Comparison

Evergarden vs Simple Match 3

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

Head to head
About

Evergarden

Lose yourself in a relaxing puzzle game set in a mysterious forest. Combine plants to create new forms, uncover secrets, and restore the forest with your creature guide. This game offers an endlessly satisfying puzzle experience with a narrative adventure.

Highlights
  • Plant merging puzzle mechanics
  • Mysterious forest exploration
  • Narrative adventure progression
  • Unlock new strategies with 'songs'
  • Daily procedural puzzles
  • Calming rhythm and atmosphere
Features
Read full description

“The game absolutely will feel familiar when you’re setting out, but as you progress through Evergarden you will experience something the likes of which I doubt you will have in your gaming life.” - Touch Arcade “Evergarden is a brilliant, relaxing, and utterly enthralling puzzle game that you should grab right now” - Pocket Gamer “Evergarden may look like a combination of puzzle games you’ve seen before, but it’s truly a game that’s more than the sum of its parts” - 148apps.com Lose yourself in an endlessly satisfying puzzle game set in the midst of a mysterious forest world. Transform your garden by combining plants into strange new forms, and unearth deeply hidden secrets as you become engrossed in the game’s calming rhythm. Wander into the forest and help bring it back to life with the help of Fen, your creature guide. Evergarden may feel familiar at first, but you will discover it is like no game you have played before. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: What type of game is this? A: Evergarden is an “evergreen” puzzle game merged with a narrative adventure. Q: What do you mean by “narrative adventure”? A: Beyond the garden puzzle board, there lies a mysterious forest environment to explore, with its own puzzles and progression. You’ll use the stones that you earn on the puzzle board to solve puzzles, and unlock new “songs” which add interesting new strategies to the puzzle board. Q: How long is the game? A: The core puzzle game is “evergreen”, which means you can play it repeatedly and keep mastering it forever. The narrative adventure portion will take most players 4-8 hours to explore, and there is a daily challenge with a new procedural puzzle to unlock every day.

About

Simple Match 3

This is a relaxing puzzle game where you swap tiles to make matches of three. Unlock hundreds of unique tiles, customize your game's appearance, and enjoy satisfying effects. It offers a peaceful experience without ads or excessive story elements.

Highlights
  • No ads or subscriptions
  • Hundreds of unique tiles
  • Customizable appearance
  • Daily levels with leaderboards
  • Zen Mode for relaxation
  • Satisfying visual effects
  • Achievements and boosters
Features
Read full description

Simple Match 3 is a relaxing and challenging puzzle game with absolutely no ads. Swap tiles and make matches of 3 to clear levels. Unlock hundreds of unique tiles and customize to fit your style. Discover a variety of different elements and mechanics as you progress through the game. Use satisfying boosters and power ups. Unlike most match-3 games, Simple Match 3 was created to give players a relaxing and satisfying experience, without annoying ads, obnoxious effects, or time wasting story elements. FEATURES: No ads: Absolutely no ads or subscription purchases. The base price includes 350 levels, a unique daily level with leaderboard, and zen mode. 1 small in-app purchase unlocks even more. Customization: Customize to your heart’s content with hundreds of different tiles and lots of different background colors. You can even choose the color of the user interface buttons to match your theme! Daily Level: Play a unique level every single day. Try to make it to the top of the online leaderboard! Zen Mode: Relax and make matches with no move limits, no goals, and limited obstacles in Zen Mode. Satisfying experience: Enjoy super satisfying effects as you clear tiles, smash through crates, destroy glass, and more! The effects were created to be satisfying, without being too obnoxious or overwhelming. Achievements: Complete a variety of achievements to unlock more tiles. Boosters: Spin the prize wheel every day to gain boosters. You can also get even more boosters by completing the daily goal. Handcrafted levels: Play through 350 handcrafted levels and try to earn 3 stars. Some levels are simple, others are more challenging. Discover a variety of unique elements as you progress. If you want more, 1 small in app purchase unlocks 350 more levels. Created with love and care: Developed by a single person with care. Levels are designed to be fun, challenging, and satisfying without the need to purchase endless boosters. Download Simple Match 3 today and see what makes it so special!

