Photon Coding vs Spike™ LEGO® Education
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Photon Coding
Create programs for your Photon robot using intuitive, icon-based languages like Draw, Badge, and Blocks. Explore your robot's capabilities and build custom programs directly from your mobile device.
- Icon-based programming languages
- Draw, Badge, and Blocks modes
- Mobile device control
- Explore robot possibilities
- Create custom programs
Read full descriptionHide full description
Program your Photon robot from your mobile device anytime and anywhere. Photon Code is an application that allows you to create programs for your Photon robot in Draw, Badge and Blocks - fully icon-based robot programming languages that are super easy to use. Use the app to build any program for Photon and discover the unlimited possibilities of your robot. NOTE: This app requires a Photon robot and a Bluetooth 4.0 device to play.
Spike™ LEGO® Education
This app facilitates playful STEAM learning for students, designed to work with specific LEGO® Education kits. It helps develop computational thinking through coding, encourages building and experimentation, and supports programming for various projects and competitions.
- Icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding
- Develop computational thinking
- Build, tinker, and experiment with LEGO® creations
- Program and debug designs
- Create stories with LEGO® Minifigures
- Prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions
Read full descriptionHide full description
Engage every student in playful STEAM learning with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App. Designed for use with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Portfolio, the SPIKE App is a powerful tool that helps teachers facilitate engaging, hands-on STEAM learning. When combined with SPIKE Essential or SPIKE Prime, the SPIKE App allows students to: - Develop computational thinking skills using a progression of icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding. - Build, tinker, and experiment - progressing from simple creations to complex structures. - Learn to program, test and tweak designs, debug and optimize, create stories with LEGO® Minifigures, prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions, and more! *** IMPORTANT*** This is not a standalone educational app. This app is used to program LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential and LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime, which are sold separately. Please contact your local LEGO Education reseller for further information. LEARN MORE: LEGOeducation.com/Teacher-resources For app support, contact LEGO® Education at https://support.legoeducation.com. LEGO, the LEGO logo and the SPIKE logo are trademarks and/or copyrights of the LEGO Group. FIRST® LEGO® League is a jointly held trademark of FIRST® and the LEGO Group. ©2026 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Spike™ LEGO® Education at 3.7K against Photon Coding's 2. Spike™ LEGO® Education also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 3 months). Photon Coding's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Photon Coding holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spike™ LEGO® Education has 3.7K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Photon Coding ships an update every 3 months, Spike™ LEGO® Education every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Photon Coding | Spike™ LEGO® Education |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 68.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 3.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 148 MB | 227 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Photon Entertainment sp. z o.o. | LEGO Education |
Customer experience
Photon Coding
Spike™ LEGO® Education
Bugs and requests
Photon Coding
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Spike™ LEGO® Education
Reported bugs
3 issues- Bluetooth connection issues
- Unable to flash hub or connect
- Incompatibility with programs written in previous version
Requested features
5 requests- Hub-to-hub control
- RC features
- Merge Inventor app into one
- Add more color options for color sensor
- Bring back Python coding support
In-app purchases
Photon Coding
No in-app purchases
Spike™ LEGO® Education
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Photon Coding free?
Is Spike™ LEGO® Education free?
Which has better reviews, Photon Coding or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
Do Photon Coding or Spike™ LEGO® Education have ads?
Which is updated more often, Photon Coding or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
Other comparisons
