A PureRef alternative that also finds your refs
PureRef is the board a lot of artists start with, and for good reason: it opens fast, it stays out of the way, and personal use is pay what you want. Where people outgrow it is finding things again. Once you have dozens of .pur files, the ref you need is somewhere in one of them.
PureRef and Maki side by side
| PureRef | Maki | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A light board for laying images out | A board plus a searchable library of every board |
| Finding an image later | Open the right file and look | Search file names, notes and the words inside images, offline |
| Always on top while you paint | Yes | Yes, reference mode |
| Notes, tables, arrows | Basic text notes | Sticky notes, rich text, tables, arrows, frames |
| Pinterest and the browser | Drag images in | Save to Maki extension, whole Pinterest boards, article to board |
| Linked project folders | No | Yes, new files appear on the card |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows and Mac |
| Price | Pay what you want for personal use; paid licences for business | 30 days free, then $19 once |
When PureRef is the better pick
Stay with PureRef if you want the lightest possible board, you work on Linux, or you only ever keep one board per project. Maki has no Linux version.
When Maki is the better pick
Move to Maki if you lose time hunting through old boards, you collect from Pinterest and the browser a lot, or you want notes and tables next to the images. You can drag your existing image folders straight onto a Maki board; Maki doesn't import .pur files.
Other PureRef alternatives, by what you need
Is there a free, open-source PureRef alternative?
Yes: BeeRef is free and open source (GPL-3.0) and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. PureRef is free to use but its code isn't open. Maki is closed source and costs $19 once after the 30-day trial.
What can I use on Linux?
PureRef itself, BeeRef or LumaRef. Maki has no Linux version.
Is there a web PureRef alternative that works online, in the browser?
PureRef and Maki are both desktop apps, so there's nothing to open in a browser tab. If you want boards in a browser on any computer, Milanote works that way. What Maki adds on the browser side is the Save to Maki extension for Chrome: it sends images, or a whole Pinterest board, straight to your desktop board.
Is there a PureRef alternative for iOS (iPad, iPhone) or Android?
Neither PureRef nor Maki has a mobile app. Milanote runs in the browser, so it opens on a tablet or phone. If you paint on an iPad with references on a computer next to it, Maki's reference mode keeps the board on top of everything on that screen.
Tested with 5,000 images
A board that holds a whole project gets big, and that is where a reference app either keeps up or stalls. We filled one Maki board with 5,000 images and timed it.
| The board | 5,000 JPEGs, 900 to 1,600 px wide, 903 MB in total |
|---|---|
| Open from launch | Under 5 seconds; 1.8 seconds when the files were already in the disk cache |
| Search across all 5,000 | 3 to 14 ms to find matches; about 0.7 seconds from typing to results on screen, including a short pause so it doesn't search on every key |
| Panning into parts not yet opened | 95% of frames drawn in 7.4 ms or less (a 60 Hz screen needs 16.7 ms) |
| Zooming out to the whole board | 95% of frames in 28 ms or less |
| All 5,000 on screen at once | 35 to 60 ms per frame, so about 20 frames a second; the first time, the small previews take about 30 seconds to fill in |
What Maki is
Maki is a desktop reference board for Windows and Mac. You drop in paintings, pose refs, screenshots, Pinterest pins and whole folders, arrange them on an endless board, and find any of them later by typing a word. Maki reads file names, notes and the text inside your images, all offline. There is no account, and your boards stay in a folder on your disk. See what it does or read the guide.
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