Comparison

Spirograph Maker vs murmeli

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

Head to head
About

Spirograph Maker

Easily create intricate spirograph patterns by adjusting gear size and pen color. Explore a variety of designs with this intuitive drawing application.

Highlights
  • Easy spirograph creation
  • Adjustable gear size
  • Customizable pen color
  • Draw various figures
  • Intuitive interface
Features
Read full description

Create mesmerizing geometric art with a single tap. Released in 2017 with over 110,000 downloads — a math-meets-art tool refined over 9 years. Spirograph Maker turns the timeless mechanical drawing toy into a digital playground for your iPhone and iPad. Choose your gears, pick your colors, and watch hypnotic patterns bloom across the screen — no drawing skill required. WHERE MATH MEETS ART The patterns Spirograph creates aren't accidents — they're governed by GCD/LCM and parametric equations. Watch how the lobe count is determined by n/gcd(n,m), see hypotrochoids and epitrochoids come alive on your screen. A visual companion for middle-school number theory and high-school parametric curves. Whether you're a curious learner, a math enthusiast, or just love beautiful patterns, this is where math becomes mesmerizing. In 2022, this app was acknowledged in an academic paper on algebraic combinatorics — the smoothness criteria for Positroid varieties (Billey & Weaver, arXiv:2207.06508). From a child's toy to cutting-edge mathematical research — that's how deep these patterns go. FOUR GEAR SHAPES Not just circles. Draw with ellipse, rounded triangle (a curve of constant width), and teardrop gears too. Change the gear's shape and the symmetry of the pattern changes with it: circles stay regular, ellipses stretch, triangles beat in threes, teardrops curve organically. A strength slider tunes each shape continuously — from nearly circular to sharply pointed. KEY FEATURES - Auto-draw mode: tap once and beautiful patterns appear on their own - Custom color palette with gradient mode for endless combinations - Adjustable gear shapes and sizes: circle / ellipse / rounded triangle / teardrop, plus tooth count - Save your creations directly to your Photo Library - Share to Instagram, Facebook, or anywhere - Full iPad support — a bigger canvas for finer detail - Light and Dark mode WHY SPIROGRAPH MAKER - A meditative break from a busy day — without leaving your phone - A visual bridge between middle-school math and university geometry - Inspired by the classic Spirograph toy, reimagined for modern iOS - Perfect for parents, students, artists, and math enthusiasts - Works offline, anywhere PERFECT FOR - Winding down before bed - Sparking creativity with kids - A short math meditation anytime - Making one-of-a-kind wallpapers - Sharing unique art on Instagram - A short, calm focus break during your day In Japan, downloads notably spike around the start of new school terms and summer breaks — pointing to a growing use as a learning companion. Pull out your phone, tap once, and watch sacred geometry unfold. Whether you're a designer, a doodler, a student, or just love beautiful patterns, Spirograph Maker is the simplest way to make art that mesmerizes. Free to download. Optional ad-free upgrade available.

About

murmeli

Design and build intricate marble runs with a sophisticated yet intuitive interface. This app fosters logical thinking, spatial imagination, and creativity while offering a calming experience and a sense of achievement for all ages.

Highlights
  • Intelligent marble run construction
  • Multi-layered path design
  • Promotes logical thinking
  • Stimulates creative thinking
  • Calming and concentration-building
  • Cross-device syncing
Features
Read full description

With murmeli you can construct intelligent & aesthetic marble runs. Thanks to the sophisticated and intuitive user interface, you can create sophisticated marble runs with multi-layered paths in a short time. In a playful way, murmeli promotes skills such as logical thinking, spatial imagination and visual perception. The countless variations on how a marble run can be built also stimulate creative thinking and problem-solving skills. At the same time, murmeli has a calming effect and promotes the ability to concentrate. Besides all these positive characteristics, murmeli regularly leads to a sense of achievement, which has a positive influence on self-confidence. Due to all these positive properties, murmeli is particularly suitable for supporting the development of cognitive abilities in children of all ages. However, murmeli is designed for people of all ages and offers exciting challenges for adults as well. murmeli is optimized for iOS, iPadOS and macOS devices. Once downloaded, murmeli is available on all these devices. Marble runs can be saved at any time and are automatically synced to all your devices.

Screenshots

Spirograph Maker4 screens
murmeli4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: murmeli at none against Spirograph Maker's shown. murmeli also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.6). Spirograph Maker's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Spirograph Maker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and murmeli sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

murmeli holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 88 and 77 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of Spirograph Maker's written reviews are positive against 56% of murmeli's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spirograph Maker ships an update fortnightly, murmeli every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and August 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Spirograph Maker versus murmeli: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpirograph Makermurmeli
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (88 ratings)4.6 (77 ratings) — better
Positive reviews52.9% of reviews55.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings88 — better77
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB73 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKYWorksMichael Stoeckli

Customer experience

Spirograph Maker

All ratings88 ratings
Positive83.0%
Neutral9.1%
Negative8.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive52.9%
Neutral11.8%
Negative35.3%

murmeli

All ratings77 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral6.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive55.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative44.4%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Spirograph Maker

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$3.99
9 purchases

murmeli

One-time9
  • Labyrinth$3.99
  • Branching$3.99
  • Parallel Start$4.99
Show 6 more
  • Tunnel$4.99
  • Connector$4.99
  • Crossroad$4.99
  • Double Lane$6.99
  • Metro$6.99
  • Acceleration$8.99

Questions

Is Spirograph Maker free?
Spirograph Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is murmeli free?
murmeli is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spirograph Maker or murmeli?
murmeli is rated higher. Spirograph Maker averages 4.4 out of 5 from 88 ratings, while murmeli averages 4.6 from 77 ratings.
Do Spirograph Maker or murmeli have ads?
Spirograph Maker shows ads; murmeli does not.
Which is updated more often, Spirograph Maker or murmeli?
Spirograph Maker ships an update fortnightly, and murmeli every 3 months. Most recently, Spirograph Maker was updated on September 29, 2026 and murmeli on August 18, 2026.

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