SmartGo One vs Allgammon
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/
Allgammon
Experience classic backgammon with a modern interface. Play against AI, friends, or players worldwide with real-time multiplayer, smart AI, and learning tools. Analyze your games and solve daily puzzles to improve your strategy.
- Real-time multiplayer
- Single-player AI opponents
- Tutor Mode for learning
- Match analysis
- Daily puzzle challenges
- ELO-based ranking system
- Customizable matches
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Allgammon brings all that you need to play, learn, and master backgammon into one beautifully crafted app. PLAY YOUR WAY Compete in live online matches through instant matchmaking, browse standing offers, or challenge friends directly. Customize the match length, clock, doubling cube, and pip-count display. Prefer to play solo? Play offline against the ai opponent across five difficulty levels, from Beginner to Master. Choose Regular mode for an unaided game, Training mode for feedback on your mistakes, or Tutor mode for the opportunity to reconsider a move before it becomes final. LEARN AND IMPROVE Build your game with interactive, board-based lessons covering everything from the rules and opening theory to core strategy, the doubling cube, racing, bear-offs, game plans, and match play. Keep improving with: - A new checker-play puzzle each day - Timed pip-counting exercises using real positions - Personalized blunder drills built from mistakes in your own matches UNDERSTAND EVERY DECISION Review completed matches move by move with powerful analysis tools. Compare your play with the best alternatives, study checker and cube decisions, explore equity graphs, identify errors and blunders, and see how luck influenced the result. Track your Elo rating, rank, performance rating, win rate, streaks, and long-term statistics. You can also build any position on the board and evaluate its moves, cube decisions, and possible rolls. PLAY WITH FRIENDS Find players by username or through your contacts, send custom match invitations, chat inside and outside matches, react and reply to messages, watch friends play live, and explore detailed head-to-head records. Granular notifications keep you updated when it’s your turn, a friend sends an invitation, a double is offered, or a new message arrives. MAKE IT YOURS Personalize your experience with light and dark modes, board themes, checker designs, rims, trails, gameplay controls, animation settings, sounds, and haptics. Whether you’re learning your first opening roll or studying advanced match strategy, Allgammon helps you play more, learn faster, and understand every move.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Allgammon at none against SmartGo One's 47. Allgammon also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 10 days) and review sentiment (92% vs 77%). SmartGo One's advantage is ratings volume (2K vs 19) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. SmartGo One sells 47 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Allgammon asks for nothing beyond the download.
SmartGo One holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SmartGo One has 2K ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of SmartGo One's written reviews are positive against 92% of Allgammon's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
SmartGo One ships an update every 10 days, Allgammon every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SmartGo One | Allgammon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (2K ratings) — better | 4.5 (19 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.8% of reviews | 92.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2K — better | 19 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 156 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Smart Go, Inc. | YARDEN DVIR |
Customer experience
SmartGo One
Allgammon
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
Allgammon
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
- Tesuji for Beginners$14.99
- 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
Allgammon
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SmartGo One free?
Is Allgammon free?
Which has better reviews, SmartGo One or Allgammon?
Do SmartGo One or Allgammon have ads?
Which is updated more often, SmartGo One or Allgammon?
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