--- title: Pixelmator Reviews meta_title: 'Pixelmator Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 91 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Pixelmator works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 91 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-17' parent_category: name: Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/design --- # Pixelmator Reviews **Vendor:** Pixelmator **Category:** [Other Design Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/other-design) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 91 ## About Pixelmator Pixelmator for iOS is a comprehensive image editing application designed exclusively for iPhone and iPad users. It offers a robust suite of tools that enable users to create, edit, and enhance images with professional-grade capabilities, all within a user-friendly interface optimized for touch-based devices. Key Features and Functionality: - Photo Editing: Enhance images using pre-designed color adjustment presets and fine-tune them with advanced tools like Levels and Curves. Apply a variety of effects, remove unwanted objects, and utilize features such as cloning, blurring, sharpening, and desaturation. - Graphic Design: Combine text, shapes, and images to craft stunning compositions. Merge multiple photos, remove backgrounds, apply layer styles, and adjust blending modes. Utilize precise selection tools and smart alignment guides to perfect your designs. - Apple Pencil Support: Achieve natural and fluid drawing and painting experiences with Apple Pencil, benefiting from tilt, pressure sensitivity, and acceleration support for precise edits. - Photoshop Compatibility: Import, edit, and save Photoshop files seamlessly, ensuring smooth workflows across different platforms. - iOS Integration: Leverage iCloud Drive for easy access to images across devices, multitask with Slide Over or Split View on iPad, and apply Pixelmator effects directly within the Photos app through extensions. - Performance Optimization: Utilize Metal-based Distort tools for rapid and high-quality image reshaping, and take advantage of Grand Central Dispatch for efficient multicore processing. - High-Resolution Support: Open and edit large images up to 16K resolution, accommodating files up to 100 megapixels on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Primary Value and User Solutions: Pixelmator for iOS empowers users to perform advanced image editing and graphic design tasks directly on their mobile devices, eliminating the need for desktop software. Its intuitive interface, combined with a comprehensive set of tools, caters to both professionals and hobbyists, enabling the creation of high-quality visuals on the go. The app's seamless integration with iOS features and compatibility with Photoshop files ensure a flexible and efficient editing experience, addressing the needs of users seeking a powerful yet portable image editing solution. ## Pixelmator Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users love the **seamless cloud integration** of Pixelmator Pro, enhancing their editing experience across devices effortlessly. (1 reviews) - Users love the **fast, clean, and beautifully designed interface** of Pixelmator Pro, enhancing their editing experience on Mac. (1 reviews) - Users love the **intuitive and clean interface** of Pixelmator, enhancing their editing experience on Mac devices. (1 reviews) - Users value the **flexible file compatibility** and intuitive layered editing, enhancing efficiency in their creative projects. (1 reviews) - Users love the **speed and intuitive design** of Pixelmator Pro, making photo editing a smooth experience. (1 reviews) - Product Quality (1 reviews) - Speed (1 reviews) - Users value the **time-saving features** of Pixelmator, enabling efficient edits and quick file conversions. (1 reviews) - Users value the **intuitive layered editing** in Pixelmator, allowing for precise adjustments without altering the entire design. (1 reviews) - Website Development (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users note the **limited features** of Pixelmator Pro compared to Photoshop, especially for advanced compositing and animation. (1 reviews) - Users find **limited templates** in Pixelmator, which restricts creativity for advanced design tasks and workflows. (1 reviews) ## Pixelmator Reviews ### 1. Simple to use. It can be powerful if you know how to use it. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Iñigo N. | Founder & CEO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** What I like the most about Pixelmator is how simple it is. I've used adobe products before and Pixelmator's learning curve is far less steep. For a beginner who has a mac its an amazing piece of sofware. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** There are two things that annoy me. The first is that there is not much information online about how to use Pixelmator. The online website is great for beginners, but once you try to do something complex, you are mostly on your own. You end up figuring it out, but it's not as simple as when you start using it. The second thing that I dislike is the vector mode. It's practically useless. Illustrator compatibility is a must, and it doesn't have it. But besides this two things the software is actually pretty good. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Its great for simple things, not for complex designing. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Most of our designing is done using Pixelmator. Not just for marketing, but for everything else too. The main benefit is that the learning curve is not very steep, so if someone has to learn it from scratch it doesn't take a lot of time. ### 2. Excellent alternative to Photoshop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Photography | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Powerful imaging engine, includes all the Photoshop functions I need, layers, magic wand tools, and more. Also the price. Did I mention the price? **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I can't really think of anything that I dislike. I suppose one could say that the software being designed only for the Mac ecosystem is a limitation. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** I strongly recommend Pixelmator. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Pixelmator for graphic design, to create postcards and other media-based material. ### 3. Great for the beginner and the cost is perfect **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lindsay Q. | Director Of Operations, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 16, 2018 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** It is very similar to photoshop however, a fraction of the cost! Can't beat it **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** You can't open eps files, which sometimes is difficult. