Pixiv aims to provide a place for artists to exhibit their illustrations and get feedback via a rating system and user comments.

Starting as the idea of the programmer Takahiro Kamitani, who is himself an artist known as Bakotsu on the website,[4] Pixiv was launched on September 10, 2007, as a beta test.

When the number of users exceeded 10,000 only nineteen days after launch, it became difficult for Kamitani to maintain Pixiv on his own, leading him to establish Crooc Inc. on October 1, 2007.

Certain European countries with a high number of hits on the website such as Germany, Italy and France will also be considered.

[12] Users can participate in a social network where one can rate contributions, leave comments on art pieces, and change tags on any entry.

Pixiv differentiates itself from its most notable American counterpart, DeviantArt, in that it permits hardcore pornography to be posted on the site, albeit with genitals censored so as to conform with Japanese obscenity laws.

but earlier versions used a literal translation of the Japanese slogan Oekaki ga motto tanoshiku naru basho (お絵かきがもっと楽しくなる場所) as "A place where drawing becomes more enjoyable.

When the top page of Pixiv is viewed when not logged in, a random selection of the newest highly rated contributions to the website are previewed as thumbnails.

It is possible for a user to evaluate each submission once per 24-hour period with a scale of star-shaped icons from one to ten (low to high).

Previews of submissions can be embedded into other websites such as blogs which link back to the image's page on Pixiv.

[18] Tags are an important feature of Pixiv which enable images to be grouped together in common themes and subjects.

Launched on April 1, 2009, users can pay a fee of 525 yen per month to obtain an upgraded account known as Pixiv Premium.

Users with premium accounts are given various special privileges, such as trying new services earlier than other members, sorting search results by popularity, and getting preferential treatment in the events organized through the website.

People who completed the quiz, and got at least twenty-five of thirty questions correct would receive special gifts while supplies lasted.

The event was similar to Comiket where participants were able to sell and distribute their works of art, whether they were single illustrations or entire dōjinshi.

Unlike Pixiv, there is no search feature as there are no tags available, and it is not required to sign-up or login to Drawr to browse the entries.

[39] Alongside competitor Gumroad, Booth has been one of the two most prominent marketplaces of assets within the VRChat community.

[41] In 2017, Pixiv launched Pawoo, an instance of the decentralized open source social media network Mastodon, for its artist community.

[48][49][50] On December 21, 2022, Russell sold Pawoo to The Social Coop Limited, a Cayman Islands-based entity affiliated with Web3 firm Mask Network.

[51][52][53] In December 2016, Pixiv launched the initial version of pixivFanbox as a service to connect creators and fans.

At the time, pixivFanbox offered blog-like features to creators, allowing them to publish content through auto-renewal subscription or pay-per-article.

The rework was made to allow the "fan community to support artists and creative activities.

The controversy has created a mass exodus of frustrated artists from Pixiv to alternative art-centric sites such as Tinami and Pixa (now Egakuba[65]).

[64] On July 27, 2011, Pixiv formally apologized on their website, promising to improve their management practices in the future.

[66] In June 2018, a former member of the idol girl group Niji no Conquistador filed a lawsuit against Pixiv representative director, Hiroaki Nagata (as well as Niji no Conquistador's management companies Dear Stage, Animate, and Pixiv), for voyeurism and sexual harassment during her time with the group.

[68] On February 10, 2020, the Tokyo District Court dismissed Nagata's claims and ordered him to pay ¥1 million (US$10,302) to the woman in damages.

[69][70][71] On May 27, 2022, Bengo4 reported that a transgender woman filed a lawsuit against Pixiv and her boss for sexual harassment taking place as early as 2018, asking for ¥5.55 million in damages.

[73] The incident sparked discussion among Pixiv users, many of whom have decided to delete or hide their works on the website.

[73] On May 31, 2023, Pixiv revised their content policy, specifying that photo-realistic images that included sexual depictions of minors were prohibited.

In June 2023, BBC News released an article revealing that Pixiv users had been sharing photo-realistic depictions of sexual content involving minors, using AI software.