Comparison

AlgoRun vs Recursive

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

Head to head
About

AlgoRun

This game teaches fundamental coding concepts through interactive puzzles. It uses game mechanics inspired by programming principles like functions, loops, and conditionals to build algorithmic thinking skills in a fun and engaging way.

Highlights
  • Algorithmic thinking puzzles
  • Sequential instruction execution
  • Functions and recursive loops
  • Conditionals
  • Step-by-step debugging
Features
Read full description

A puzzle game for learning, practicing and improving algorithmic thinking. AlgoRun features puzzles that will teach you the basics of coding in a fun interactive way by using game mechanics derived from programming concepts such as: • Sequential Instruction Execution • Functions • Recursive Loops • Conditionals • Step-by-Step Debugging

About

Recursive

A challenging puzzle game where you guide robots to collect gems by creating simple programs. Master recursion and logic with a minimalistic, easy-to-learn language and diverse level elements.

Highlights
  • Learn a simple programming language
  • Solve puzzles with robots and gems
  • Master recursion concepts
  • Explore diverse level elements
  • Challenging, hard puzzles
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Recursive is a puzzle game about recursion, patterns, and programming. It is the perfect game for people who love hard puzzles. Your goal is to help little robots complete their mission and collect all gems by finding the correct pattern and translating it into a short program. # Programming language (no prior knowledge required) The programming language is minimalistic and easy to learn. It doesn't require any prior programming knowledge and consists of only four instructions. - Move forward: Move one cell forward. - Rotate left: Rotate 90° left in place. - Rotate right: Rotate 90° right in place. - Change color: Load a chip of a specified color and execute the instructions it contains. And even with this simple programming language, robots can follow complex patterns thanks to the power of recursion and to other tricks that you can discover along with your progression in the game. # Rich levels Recursive offers a large variety of levels thanks to supporting multiple types of elements. - Robots: They can have different colors that reflect the chip they have loaded. - Gems: Your goal is to collect all of them. - Bugs: They destroy robots and make them disappear. - Chips: They make robots load a different program. - Teleportation gates: They make robots teleport to a different location. - Inactive robots: They are activated when touched by another robot. # Mastering recursion Recursion is said to be hard to understand as a famous quote attributed to Stephen Hawking says: "To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion." However, we believe that playing Recursive is another fun way to understand it or even master it.

Screenshots

AlgoRun3 screens
Recursive4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: AlgoRun at Free against Recursive's $2.99. AlgoRun also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). Recursive's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (71% vs 57%). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

AlgoRun is free to download; Recursive costs $2.99 up front. AlgoRun sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Recursive sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. 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 AlgoRun against 4.9 for Recursive. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 65 and 28 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 57% of AlgoRun's written reviews are positive against 71% of Recursive's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AlgoRun ships an update every 3 weeks, Recursive every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and August 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
AlgoRun versus Recursive: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAlgoRunRecursive
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.8 (65 ratings)4.9 (28 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.1% of reviews71.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings65 — better28
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size140 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerbitcrumbs s.r.l.Kidori

Customer experience

AlgoRun

All ratings65 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral14.3%
Negative28.6%

Recursive

All ratings28 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

AlgoRun

One-time1
  • Algorun Premium$1.99
3 purchases

Recursive

One-time3
  • 10 hint credits$0.99
  • 20 hint credits$1.99
  • 40 hint credits$2.99

Questions

Is AlgoRun free?
AlgoRun is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Recursive free?
Recursive costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, AlgoRun or Recursive?
Recursive is rated higher. AlgoRun averages 4.8 out of 5 from 65 ratings, while Recursive averages 4.9 from 28 ratings.
Do AlgoRun or Recursive have ads?
Neither AlgoRun nor Recursive shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AlgoRun or Recursive?
AlgoRun ships an update every 3 weeks, and Recursive every 4 days. Most recently, AlgoRun was updated on September 14, 2026 and Recursive on August 29, 2026.

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