Pocket Code vs Builda
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pocket Code
Develop and play your own games, animations, and interactive applications directly on your mobile device. This visual programming tool is inspired by educational initiatives and offers a free, open-source platform for creative coding.
- Create games and apps
- Develop animations
- Interactive art creation
- Music video production
- Visual programming system
- Share creations
Read full descriptionHide full description
Create, play, and share your own games, animations, interactive art, music videos, and many other kinds of apps, directly on your iPhone! Pocket Code is ideally suited for the Hour of Code during the Computer Science Education Week http://csedweek.org/ organized by code.org, the European Code Week http://codeweek.eu/ as well as other similar initiatives. Catrobat is a visual programming system and a free open source non-profit project. Catrobat and the software developed by the Catrobat team are inspired by the work of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab.
Builda
Create and play games directly on your phone without coding. Collaborate with friends, draw and animate characters, and explore a vast library of community-made games. Share your own unique creations with a global community of builders.
- Create games without coding
- Collaborate with friends
- Draw and animate characters
- Remix games with level builder
- Play community-made games
- Share creations globally
Read full descriptionHide full description
Join the Builder Community. Builda is the updated version of Julian's Editor with tons of new features to help you create and make anything you want. You can now team up with friends to create fun games together, draw and animate your favorite characters and oc with new drawing canvas and tools, play games made by the community and share your creations with everyone. ● Create your own games together with friends even if you can't code ● Draw, animate and record characters and your OC ● Remix games with a level builder, animation editor, custom character creator and more ● The best 2D mobile game creator to make anything you want on your phone CREATE ANYTHING Use your own style to make your games, stories, scenes, sprites, levels, doodles, stickman, memes and more. Turn ideas into fun experiences. PLAY & SHARE GAMES Explore tons of games made by the community and make friends around the world. Invite and play with friends. DRAW CHARACTERS Draw your own or choose from thousands of cosmetics in the marketplace! After designing your characters, enter the Editor and create your own games, scenes and stories or just share your drawing with the world. COMMUNITY Discover games & stories made by other creators, publish your own games, drawings, memes. Chat and collaborate with creators around the world. NO PROGRAMMING REQUIRED Use easy block coding to make cool game mechanics. Animate sprites with onion skinning, draw your OC, pixels and really anything. 【EULA】 https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Builda at 3.7 against Pocket Code's 3.0. Builda also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (61% vs 34%). Pocket Code's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 24) and ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Builda sells 24 in-app purchases, starting at $2.69 per month. Pocket Code asks for nothing beyond the download.
Builda holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Builda has 805 ratings behind it against 114, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 34% of Pocket Code's written reviews are positive against 61% of Builda's.
Pocket Code ships an update every 3 months, Builda fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pocket Code | Builda |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (114 ratings) | 3.7 (805 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 33.7% of reviews | 60.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 114 | 805 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 243 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | International Catrobat Association - Verein zur Foerderung freier Software | Beijing Hortor Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
Pocket Code
Builda
In-app purchases
Pocket Code
No in-app purchases
Builda
- Monthly$2.691 Month
- Quarterly$7.693 Months
- Pro - 1 Month Auto-renewal$9.691 Month
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Yearly$29.991 Year
- 6 Sparks$0.99
- 35000 GCoins$0.99
- 1 Month$2.99
Show 17 moreShow fewer
- 1 Month Friend Gift$2.99
- 1 Month Friend Gift - Repay$2.99
- 30 Sparks$4.99
- 175000 GCoins$4.99
- 3 Months Auto-renewal - Repay$7.69
- 3 Months$7.99
- 3 Months Friend Gift$7.99
- 3 Months Friend Gift - Repay$7.99
- 68 Diamonds$9.99
- Pro - 1Month$9.99
- 355000 GCoins$9.99
- 715000 GCoins$19.99
- 12 Months$30.99
- 12 Months Friend Gift$30.99
- 12 Months Friend Gift - Repay$30.99
- 1800000 GCoins$49.99
- 3650000 GCoins$99.99
