Yes — genuinely. Refero indexes 135,000+ screens from real products (about 70,000 web and 65,000 iOS per their site), its search and filters are widely praised, and it is growing fast (roughly +335% month-over-month visits per Similarweb, May 2026). This page is a comparison, not a takedown.

Compare · Refero vs Mozaika · July 2026

Refero is good. Here's the honest difference.

Q: Does Mozaika cover iOS apps like Refero does?

No. Refero has roughly 65,000 iOS screens; Mozaika indexes web products only. If mobile research matters to you, Refero (or Mobbin) is the better pick there — Mozaika's depth is decoded, buildable web design systems.

If you're searching for a Refero alternative, start with the truth: Refero is a well-made, fast-growing design-research library, and for some jobs it's the better pick. The real fork in the road is epistemic — their style pages are generated from screenshots; Mozaika's specs are measured from the live DOM. This page lays out both sides, sourced.

01 · Credit first

What Refero gets right.

Refero indexes 135,000+ screens from real shipped products — roughly 70,000 web and 65,000 iOS per their own pages — behind search and filters users genuinely praise. In 2026 they repositioned around “design research for the AI era” and executed the most aggressive AI pivot in the category: an MCP server, an agent Skill, a Figma plugin and a styles layer, launched within months of each other. Traffic followed — roughly +335% month-over-month (Similarweb, May 2026).

Best place to get design inspiration, why rely on Dribbble when you can get ideas from real products and services. Refero's paid plans are also good for small, growing teams.

— Abhishek Dutta, Product Hunt review of Refero

If you want a large, well-filtered screenshot library that includes iOS — Refero earns its subscription. Nothing below changes that.

02 · The fork

Three differences that decide it.

Generated vs measured

Refero's style pages (their DESIGN.md-like layer) are AI-generated from screenshots — an inference of what the design probably is. Mozaika reads the live DOM and records computed values: exact px, weights, tracking, hex roles. An agent can't build reliably from adjectives.

Marketing pages vs sections

Per Refero's own docs, the styles layer covers marketing/landing pages only — they explicitly exclude in-app dashboards, auth and settings from style coverage. Mozaika decodes per section: every hero, pricing block, nav and footer carries its own measured spec.

Paywalled vs free MCP tier

Refero's plans doc is explicit: the free plan has no MCP, no Skill, no Figma plugin. Mozaika's MCP has a real free tier — 25 calls/month, no card, search unmetered, a rotating 30-system open shelf — so your agent can finish a build before you decide to pay.

“Styles do not currently cover in-app dashboards …” — styles are documented for marketing/landing pages, not product UI, auth or settings.

— paraphrase + fragment, Refero documentation (doc.refero.design), July 2026

03 · Why it matters to an agent

Two ways to write a style page.

Below, the same hero described two ways. The left pane is illustrative — the kind of language any system (or model) can infer from a screenshot. The right is Mozaika's actual output shape, abridged. Only one of these can be turned into CSS without guessing.

inferred from a screenshotillustrative — what pixels can tell you

Type“large, confident sans-serif heading”
Weight“medium-to-semibold”
Spacing“generous, airy”
Color“dark theme with a violet-blue accent”
Buttons“softly rounded”

An agent reading this still has to invent every number — and inventions drift toward the trained-mean default.

measured from the live DOMmozaika get_section · abridged

TypeInter Variable · 64px
Weight510
Tracking−1.41px
Color#5E6AD2 — action, sole accent
Radiusbutton 8px

Measured, not hallucinated. The agent copies values instead of guessing them.

04 · Side by side, sourced

The spec sheet.

Dimension	Refero	Mozaika
Library	135,000+ screens — ~70k web + ~65k iOS¹	~330 web products · ~2,900 measured sections (July 2026). Smaller, web-only — honest.
Style layer produced by	AI generation from screenshots; site-level narrative²	Measurement from the live DOM, per section: type size/weight/tracking, color roles + usage, spacing, radii
Style coverage	Marketing/landing pages only — dashboards, auth, settings excluded per their docs²	Every decoded page is sliced and measured section-by-section
MCP access	Paid plans only — free plan explicitly excludes MCP, Skill and Figma plugin³	Free tier: 25 calls/mo, no card · search unmetered · 30-system open shelf
Billing	Pro $17/mo, or $10/mo billed annually³ — fair, transparent	$9/mo · $60/yr · $59 once (founder lifetime) · no credits
Lifetime option	None found on their pricing (July 2026)	Yes — $59 founder lifetime, then $199 regular
iOS coverage	Yes — ~65,000 iOS screens¹	None. Web only.
Export formats for agents	Screens + generated style pages via MCP tools (8 tools incl. search_styles / get_style)⁴	DESIGN.md · Tailwind config · CSS variables · W3C tokens, via get_design_system / get_section

¹ refero.design pricing and /mcp pages, July 2026. ² Refero documentation on styles coverage (doc.refero.design), July 2026 — styles documented for marketing/landing pages; dashboards/auth/settings excluded. ³ Refero plans documentation (doc.refero.design/help/plans), July 2026 — free plan excludes MCP/Skill/Figma plugin. ⁴ Refero MCP launch (Product Hunt, March 2026) and their MCP docs. Mozaika figures: our own product, July 2026.

05 · Pick honestly

Who should pick which.

Pick Refero if…

You research iOS apps — their ~65k iOS screens are something we simply don't have
You want a big, well-filtered screenshot library for human browsing
Your team already lives in their ecosystem and the Pro plan earns its keep

Pick Mozaika if…

Your AI agent writes the UI and needs values, not vibes — measured type, color roles, radii
You want section-level decode beyond marketing pages
You want to try the MCP free (25 calls/mo, no card) before paying anything
You prefer a $59-once lifetime option to a subscription

Don't take either vendor's word for it — open a free decoded system like /ds/linear or /ds/stripe, and see the side-by-side build proof.

06 · FAQ

Quick answers.

Is Refero any good?

Yes — genuinely. 135,000+ real-product screens (~70k web, ~65k iOS per their site), praised search and filters, and fast growth (~+335% MoM visits per Similarweb, May 2026). This page is a comparison, not a takedown.

Does Refero have a free MCP tier?

No. Per Refero's own plans documentation (July 2026), the free plan excludes the MCP, the Skill and the Figma plugin — agent access requires a paid plan. Mozaika's MCP free tier: 25 metered calls/month, no card, search unmetered, rotating 30-system open shelf.

What does “measured vs generated” actually mean?

Refero's style pages are AI-generated descriptions inferred from screenshots, and per their docs cover marketing/landing pages only. Mozaika reads the live DOM and records computed values — e.g. a heading at 64px, weight 510, tracking −1.41px — plus color roles with usage semantics and radius sets, per section. One is an inference; the other is a measurement.

Does Mozaika cover iOS apps like Refero does?

No. Refero has ~65,000 iOS screens; Mozaika indexes web products only. If mobile research matters, Refero (or Mobbin) is the better pick there — Mozaika's depth is decoded, buildable web design systems.

Judge the payloads, not the marketing

Give your agent the measured version.

Get a free MCP key → Pricing — $9/mo · $59 lifetime

25 free calls/mo · no card · search unmetered · cancel anytime · no credits, ever