Comparison

Merchant RPG vs Goblin's Workshop

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Merchant RPG

Manage a fantasy shopkeeping empire by sending heroes on quests for materials and using crafters to create gear. Balance crafting, selling, and hero upgrades to build your trade empire and conquer foes. This offline idle RPG blends tycoon mechanics with traditional RPG elements.

Highlights
  • Send heroes on quests
  • Craft weapons and armor
  • Manage shop economy
  • Upgrade heroes and crafters
  • Raid bosses
  • Customize characters
Features
Read full description

Be the Merchant of your very own empire! Quest, Craft, Profit, Upgrade! As the Merchant, you are the commander of your own domain! Blending together traditional RPG systems, tycoon mechanics, and a fantasy overworld, Merchant aims to reimagine the traditional mobile RPG. In Merchant, players take the role of a shopkeeper who must manage a team of Heroes and Crafters. Heroes are sent out on quests in order to fight enemies and gather materials. Crafters then use those materials to create weapons and armor. As the shopkeeper, players must balance their micro-economies between selling items for gold and crafting items to better ensure success for the Heroes. * * * TAKE REIGN OF YOUR MARKET - Send Heroes out on epic adventures! - Pay Crafters to create gear! - Earn gold and dictate the direction of your economy! - Grow your inventory and profit from your trade empire! VICTORY THROUGH CONQUEST - Choose your cast of characters from multiple Hero classes! - Ride out to battle to bring back items and loot! - Customize your champions with weapons and armor! - Band together to raid powerful bosses as a party! - Better performance leads to greater rewards! CRAFT YOUR LEGACY - Utilize the unique Crafters to create items and gear to use and sell! - Train the Crafters to create better items, allowing them to master their trade! - Ensure the victory of your Heroes by outfitting them with superior items! * * *

About

Goblin's Workshop

A simulation RPG where you craft weapons, recruit monsters, and explore to gather materials. Sell items to monsters, upgrade your transport, and equip your monsters to battle humans and reclaim territories.

Highlights
  • Item crafting and selling
  • Monster recruitment and exploration
  • RPG combat mechanics
  • Idle gameplay
  • Monster equipment upgrades
  • Territory battles
Features
Read full description

***** goblin's Workshop is a simple and easy item making simulation & RPG idle game. ***** Make weapons, recruit monsters to explore, get more materials and make more powerful weapons! Defeat the evil humans! [Introduction] In the game, you can make all kinds of items to sell to monsters to earn money, from time to time there will be a variety of monsters to visit your store. If you are very idle, you can also click them to pimp, from them to cut more money. When there are not enough materials, you must send your monster hired soldiers to explore the world to get more resources. If you have some money, please buy a better transport wagon for the monsters to ride. But the humans in this world is not a vegetarian, they occupy many territories. So your monsters if the equipped items are too bad to explore, it is easy to be beaten by human! You can leave the better items to your monsters to put on, so that the monsters increase more combat power. The crap will be left to other idiot customers to buy it, this is the right way to do business! Well, no more chit chat. I'm going to the market to buy materials and drink... [Terms of Use] https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Merchant RPG4 screens
Goblin's Workshop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Merchant RPG at 4.6 against Goblin's Workshop's 3.7. Merchant RPG also leads on ratings volume (265 vs 9) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). Goblin's Workshop's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Merchant RPG sells 12 one-off in-app purchases and Goblin's Workshop sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Merchant RPG holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Merchant RPG has 265 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 69% of Merchant RPG's written reviews are positive against 71% of Goblin's Workshop's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Merchant RPG ships an update every 4 months, Goblin's Workshop every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Merchant RPG versus Goblin's Workshop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMerchant RPGGoblin's Workshop
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (265 ratings) — better3.7 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews68.9% of reviews71.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings265 — better9
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB423 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperRetora Game StudiosJUNG CHUN HUNG

Customer experience

Merchant RPG

All ratings265 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral2.3%
Negative6.4%
Written reviews161 reviews
Positive68.9%
Neutral10.6%
Negative20.5%

Goblin's Workshop

All ratings8 ratings
Positive62.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral14.3%
Negative14.3%

Bugs and requests

Merchant RPG

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Ads not working properly
  • Inventory management issues
  • Progression-blocking bugs

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add save slots or cloud sync
  • Improve equipment visuals
  • Implement auto-repeat quests
  • Provide more guidance for new players

Goblin's Workshop

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Merchant RPG

One-time12
  • 16 Inventory Slots$0.99
  • 16 Additional Inventory Slots II$0.99
  • 16 Additional Inventory Slots III$0.99
Show 9 more
  • 16 Additional Inventory Slots$0.99
  • Unlock the Jeweler$0.99
  • Hero Slot I$0.99
  • Hero Slot II$0.99
  • Enchanter Unlock$1.99
  • Unlock all Shop Themes$2.99
  • Frozen Tome Expansion$2.99
  • Scribe Expansion$3.99
  • Unlocks Everything$14.99
11 purchases

Goblin's Workshop

Subscriptions3
  • Double Bless$9.997 Days
  • Goblin King's Bless$9.997 Days
  • Hire Crystal Miner$14.991 Month
One-time8
  • Fistful of crystals$0.99
  • Unlock a random recipe$1.99
  • Pouch of crystals$2.99
Show 5 more
  • Chest of crystals$9.99
  • 3x Battle Speed$9.99
  • Newbie Special Package$9.99
  • Barrel of crystals$29.99
  • Unlock all monsters$47.99

Questions

Is Merchant RPG free?
Merchant RPG is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Goblin's Workshop free?
Goblin's Workshop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Merchant RPG or Goblin's Workshop?
Merchant RPG is rated higher. Merchant RPG averages 4.6 out of 5 from 265 ratings, while Goblin's Workshop averages 3.7 from 9 ratings.
Do Merchant RPG or Goblin's Workshop have ads?
Both Merchant RPG and Goblin's Workshop show ads.
Which is updated more often, Merchant RPG or Goblin's Workshop?
Merchant RPG ships an update every 4 months, and Goblin's Workshop every 3 weeks. Most recently, Merchant RPG was updated on October 13, 2026 and Goblin's Workshop on September 30, 2026.

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