Comparison

Sandbox XL vs SimpleTD

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

Head to head
About

Sandbox XL

Engage in a fun, physics-based sandbox game where you can interact with numerous elements like water, magma, and fire. Simulate natural phenomena to create volcanoes, lakes, and geysers, and enjoy experimenting with the laws of nature.

Highlights
  • Physics-based sandbox gameplay
  • Interact with water, magma, acid, sand, fire, gunpowder, oil, wood
  • Create volcanoes, lakes, seas, geysers
  • Simulate physical phenomena
  • Experiment with nature's laws
Features
Read full description

Have fun with Sandbox XL an addictive physics-based sandbox style game. You can interact with various elements such as water, magma, acid, sand, fire, gunpowder, oil, wood and more. Create volcanoes, lakes, seas, geysers by simulating physical phenomena and enjoying yourself with the nature's laws.

About

SimpleTD

Engage in a pixel-art tower defense experience with a rich storyline and fully voiced cutscenes. Strategize with over 14 unique towers, permanent upgrade paths, and challenging endless waves. Enemies can also gain power-ups, adding a unique twist to each playthrough.

Highlights
  • Voiced cinematic cutscenes and rich story
  • 14+ unique towers with distinct personalities
  • Deep, permanent upgrade paths
  • Endless waves and titan-sized bosses
  • Enemy power-ups on maps
  • Daily & weekly quests
  • 10+ hand-crafted maps with dynamic modifiers
Features
Read full description

Defend your Life Orbs against ever-evolving foes in SimpleTD—with no microtransactions! Features -- Voiced Cinematic Cutscenes and Rich Story: A rich storyline to propel players through those waves with fully voiced cutscenes in a 2D, pixel art style with plenty of DLCs planned to expand on the story. -- 14+ Unique Towers, Each with a Personality: From all-purpose Simple Towers to credit-printing Mint towers, acid-splashing Splash Towers, boss-busting Shotguns, and range-boosting Buff Towers, every turret plays, and upgrades, differently. -- Interesting Towers and Mechanics - Easily collect crystals passively or organically by completing waves, store credits on easier maps to use on harder maps, protect your towers from aerial attacks. -- Deep, Permanent Upgrade Paths: Spend hard-earned Crystals in the Upgrade Lab to push damage, fire-rate, range, critical chance, and even global LP caps to dizzying heights, then stack buffs for exponential power. -- Endless Waves & Titan-Sized Bosses: Face adaptive swarms, enable Crazy Mode for 3x the enemies with 3x the strength, and face off against bosses with both set and random schedules! No two play-throughs will be exactly the same! -- Enemy Power-Ups: Instead of trying to earn power-ups for your towers, the enemies get a chance to! All maps have power-ups along the paths for enemies to pick up, providing unique abilities to power them through to your Life Points! --Daily & Weekly Quests – Knock out fresh objectives every day and week for Crystals, carry-over credits, and limited-time stat buffs that alter your next run’s strategy. -- 10+ Hand-Crafted Maps with Dynamic Modifiers. Spiral deserts, snaking forests, twin-lane battlefields, mega-sized arenas, and more. Each map flips spawn rates, HP multipliers, weather events, and elite chances to keep you guessing. -- Map Based Events: Contend with interesting events on most of the maps to add to the gameplay. -- Auto-Play & Super Play Speeds - Grind hands-free in Auto Mode (which stops if your lose a Life Point) and/or crank the speed up 5x to hurry through early waves, but watch out as accuracy will take a hit! -- In-Game Store for Buffs and Items: An in-game store using only game acquired crystals to allow players to spend on buffs and items. No real-world money here; microtransactions are not welcomed in SimpleTD! -- User-Defined Graphics: Love retro pixel art? Leave it on. Prefer a clean, minimalist look? Turn it off for a more “Simple” feel. == No Microtransactions == Every Crystal and Credit is earned in-game—no paywalls, ever. Download SimpleTD now and master your defenses!

Screenshots

Sandbox XL4 screens
SimpleTD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sandbox XL at Free against SimpleTD's $0.99. Sandbox XL also leads on ratings volume (52 vs 1) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 18.1). SimpleTD's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 61%) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On update cadence and device support 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

Sandbox XL is free to download; SimpleTD costs $0.99 up front. Sandbox XL sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SimpleTD asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SimpleTD holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sandbox XL has 52 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Sandbox XL's written reviews are positive against 100% of SimpleTD's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sandbox XL ships an update every 3 weeks, SimpleTD monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Sandbox XL versus SimpleTD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSandbox XLSimpleTD
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating3.8 (52 ratings)4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings52 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB1.7 GB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperRaffaele AmusoAngrySalami LLC

Customer experience

Sandbox XL

All ratings52 ratings
Positive69.2%
Neutral5.8%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive60.7%
Neutral10.7%
Negative28.6%

SimpleTD

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Sandbox XL

One-time1
  • Remove ad$1.99
None

SimpleTD

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sandbox XL free?
Sandbox XL is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SimpleTD free?
SimpleTD costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sandbox XL or SimpleTD?
SimpleTD is rated higher. Sandbox XL averages 3.8 out of 5 from 52 ratings, while SimpleTD averages 4.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Sandbox XL or SimpleTD have ads?
Sandbox XL shows ads; SimpleTD does not.
Which is updated more often, Sandbox XL or SimpleTD?
Sandbox XL ships an update every 3 weeks, and SimpleTD monthly. Most recently, Sandbox XL was updated on October 18, 2026 and SimpleTD on October 21, 2026.

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