Screenshots

Evergarden4 screens
Simple Match 34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Evergarden at none against Simple Match 3's 1. Evergarden also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 14.0). Simple Match 3's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (90% vs 64%). On update cadence, ads, monetization model 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

Evergarden costs $4.99 and Simple Match 3 $1.99 up front. Simple Match 3 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Evergarden asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simple Match 3 holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 76 and 256 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Evergarden's written reviews are positive against 90% of Simple Match 3's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Evergarden ships an update every 2 weeks, Simple Match 3 weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Evergarden versus Simple Match 3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEvergardenSimple Match 3
Price$4.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.3 (76 ratings)4.8 (256 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.1% of reviews89.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings76256 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#109 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB463 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFlippfly, LLCMulberry Tree Games, LLC

Customer experience

Evergarden

All ratings76 ratings
Positive78.9%
Neutral9.2%
Negative11.8%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive64.1%
Neutral21.9%
Negative14.1%

Simple Match 3

All ratings247 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.8%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews195 reviews
Positive89.7%
Neutral6.2%
Negative4.1%

User reviews

Evergarden

From 76 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Beautiful graphics and visuals
  • 🎶 Fantastic and tranquil music
  • 🧠 Engaging and intelligent puzzles
  • 😌 Relaxing and absorbing gameplay
  • 💡 Innovative gameplay mechanics

Room to improve

  • 🔋 Drains battery very fast
  • 🔁 Repetitive gameplay for some
  • 🤔 Lack of instructions can be frustrating
  • 😕 Difficulty in understanding mechanics
  • 💸 Too expensive for limited playtime

Simple Match 3

From 256 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Best Match 3 Game
  • 👍 Calming and Engaging
  • 🔒 No Ads or IAPs
  • 👍 Customizable Tiles
  • 👍 Relaxing Music and Sound Effects

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs in Higher Levels
  • 🐛 Impossible Levels Due to Missing Obstacles
  • 🐛 Soft Locks with Rainbow Tiles
  • 🐛 Reward Box Tapping Issue
  • 🐛 Inconsistent Star Rating System

Bugs and requests

Evergarden

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Game glitches with special tokens
  • Back button disappears
  • Game doesn't recognize completed patterns
  • Game crashes or freezes
  • App shuts off phone screen randomly
Show 3 more
  • Cannot progress after tutorial/first level
  • Issue with loading new game boards
  • Forced quit when making certain moves

Requested features

8 requests
  • More levels or content
  • Hint system or tutorial
  • Undo button for moves
  • Fix for impossible challenges
  • Improved visual clarity for colorblind users
Show 3 more
  • Option to save and return to games
  • Optimization for battery usage
  • Fix for game board not changing shape

Simple Match 3

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Levels with Missing Obstacles
  • Reward Box Tapping Issue
  • Inconsistent Star Rating System
  • Soft Locks with Rainbow Tiles
  • Crashes on Opening

Requested features

6 requests
  • Level Editor
  • Endless/Survival Mode
  • Improved Power-Up Interactions
  • Hints or Shuffle Option
  • Landscape Support for iPad
Show 1 more
  • iCloud Sync Across Devices

In-app purchases

None

Evergarden

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Simple Match 3

One-time1
  • Simple Match 3 Gold$1.99

Questions

Is Evergarden free?
Evergarden costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simple Match 3 free?
Simple Match 3 costs $1.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Evergarden or Simple Match 3?
Simple Match 3 is rated higher. Evergarden averages 4.3 out of 5 from 76 ratings, while Simple Match 3 averages 4.8 from 256 ratings.
Do Evergarden or Simple Match 3 have ads?
Neither Evergarden nor Simple Match 3 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Evergarden or Simple Match 3?
Evergarden ships an update every 2 weeks, and Simple Match 3 weekly. Most recently, Evergarden was updated on October 19, 2026 and Simple Match 3 on October 22, 2026.

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