Pixel Art Maker vs Pencil Sketch 2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pixel Art Maker
Create and animate pixel art with a user-friendly drawing tool. Convert photos into pixel art, customize color palettes, and export your creations as GIFs. Offers both free and premium features for enhanced capabilities.
- Pixel art drawing up to 256x256
- Photo to pixel art conversion
- Animated pixel art creation
- Customizable color palettes
- Export as animated GIF
- Scalable artwork export
Read full descriptionHide full description
"Pixel Art Maker" is a drawing tool for pixel art like retro games. ◇ Easy to use You can start drawing pixel art immediately after launching the app. The canvas can also be resized while drawing. ◇ Import a photo Convert photos into pixel art. ◇ Create animated pixel art Draw one pixel art image, duplicate it, and create animations. Features: - Draw pixel art on canvases from 1×1 up to 256×256 pixels. - Change the color palette (up to 256 colors). The basic palette includes 32 colors. The free version supports up to 65 colors. *Each palette color can be set to transparent or opaque. - Save your color palettes and reuse them in other artworks or when importing photos. - Watch an ad to temporarily unlock: • 256-color palette • Canvas size up to 1024×1024 - Premium Removes ads and permanently unlocks the full 256-color palette and canvas sizes up to 1024×1024. - Zoom in and out with two-finger pinch. - Save, load, and delete your drawings. - Import photos and animated GIFs. APNG animation is not supported; only the first frame is imported. - Import photos with built-in retro-style palettes and adjustable dithering. Indexed PNG files keep their original palette. - Import images from other apps via the Share sheet. - Export with transparency. - Scale your artwork on export from 1× to 64×, depending on canvas size, up to 4096×4096. - Save to Photos. - Share with other apps. - Create and export animated GIFs. *GIFs may not animate in Photos. - Finger Mode Draw directly with your finger. - Cursor Mode Move a cursor and place pixels with the "PIXEL" button. (Menu → Settings → Change Drawing Mode) * On Apple Silicon Macs (iPad version), animated image import may be limited, and photos may be imported at reduced resolution.
Pencil Sketch 2
Transform your photos into unique sketches and cartoon avatars with over 100 artistic effects. This app offers an easy-to-use interface and new drawing board functionality to make your images stand out.
- 100+ sketch and cartoon effects
- Pencil drawing board
- Partial effect enhancement
- Easy-to-use interface
- Convert photos to sketches
- Create cartoon avatars
Read full descriptionHide full description
Do you want to make your everyday pictures shine and funny? Pencil Sketch is a easy to use and funny app that lets you convert your photos into sketches or cartoon avatars by applying up to 100+ different image effects. None of your pictures will look ordinary again. Main Features: + Now featuring 50+ different sketch effects : pencil sketch, Memory Style sketch, Blue Art Style sketch, Old Movie Style, Skateboards sketch, Face Frame sketch, Smooth sketch + Now featuring 50+ different cartoon effects : 3D Gorden Sculpt, Black & White sketch, Color sketch, Sharpen Filter, Black & White Photo, Reverse Color, Memory Style Photo + Easy-to-Use interface. New Features(Version 2): + Add a awesome Pencil Drawing Board, you can paint anything with it. + Add a cool function, you can enhance the sketch effect on part of the image by swipe finger on screen The Pencil Sketch effect can be applied to any image. Best effects are obtained by using a picture with a big head.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pixel Art Maker at 4.8 against Pencil Sketch 2's 3.8. Pixel Art Maker also leads on review sentiment (91% vs 59%) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 4 months). Pencil Sketch 2's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Pixel Art Maker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pencil Sketch 2 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Pixel Art Maker holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Art Maker has 11K ratings behind it against 704, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Pixel Art Maker's written reviews are positive against 59% of Pencil Sketch 2's.
Pixel Art Maker ships an update every 9 days, Pencil Sketch 2 every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pixel Art Maker | Pencil Sketch 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (11K ratings) — better | 3.8 (704 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.0% of reviews — better | 59.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11K — better | 704 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nekomimimi | 云涌 段 |
Customer experience
Pixel Art Maker
Pencil Sketch 2
User reviews
Pixel Art Maker
From 11K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Helpful for making mods
- 🚀 Great for pixel art and animations
- 🚀 Intuitive and practical
- 🚀 Lots of customization options
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or save issues
- 🐛 Difficulty moving or selecting specific pixels
- 🐛 Limited color palette options
Pencil Sketch 2
From 704 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app for sketching photos
- 👍 Easy to use with lots of customization options
- 🎨 Fantastic for creating artistic renditions of photos
- ❤️ Loved by many users
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs after paid upgrade
- 🙄 Excessive ads in free version
- 🤔 Paid version not as good as free version
- 😤 Poor customer support
Bugs and requests
Pixel Art Maker
Reported bugs
2 issues- Exported images not retaining transparency
- Color picker not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Add a redo button
- Implement layers and better color management
- Increase maximum canvas size
- Add a paint bucket tool
- Allow importing/exporting of animations
Pencil Sketch 2
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when trying to open photos
- Paid version not functioning as expected
- Incompatibility issues with newer devices
- Inability to save edited photos
Requested features
4 requests- More sketch styles and filters
- Improved stability and reliability
- Better instructions and tutorials
- Ability to save edited photos to camera roll
In-app purchases
Pixel Art Maker
- Remove Ads$1.99
Pencil Sketch 2
- Pro Version$1.99
Questions
Is Pixel Art Maker free?
Is Pencil Sketch 2 free?
Which has better reviews, Pixel Art Maker or Pencil Sketch 2?
Do Pixel Art Maker or Pencil Sketch 2 have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pixel Art Maker or Pencil Sketch 2?
Other comparisons















