SmartGo One vs BadukPop Go
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SmartGo One
Learn, play, and improve at the ancient game of Go. This app offers adjustable board sizes, a strong AI opponent, and tools to study professional games and solve Go problems. It's designed for players of all skill levels, from beginners to masters.
- Adjustable board sizes (9x9 to 19x19)
- Strong KataGo game engine
- Study professional game records
- Solve Go problems and tutorials
- Pattern matching for move suggestions
- Territory estimator
- Game recording and annotation
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SmartGo One is the only Go app you’ll need, whether you’re just getting started or already a seasoned player. Learn, play, study, and improve with SmartGo One. Experience the ancient game of Go on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac in a whole new way. Also known as igo (囲碁), wéiqí (围棋), or baduk (바둑), Go begins with an empty board that gradually fills as players surround territory and capture stones. Start with a 9x9 board and move up to 13x13 and 19x19 as your skills grow. SmartGo One adapts to your strength, automatically adjusting handicaps so games remain competitive and enjoyable. And when you’re ready for a serious challenge, the powerful KataGo-based engine delivers strong, rewarding play. But SmartGo One is far more than a way to play Go. Read interactive Go books while replaying the moves they describe to deepen your understanding. Explore a collection of more than 138,000 professional game records spanning both modern and historical masters. Improve your reading and decision-making skills with a growing library of Go problems and tutorials. Want to know how a master would handle a position on your board? SmartGo’s pattern matching technology compares your game with historical pro games and shows how strong players approached similar situations. No matter your level, SmartGo One helps you continue improving. Features include: • 9x9, 11x11, 13x13, and 19x19 board sizes • Powerful KataGo-based engine • Fast and responsive gameplay • Manual or automatic handicap adjustment • Record, annotate, and edit your games • Territory estimator • Hints and move analysis • Undo and replay controls • Tutorial with over 100 problems • Extensive user manual We value your privacy and only collect the minimum information necessary to make our apps work well for you. Learn more at https://smartgo.com/privacy.html. This app is licensed under Apple’s standard Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
BadukPop Go
Learn the ancient board game Go with interactive lessons, daily puzzles, and AI opponents. Play against players worldwide and track your progress. Suitable for all skill levels, from beginner to professional.
- Interactive Go lessons for all levels
- Over 4,000 Go problems (Tsumego)
- Play against AI opponents of varying strengths
- Online play with global leaderboard
- Correspondence games with friends
- Automatic scoring for online games
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This app is for Go players of any level, from beginner to professional. Learn how to play the ancient board game Go - also known as Igo (囲碁), Baduk (바둑), or Weiqi (圍棋) - with a fun, interactive tutorial. Sharpen your Go skills with daily random Go problems (Tsumego) at your choice of difficulty. Play Go against a variety of AI opponents, each with its own unique playing style and strength. Enjoy correspondence games with your friends, and challenge other players around the world! • Includes over 4,000 Go problems (Tsumego) curated by pro Go players • Play with quirky AI opponents ranging in strength from 20 Kyu (beginner) to 7+ Dan (professional) • Compete with players around the world on the online Go leaderboard • Improve your Go and Tsumego knowledge with interactive Go lessons • Track your progress with a customized leaderboard for you and your friends LESSONS • Includes a range of fully interactive lessons from beginner to advanced level • Learn the basic rules of Go in just a few minutes • Get familiar with Go problems with step-by-step beginner lessons • Dig deeper into Go tactics like eye shapes, Ko, and shortage of liberties • Master advanced techniques for Tsumego problems like under-the-stones Tesuji and multi-step Ko GO PROBLEMS (Tsumego) • Play Life and Death, Tesuji, or Endgame problems • Rated mode tracks your skill level automatically • When you answer correctly, your rating rises and you face more difficult problems • If you make mistakes, your rating falls and you'll get easier problems • Use Practice mode to try Tsumego problems at your own choice of difficulty • Global leaderboard shows top players by Tsumego rating and problem practice points AI PLAY • Play Go on boards up to 19x19 with a variety of AI opponents • Includes weaker opponents for new Go players to practice with • Also includes a full-power neural-network AI that plays at human professional level ONLINE PLAY • Use "Automatch" to instantly play against a Go opponent near your own skill level • Play correspondence games with your friends on any board size: 9x9, 13x13, or 19x19! • Scoring is fully automatic, using advanced Go AI. There is no need to mark stones manually. HEAR FROM REAL STUDENTS: "I always wanted to learn to play Go and never found a time for it. Then after watching the documentary AlphaGo, I went searching and found this great app. The lessons and puzzles were exactly what I was hoping to find. This app has turned out to be exactly what I needed to help start my journey in Go. Thank you." "Fun app, and excellent for learning this fascinating game. Thanks developers." "It's the best app for Go that I've seen so far." Terms of Service: https://badukpop.com/terms Questions? Reach out to us at support@badukpop.com. Happy Go practice! Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS) Age Rating: 3+
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: SmartGo One at every 2 weeks against BadukPop Go's every 2 months. BadukPop Go's advantage is ratings volume (6.8K vs 1.9K) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. SmartGo One sells 46 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and BadukPop Go sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for SmartGo One against 4.8 for BadukPop Go. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.9K and 6.8K respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 77% and 77% positive.