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** You can google how to do things very easily, and watch tutorials. It is really simple to use for only like $14 **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can edit and create anything i need for my company without having to spend a fortune on Adobe Suite ### 4. Great Photoshop Replacement **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aaron B. | Network President & Founder, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 26, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Has all the features of Photoshop but no monthly subscription, only a one time payment. Toolbars are the same as photoshop and most of the shortcuts used are the same, so no changes in use. Plus they offer an iOS version of their app. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** No PSD layer support and many PSD files do no load correctly. Font support is limited and only uses iCloud for Cloud storage. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Be patient and get used to the different windows and icons in the program. Not all Photoshop files will load correctly but most are easy to fix even when they don't load. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are able to edit and optimize our images for website and promo usage. Add filters and change photo formats. Able to work at home on the Mac or on the go using iOS. ### 5. PIxelmator was the solution for my photos **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 02, 2018 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Pixelmator has a very gentle learning curve. When I first started using Photoshop I was immediately overwhelmed and felt like I would never learn how this program worked. With Pixelmator there is a lot of functionality there but it is a lot more intuitive to use. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** It's not quiet as technical as Photoshop or illustrator but it does the job for 98% of what i need. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** This is a great application for photo editing if you are looking for something that doesn't require the technicality of Photoshop. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Pixelmator quickly touches up photos for media use. It's easy to erase backgrounds or just make a picture pop a little more. ### 6. For a Nice Mac Photo and Vector Editor Try Pixelmator **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Internet | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** What I like best about Pixelmator is that it is both a photo and vector editor. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I dislike that the interface is too minimal. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** When working on a photo that needs type and illustrations, I do not need to switch to another application. ### 7. adobe for dummy's **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hannah E. | Social Media Strategist, Cosmetics, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2018 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** how simple the UX is to use and how you can put any .psd file into the software and edit it. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** It can freeze if too much is going on - make sure save. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** There is an updated version which is even better and has fixed the bugs in the older version **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** editing media for social channels ### 8. Photoshop Killer **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anthony P. | Project Manager, Architecture & Planning, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 13, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** This inexpensive photo app for the Mac is a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop. The program contains many of the features found in the more expensive apps, simple to use, some great tools that simply get the job done. The app is very fast, saves to iCloud and exports in various formats. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Documentation limited to videos on Youtube. This is a Macintosh app but it will export to formats. The advertisement is limited. I discovered the app via a blog on the web. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** A low cost alternative to the industry standard apps. Has all of the features you need to successful edit, color and manipulate photo data. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Photo editing of our project images, color correction of computer-generated images. This app is lightning fast, simple to use and has the right amount of features to do the level of photo editing and correcting that we need in the office. ### 9. Lacking some critical features for photojournalists. **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Media Production | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 01, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** The price of Pixelmator is great compared to something like the Adobe suite. Having an app built specifically for MacOS is nice too. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Lack of IPTC support for embedded information for the images is a deal-killer for use in a professional photography setting. It's critical to be able to embed information about the image. Also the File Save workflow is frustrating since it drops the Save/Save As feature we've all been used to in favor of Apple's design of save before creating mentality. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** I would not recommend Pixelmator for professional photography work. It's no Photoshop. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Being able to edit images quickly and a good return on investment in software. ### 10. Great Alternative to Photoshop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Religious Institutions | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 12, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Pretty easy to use/figure out. Also, they have super helpful tutorials on their website. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Honestly, I can't really think of anything I don't like! Great product! **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Graphic design. I'm a pastor and create graphics for our church using this. Works awesome. ### 11. I have moved from Photoshop and will never look back. