Artnet Knife vs L.E.D. Lab
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Artnet Knife
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ArtNet Knife is an app for the open ArtNet Lighting Protocol. v2 is recompiled for 64bit. Scan for nodes from any interface on your iOS Device. Set an individual target address (broad- or unicast). Choose the network interface (wlan, gsm, any). On launch the app opens a receiving port for Artnet. This port is not bound to an interface and will receive any packets coming in. If you select no sending interface your devices ip stack will route the packet. If you select a sending interface in the Network Tab the port will be reopened and bound to that interface. Like this you control which interface (GSM, Wlan) is used. On selection the appropiate broadcast ip for that interface is set as target. Receiving packets depends on your network - not on the app. Some Artnet devices answer to the origin of an ArtPoll if your network is Class C and the Artnet Device is set to a Class A network. In this situation you won't get the ArtDmx packets since these are sent to a different network. Consider setting your Wlan router to a 2.*.*.* Class A network. If WAN access is present this does not affect routing to internet - the local net just uses another ip range. But in a 2.*.*.* Class A network your device will get all replies and will be able to show ArtDmx traffic. Artnet Knife does not handle dmx data transported by Artnet at this time. Over the time there will be a growing set of additional controllers. The app is available for free, ads should be bought out instead.
L.E.D. Lab
Create dynamic visual experiences for LED displays without custom programming. Animate images, videos, and particles, and synchronize them with music or external audio inputs. Ideal for artists, designers, and hobbyists looking to add animated color to various projects.
- Create and animate scenes with images, videos, and camera feeds
- Animate particle color, velocity, and brightness for LED strips
- Synchronize visuals with music from your library
- Audio reactivity for parameter control
- External control via MIDI, DMX, ArtNet, OSC
- Color keying and tiling for advanced compositing
- Supports various LED controllers and external monitors
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L.E.D. Lab is the quickest, easiest, most powerful way to drive your LED display! Custom programming is no longer required to get up-and-running. It is ideal for artists, professional display designers, architects, VJs, lighting designers, hobbyists, and anyone wanting to add a little animated color to their sculpture, art car, home, business or wardrobe. L.E.D. Lab allows you to create a list of Scenes, which can be played back in order or shuffled. There are currently two kinds of Scenes: ● Pictures Scene - A montage of still images, videos, and live camera feeds is designed. The position, velocity, rotation, size, and coloring of each picture can be animated. You can use your own photos and videos, and the iPad camera. Rendering to odd-shaped displays is made possible with photographically-generated map files. ● Strips Scene - Particles of color are sent down each strip. The velocity, hue, saturation, and brightness of each particle can be animated. Other features include: ● Music - Create lists of Tracks. Each track plays a song from your music library, along with any number of Scenes. You can elaborately choreograph a song, or let the Scenes play in random order. ● Audio Reactivity - Any animatable parameter may be controlled by the amplitude of audio in a specified frequency range. ● External Control - Any animatable parameter may be controlled by MIDI, DMX, ArtNet, or OSC. ● Color Keying - An image, video file, or live video feed can be made selectively transparent, making it easy to mix in with other images. ● Tiling - Any image, video file, or live video feed can be tiled in any or all directions, with adjustable spacing and fade-out. ● Display Modes - Editing can be performed with or without the LEDs connected. The editing UI can also be hidden, allowing operation in a "kiosk" mode. So what kind of LED display can you make with L.E.D. Lab? Some Examples: http://ledlabs.co Any iOS device can be used to play Scene Lists. An iPad is best for full editing. L.E.D. Lab works with the following LED controllers: ● PixelPusher (our favorite) ● Art-Net ● sACN ● DDP/Minleon/TekLights ● RGB-123 ● FadeCandy/FCServer ● OpenPixel It can also display to an external monitor or projector, serving as a VJ app. Extensive help information is provided for the rich user-interface: ● Help Explorer - Displays help text for any knob, slider, button, popup, list, or view inside a magnifying glass you drag around the screen. (See this in the last screen shot.) ● Help Topics - Little chapters to read about some of the more detailed functionalities. ● Help Tutorials
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Artnet Knife at none against L.E.D. Lab's 11. Artnet Knife also leads on iOS requirement (9.3 vs 15.6). L.E.D. Lab's advantage is update cadence (every 4 months vs every 69 months). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. L.E.D. Lab sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Artnet Knife asks for nothing beyond the download.
Artnet Knife ships an update every 69 months, L.E.D. Lab every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Artnet Knife | L.E.D. Lab |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.6 (15 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 81.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 69 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.3 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hado Hein | Christopher Schardt |
In-app purchases
Artnet Knife
No in-app purchases
L.E.D. Lab
- Live Microphone$9.99
- Live Video$9.99
- LED Display$19.99
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- External Control$19.99
- Music$19.99
- External Screen$39.99
- Authoring$49.99
- LED Artist Pack$59.99
- VJ Pack$79.99
- Advanced Mapping$84.99
- Everything Pack$209.99
Questions
Is Artnet Knife free?
Is L.E.D. Lab free?
Do Artnet Knife or L.E.D. Lab have ads?
Which is updated more often, Artnet Knife or L.E.D. Lab?
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