Comparison

Gauntlet vs Mana Calculator

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

Head to head
About

Gauntlet

This app helps Magic: The Gathering players track game lives, build and customize decks, and record game history. It offers detailed stats for players and decks, supports multiple players, and includes a powerful hand simulator.

Highlights
  • Life tracking for up to 6 players
  • Deck building and importing
  • Game history and stats
  • Hand simulator
  • Deck customization with card art
  • Deck organization with folders
Features
Read full description

Gauntlet is the most feature packed Magic: The Gathering utility app available. It’s a life tracker, deck builder and record keeper of your games. THE BEST LIFE TRACKER: • Select your deck and the decks your opponents are playing. Player tiles will be updated with the cover art of each deck. • Save the results when the game is over. Select a winner, and each player will have their career and deck stats updated immediately. • Full support for up to 6 players with custom life totals, and a turn randomizer to determine who plays first. • Other features include 21 unique tile colours, 15 unique counters, rolling D6, and a game timer. THE BEST MOBILE DECK BUILDER: • Brew on the go or import your decks from other deck building sites. • Customize your deck with art from any card in the multiverse. • Pick a format and your deck screen adapts to show things like your commander or your signature spell. • Bling out the cards in your deck with foils. • Shuffle up and draw an opening 7 with a powerful hand simulator. • Stay ahead of your competition with deck list data. View your mana curve, pip breakdown, and more. • Export your deck lists as text, or share a link to your profile on social media. • Keep your decks organized with folders, and sort them by name, games played, wins, and format. YOUR GAME HISTORY IN DETAIL: • Every game is saved making it easy to go through previous games and see who played, who won, and which decks came to battle. • Track wins and losses for each deck, and see how your career wins and losses change over time. • Follow your friends to stay up-to-date with their latest brews, deck performance, and game history.

About

Mana Calculator

Read full description

Designed to streamline your efficiency Mana Calculator takes the stress away from all the multiplying and dividing needed to complete a deck of various sizes. Simply start by selecting your deck size, then add in what colors you are using and the total amount of symbols pertaining to each color and then let Mana Calculator handle the math while you quickly and efficiently build your next deck.

Screenshots

Gauntlet4 screens
Mana Calculator4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Gauntlet at weekly against Mana Calculator's every 5 months. Mana Calculator's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.4). On price, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gauntlet ships an update weekly, Mana Calculator every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Gauntlet versus Mana Calculator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGauntletMana Calculator
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (309 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings309 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNo—
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.411.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperScott CampbellCameron Beebe

Bugs and requests

Gauntlet

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Developers have seemingly given up (according to one review)
  • App ruined for jailbroken phones (iOS 14 and up)
  • Board scrolls every time life or counters are moved
  • Does not track win-rate for the deck not shown as primary in a match
  • App is very small on iPad Pro

Requested features

19 requests
  • Scan cars to make adding decks easier
  • More precise search engine
  • Faster card loading times
  • Display card prices
  • Scan cards in deck building
Show 14 more
  • Add Android support
  • Add tournament bracket functionality
  • Deeper stat tracking
  • Leave notes about each deck
  • Leave notes about individual cards
  • In-app purchases for donations
  • Add play test cards
  • Better layout for exporting decks to text
  • Feature to track win/loss ratios without starting a game
  • Option for locking board scrolling
  • Android release (mentioned as desired)
  • Manual change of player names when playing 'against yourself'
  • Add friends who don’t use the app to games
  • Add full deck lists

Mana Calculator

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Gauntlet

No in-app purchases

None

Mana Calculator

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gauntlet free?
Gauntlet is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mana Calculator free?
Mana Calculator is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which is updated more often, Gauntlet or Mana Calculator?
Gauntlet ships an update weekly, and Mana Calculator every 5 months. Most recently, Gauntlet was updated on October 25, 2026 and Mana Calculator on September 28, 2026.

Other comparisons