Zooniverse vs FathomVerse
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zooniverse
Participate in real scientific research by classifying data for projects across various disciplines. Contribute to discoveries and datasets that advance knowledge, all from your mobile device. This platform connects volunteers with professional researchers for impactful citizen science.
- People-powered research platform
- Volunteer opportunities
- Access to mobile-friendly projects
- Push notification updates
- View publications
- Contribute to scientific discoveries
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The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers—hundreds of thousands of people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Our goal is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications. The Zooniverse Mobile App provides push notification updates about our projects, as well as access to our most mobile-friendly projects and publications.
FathomVerse
Explore the ocean world through an immersive game that trains AI for scientific research. Discover and identify over 50 groups of ocean animals using real imagery collected by researchers. Contribute to science while playing minigames, completing quests, and earning badges.
- Play minigames with real ocean imagery
- Identify over 50 groups of ocean animals
- Save and share favorite images
- Participate in quests and earn badges
- Unlock awards for gameplay contributions
- Customize soundscape with Ocean Radio
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The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet, yet most of the life within it remains undiscovered. FathomVerse is changing that, one dive at a time. FathomVerse invites everyone to take part in real ocean exploration and discovery. Through interactive mini-games, FathomNauts identify animals in real underwater photos and contribute to a growing library of labeled images that helps scientists catalog and understand marine life. With FathomVerse, you can: - Be among the first to review real imagery collected in the ocean. - Learn to identify more than 70 groups of marine animals. - Help train AI models by labeling animals in underwater images. - Participate in quests, earn badges, and track your scientific contributions. - Save and share your favorite ocean images in a personal gallery. Whether you're a lifelong ocean lover or simply curious about what lives in the depths, FathomVerse makes it easy to contribute to meaningful scientific research.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: FathomVerse at 4.7 against Zooniverse's 3.7. FathomVerse also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 59%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
FathomVerse holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 37 and 92 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of Zooniverse's written reviews are positive against 86% of FathomVerse's.
Zooniverse ships an update every 2 months, FathomVerse every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zooniverse | FathomVerse |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (37 ratings) | 4.7 (92 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 58.8% of reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 37 | 92 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 284 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zooniverse | Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute |
Customer experience
Zooniverse
FathomVerse
In-app purchases
Zooniverse
No in-app purchases
FathomVerse
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Zooniverse free?
Is FathomVerse free?
Which has better reviews, Zooniverse or FathomVerse?
Do Zooniverse or FathomVerse have ads?
Which is updated more often, Zooniverse or FathomVerse?
Other comparisons
