Comparison

TheoTown vs MiniCity

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

Head to head
About

TheoTown

Build and manage your own cities, from small towns to vast metropolises. As mayor, design transportation networks, prepare for emergencies, and construct famous landmarks. Expand your game with user-created plugins for endless customization.

Highlights
  • City building and management
  • Complex transportation networks
  • Emergency preparedness
  • Famous landmark construction
  • User-made plugin expansion
  • Mayor role simulation
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

TheoTown is a city-building game where you can build and manage your own cities. Start with a small town and develop it into an enormous metropolis. Take on the role of mayor, shape impressive skylines, and manage the many systems that keep your cities running. Build complex transportation networks with roads, railways, buses, airports, and more. Create bus routes, expand your rail network, manage your vehicles, and even customize aircraft liveries. Prepare your cities for emergencies such as natural disasters, disease, crime, and fires. Construct famous landmarks including Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and many more. Still missing something? Expand the game with user-made plugins and add new buildings, vehicles, decorations, and more.

About

MiniCity

Features
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MiniCity is a pixel-art city builder with one question at its heart: how big a city can you grow in 50 years? Place zones, run power, let time move. The city grows on its own. But factory smoke stops houses from growing, and crowded roads pull land value down. In the same 50 years, one player ends with 10,000 people and another with 100,000. The difference is where they built. ■ 50 years. How far? Choose 50, 100 or 200 years when you start. When the last year ends, time stops and a report card shows population, funds, top building level and achievements. Your population goes to the Game Center leaderboard, so you can see where you stand in the world. The report card becomes a single picture with a bird's-eye view of your whole city, ready to post. Prefer no pressure? "No limit" is there too. ■ Start small Roads, avenues, rail, stations, power lines, parks, big parks, residential, commercial and industrial zones, power plants, police and fire stations. Decide where they go, then watch the city move. As the city grows, hospitals, ports, landmarks, an airport and more unlock. ■ What happens inside the city • If houses never get bigger, there is usually smoke nearby. Pollution drags land value down, and big buildings won't rise on cheap land • Parks absorb smoke, police stations cut crime, and value comes back • Zones grow through ten levels. Each level stands taller, ending in high-rise towers with blinking lights • Residents follow roads to work. Busy roads fill with cars, and land next to them loses value • Link stations by rail and residents commute by train. The roads in between empty out, and land around stations gains value • Avenues raise the value of land along them, but cost more to build and to maintain every year • Power plants have limited capacity. As the city spreads, you will run short ■ Read the numbers on the map Tap a tile with Inspect to see its land value, pollution, crime, fire risk, traffic, population and activity. Tap a row and that value is painted across the whole city. You see at a glance where it hurts. ■ Collect achievements 100 of them. Not just population and money goals, but ones that ask how you built: "3,000 people with peak pollution under 40", for example. Sign in to Game Center and they are kept there too. ■ Terrain Rivers, lakes and forests are generated for every city. Look at a few candidates before you start and pick the one you like. Water and forest raise land value, so where you put the city is your first real decision. ■ About the art There are no image assets. Every pixel is drawn from code. The moment a zone grows a level, that spot flashes. ■ Controls • Everything works with one finger: panning, drawing roads, zooming • Roads are not final until you confirm. Went too far? Trace back without lifting your finger • Autosave. Close the app and pick up where you left off ■ Price and ads The game is free. No sign-up, no login. Ads appear in menus like achievements and budget, in a banner under the tools on the city view, and between play sessions. A one-time "Remove Ads" purchase turns them off for good. Fifty years. How big will your city be?

Screenshots

TheoTown4 screens
MiniCity4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: MiniCity at daily against TheoTown's every 9 days. TheoTown's advantage is chart position (#175 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. TheoTown sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and MiniCity sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TheoTown ships an update every 9 days, MiniCity daily. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
TheoTown versus MiniCity: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTheoTownMiniCity
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (19K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings19K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysDaily — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#175 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerblueflower GmbHshuya fukai

Bugs and requests

TheoTown

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Placement of power lines and pipes can be finicky
  • Buildings sometimes fail to construct properly
  • Occasional audio glitches and music bugs
  • Difficulty deleting or modifying existing structures

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more transportation options (trams, subways, etc.)
  • Improve road and infrastructure customization
  • Implement multiplayer and regional interactions
  • Expand disaster and environmental management
  • Introduce more advanced building types and specializations

MiniCity

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

TheoTown

One-time10
  • 100 diamonds$2.99
  • Starter Pack$2.99
  • Starter Pack 2$3.99
Show 7 more
  • 250 diamonds$4.99
  • Landmarks II$5.99
  • Landmarks IV$5.99
  • 550 diamonds$6.99
  • Unlimited Fast Speed$6.99
  • Unlimited Tunnels$6.99
  • 2,630 diamonds$29.99
1 purchases

MiniCity

One-time1
  • 広告を消す$1.99

Questions

Is TheoTown free?
TheoTown is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MiniCity free?
MiniCity is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TheoTown or MiniCity have ads?
Both TheoTown and MiniCity show ads.
Which is updated more often, TheoTown or MiniCity?
TheoTown ships an update every 9 days, and MiniCity daily. Most recently, TheoTown was updated on November 11, 2026 and MiniCity on November 6, 2026.

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