Comparison

SmartGo One vs BadukPop Go

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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/

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

SmartGo One4 screens
BadukPop Go4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SmartGo One versus BadukPop Go: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmartGo OneBadukPop Go
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.9K ratings)4.8 (6.8K ratings)
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews76.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.9K6.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size140 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmart Go, Inc.CorePlane Inc.

Customer experience

SmartGo One

All ratings1,914 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral2.2%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews166 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral8.4%
Negative15.1%

BadukPop Go

All ratings6,838 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews320 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral6.6%
Negative16.6%

User reviews

SmartGo One

From 1.9K App Store ratings

What 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 ratings

What 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

46 purchases

SmartGo One

Subscriptions2
  • SmartGo One Pro – Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pro Games and Features14 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time44
  • Just Enough Japanese 1Free
  • Key Concepts in Life and Death$2.99
  • Go Problems Master Collection$3.99
Show 41 more
  • 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
7 purchases

BadukPop Go

Subscriptions2
  • BadukPop Pro$6.991 Month
  • BadukPop Pro (1 Year)$49.991 Year
One-time5
  • Pack of BadukPop Coins$0.99
  • Pack of BadukPop Coins$4.99
  • Pack of BadukPop Coins$9.99
Show 2 more
  • Pack of BadukPop Coins$19.99
  • Pack of BadukPop Coins$39.99

Questions

Is SmartGo One free?
SmartGo One is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BadukPop Go free?
BadukPop Go is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SmartGo One or BadukPop Go?
SmartGo One and BadukPop Go are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1.9K and 6.8K ratings respectively.
Do SmartGo One or BadukPop Go have ads?
Neither SmartGo One nor BadukPop Go shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SmartGo One or BadukPop Go?
SmartGo One ships an update every 2 weeks, and BadukPop Go every 2 months. Most recently, SmartGo One was updated on September 22, 2026 and BadukPop Go on September 24, 2026.

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