Comparison

8bit Painter vs Pixelable

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

Head to head
About

8bit Painter

Create fun and easy pixel art with intuitive controls. Perfect for beginners, this app lets you design SNS icons, game assets, or craft patterns. Import photos to pixelize them and export your creations as transparent PNGs.

Highlights
  • Beginner-friendly interface
  • Essential pixel drawing tools
  • Photo to pixel art conversion
  • Customizable color palettes
  • Transparent PNG export
  • Multiple canvas sizes
Read full description

Over 6 million downloads! An easy-to-use app for creating pixel art and 8-bit style artwork. 8bit Painter is a simple pixel art drawing app that beginners can start enjoying right away. With intuitive controls, you can easily create pixel art for social media icons, game skins, illustrations, patterns, and more. It is also great for making designs for Perler beads, cross-stitch, knitting, and other handmade projects. Key Features - Simple controls that are easy for anyone to use - Clear, focused tools for creating pixel art - Perfect for beginners - Great for making social media icons and game skins - Import photos and convert them into pixel art - Choose colors intuitively with a color wheel, sliders, and palettes - Export transparent images in PNG format - Export and import your artwork data Canvas Sizes 16x16 / 24x24 / 32x32 / 48x48 / 64x64 / 96x96 / 128x128 / 160x160 / 192x192 Choose the right canvas size for your project, from small social media icons to detailed pixel art and craft patterns. Image Import Import your favorite photos and automatically convert them into pixel art. It is also useful for creating social media icons, game skins, and pixel art assets. Color Selection Choose a base color with the color wheel, then fine-tune it with sliders or HEX input. You can also pick colors quickly from preset palettes, or save frequently used colors to your custom color palette for reuse. Artwork Data Management Export artwork data saved in your Gallery from the Settings screen, and import it again when needed. This is helpful for keeping your pixel art safe, preparing for a device change, or reinstalling the app. Artwork Storage - The initial artwork storage limit is 30 artworks - Expand the limit up to 600 artworks by watching rewarded video ads or purchasing the Remove Ads add-on Image Export - Choose from 3 export sizes - Supports transparent PNG images - Useful for social media posts, game skins, and exporting assets Remove Ads Add-On - Hides all ads - Expands the artwork storage limit to 600 artworks - Can be restored after reinstalling the app - One-time purchase How to Expand Your Storage Limit - Each rewarded video ad you watch increases your artwork storage limit by 5 artworks, up to 600 - Purchasing the Remove Ads add-on expands your artwork storage limit to 600 artworks Recommended For - Anyone who wants to start creating pixel art - People who want to make their own social media icons - Anyone who wants to create game skins easily - People making designs for Perler beads or cross-stitch - People designing knitting patterns or handmade projects - Anyone who wants to turn photos into pixel art - People looking for a simple pixel art editor - Anyone who wants to manage their artwork data and keep using the app over time Enjoy creating pixel art and 8-bit style artwork with 8bit Painter!

About

Pixelable

Create pixel art with intuitive tools and advanced features like layer editing and color customization. Export your creations as animated GIFs or PNG files. Save multiple projects and adjust canvas sizes for detailed artwork.

Highlights
  • Layer editing
  • Color making
  • Basic drawing tools
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Animated GIF export
  • Pinch-to-zoom canvas
  • Multiple project saving
Features
Read full description

Here is a pleasant pixel art editor! This is an app which pursue the stress-free and intuitively drawing of pixel art. The app has genuine functions, like layer editing, color making, and various tools. Also, you can operate intuitively. For example you can enlarge and reduce the canvas by pinch in or pinch out. Main functions are below. - Layer editing You can add and erase, and copy layers. Also, you can select display or non-display mode, change the order of layers, and make a layer transparent. - Tools The app has basic tools to draw pixel arts. (For example, pen, spuit, filling and transfer) ・Undo and redo You can cancel drawing. - Animated GIF export Each layer is going to be one frame. - Color making You can make your favorite color easily. You can save 150 colors in maximum by a work. - Pinch in and pinch out You can enlarge and reduce the canvas by pinch in and out. It enables you to draw more details. - Saving multiple pictures You can save several projects, so that you can edit other projects later. - Setting canvas size You can select the size of canvas from 5*5 to 256*256. - Setting a exporting pixel size You can select exporting size. Pictures will be saved to camera roll as a png file. - Reflection function You can reflect the selected layer vertical and horizontal. ※There is another flunked app, ‘Dottable’. ※To prevent a crash, you need more than 150MB of free space to make a new project. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Screenshots

8bit Painter4 screens
Pixelable4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Pixelable at 14.0 against 8bit Painter's 17.6. On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. 8bit Painter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pixelable sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for 8bit Painter against 4.7 for Pixelable. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6.5K and 3.4K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of 8bit Painter's written reviews are positive against 78% of Pixelable's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on September 28, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
8bit Painter versus Pixelable: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter8bit PainterPixelable
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (6.5K ratings)4.7 (3.4K ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.4% of reviews — better77.9% of reviews
Number of ratings6.5K — better3.4K
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTakayuki MiyagawaYosuke Seki

Customer experience

8bit Painter

All ratings6,545 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral4.0%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews328 reviews
Positive85.4%
Neutral6.7%
Negative7.9%

Pixelable

All ratings3,364 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral3.6%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews357 reviews
Positive77.9%
Neutral13.4%
Negative8.7%

User reviews

8bit Painter

From 6.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🥰 Fun and addictive
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Great for pixel art
  • 💡 Helpful for crafting projects
  • 🤩 Awesome app overall

Room to improve

  • 🤬 Annoying ads
  • 🔒 Limited canvas sizes
  • 🎨 Lack of color customization
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches

Pixelable

From 3.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Lots of tools and features
  • 👍 Good for pixel art and animation
  • 👍 Helpful tutorials
  • 👍 Unlimited color options

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 🐛 Issues with saving and auto-saving
  • 🐛 Bugs with certain features like mirroring and resizing
  • 🔍 Ads can be intrusive
  • 🔍 Limited canvas size

Bugs and requests

8bit Painter

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Distortion when importing images
  • Inability to delete saved artworks

Requested features

5 requests
  • Custom canvas sizes
  • More color options and palettes
  • Ability to delete or rearrange colors
  • Layers and animation support
  • Copy/paste and selection tools

Pixelable

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to save or create new projects
  • Issues with layers not working as expected
  • Color picker and eyedropper tool not functioning properly
  • Mirroring tool not aligning pixels correctly
  • Resizing canvas causes loss of work

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add ability to import/trace images
  • Increase canvas size limit
  • Add more layer management options
  • Improve color palette management
  • Add animation timeline and better animation tools
Show 2 more
  • Implement auto-save and better save/load functionality
  • Add option to remove ads for a one-time fee

In-app purchases

1 purchases

8bit Painter

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$5.99
1 purchases

Pixelable

One-time1
  • Remove ads$3.99

Questions

Is 8bit Painter free?
8bit Painter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pixelable free?
Pixelable is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 8bit Painter or Pixelable?
Pixelable is rated higher. 8bit Painter averages 4.6 out of 5 from 6.5K ratings, while Pixelable averages 4.7 from 3.4K ratings.
Do 8bit Painter or Pixelable have ads?
Both 8bit Painter and Pixelable show ads.
Which is updated more often, 8bit Painter or Pixelable?
8bit Painter ships an update every 5 weeks, and Pixelable every 5 weeks. Most recently, 8bit Painter was updated on September 28, 2026 and Pixelable on September 28, 2026.

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