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** This application has a value proposition that is hard to pass up. I have been using Pixelmator for some time now and have been very pleased. I used to use Adobe Photoshop but have long since moved on and haven't thought of going back even once. It is highly performant because of it's all-in macOS approach and is constantly updated and never behind in supporting the latest macOS and hardware innovations from Apple. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Unlike it's competition, there is no plugin system. I would love to see a robust plugin ecosystem built around Pixelmator much the way Sketch has done. I think it is glaring issue and would provide more power to users. I also think the multi-window approach is long in the tooth. I personally like my software within a single tabbed interface. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** The low cost and recent advancements have made Pixelmator a no brainer. However, if a plugin infrastructure is needed, then this is likely not the software for you, at least as a main workflow tool. While we find a plugin system desirable, it has not been a barrier in our workflow. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use this software from everything from photo touchups, enhancing mockups, to final assets for digital and print. It has really helped within my workflow and performance is wonderful because of it's all-in native Mac approach. Because of this I am more productive because I am not stuck fighting the user interface or application bloat. ### 12. A smart software **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Daniele P. | Sviluppatore, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** It's a very cheap alternative to Photoshop. It's smart, easy to use, it opens a large type of graphic files and it has a lot of option to export. I can use many filter and presets. It's enough quick and I had never a crash **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I don't love the floating panels for tools and levels. There aren't many options to configure interface and I would like to have more stencil. For example i would like to make a mock up of web site or an app but I haven't the right stencil and tools **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Pixemaltor is a good alternative for Photoshop, if you are not a Graphic Designer. It's simple, fast and very cheap. It is updated with regularity, and It adds everytime a new useful utility. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am a web designe, so I have to edit a lot number of pictures and photos. I use Pixemator for this and my work is more efficent and quicker. ### 13. Great design application **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Public Safety | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** The ability to export in many different formats and quickly use shapes to design app icons. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I wish it had more options for drawing, making it a well-rounded application. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** No business problems solved. ### 14. A Little Short, But Good at What It Does **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jonathan T. | Co-Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 28, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I LOVE the Touch Bar integration, especially the transform slider. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I came from Photoshop, so I'm missing some features like my libraries and support for plug-ins, my keyboard shortcuts, layer style presets, ligatures, etc. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Before buying, download a trial from pixelmator's website. If you'd like to buy and don't need it right away, it goes on sale for 50% off from time to time on the Mac App Store. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I need to edit photos and create graphics for web and social media. Pixelmator does a great job most of the time. ### 15. Pixelmator as alternative lightweight raster/vector tool. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Geoff G. | Principal/Owner, Architecture & Planning, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Broad capabilities for image and illustration creation and editing. A clean and efficient interface allows for easy basic usage with access to more advanced capabilities not too deeply hidden. Varied export options make for good functionality. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** The ability to export to vector based file formats beyond PDF would help with the ability to collaborate with others using different workflows. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** If you do not need all of the immense depth of Adobe CS applications, Pixelmator is an excellent alternative for most everything that needs doing. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use Pixelmator for some image editing, but the bulk of our usage comes in the areas of diagram, graphic, and document production. Pixelmator has given us the capability we need at a very good value. ### 16. Inexpensive editing solution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2017 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Fast to load, dependable, incredibly helpful for purposes of blog image editing. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Occasionally closes abruptly, not as robust as costly alternatives. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Just be aware that it's inexpensive and thus less robust. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Inexpensive software that I can use with confidence, especially when used in conjunction with Screenshoter for Firefox. ### 17. My go-to application for production photo editing. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicholas G. | Principal, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Retouching, handling type, and layers are all top shelf. I'm not a pixel pro, by any means, by I need to produce images here and there, and Pixelmator does the job. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I likely only use about 30% of the software. Like any complex system, the more you know, the more you can do — it might be useful to have better onboarding systems for new users. But frankly if you're already an expert with Photoshop, there's nothing unusual or surprising here. