Realm Grinder vs TownsFolk
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Realm Grinder
Build a vast kingdom from humble beginnings, earning wealth even offline. Explore deep strategic choices by aligning with diverse factions, unlocking hundreds of upgrades, and discovering new game systems. Enjoy frequent events and collect numerous achievements.
- Kingdom building and offline wealth generation
- Deep strategic choices with multiple factions
- Hundreds of upgrades and unique buildings
- Unlock new game systems and content
- Collect hundreds of achievements
- Frequent in-game events
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Grow your kingdom, build alliances, and explore one of the deepest idle RPG's ever! Use your money and influence to grow your kingdom from a single farm to a huge realm that earns wealth even while you're not online! In Realm Grinder, the player is given an incredible array of choices in how they build forge their new kingdom. KEY FEATURES: *Deep Strategy - Choose to align yourself with a dozen different factions, each of which has their own distinct play style. Will you align with the elves, who reward tapping for treasure, or the demons, who give massive bonuses to the most powerful structures? *Hundreds of Upgrades - Further fine tune your strategy by choosing unique upgrades, buildings, and spells to invest in. *Tons of Content - Continue to unlock new and exciting systems like new factions, research, reincarnations, excavations, and way more. Months and months of unique content! *Collect Hundreds of Achievements - Achievement hunters will be delighted with the broad range and depth of the achievement system. And it's not just eye candy! Many strategies rely on collecting trophies in order to boost certain upgrades. *Frequent Events - Beyond the expansive base content in the game, there are frequent events where players can enjoy unique mechanics and exciting bonuses. Please Note: Realm Grinder is a free-to-play game, but some extra game items can be purchased for real money. You can disable in-app purchases in your device's settings.
TownsFolk
Lead settlers to build and expand a thriving colony in a mysterious and dangerous world. Manage resources, make critical decisions, and overcome challenges to ensure your settlement's survival. Explore the unknown, face disasters, and appease a demanding king.
- Build and expand settlements
- Explore unknown territories
- Survive challenges and disasters
- Roguelite strategy gameplay
- Skirmish and puzzle modes
- Handcrafted pixel art visuals
- Weekly challenge mode
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TownsFolk – Build. Survive. Explore. Lead a group of settlers into the unknown and build a thriving colony in a world full of mystery and danger. Manage scarce resources, make tough choices, and face the unpredictable frontier. Will your town prosper or fall? Lead, Expand, Survive: • Build & Expand – Grow your village by managing Food, Gold, Faith, and Production. • Explore the Unknown – Clear the fog, discover treasures, and uncover dangers. • Survive Challenges – Overcome disasters, wild animals, and moral dilemmas. • Appease the King – Deliver tribute, or risk your colony’s fate. Game Features: ▪ Roguelite Strategy – New challenges every playthrough. ▪ Skirmish Mode – Test survival skills in standalone scenarios. ▪ Puzzle Challenges – Solve strategic puzzles for rewards. ▪ Pixel Art World – Handcrafted visuals & atmospheric music. ▪ Deep, Minimalist Gameplay – Easy to start, challenging to master. ▪ Weekly Challenge Mode – A new scenario every week with leaderboards. ▪ Factions – 5 unique Factions, each with their own strengths, stories, and playstyles. Can you build a settlement that withstands the test of time? Download TownsFolk today! Play for Free – Upgrade Anytime TownsFolk lets you jump in for free! Enjoy the How to Play missions, test your skills in Puzzle Missions, and try out Skirmish Mode with a fixed setup. Want more? A one-time in-app purchase unlocks the full Campaign and lets you customize settings in Skirmish Mode for endless replayability.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: TownsFolk at none against Realm Grinder's shown. TownsFolk also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Realm Grinder's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Realm Grinder sells 9 one-off in-app purchases and TownsFolk sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
TownsFolk holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.1K and 3.3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Realm Grinder's written reviews are positive against 73% of TownsFolk's.
Realm Grinder ships an update every 6 weeks, TownsFolk every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Realm Grinder | TownsFolk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (3.1K ratings) | 4.7 (3.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.8% of reviews | 72.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.1K | 3.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 256 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kongregate | Short Circuit Studio |
Customer experience
Realm Grinder
TownsFolk
User reviews
Realm Grinder
From 3.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fantastic game, getting even better
- 🚀 Best idle game imo
- 🚀 Really Good!
- 🚀 Great game, just hard to read the text
- 🚀 Amazing, Addicting, Creative, and Addicting Game!
Room to improve
- 🐛 Scry not working - no response from support team
- 🐛 Crashes constantly
- 🐛 Impossible to read/play on iPhone 12
- 🐛 Impossible to read/play on iPhone 12
- 🐛 Broke
TownsFolk
From 3.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fun game
- 👍 Solid tutorial
- 👍 Portrait mode
- 👍 Great city sim game
- 👍 Interesting mechanics
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and freezes
- 🔋 Drains battery
- 💰 Requires payment after tutorial
- 🔍 Needs better balancing
- 🔍 Needs deeper gameplay
Bugs and requests
Realm Grinder
Reported bugs
10 issues- Scry not working since last release
- Crashes constantly
- Impossible to read/play on iPhone 12
- Impossible to read/play on iPhone 12
- Can't collect lava stone, only holy symbols
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- No lava stones
- UI bad
- Crashes every time it connects to Game Center
- Spells cast not counting
- Can't purchase anything
Requested features
5 requests- Have to add some faction wars
- Change the screen bigger for newer iPhone models please
- Please add Chinese
- Please add Chinese
- Suggestion
TownsFolk
Reported bugs
3 issues- Tutorial freezes the game
- Can't build anything and days don't progress
- Save data reverts or gets corrupted
Requested features
2 requests- Creative/easy mode to keep progress
- Leaderboards and daily challenges
In-app purchases
Realm Grinder
- Gift of the Heroes$4.99
- Small Pack of Rubies$4.99
- Gift of the Kings$9.99
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- Medium Pack of Rubies$9.99
- Gift of the Faithful$9.99
- Gift of the Myths$14.99
- Gift of the Gods$19.99
- Large Pack of Rubies$19.99
- Huge Pack of Rubies$49.99
TownsFolk
- Shadow of Empires bundle$2.99
- TownsFolk: A new world$8.99









