# Cascade vs Holdspace

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Holdspace at none against Cascade's 2. Cascade's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 8 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Cascade sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Holdspace asks for nothing beyond the download.

Cascade ships an update every 4 days, Holdspace every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Cascade | Holdspace |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.6 (282 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cascade-mtg-card-scanner/id1528247277/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **282** | — |
| Positive reviews | 65.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 4 days** | Every 8 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 56 MB | 5 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Cascade MTG LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1528247279) | [Maxwell Young](https://appshunter.io/developer/1774409761) |

## What reviewers say

### Cascade

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cascade-mtg-card-scanner/id1528247277)

Effortlessly manage your Magic: The Gathering collection and decks. Scan cards quickly, track their value with daily updated prices, and build/playtest various deck formats. Sync your collection across all your devices for seamless access.

**Highlights:** Fast card scanning, Unlimited collection tracking, Real-time price updates, Deck building and playtesting, Cross-device sync, Import/export collection data

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cascade Premium - Monthly | $1.99 | per month |
| Cascade Premium - Annual | $19.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🚀 Fast and smooth app performance
- 📱 Excellent card scanning feature (when working)
- 🎯 Great organizational tool for decks and collections
- 💾 Batch importer for quick card addition

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💸 Misleading 'free' app with significant paywall ($50/year or $5/month)
- 🐛 Unreliable card scanner with high error rates
- 🐛 Scanner fails on extended art, special symbols, and non-English cards
- 🐛 Manual search often returns zero results
- 🐛 Missing card printings and special sets in database

**Reported bugs**

- Card scanner misidentifies cards or fails to scan entirely
- Manual entry bug deletes all previously manually-entered cards from scanning session
- Incorrect card name mapping (e.g., Maarika showing as Zangief)
- App crashes or fails to open after adding many cards
- Account access lost after reinstalling app

**Requested features**

- Search function within decks
- Average mana value/CMC statistics for decks
- Easier deck identification when viewing cards
- CSV and table format import support
- Duplicate card detection feature


### Holdspace

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/holdspace/id6758010909)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Cascade free?

Cascade is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Holdspace free?

Holdspace is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Cascade or Holdspace have ads?

Neither Cascade nor Holdspace shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Cascade or Holdspace?

Cascade ships an update every 4 days, and Holdspace every 8 months. Most recently, Cascade was updated on November 3, 2026 and Holdspace on October 31, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*