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I've reached maximum fatigue with Adobe's pricing structure. Pixelmator allows me, at an extremely reasonable cost, to handle the few images a month I need to manipulate. ### 18. Better than Photoshop (and easier to use) **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 10, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** While photoshop has become synonymous with image editing, I had always found the UI to be unintuitive. Pixelmator fills this need for me and makes it easy to edit images quickly--which makes my life easier. Pixelmator does everything that I need it to do much better than the Mac-developed Preview can or Photoshop. It's a great tool for a designer looking for a more economical alternative to Adobe but who doesn't want to sacrifice capability at the same time. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** It is much harder to find resources for pixelmator (ie project templates, add-ons, etc.) than it is for other graphic design programs. As more and more designers switch from Photoshop to PIxelmator, this seems like something that is easily solvable. I am proficient with Pixelmator but I do feel that have significant room to improve my skills. It's hard for me to find fault in the program when it may just be my skillset. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use pixelmator for image resizing and retouching. It's great for scaling images and resampling. Pixelmator is most often used as a hand-off tool, meaning that an edit is made in pixelmator for an element that we are including in another project or even website. ### 19. Great Photoshop replacement **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Frank M. | Berater, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 15, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Looking for a lightweight tool for photo finishing? Here Pixelmator is a fantastic application with a very clean interface. You've got the configurable main window and then can add different tool windows depending on your tasks. So the UI isn't too overloaded and you can work very concentrated. Beside working as stand-aöone application it also integrates into the Apple Photos application. Sadly here only with a subset of its functionality. The tools are clear, this filters are powerful, the whole look and feel is very good. Also sharing is pretty simple. Additionally beside the Mac it's available on iPad and iPhone and the applications can sync their images. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** The toolbox, filters, brushes etc. are in floating windows. I would like them to snap in a kind of extra frame on the right side of the main window. When opening a JPG or PNG and wanting to save it the application wants to do this in it's own format. That's okay when wanting to continue editing later, because this format is no simple compressed image format. But when wanting to save it again as JPG or PNG you have to choose the export menu and their explicit the image format. Here an additional menu entry would help. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** It's extreme cheap, so don't do anything wrong. Simply try it. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm only doing private photographing with my Fujifilm X-T1. Here Pixelmator is my tool for photo finishing. It helps me to make the best out of my shots. ### 20. Pixelmator, perfect tool for non professional designers **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Fred A. | Chanteur, guitariste, producteur, Music, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 01, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** The ease of use, and the fact that it has all the main functionalities that I need. I would not need Photoshop, and that's the reason I bought Pixelmator. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** On the latest version, you can't access Aperture directly anymore, where I still have all my pictures, because it is more professional than the recent Photos. I have to import the picture, as they don't appear in the pictures panel. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** If you need basic graphic functions, though pretty complete already, Pixelmator is a tool for you. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mainly resizing pictures for web use, or for printed or PDF documents. I can easily do it with Pixelmator. ### 21. Perfect for most users **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Goncalo M. | Senior Web Designer, Retail, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Pixelmator's version 2.0 has brought amazing new features, new UI and blazing performance. Of course it's not Adobe's Photoshop or Affinity Designer but it's main features are great and more than enough for most users: Layers, Masks, Stamp tool, Text tool, Filters, etc... One of the best features is the iOS app that allows you to do photo editing on the go. Also, Pixelmator has extensions for Apple's Photos which allow you for some quick editing on your Photo's library. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** The feature that I missed the most on Pixelmator is Action. Not only you can't create Pixelmatr action nor you can import your old Photoshop action. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** If you 're looking for an photo editing app for both MacOS and iOS, than Pixelmator is your app. It provides fast and ease of use on both platforms and can be integrated with Apple's Photos through extensions. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used this app a lot on my iPad, specially on briefing meetings or when I am working with the Photography department at the company I work in. I can quickly make fast photo editing to provide and initial idea with little effort an set a mood an feels for the rest of the campaign. ### 22. Best Alternative to Photoshop for Mac **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sandro M. | Co Founder / Director, Marketing and Advertising, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 30, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I am a long time graphic, app and web designer. I learned how to design using Adobe Photoshop 7 (before there was such as thing as Creative Suite, much less Creative Cloud). So I’ve seen a lot of changes come to Photoshop over the years. I’ve also been on the lookout for a cheaper alternative. I quickly learned that that cheaper alternative was NOT Gimp. Give me a break. I mean, just look at the website. A designer can’t use a poorly-designed interface. Plus, Gimp has plenty of limitations. I don’t even like talking about it, honestly. For years I assumed there was no competitor that could ever crop up and effectively takedown the monster Adobe has built. Aviary was no real competitor—it was built on Adobe products. Web-based photo editing tools just can’t cut it yet. I mean Pixlr is fine for people who want to edit Facebook photos I guess, but not for a real designer—at least not for me (not yet). But I recently tried a Mac app called Pixelmator that is an honest-to-goodness Photoshop alternative that costs