Comparison

dotpict vs Paintstorm Studio Lite

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

Head to head
About

dotpict

Create and share pixel art with an intuitive drawing tool. Features include animation creation, autosave, and daily drawing challenges. Connect with a vibrant community of artists, browse thousands of daily artworks, and participate in events.

Highlights
  • Pixel art creation
  • Animation creation
  • Daily themes and events
  • Community posting and interaction
  • Autosave
  • Mesh pens, borders, and previews
Features
Read full description

More than 4 million downloads! "dotpict" is an application specialized to drawing pixel art! "dotpict" has a community function that allows you to post pixelart drawn with dotpict as well as those drawn with other applications! We recommend it to anyone like this. - Like pixelart! - Want to draw pixelart quickly and easily on a phone! - Want to show pixelart many users! - Want to communicate with pixelart creators! --------------------- What can you do with dotpict? --------------------- ◆Features specifically designed to create pixelart! - You can also create animations! - You can use most of the features for free, such as mesh pens, borders and previews. - Autosave your pixelart during creation, so you can create pixelart without worry. ◆Participate in daily themes and events! - If you are having trouble finding something to draw or an idea, try the daily challenges! - Event provides a palette of colors that are easy to draw, and templates making it easy! - You can also create your own events and other people to join in! ◆Browse, communicate and have fun with everyone's pixelart! - More than 2,000 artworks are posted on dotpict every day! - You can "like" your favorite pixelart and comment. - You can follow users you like and meet your favorite pixelart more and more! ◆You can also post your artwork created outside of dotpict! - About 99% of the artworks poosted have received a response.

About

Paintstorm Studio Lite

This app offers professional digital painting tools for artists of all levels. It provides extensive brush customization, stroke correction, and intuitive controls to enhance the mobile art creation experience. Discover new possibilities for digital drawing with advanced features and Apple Pencil support.

Highlights
  • Extensive brush customization
  • Stroke post-correction
  • Apple Pencil support
  • Dynamic interface
  • Mirror drawing
  • Standard tools pack
Read full description

Paintstorm Studio is the first iOS App designed not only for simple sketches, but professional digital painting of any level, genre and technique. Paintstorm helps you to discover the magnificence and unleash the full potential of Apple Pencil and brings you to a whole new level of drawing. Creating an art masterpiece has never been so mobile. A major feature of Paintstorm Studio is the array of brushes to choose from. We did our best so that you can easily and quickly adjust the brushes suitable to your painting style. Anyone who has ever painted knows it's hard to overestimate the painting tool and the importance of all the seemingly insignificant details. We tried not to miss any of them. Our goal was to create an intuitive, simple-to-use but at the same time functionally powerful tool that brings the process of digital painting to a new level, making it as comfortable as possible. - Full control of all brush options (Incredible possibilities for brush settings) - Bristle brushes of any form and kind - Stroke post correction (You can take an action on any option. Not only on the stroke thickness) - Parameters binding to the perspective - Dynamic interface (Global interface scale, panels scale, opacity, color) - Custom panels - Full controlled mask-brush (Each brush can work as mask for other brush) - Takes underlayer's color while blending - "Close gaps" function when you fill or select - Dirty brush mode - Stroke stabilizer - Usable color mixer - Different gradient strokes - Mirror drawing - Standard tools pack (Lasso, Magic wand, Crop, Fill, Gradient and etc) - Control of the random amounts - Apple Pencil support (Pressure, Tilt, Direction) Lite version restrictions: - It is not possible to load and save psd files - A watermark is added to the picture Upgrade to the full version and get rid of the limits!

Screenshots

dotpict4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: dotpict at 77% against Paintstorm Studio Lite's 24%. dotpict also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 4 months). Paintstorm Studio Lite's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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. dotpict sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month. Paintstorm Studio Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

dotpict holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 787 and 262 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of dotpict's written reviews are positive against 24% of Paintstorm Studio Lite's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

dotpict ships an update every 4 days, Paintstorm Studio Lite every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
dotpict versus Paintstorm Studio Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterdotpictPaintstorm Studio Lite
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (787 ratings) — better4.0 (262 ratings)
Positive reviews77.2% of reviews — better24.1% of reviews
Number of ratings787 — better262
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS16.713.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB103 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperDOT PICTO LIMITED LIABILITY CO.Sergei Komarov

Customer experience

dotpict

All ratings787 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral3.3%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews421 reviews
Positive77.2%
Neutral10.7%
Negative12.1%

Paintstorm Studio Lite

All ratings262 ratings
Positive72.9%
Neutral7.3%
Negative19.8%
Written reviews141 reviews
Positive24.1%
Neutral13.5%
Negative62.4%

User reviews

dotpict

From 787 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Variety of color palettes
  • 🙌 Great community
  • 💻 Convenient for mobile pixel art
  • 🎨 Simple and intuitive drawing tools

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and glitches
  • 🔒 Strict content moderation leading to false bans
  • 💬 Lack of messaging/commenting system
  • 🎨 Limited color palette options
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding and viewing other users' art

Paintstorm Studio Lite

From 262 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent brushes and color mixing
  • 🎨 Sophisticated drawing tools
  • 🖌️ Advanced interface like desktop apps
  • 🖥️ Powerful features on par with desktop software

Room to improve

  • 🚧 Cluttered and confusing interface
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and performance issues
  • 💦 Annoying watermark on exported artwork
  • 🔍 Lack of clear instructions and tutorials

Bugs and requests

dotpict

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes and login issues
  • Drawing tools and cursor glitching
  • Inability to save or transfer canvases between devices
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add layers and ability to rearrange them
  • Implement onion skinning for animations
  • Allow custom canvas sizes
  • Introduce a premium version to remove ads
  • Add a reference window for drawing
Show 1 more
  • Implement a color wheel and numerical color values

Paintstorm Studio Lite

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when opening or switching between projects
  • Brush settings and color wheel disappearing unexpectedly
  • Inability to save or recover unsaved artwork

Requested features

4 requests
  • Remove watermark option
  • Ability to import photos and images
  • Better organization and customization of UI
  • More intuitive brush and tool controls

In-app purchases

1 purchases

dotpict

Subscriptions1
  • dotpict Premium7 Days trial$3.991 Month
None

Paintstorm Studio Lite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is dotpict free?
dotpict is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Paintstorm Studio Lite free?
Paintstorm Studio Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, dotpict or Paintstorm Studio Lite?
dotpict is rated higher. dotpict averages 4.6 out of 5 from 787 ratings, while Paintstorm Studio Lite averages 4.0 from 262 ratings.
Do dotpict or Paintstorm Studio Lite have ads?
dotpict shows ads; Paintstorm Studio Lite does not.
Which is updated more often, dotpict or Paintstorm Studio Lite?
dotpict ships an update every 4 days, and Paintstorm Studio Lite every 4 months. Most recently, dotpict was updated on October 19, 2026 and Paintstorm Studio Lite on October 15, 2026.

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