Pixelmator vs Aviary

Pixelmator's interface is pleasant to look at, easy to use and specifically optimized for OS X users, making it very intuitive for long-time Mac users.

Not only does Piexelmator provide easy to use tools that you should expect in any image editor, it also has rare tools such as layer styles, liquify tools and OS X optimized, fast image manipulation engine among others.

Layer styles allow non-destructively applying effects to a layer.

Dozens of visual effects available, easily discovered from the visual Effects Browser, broken into categories. Effects have interactive dialogs and live preview.

Pixelmator can be used across any number of monitors.

Gives you common image editing capabilities almost instantly.

Pixelmator's image engine is specifically optimized for use with Macs, providing one the best performance results available on OS X.

Pixelmator costs just $30 on the App Store. Additionally, it often comes bundled with other software that you might also find useful bringing the price down.

The app doesn't overwhelm you with functionality or hide it behind unlabelled icons. It displays about 5 tools at a time beneath the image and allows you to swipe through the complete list of tools horizontally. Most interactions with the software are kept in that bottom row so you can always see the results of your image manipulations.

The core functionality of the app is offered for free without any ads. You can optionally purchase additional effects.