Basemark GPU vs 3DMark
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Basemark GPU
This app provides a multi-platform 3D graphics benchmark for comparing the performance of smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and PCs. It offers a game-like workload and allows users to submit scores to a web service for global comparison.
- Multi-platform 3D graphics benchmark
- Compares smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and PCs
- AAA quality game-like workload
- Global performance comparison via web service
- Accurate frame rendering for reliable results
- Experience Mode for full graphics viewing
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Basemark® GPU is a multi-platform, multi-API 3D-graphics benchmark. It enables a comparison of the graphics performance of different smartphones and tablets. You can even compare the performance to Notebooks or PCs. The desktop version runs an AAA quality game-like workload by default, but also offers a test identical to the mobile version in this app. Basemark GPU also allows the user to compare their device to others around the world. For that, this free version of the benchmark always submits test scores to the Basemark Power Board web service. If you need a Basemark GPU license for a commercial usage please contact us. To circumvent VSync limitations on mobile devices, we render each benchmark frame off-screen and display only a miniature image of each frame on the screen. This way we can make sure that no frame is dropped, and the results are accurate. If you want to see the graphics in full glory, please choose Experience Mode.
3DMark
Benchmark your iOS device to measure and compare its graphics performance. Test the latest iPhones and iPads with various demanding game-like scenes, including ray tracing, to understand real-world gaming capabilities and track performance changes over time.
- GPU performance testing
- Ray tracing benchmarks
- Gaming workload simulations
- Cross-platform comparisons
- Stress testing for sustained performance
- Device performance rankings
- Performance change tracking
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Test and compare the performance of the latest iPhones and iPads with this free and easy-to-use benchmarking app. 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme is a ray-traced gaming benchmark, designed to test the graphics performance of high-end iPhones and iPads. 3DMark Steel Nomad Light is our heaviest non-raytracing benchmark for iOS. Steel Nomad Light lets you compare the performance of the latest iPhones and iPads in heavy gaming workloads. Run 3DMark Solar Bay to compare the latest iOS devices that support gaming with real-time ray tracing. Ray tracing is a new technology in games that is used to produce far more realistic lighting. It has three sections with increasingly higher ray tracing workloads, helping you understand how enabling ray tracing will affect your device’s gaming performance. 3DMark Wild Life is a cross-platform benchmarking app for comparing the performance of the latest smartphones and tablets. Use 3DMark Wild Life Extreme to test and compare the latest iPhones and iPads as well as Apple Mac computers with the M1 chip. Or run the original Wild Life benchmark to test older iPhone and iPad models. 3DMark Steel Nomad Light, Solar Bay, Wild Life, and Wild Life Extreme offer two ways to test your device: a quick benchmark that tests instant performance and a longer stress test that shows how your device performs under longer periods of heavy load. 3DMark benchmarks measure GPU performance by rendering a demanding game-like scene in real-time. The faster the scene runs, the higher your benchmark score. With its charts, lists and rankings, 3DMark gives you unique insights into the performance of your device. - Measure the GPU performance of your iPhone and iPad. - Compare your score with others from the same model. - See how your device compares with the latest models. - See how performance changes with each iOS update. - Search, filter and sort the in-app rankings to compare popular devices. 3DMark is a free app. There are no ads or in-app purchases. Download it today and join millions of people who choose 3DMark for accurate and impartial benchmark results. This app is for non-commercial use only. - Business users, contact UL.BenchmarkSales@ul.com for licensing. - Members of the press, please contact UL.BenchmarkPress@ul.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: 3DMark at 4.1 against Basemark GPU's 3.6. 3DMark also leads on ratings volume (73 vs 7). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
3DMark holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: 3DMark has 73 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Basemark GPU's written reviews are positive against 53% of 3DMark's.
Basemark GPU ships an update every 3 months, 3DMark every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on June 5, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Basemark GPU | 3DMark |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (7 ratings) | 4.1 (73 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 52.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 73 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 644 MB | 2.0 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Basemark | Underwriters Laboratories Inc. |
Customer experience
Basemark GPU
3DMark
In-app purchases
Basemark GPU
No in-app purchases
3DMark
No in-app purchases








