Pixaki

Free plan iPhone

What Pixaki is

Pixaki is an iPad and iPad Pro app for creating pixel art and animations. Its tools include pixel-perfect painting, round and square brushes, a 13-pattern matrix dither brush, and line, rectangle, and ellipse tools. Artists can import full-resolution Photos or Files images as reference layers and draw over them. Animation projects support shared layers with separate timelines, 18 blend modes, onion skinning for up to ten frames, and bulk layer or frame actions. Color controls provide HSB and RGB sliders, hex entry, eyedropping, bucket fill, and color replacement. Selection tools include freehand, rectangular, and color selection. The free Intro plan has no time limits or ads, three layers, one reference layer, eight animation frames, and a 160 × 160 pixel canvas maximum. Pro costs 20.00 USD once and adds unlimited layers, references, and frames, a canvas up to two megapixels, and Aseprite and layered Photoshop PSD support. Projects can be stored, shared, and collaborated on through iCloud Drive.

Who it suits

Intro suits people starting with pixel art, while Pro targets professional artists and game creators. It is only for iPad and iPad Pro devices running iPadOS 12 or later.

What it does well

Pixel drawing and animation tools
Onion skinning for up to ten frames
Reference layers from Photos or Files
iCloud Drive storage and collaboration
Pro supports Aseprite and PSD

What to know first

Available only on iPad and iPad Pro
Intro limits layers, frames, and canvas size
Pro costs 20.00 USD once
Dropbox and Google Drive are incompatible

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
Intro	No time limits or ads · 3 layers + 1 reference layer · 8 animation frames · 160 × 160 px maximum canvas · Basic import and export formats	Free
Pro	One-time App Store price shown as $20.00 · Unlimited layers and references · Unlimited animation frames · Up to 2 megapixel canvas · Advanced import and export, including Aseprite and Photoshop PSD	$20, paid once

As pixaki.com lists them, read 9 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Verdict

Pixaki offers focused pixel-art drawing and animation on iPad, with a capable free Intro tier. Pro expands canvas, layers, frames, and professional file exchange through a one-time purchase.

Facts from Pixaki's own pages

Animation: Projects support shared layers with individual timelines, 18 blend modes, onion skinning for up to ten frames, and bulk layer or frame actions. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Cloud and collaboration: Pixaki supports iCloud Drive for storing and sharing projects, and its site says users can collaborate through iCloud Drive. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Color and selection: Color tools include HSB and RGB sliders, hex input, eyedropper, bucket fill, and color replacement; selection tools include freehand, rectangular, and color selection. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Drawing tools: It includes pixel perfect painting, round and square brushes, a matrix dither brush with 13 patterns, and line, rectangle, and ellipse tools. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Integrations and formats: Pro can import and export Aseprite documents and layered Photoshop PSDs, and export images, GIF, animated PNG, QuickTime movies, and sprite sheets. · apps.apple.com, 9 Oct 2026
Intended users: The site describes Intro as suited to people starting with pixel art and Pro as suited to professional artists and game creators. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Platform requirement: Pixaki is created exclusively for iPad and iPad Pro; the App Store listing requires iPadOS 12.0 or later. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Privacy: The developer’s privacy policy says the apps may collect anonymous usage, app, version, language, operating system, and crash report information through Apple if a user agrees to share it. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Product: Pixaki is a pixel art creation app for making pixel art and animations on iPad. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Reference images: Users can import full resolution images from Photos or Files as reference layers and draw over them. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Storage limitation: The user guide says Pixaki’s Apple-standard project package is incompatible with Dropbox and Google Drive because of their incomplete implementations of Apple standards. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026
Support: The solo developer says he aims to respond to support requests within a couple of working days or sooner, and offers email and Discord support. · pixaki.com, 9 Oct 2026

Where Pixaki stands on Freedom251

Pixel Art Software#35 of 70