Comparison

8bit Painter vs Pixel art editor

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

Pixel art editor

Easily create pixel art with a range of professional tools, including layer editing, custom color creation, and various painting brushes. Export your creations as animated GIFs or PNG files. Load images for tracing or convert them directly into pixel art.

Highlights
  • Layer editing (add, delete, copy, display)
  • Various painting tools (pen, syringe, rectangle)
  • Animated GIF export
  • Custom color creation and saving
  • Load images for tracing
  • Convert pictures to pixel art
Features
Read full description

BE CREATIVE in your spare time!! This app enables you to make a pixel art easily. Although the operation is simple, it has layer editing, color making and other professional tools. Wanna make your original work during your spare time or before going to bed? To prevent a crash, creating a new project needs more than 300MB free space of your device. Sorry for the inconvenience. The app’s main functions are below. - Layer editing You can add, delete and copy layers. You can also choose the layer display or non-display and change the order of layers. - Various tools The app has basic tools to paint. (Pen, Syringe, blotting out, rectangle, circle, transfer... etc) - Animated GIF export Each layer is going to be one frame. - Undo, Redo You can cancel the line you draw. - Color making You can make your favorite color easily. It is also able to choose a color you would like to change to transparent. You can save 20 colors in maximum by a work. - Zoom-in, Zoom-out You can paint details by the Zoom-in, Zoom-out function. - Saving several works You can save several project files of your favorite works, so you can edit you work other day. - Setting canvas size You can set any canvas size from 5*5〜120*120. - Setting the dot size of exportation You can choose the dot size of exportation. The work will be saved as a png file in you r camera roll. - Rotate function You can rotate a work horizontally and vertically. - Selection area You can edit, transfer and copy only the area you selected. - Loading a picture for trace You can load a picture in forefront or back. You can set a rate of transparency, a position and a rate of magnification. - Conversion function of a picture to pixel art. It is able to convert a picture in camera roll to pixel art. After conversion, the pixel art will be loaded in new layer, so you can edit it.

Screenshots

8bit Painter4 screens
Pixel art editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: 8bit Painter at 6.5K against Pixel art editor's 1.5K. Pixel art editor's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.6). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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 Pixel art editor 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 4.6 for Pixel art editor. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6.5K and 1.5K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of 8bit Painter's written reviews are positive against 81% of Pixel art editor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

8bit Painter ships an update every 5 weeks, Pixel art editor every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
8bit Painter versus Pixel art editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter8bit PainterPixel art editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (6.5K ratings)4.6 (1.5K ratings)
Positive reviews85.4% of reviews — better80.8% of reviews
Number of ratings6.5K — better1.5K
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
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 MB9 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%

Pixel art editor

All ratings1,505 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral3.6%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews343 reviews
Positive80.8%
Neutral7.3%
Negative12.0%

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

Pixel art editor

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Great for pixel art
  • 💡 Useful for game development
  • 🚀 Efficient for small textures
  • 🎨 Good color selection

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Limited storage/canvas size
  • 🐛 Blurry image exports
  • 🔒 Limited layers
  • 🔒 Lack of zoom/pan functionality
  • 🔒 Restricted color options (no black/white/gray)

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

Pixel art editor

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when trying to select custom colors
  • Deletes unsaved work when exiting the app
  • Ads interrupt music playback
  • Transparent GIFs not exporting correctly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add palm rejection to prevent accidental drawing
  • Increase maximum canvas size
  • Add ability to rename/organize artworks
  • Implement auto-color option for imported images
  • Add line tool and more advanced drawing tools

In-app purchases

1 purchases

8bit Painter

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$5.99
1 purchases

Pixel art editor

One-time1
  • Removing ads, and increasing project storage limit$2.99

Questions

Is 8bit Painter free?
8bit Painter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pixel art editor free?
Pixel art editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 8bit Painter or Pixel art editor?
8bit Painter and Pixel art editor are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 6.5K and 1.5K ratings respectively.
Do 8bit Painter or Pixel art editor have ads?
Both 8bit Painter and Pixel art editor show ads.
Which is updated more often, 8bit Painter or Pixel art editor?
8bit Painter ships an update every 5 weeks, and Pixel art editor every 2 months. Most recently, 8bit Painter was updated on October 16, 2026 and Pixel art editor on October 17, 2026.

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