Comparison

Carbon vs Gauntlet

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

Head to head
About

Carbon

This app provides a comprehensive tabletop utility for Magic: The Gathering players. It supports multiple players and offers a clean, customizable interface for managing games.

Highlights
  • Supports up to 6 players
  • Clean design
  • Fun design
  • Ultra customizable
Features
Read full description

Carbon is the most advanced MTG tabletop utility in the multiverse! - Supports up to 6 players. - Clean and fun design. - Ultra Customizable.

About

Gauntlet

This app helps Magic: The Gathering players track game lives, build and customize decks, and record game history. It offers detailed stats for players and decks, supports multiple players, and includes a powerful hand simulator.

Highlights
  • Life tracking for up to 6 players
  • Deck building and importing
  • Game history and stats
  • Hand simulator
  • Deck customization with card art
  • Deck organization with folders
Features
Read full description

Gauntlet is the most feature packed Magic: The Gathering utility app available. It’s a life tracker, deck builder and record keeper of your games. THE BEST LIFE TRACKER: • Select your deck and the decks your opponents are playing. Player tiles will be updated with the cover art of each deck. • Save the results when the game is over. Select a winner, and each player will have their career and deck stats updated immediately. • Full support for up to 6 players with custom life totals, and a turn randomizer to determine who plays first. • Other features include 21 unique tile colours, 15 unique counters, rolling D6, and a game timer. THE BEST MOBILE DECK BUILDER: • Brew on the go or import your decks from other deck building sites. • Customize your deck with art from any card in the multiverse. • Pick a format and your deck screen adapts to show things like your commander or your signature spell. • Bling out the cards in your deck with foils. • Shuffle up and draw an opening 7 with a powerful hand simulator. • Stay ahead of your competition with deck list data. View your mana curve, pip breakdown, and more. • Export your deck lists as text, or share a link to your profile on social media. • Keep your decks organized with folders, and sort them by name, games played, wins, and format. YOUR GAME HISTORY IN DETAIL: • Every game is saved making it easy to go through previous games and see who played, who won, and which decks came to battle. • Track wins and losses for each deck, and see how your career wins and losses change over time. • Follow your friends to stay up-to-date with their latest brews, deck performance, and game history.

Screenshots

Carbon4 screens
Gauntlet4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Gauntlet at none against Carbon's 1. Carbon's advantage is ratings volume (3.5K vs 309) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.4). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Carbon sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Gauntlet asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Carbon against 4.9 for Gauntlet. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Carbon has 3.5K ratings behind it against 309, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Carbon's written reviews are positive against 83% of Gauntlet's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Carbon versus Gauntlet: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCarbonGauntlet
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (3.5K ratings) — better4.9 (309 ratings)
Positive reviews84.7% of reviews — better83.3% of reviews
Number of ratings3.5K — better309
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNanotubeScott Campbell

Customer experience

Carbon

All ratings3,396 ratings
Positive97.9%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews163 reviews
Positive84.7%
Neutral6.7%
Negative8.6%

Gauntlet

All ratings299 ratings
Positive97.7%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative10.0%

User reviews

Carbon

From 3.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Sleek and intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Responsive and efficient
  • 💡 Useful additional counters
  • 🎨 Customizable colors and themes
  • 💰 Free app with paid upgrade option

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • ⏱️ Lack of turn/round timer
  • 🔀 Inconsistent player color orientation
  • 📝 No option to add player names

Gauntlet

From 309 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great deck builder
  • 👍 Excellent life tracker
  • 👍 Covers player profiles and match records
  • 👍 Useful for tracking win/loss records
  • 👍 Good for looking at card collections

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Search engine requires precise typing
  • 🐛 General load time for cards is slow
  • 🐛 Scrolling on the board can be annoying
  • 🐛 App appears small on iPad Pro
  • 🐛 Does not track win-rate for non-primary deck in matches

Bugs and requests

Carbon

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to remove certain counters
  • Screen orientation issues
  • Unreliable shake functionality

Requested features

5 requests
  • Commander damage tracking
  • Damage history log with consolidated values
  • Preset game modes and settings
  • Online/multiplayer functionality
  • More customization options

Gauntlet

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Developers have seemingly given up (according to one review)
  • App ruined for jailbroken phones (iOS 14 and up)
  • Board scrolls every time life or counters are moved
  • Does not track win-rate for the deck not shown as primary in a match
  • App is very small on iPad Pro

Requested features

19 requests
  • Scan cars to make adding decks easier
  • More precise search engine
  • Faster card loading times
  • Display card prices
  • Scan cards in deck building
Show 14 more
  • Add Android support
  • Add tournament bracket functionality
  • Deeper stat tracking
  • Leave notes about each deck
  • Leave notes about individual cards
  • In-app purchases for donations
  • Add play test cards
  • Better layout for exporting decks to text
  • Feature to track win/loss ratios without starting a game
  • Option for locking board scrolling
  • Android release (mentioned as desired)
  • Manual change of player names when playing 'against yourself'
  • Add friends who don’t use the app to games
  • Add full deck lists

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Carbon

One-time1
  • Carbon Pro$4.99
None

Gauntlet

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Carbon free?
Carbon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Gauntlet free?
Gauntlet is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Carbon or Gauntlet?
Carbon is rated higher. Carbon averages 4.9 out of 5 from 3.5K ratings, while Gauntlet averages 4.9 from 309 ratings.
Do Carbon or Gauntlet have ads?
Neither Carbon nor Gauntlet shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Carbon or Gauntlet?
Carbon ships an update weekly, and Gauntlet weekly. Most recently, Carbon was updated on November 6, 2026 and Gauntlet on November 6, 2026.

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