just $29.99—once. Photoshop, on the other hand, costs $49.99 PER MONTH for the full version. The first thing I tested was the paint selection tool. OH YA. I immediately liked it better than the photoshop equivalent. It’s fast, highly accurate and uses nearly identical keyboard shortcuts for painting/unpainting selections. Brilliant. Well, as long as I had something selected I thought I’d try giving it a fill. Again, similar keyboard shortcuts (holding option or command + delete). Plus, it’s easy to fill with a gradient. Cool. Next, I decided to try the repair tool (similar to the heal function in Photoshop). Wow. Works awesome. So far, Pixelmator is performing as good or better than Photoshop in each of these categories. Clone stamp? Check. Works like a charm. Whoa—what’s this? A “magic” eraser. What does this do… Oh, wow. It’s like the paint selection tool except it literally erases the selection in realtime. I love it! Okay, so all of Photoshops basic functions are covered and even improved on. So far so good. That brings me to the effects browser. The effects you’ll find in Pixelmator are like the old Photoshop effects crossbred with Instagram-style filters—and they rock. Rather than display a drop-down list of effects from a menu, instead there is a panel with preview images that change to show you how effects will behave when you mouse over them. There are so many effects I love I’m not sure where to start. First off, there’s an auto-enhance. Goodbye auto-levels and curves. Miniaturize will apply a tilt-shift blurring effect. The replace color effect is so brilliant I can’t even describe it. Adding a halftone no longer requires a multi-page tutorial—just click, adjust and you’re done. There’s even an ASCII filter that will turn your image into text—and fast. I seriously can’t gush enough about all the amazing, time-saving effects in Pixelmator. It would take a Photoshop user hours to get the same results manually in many cases. Let me finish up by adding that I love the Pixelmator interface. A lot of thought and care went into building it that needs to be properly appreciated. Aside from merely looking nice, there are UX enhancement’s that make using the app better. It’s the little stuff, like, for instance, when you select a tool it sort of jumps and increases in size in the menu so you know, without a doubt, what tool you have selected. Many of the effects menus have custom options that make them a breeze to use. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Has no single window interface with tabs for open documents. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Overall, Pixelmator is one of those apps I can’t recommend enough. And that’s coming from a designer who has used Photoshop for years. Unless you’re 90 or a true to life professional photographer who needs some really niche functionality, you should buy Pixelmator without hesitation. ### 23. A new design tool I can get onboard with **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sara B. | Freelance Writer and Editor, Writing and Editing, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 27, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I like how easy it is to use. Unlike photoshop and other products, this one is easy and to the point, so you don't need to spend hours watching videos just to learn how to make a simple image. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I am currently using the 30 day trial, so I guess right now I would dislike the fact that I eventually have to purchase the tool. So lets hope it isn't too much money! **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am utilizing this software to easily create images for Ads, blogs, etc. It allows me to get crisp images without having to worry about bothering a designer or hiring one since we don't have one in-house. ### 24. Photoshop Competition Done Right! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jared S. | Game and Web Engineer, Entertainment, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Perfect tool for the basic photoshop jobs. While it doesn't have all the crazy fancy tooling, it can do most things an intermediate level designer will need from Photoshop. The price is amazing, the support and updates are too! I install this every time, never install Photoshop until I REALLY need it! **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** The interface can be odd with multiple displays, when opening the app some tools don't open or show up on the wrong display. Some of the filtering and layer options could use some improvement - there was no simple stroke option last I checked. Lots of that can be done with more work, but would be nice to have. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Pixelmator is a wonderful tool! Many of our artists use it over Photoshop. For the price, it is well worth it to edit a couple photos or do some comp work. Imports most standard PSDs, without the super tricky tooling in them. It boots fast and get the basic jobs done with ease. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quick comps, exports, and web-compression were so painful on the MacBook Air, but now with how light Pixelmator is, I use it for so much more. Initially it was a budget/on-the-go replacement for Photoshop, now it is all I use! ### 25. Zero to a Billion in 60 Seconds **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 03, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I have zero experience in graphic design, and therefore, I had never used graphic design software. I've only been using Pixelmator for a a short time, and I'm still learning. However, I find it fairly intuitive and a lot of fun! **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I have better luck with trial and error than with finding solutions and answers to questions online. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** The Adobe products are far too expensive ($50/month) for someone just trying to learn graphic design. Yet, I don't think that Pixelmator can replace the Adobe Suite. If I'm really serious about doing this kind of work, I still need to subscribe to the Adobe Cloud stuff. Therefore, there's really not a great incentive for me to also buy Pixelmator. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I've started to design T-shirts and other products that I'm attempting to sell online. ### 26. A great multi device imaging solution **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Internet | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 26, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** The ability to pick up and continue work between the desktop app and iOS **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Some of the features a lacking in control. Various filters don't have a clear way to steer and adjust. