensive tools, and smart color management for professionals and hobbyists alike. Seamlessly save and share your creations.

Highlights
  • Freehand, lines, boxes, ellipses, flood-fill tools
  • Auto contour and selection tools
  • Smart color palette with auto naming
  • Unlimited undo steps
  • iCloud sync and auto-save
  • Export as PNG
Features
Read full description

- "Wow — just wow, I've played with nearly ALL of the pixel editors out there (I use them daily) and none come close to this in terms of slickness.", UK Do pixel editors have to be as retro as pixel art itself? No! Professionals, hobbyists and newcomers – rejoice! Pixel Playground is here, and it's powerful, beautiful and simple. INTERFACE - Document bounds grow as needed - Simple & clean with no clutter between you and your art - Super responsive drawing, pan & zoom - Unlimited undo steps - Portrait or landscape anytime TOOLS - Freehand, lines, boxes, ellipses, flood-fill - Cool auto contour tool - Powerful selection: paint mask using regular tools - Intuitive tool size: matches finger-tip size at any zoom level - Cut, copy, paste COLORS - Smart palette with existing document colors - Extensive palette with all recent colors - Paint opacity setting - Automatic color naming for easy reference - Long press to sample existing colors - Lock all pixels of one color - Lock all pixels except one color - Easily adjust existing document colors - Auto erase when drawing on same color SAVING - Syncs using iCloud - Auto saves your work - Export as regular PNGs - Save to photos, air drop, facebook, twitter, etc. BONUS - No in-app purchases - Magic undo/redo transitions - Minimal file size (1,5 MB!) WHAT USERS THINK - "I'm a HUGE fan of Pixel [Playground]! It's the only iOS pixel art app that's as well designed as iOS itself. Almost every design decision is perfect.", US - "This is Absolutely what you should expect from a great pixel art tool. Some of the tools here work like magic. Nice touches everywhere in the app.", UK - "Extremely feature rich but not bloated. Love the factual names of the colours too.", UK - "This really is a great pixel editor. The interface is refreshing and there’s a surprisingly robust toolset augmented with useful gesture controls. Pixel drawing is precise.", US - "The tutorials are fun and very effective at teaching the app’s features.", US - "Inuitive, fast. Really surprised to see several really cool tools. Lock color. Draw to select. Long press to sample. Nice.", Denmark

About

Add Text

Easily add customizable text to your videos and photos. Enhance your images with various fonts, colors, and effects to create unique digital art, memes, and greetings. Share your creations instantly or save them to your device.

Highlights
  • Customizable text size, font, and color
  • Adjustable text opacity and alignment
  • Text rotation and letter spacing
  • Add shadows and effects
  • Create memes, greetings, and cards
  • Share to social media or save to gallery
Features
Read full description

Add text to Videos and photos is the coolest app for designers to transform their pictures into digital art! Text on video is the most useful font editor for you to make your videos look like more cool and glorious. * Text size is changeable * Text font is changeable * Text opacity is changeable * Text alignment options available * Text color is changeable * Text shodow is changeable * Text is rotatable * Letter spacing is changeable Be creative and inspire others with your unique ideas! Create funny memes, motivational pictures, greetings, and birthday cards or just decorate your own images with our collection of stamps, photo effects, and text fonts. Easy to use app with an intuitive interface. Just select a typography and type a meaningful or funny text with a font of your choice. Share your creation with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or save in the gallery to send it through Email, iMessage. SUBSCRIPTION: You can subscribe to premium features, choosing from the following plans: – 1 month – 12 months – Lifetime (One Time Purchase) The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, and the cost of the renewal will be provided. Subscriptions may be managed by the user. Auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user’s Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. Terms of Use : https://pyappsprivacy.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://pyappsprivacy.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

Pixel Playground4 screens
Add Text4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Add Text at Free against Pixel Playground's $9.99. Add Text also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (27 vs 5). Pixel Playground's advantage is review sentiment (71% vs 33%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). On update cadence 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

Add Text is free to download; Pixel Playground costs $9.99 up front. Add Text sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Pixel Playground asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Add Text holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Add Text has 27 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 71% of Pixel Playground's written reviews are positive against 33% of Add Text's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Playground ships an update every 4 months, Add Text every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Pixel Playground versus Add Text: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel PlaygroundAdd Text
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (5 ratings)4.8 (27 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings527 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB85 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStudio MeePrashant Yadav

Customer experience

Pixel Playground

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral40.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral28.6%
Negative0.0%

Add Text

All ratings27 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

None

Pixel Playground

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Add Text

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Subscription$0.997 Days
  • Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription$7.991 Year
One-time1
  • 1 Time Purchase$6.99

Questions

Is Pixel Playground free?
Pixel Playground costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Add Text free?
Add Text is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Playground or Add Text?
Add Text is rated higher. Pixel Playground averages 4.2 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Add Text averages 4.8 from 27 ratings.
Do Pixel Playground or Add Text have ads?
Add Text shows ads; Pixel Playground does not.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Playground or Add Text?
Pixel Playground ships an update every 4 months, and Add Text every 5 months. Most recently, Pixel Playground was updated on October 23, 2026 and Add Text on October 24, 2026.

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