Comparison

L.E.D. Lab vs PixelHelper

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

PixelHelper

Features
Read full description

PixelHelper faz calculos para projeção mapeada e painel de led; Escolha o que você deseja Calcular; Painel de led: O App inicia com 1 preset para demonstrar; Você pode adicionar um novo preset clicando no botão +; Você pode copiar um preset clicando no botão copiar (dois quadrados); Você pode apagar um preset clicando no botão apagar (lixeira); Para calcular você precisa preencher os seguintes campos: - Quantidade de Gabinetes X,Y - Tamanho do Gabinete em metros X,Y - Pixels do Gabinete X,Y - Peso do gabinete - Consumo em Watts do m² ou Quantidade (Selecionando pelos CheckBoxes) Você pode compartilhar seu Calculo clicando no botão compartilhar (no final do formulário);Painel de Led ou Projetor; Projetores: O App inicia com 1 preset para demonstrar; Você pode adicionar um novo preset clicando no botão +; Você pode copiar um preset clicando no botão copiar (dois quadrados); Você pode apagar um preset clicando no botão apagar (lixeira); Para calcular você precisa preencher os seguintes campos: - Tamanho da Tela em metros X,Y - Resolução do Projetor X,Y - Fator da Lente - Lumens do Projetor Você pode compartilhar seu Calculo clicando no botão compartilhar (no final do formulário);

Screenshots

L.E.D. Lab4 screens
PixelHelper3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PixelHelper at none against L.E.D. Lab's 11. PixelHelper also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. L.E.D. Lab sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. PixelHelper asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

L.E.D. Lab ships an update every 4 months, PixelHelper daily. The most recent releases landed on August 17, 2026 and May 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
L.E.D. Lab versus PixelHelper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterL.E.D. LabPixelHelper
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (15 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews81.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings15 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristopher SchardtRenato Pedroso

In-app purchases

11 purchases

L.E.D. Lab

One-time11
  • Live Microphone$9.99
  • Live Video$9.99
  • LED Display$19.99
Show 8 more
  • 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
None

PixelHelper

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is L.E.D. Lab free?
L.E.D. Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PixelHelper free?
PixelHelper is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do L.E.D. Lab or PixelHelper have ads?
Neither L.E.D. Lab nor PixelHelper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, L.E.D. Lab or PixelHelper?
L.E.D. Lab ships an update every 4 months, and PixelHelper daily. Most recently, L.E.D. Lab was updated on August 17, 2026 and PixelHelper on May 17, 2026.

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