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Not a complete Photoshop replacement but still a powerful piece of software. There are more robust alternatives to photoshop, but I still find plenty of value independently from those **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quick image editing when a more robust system is needed. It's great to work on the go no matter what device I'm on ### 27. Pixelmator Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Entertainment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 01, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I like that it's easy for me to navigate. There are still so many things I need to learn but it's worth it! **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I feel that there isn't really anything to dislike **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Buy it **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Trying to find a better way to market. There are so many benefits to being a designer and I realized the possibilities are endless. ### 28. Awesome photo editing option for web developers (with limitations) **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chris B. | Developer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 15, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Pixelmators price for its power is awesome, it can't be beat. If you are a light user and just need something to manipulate photos this is a great tool. It was designed for the mac and feels great running on my (somewhat underpowered) mac air. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** While it supports photoshop files it doesn't really handle complicated or large PSD's very well. So if you are working with a serious designer who is sending you files it might not be the best option. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Great if you don't need tight photoshop integration. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use pixelmator to crop images, save for web and other website image manipulation that I need for web development. ### 29. Affordable Very Viable Alternative to PhotoShop **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Martin R. | Managing Director, Management Consulting, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2015 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I was introduced to Pixelmator in a MacWorld article and thought it was worth a try. I had had Photoshop in the past, but, when it came time to pay more, again, for another upgrade, I balked and tried Pixelmator. I've been very happy with the switch. It contains all the functions I would ever use, and then some, so no need for the expensive alternatives. Pixelmator will do just fine, thank you. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** The menus are dark and some of the icons are not as intuitive as they might be. I guess what I'm saying is that the overall design of the user interface needs a bit of help. The functions are there, it just doesn't feel like a Mac product so much. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** If you are a very heavy Photoshop user, make sure that Pixelmator will do everything you need it to do. While it does everything we need it for, my sense is that Pixelmator may not have ALL of the functions of Photoshop. So make sure to run it through the processes you use before making the final commitment. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are not a major design shop. We're a consulting firm that needs to manipulate the occasional image, create some new design, or just generally work with images. Pixelmator is our go-to application for that. The price was very, very reasonable and it does everything we need it to do and more. ### 30. Best Photoshop alternative on Mac OS X **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bryan P. | Head of Marketing, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2015 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** It does absolutely everything I used in Photoshop (Creative Suite 3) and costs a fraction of the price. Not to mention Pixelmator doesn't require a lot your computer's resources. Plus, I really like how it uses a ton of core OS X technologies, which really makes it the quickest way to edit, retouch and manipulate images on a Mac. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Some of the keyboard shortcuts were different (when I switched from Photoshop) but after a few weeks, I finally got used to using Pixelmator's keyboard layout. Aside from that the app works really well and we use it every day. It'd be nice to have some more filters and preset shapes but overall no complaints here. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Check the list of features on their website. It does everything I need it to do but I'm not a graphic designer. It might not be robust enough for an professional designer in an office environment but at home or a freelance agent might get the most out of a tool like Pixelmator. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quickly create graphics for social media and retouch pictures. It did not require the business a lot of administrative time to have the program up and running. We've realised that with a tool like Pixelmator we were able to spend more time creating content than being troubled with updates, incompatible plugs and long load times. This app pretty much opens up in a few seconds, even on older macs. ### 31. Pixelmator Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Media Production | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I like Pixelmator's ability to stand up to Photoshop **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I dislike the window space management system. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Pixelmator is a wonderful tool that I stumbled upon by accident and ended up saving me a ton of money and hours in editing my photos. From the beginning I've always been a big fan of Adobe products and would use a combination of Adobe Lightroom and Adobe photoshop to edit my photos. I have found however, that Pixelmator helps me get through my workflow in just one program. It is amazing how well pixelmator can handle and edit the attributes of my photos. Let us not forget to mention the amazing capabilities it has in the graphic design front. Whenever I need to make a poster I go for Pixelmator. The price is amazing and the efficiency it brings is well worth the price. The support page available to users is also very, very helpful. I have referenced their site many times in order to learn how to edit a photo a specific way. