Comparison

Merchant RPG vs Idle Clans

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

Idle Clans

Embark on an epic multiplayer idle MMORPG adventure. Train skills, engage in deep combat, craft gear, and master commerce in a player-driven economy. Join or form clans to conquer challenges and ascend leaderboards.

Highlights
  • Train 20+ unique skills
  • Deep combat system
  • Offline progression
  • Craft armor and weapons
  • Enchant jewelry
  • Brew potions
  • Player-driven economy
  • Clan system
Features
Read full description

Idle Clans aims to provide the classic MMORPG experience in a casual way. Everything you would expect from an MMORPG, but at your own pace. You don't need to quit your day job to keep up with others. If you only have a moment, that's still enough to keep your character progressing. CLANS The game's title might give it away, but a central part of the game is its clan system. Create a clan or join an existing one to collaborate with others and speed up your own progression. Clans can unlock clan-specific upgrades, clan events, clan bosses and clan quests. Some clans are very casual, some coordinate at levels our government agencies could take notes from. The clan recruitment centre makes it easy to find the right clan for you. PLAYER-DRIVEN ECONOMY Every item you purchase on the player market has been obtained or crafted by another player. SKILLS & COMBAT Deep, interconnected skilling, crafting and combat systems are the core of the game. There are dozens of skills to level up along with an ever-growing collection of items, upgrades and modifiers. Content varies from lowly turkeys that are incapable of doing harm to end-game bosses and raids that'll put your game knowledge to the test. Completing every achievement grants you the Grandmaster rank. That's a journey lasting years, and we might be biased here, but what a journey it is! FREE-TO-PLAY Idle Clans is free-to-play with optional in-app purchases. These provide tokens that can be claimed for permanent ranks. The tokens are tradeable, meaning anything in the game shop can also be bought with in-game gold, as many players opt to do. COMMUNITY Idle Clans has been actively developed since its launch in 2023, and our amazing community has played a massive part in shaping the game. With 10k+ players in our Discord server, there's no shortage of ideas and discussion.

Screenshots

Merchant RPG4 screens
Idle Clans4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Idle Clans at none against Merchant RPG's shown. Idle Clans also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (89% vs 69%). Merchant RPG's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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 10 one-off in-app purchases and Idle Clans sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Merchant RPG against 4.7 for Idle Clans. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 276 and 610 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Merchant RPG's written reviews are positive against 89% of Idle Clans's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Merchant RPG ships an update every 4 months, Idle Clans every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Merchant RPG versus Idle Clans: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMerchant RPGIdle Clans
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (276 ratings)4.7 (610 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.9% of reviews88.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings276610 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB317 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperRetora Game StudiosIsam Games Oy

Customer experience

Merchant RPG

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

Idle Clans

All ratings609 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral1.6%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews235 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral1.3%
Negative9.8%

User reviews

Merchant RPG

From 276 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Addictive gameplay
  • 👍 Simple yet deep mechanics
  • 🎨 Lovely pixel art style
  • 💰 Fair monetization model
  • ⏱️ Quick progression

Room to improve

  • 🔇 Cuts off background audio
  • 🤔 Confusing for new players
  • 🤖 Lack of combat animations
  • 🧠 Repetitive gameplay loop

Idle Clans

From 610 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Free-to-play friendly
  • 🚀 Efficient idle progression
  • 💡 Engaging multiplayer features
  • 👍 Balanced progression without pay-to-win
  • 👍 Helpful and active community

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional connectivity issues
  • ⏱️ Long event durations for larger clans
  • 💰 Premium content locked behind paywall

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

Idle Clans

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Loading screen freezes
  • Inability to change character name

Requested features

3 requests
  • Reduce event task time
  • Add more end-game content
  • Improve mobile optimization

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Merchant RPG

One-time10
  • 16 Inventory Slots$0.99
  • 16 Additional Inventory Slots II$0.99
  • 16 Additional Inventory Slots III$0.99
Show 7 more
  • 16 Additional Inventory Slots$0.99
  • Unlock the Jeweler$0.99
  • Hero Slot I$0.99
  • Enchanter Unlock$1.99
  • Frozen Tome Expansion$2.99
  • Scribe Expansion$3.99
  • Unlocks Everything$14.99
10 purchases

Idle Clans

One-time10
  • Extra inventory space$1.99
  • Extra clan vault space$1.99
  • Exterminating token$3.99
Show 7 more
  • Boss hunter$3.99
  • Auto loadout token$3.99
  • Auto raid token$4.99
  • Questing scroll$4.99
  • Premium$9.99
  • Gigantic holiday currency pack$17.99
  • Inventory space token (x10)$17.99

Questions

Is Merchant RPG free?
Merchant RPG is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Idle Clans free?
Idle Clans is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Merchant RPG or Idle Clans?
Idle Clans is rated higher. Merchant RPG averages 4.6 out of 5 from 276 ratings, while Idle Clans averages 4.7 from 610 ratings.
Do Merchant RPG or Idle Clans have ads?
Merchant RPG shows ads; Idle Clans does not.
Which is updated more often, Merchant RPG or Idle Clans?
Merchant RPG ships an update every 4 months, and Idle Clans every 2 days. Most recently, Merchant RPG was updated on November 2, 2026 and Idle Clans on November 3, 2026.

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