Comparison

Osmo Monster vs CrushStations

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

Head to head
About

Osmo Monster

Transform your child's drawings into animated characters that come alive in a magical world. Create and share animated adventures with friends and family, bringing imagination to life through interactive play.

Highlights
  • Drawings brought to life
  • Create animated stories
  • Save and share adventures
  • Interactive character creation
  • Magical world integration
Read full description

Bring your drawings to life! Each item you draw for Mo will be magically pulled into his world. Create animated adventures to share with family and friends. In Osmo Monster, your child’s drawings become part of magical animated stories with the help of Mo, a furry orange friend. Each item drawn for Mo is magically imported into his world. And every animated story can be saved to replay for family and friends. Play your favourite Osmo Monster on iPad! Requires the Osmo Base and Creative Set both can be found at www.playosmo.com Please see our device compatibility list here: https://support.playosmo.com/hc/articles/115010156067 **Oppenheim Best Toy, Platinum Award, 2016** - Toy industry's top award. "It’s cinematic." - Forbes "This is one toy I wish I had growing up!" - CNET "He’s the kind of creature you’d see in a Pixar film or on Sesame Street" - The Wall Street Journal About Osmo Osmo is using the screen to create a new healthy, hands-on learning experience that promotes creativity, problem-solving and social interaction. We do this with our reflective artificial intelligent technology.

About

CrushStations

This game trains working memory, a key executive function, by challenging players to remember creature colors and types to rescue them from an octopus. It's designed to improve cognitive skills linked to academic success.

Highlights
  • Working memory training
  • Executive function development
  • Creature memory challenges
  • Educational game design
  • Research-backed gameplay
Features
Read full description

CrushStations is a game designed to train working memory, a subskill of executive functions. Working memory involves holding information in mind and mentally working with it (Diamond, 2013). Players need to remember the color and type of creatures to free them and keep them out of reach of the hungry octopus. How does this support learning? Executive functions refer to a set of top-down, goal-oriented cognitive processes that enable people to control, monitor and plan behaviors and emotions. Miyake and Friedman’s model supports a unity-and-diversity view of EF in that it incorporates the three distinct but related components of EF: inhibitory control, task-switching and updating (Miyake et al., 2000). What is the research evidence? Our research suggests that CrushStations is an effective way to train working memory. The study supporting this claim will be published soon. Research has found that EF is related to performance in literacy and math along with long-term gains in school performance and academic readiness (Blair & Razza, 2007; Brock, Rimm-Kaufman, Nathanson, & Grimm, 2009; St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006; Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010) and that disparities in EF among preschool children from low-income versus high-income homes may contribute to the achievement gap (Blair & Razza, 2007; Noble, McCandliss, & Farah, 2007). This game is part of the Smart Suite, created by New York University’s CREATE lab in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara, and The Graduate Center, CUNY. The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A150417 to the University of California, Santa Barbara. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

Screenshots

Osmo Monster4 screens
CrushStations4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: CrushStations at 4.5 against Osmo Monster's 4.1. CrushStations also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Osmo Monster's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (768 vs 11). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CrushStations holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Osmo Monster has 768 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Osmo Monster's written reviews are positive against 50% of CrushStations's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Osmo Monster ships an update every 2 months, CrushStations every 13 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Osmo Monster versus CrushStations: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOsmo MonsterCrushStations
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (768 ratings)4.5 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.2% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings768 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size567 MB294 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTangible PlayNew York University

Customer experience

Osmo Monster

All ratings765 ratings
Positive77.6%
Neutral5.5%
Negative16.9%
Written reviews129 reviews
Positive61.2%
Neutral12.4%
Negative26.4%

CrushStations

All ratings11 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral18.2%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Osmo Monster

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Drawings not showing up correctly
  • Compatibility issues with newer iPads
  • Sound not working in the app
  • Frequent crashes and freezes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more adventures and stories
  • Improve drawing recognition and responsiveness
  • Introduce new gameplay modes
  • Add support for newer iPad models
  • Provide French and other language options

CrushStations

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Osmo Monster

No in-app purchases

None

CrushStations

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Osmo Monster free?
Osmo Monster is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CrushStations free?
CrushStations is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Osmo Monster or CrushStations?
CrushStations is rated higher. Osmo Monster averages 4.1 out of 5 from 768 ratings, while CrushStations averages 4.5 from 11 ratings.
Do Osmo Monster or CrushStations have ads?
Neither Osmo Monster nor CrushStations shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Osmo Monster or CrushStations?
Osmo Monster ships an update every 2 months, and CrushStations every 13 months. Most recently, Osmo Monster was updated on October 24, 2026 and CrushStations on October 24, 2026.

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