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm solving the issue of a pricy fix to photos. ### 32. Great Price Point! **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kevin T. | Camera Technician, Entertainment, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** For the price point, Pixelmator offers a fairly powerful tool for those interested in simple photo enhancements. It offers a variety of different tools that take it one step past just adjusting color and exposure. You can touch up photos, sharpen, and even use layers. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Unfortunately working with vector art is not a feature in Pixelmator, which would be a really fantastic edition to this simple, easy to use app. However, with that said at the very cheap price point it does offer more features than you think it would, which is why I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Some people have no need to work in vector art, but maybe it could be a $10 edition. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** If you need a powerful tool for prosumer tasks I think Pixelmator would work well for you. If you have access to Photoshop then I would recommend using (learning if need be) that. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I mostly have used Pixelmator for work related tasks. Sometimes generating simple images in photoshop just isn't worth the workflow, etc. so we just use Pixelmator to create thumbnails and similar image types. It definitely isn't a full force editing software but it does come in handy from time to time. ### 33. Great and cheap Photoshop alternative **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Harry K. | Digital Services Team Leader, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 28, 2015 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Friendly and familiar UI. Almost Photoshop-like. Pixelmator is a tool for image editing and graphics compositing - in addition to image enhancement you can use them to overlay and combine images into one, to add graphics and text, to turn photographs into graphics and make them look like fake line drawings or paintings. If you have Pixelmator for mac and want to work with image editing on the iPad I think Pixelmator for iPad is a must especially if you want to switch back and forth between Pixelmator on the Mac and the iPad. Because of iCloud you can easily continue working on your project whether it is on the iPad or on the Mac. Your project will be synced all te time. You can't do this with another app for iPad, unless you also have the mac version of this particular app. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Pixelmator does not help to tag and archive your photo It doesn't support RAW images. There was an incompatibility with OS X El Capitan and it made me think that my trackpad was broken. Fortunately it was just a bug. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Considering purchasing Pixelmator if you want to do some very decent and high quality work, but don't have enough budget for Photoshop. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Great for people who do not want spend much or prefer a one-time fee over a monthly subscription and still wish to make some high quality work. ### 34. I like this product very much and have been using it for 5 years! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 27, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** There are so many things I like about Pixelmator. It is very user friendly and easy to use. I specifically love the layering effect tool and retouch tool very much. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Nothing that I dislike but I wished there were more stylizing/effect options like the ones in Photoshop and Illustrator. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is very fast to work with since all the tools are very comprehensible and clear as to how they work. It saves me a lot of time with a great outcome. ### 35. General use for photo touch up and layout of images and creation of icons **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tim O. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 19, 2015 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Pixelmator is a cheap alternative to a professional photo editor such as Photoshop. Granted, I do not know what Photoshop can do that Pixelmator cannot, because Pixelmator does all I need and far far more. There are several great and helpful videos on their website, and you can learn to do some simple yet rewarding tasks – such as removing that annoying person in the background of an otherwise amazing photo. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** This is a bit nit-picky, as I would generally consider the application to be cheap, but compared with a free alternative like GIMP, the $30 I paid for it seems pricey. That said, I think it's well worth the money, and visually is much cleaner than the free alternatives. I would like for the iOS app to come with the purchase in the Mac App store, but I don't really know any other apps that do that either. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Pixelmator offers a free 30 day trial, so there's really no reason not to try it if you think it could be useful. Development on the software seems quite active – there's already an update for Mac OS X El Capitan, with Photos integration and support for split view. Since the application is sold through the Mac App store (and iOS too), I only needed to purchase it once for both my wife and I to be able to use it. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I usually use Pixelmator for personal use retouching photos, but I also often use it for academic purposes as well. I find it makes adding simple frames and descriptions to otherwise plain photos a very simple task, and makes the final product look very professional. ### 36. great photo / image editor for those of us who don't need (or can't afford) Photoshop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anatoly G. | Founder & CEO, Information Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** great UX, easy to use and powerful. For basic photo editing (and even more advanced stuff), creating graphics for the web, updating existing images, Pixelmator is great. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** photoshop compatibility is lacking, some tools aren't same as in photoshop, so going between tools not as easy. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** try it out, it's great, easy to use. Available as a demo from their website. