Gliders by Design vs 3D
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gliders by Design
Design and build your own handheld gliders using your iPad or Mac. This application provides authentic glider analyses and predictions, empowering users to learn about flight through hands-on creation. It's a rewarding way to explore aerodynamics and engineering principles.
- Handheld glider design
- Authentic glider analysis
- Flight predictions
- Build and fly custom designs
- STEM learning tool
- School success
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Harness the incredible power of your iPad or MacOS desktop computer. Design impressive handheld gliders that you can easily put together. Create whole squadrons of your very own designs that you can make soar! Have a contest to see who can design and build the best glider. All you need is our software, along with your iPad, scissors, a metric ruler, card stock and/or balsa wood, a little clay, and a bottle of super glue (for card stock gliders) or a hot glue gun (for balsa wood gliders). This software is a true designing application that includes authentic glider analyses and predictions. It requires a bit more effort to design and build your own gliders to fly instead of just watching simulations, or using prebuilt designs, but the payoff can be well worth it. By building your own gliders you will quickly learn much more about flight, while likely feeling far more empowered and satisfied seeing your designs glide off into the distance. The software is already a great success at many schools (students 11 years old and up).
3D
Transform real-world objects into virtual 3D models for educational purposes. Capture artwork, artifacts, and everyday items to view in augmented reality or share digitally with others.
- Scan real-world objects into 3D models
- Create virtual replicas
- View scans in augmented reality
- Share 3D creations
- Integrates with Merge EDU
- Add labels and descriptions
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With Scanner, you can turn real-world objects into virtual 3D creations. Whether it’s an art project, a fossil, a historic artifact from your community, or a cherished family heirloom, scanning these objects lets you preserve and explore them in a whole new way. See your scans come to life by editing them in Object Builder. Study every detail, share them with others, or even hold on a Merge Cube. Every scan becomes a digital keepsake, ready to explore, learn from, or use as inspiration for your next creation.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: 3D at Free against Gliders by Design's $4.99. 3D also leads on update cadence (every 5 months vs every 30 months) and ratings volume (9 vs 2). Gliders by Design's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On rating, 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
3D is free to download; Gliders by Design costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Gliders by Design against 4.9 for 3D. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 9 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Gliders by Design ships an update every 30 months, 3D every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Gliders by Design | 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.9 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 30 months | Every 5 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 594 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Seeds Software | Merge Apps |
Customer experience
Gliders by Design
3D
In-app purchases
Gliders by Design
No in-app purchases
3D
No in-app purchases
