Comparison

Gauntlet vs CardWisp

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

CardWisp

Manage your Magic: The Gathering game night with this all-in-one companion app. Track life totals for multiple players, build and refine decks with powerful tools, and easily scan and organize your card collection.

Highlights
  • Multiplayer life tracking
  • Commander damage matrix
  • Full deck builder with Scryfall search
  • Card collection scanner (OCR)
  • Binder organization
  • Foil tracking
Features
Read full description

One app for your whole game night. CardWisp is a Magic: The Gathering companion built for players who want to spend less time juggling apps and more time playing. Track life totals at the table, build and tune decks on the bus, scan your collection on the couch. All from one home. LIFE TRACKER • 2 to 6 players, with portrait or landscape layouts • Commander damage matrix, poison, energy, experience, monarch • "Who goes first" gold-pulse D20, plus a full DnD dice roller • No more reaching for a separate app mid-game DECK BUILDER • Full deck building with live Scryfall search • Paste a Moxfield or Archidekt list and CardWisp imports it card by card with a real progress bar • Auto-detected Commander Brackets (1 to 5), with a one-tap override • Mana curve, average CMC, color balance, type breakdown • Secret Lair flavor names (Hatsune Miku, Marvel, Universes Within) display correctly • Token search, commander picker, full card art viewer PLAYTEST (PRO) • Test-drive any deck solo, no opponent needed • Draw, Scry, Surveil, Mill, and search your library • Free-form battlefield: move cards between hand, play, graveyard, and exile • Counters, custom tokens, and transform cards • Track life and turns as you rehearse your opening COLLECTION • Card scanner powered by OCR. Point your camera at any card name. • Smart printing matcher with foil-glare hint and a "Wrong printing? Choose…" picker • Binder organization for sets, decks-in-progress, or however you like • Search and add cards from Scryfall directly • Foil tracking with separate price display FREE TIER • 500 unique cards in your collection • 10 decks • 25 card scans per day • All Life Tracker features, no limits PRO • Monthly $1.99, Yearly $19.99 (about $1.66/mo), or Lifetime $79.99 (one-time, no subscription) • Unlimited collection, decks, and scans • Playtest: test-drive any deck solo before game night • The lifetime tier is for people who don't want a subscription. We don't see one anywhere else. PRIVACY CardWisp doesn't sell your data, doesn't use advertising trackers, and doesn't share your collection with anyone. Card scan images are processed and discarded, never stored. TERMS OF USE CardWisp uses Apple's Standard End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ CardWisp is an independent fan project. Magic: The Gathering and all related card names and images are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC. CardWisp is not produced, endorsed, or supported by Wizards of the Coast.

Screenshots

Gauntlet4 screens
CardWisp4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Gauntlet at none against CardWisp's 3. Gauntlet also leads on ratings volume (299 vs 10) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). CardWisp's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 83%). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. CardWisp sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Gauntlet asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Gauntlet against 5.0 for CardWisp. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gauntlet has 299 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Gauntlet's written reviews are positive against 100% of CardWisp's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gauntlet ships an update weekly, CardWisp every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Gauntlet versus CardWisp: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGauntletCardWisp
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (299 ratings)5.0 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings299 — better10
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.416.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB82 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperScott CampbellJimiai Ajikaia

Customer experience

Gauntlet

All ratings299 ratings
Positive97.7%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative10.0%

CardWisp

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

CardWisp

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Gauntlet

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

CardWisp

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$79.99

Questions

Is Gauntlet free?
Gauntlet is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CardWisp free?
CardWisp is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Gauntlet or CardWisp?
CardWisp is rated higher. Gauntlet averages 4.9 out of 5 from 299 ratings, while CardWisp averages 5.0 from 10 ratings.
Do Gauntlet or CardWisp have ads?
Neither Gauntlet nor CardWisp shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gauntlet or CardWisp?
Gauntlet ships an update weekly, and CardWisp every 3 weeks. Most recently, Gauntlet was updated on October 15, 2026 and CardWisp on October 5, 2026.

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