SmartGo One ships an update every 2 weeks, BadukPop Go every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SmartGo One | BadukPop Go |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.9K ratings) | 4.8 (6.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews | 76.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.9K | 6.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 140 MB | 82 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Smart Go, Inc. | CorePlane Inc. |
Customer experience
SmartGo One
BadukPop Go
User reviews
SmartGo One
From 1.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome app
- 👍 Great for playing and learning Go
- 📚 Excellent integration with Go books
- 🔍 Powerful analysis and review features
- 💻 Seamless experience across devices
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🤔 Unintuitive user interface for beginners
- 💰 Paywall for full 19x19 board and some features
- 🤖 AI too strong for novice players
BadukPop Go
From 6.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Beginner-friendly
- 🚀 Excellent learning tools
- 💡 Great for practicing and improving
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 👍 Helpful tutorials and explanations
Room to improve
- 🐛 AI resigns too early
- 🔒 Paywall for advanced features
- 🐛 Inconsistent difficulty levels
- 🐛 Lack of explanations for puzzle solutions
Bugs and requests
SmartGo One
Reported bugs
3 issues- Illegal move detection issues on certain board positions
- Problems with missing variations or incorrect answers
- Inconsistent behavior when passing moves
Requested features
5 requests- Add read-only mode
- Improve move suggestion explanations
- Introduce difficulty settings for AI
- Integrate online play functionality
- Provide more randomness in AI moves
BadukPop Go
Reported bugs
2 issues- Paid subscription not working as expected
- Notifications causing music playback issues
Requested features
4 requests- More detailed explanations for puzzles and lessons
- Ability to review past games
- Option to disable AI resignations
- Improved matchmaking system
In-app purchases
SmartGo One
- SmartGo One Pro – Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Games and Features14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Just Enough Japanese 1Free
- Key Concepts in Life and Death$2.99
- Go Problems Master Collection$3.99
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- Go Problems Add-on 2: Medium$3.99
- Go Problems Add-on 1: Easy$3.99
- Go Problems Add-on 3: Hard$3.99
- Counting Liberties$4.99
- The Monkey Jump$4.99
- Double Digit Kyu Games$5.99
- Go: A Complete Introduction$5.99
- How Not to Play Go$5.99
- Encyclopedia of Go Principles$5.99
- Want to Play Go? Level 1$5.99
- Black to Play 30-25 Kyu$5.99
- The Workshop Lectures 1$5.99
- Rethinking Opening Strategy$6.99
- Learn to Play Go 1$7.99
- Learn to Play Go 2$7.99
- Learn to Play Go 3$7.99
- Correct Joseki$7.99
- “The Theory of Go”$7.99
- Learn to Play Go 4$7.99
- Buddhist Philosophy Game of Go$8.99
- Graded Go Problems 1$9.99
- Graded Go Problems 2$9.99
- Want to Play Go? Level 2$9.99
- Basic Techniques of Go$9.99
- Graded Go Problems 3$9.99
- Get Strong at Life and Death$9.99
- Mastering Mini Go by Mark Tomlinson$11.99
- Fuseki Revolution$11.99
- Fundamental Principles of Go$11.99
- The Basics of Life and Death$11.99
- Joseki Revolution$11.99
- Life and Death$11.99
- A Survey of the Basic Tesujis$11.99
- Tesuji$11.99
- AlphaGo to Zero, vol. 4$14.99
- Trouble Master, volume 2$14.99
- Trouble Master, volume 1$14.99
- AlphaGo to Zero, Vol. 2$14.99
- Invincible$24.99
- Essential Go Proverbs$24.99
- Pro – Lifetime Unlock$99.00
BadukPop Go
- BadukPop Pro$6.991 Month
- BadukPop Pro (1 Year)$49.991 Year
- Pack of BadukPop Coins$0.99
- Pack of BadukPop Coins$4.99
- Pack of BadukPop Coins$9.99
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- Pack of BadukPop Coins$19.99
- Pack of BadukPop Coins$39.99