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** we needed simple image editing and didn't need the full power of Photoshop (and didn't want to pay for a CC license) ### 37. So much better and affordable than Photoshop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian S. | Principal Member Of Technical Staff, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** The price. How can you beat it. It's magnitudes cheaper than Adobe Photoshop and basically does everything PS does. It's extremely easy to use as well. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** Nothing. There's nothing I don't like about Pixelmatr, I use it on a daily basis and it suits all my needs. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** They have a free trial version on their site, but the cost is so low in the Mac App Store, you should just buy it and try it. There are many websites that have video tutorials, including Pixelmator's, you should check them out. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** A photo editing software that someone who isn't a graphic designer can use with ease and not a lot of searching/training. ### 38. really really good software! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 10, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** Love this particular software the best because its easy to use, multifunctional, and its like alternative option to photoshop. I really like how simple it is to create graphics and web designs. The color and templates are also easy to use! **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** There is actually nothing in particular that I dislike! **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** I would definitely recommend this software to others! **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Pretty much just design problems. where to place things! ### 39. Pixelmator is a great alternative to Photoshop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Debbie G. | Principal, Public Relations and Communications, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 17, 2015 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** I like that Pixelmator is so easy to use and has a lot of the same features as Photoshop. It has great video tutorials (both on its website as well as from users) that provides step-by-step instructions for a number of different features. Pixelmator gives you a lot of control over your final project and pretty much everything you need to know is easily accessed (Help or YouTube). **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** It would be great if users had more flexibility to adjust the spacing between characters when you insert text. This is especially important when you're creating a word poster and you want all the text to fit into, let's say, a box. If you want to mix font styles and size, you have limited ways to adjust the text spacing. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** Pixelmator is great for those times you want to create an eye-popping word poster for uploading to social media. Pixelmator allows you to create beautiful posters where you can use all kinds of filters and it uses the font collection you have on your desktop, This allows you even more creativity when you have access to different kinds of fonts. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using images for presentations, especially as slide background. The benefit is that I can customize the size of the image in Pixelmator and when I bring it over to PowerPoint as a slide background it pops it in there and I don't have to adjust the size! ### 40. Most affordable graphic design app **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2016 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** It is a fully fledged graphic design application that is amazingly affordable **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** I honestly can't think of a single thing that I dislike about this application. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** I think it is amazing that you can export into other formats that are compatible with Adobe and other apps. ### 41. Cheap Mac-only image editing - might replace your need for Photoshop **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stefan B. | sr. BIM Manager, Information Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 03, 2014 **What do you like best about Pixelmator?** For a very small price ($29,99 but occasionally less with promotions), you have a very complete, Mac-only image editor. It is not Photoshop, but comes pretty far for most day-to-day editing tasks. The interface is black and glossy and appeals to the Mac interface, although more on the level of consumer apps. The GUI is well-thought out and does the work very efficiently. There are several filters and image tweaking functionality. Selection tools are adequate and reliable. There is even a context-aware heal tool, that can easily remove unwanted parts from images. Text-editing is fine, but not stellar. There is even an integrated Vector-path editing mode if you active the "Vectormator" hidden shortcut. But, alas, that does not allow vector-export. Paths and shapes stay vectors in the native PXM format, though. **What do you dislike about Pixelmator?** It is not a full Photoshop replacement, but can do most major image editing tasks. Most effects applied on layers are final. You can not tweak them afterwards. **Recommendations to others considering Pixelmator:** If you want Photoshop, but cannot afford the price, you have to decide if you need it after all. Pixelmator is cheap and very capable. It is not a full replacement for professional usage in pre-press, DTP or corporate environments. **What problems is Pixelmator solving and how is that benefiting you?** Instead of updating to Creative Cloud, I decided to stick with Adobe CS4 and try to do as much as possible with iDraw (reviewed elsewhere) and Pixelmator. So far, I'm very pleased, as image editing is fast, straight-forward, with enough power and control for good results. ## Pixelmator Discussions - [Is pixelmator better than Photoshop?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-pixelmator-better-than-photoshop) - 2 comments - [View Pixelmator pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/pixelmator/reviews?page=2§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-20+18%3A16%3A50+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=e1fedc87-d56e-4b36-9c78-cd7267cea8d6&secure%5Btoken%5D=3779112f930bedc102f70e39f4b1df791c1a7017d2ebec8886917c4dafed9a83&format=llm_user) ## Top Pixelmator Alternatives - [PhotoScape X](https://www.g2.com/products/photoscape-x/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (78 reviews) - [RawTherapee](https://www.g2.com/products/rawtherapee/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (54 reviews) - [Easel.ly](https://www.g2.com/products/easel-ly/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (143 reviews)