# Northgard vs PatternMate

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PatternMate at none against Northgard's 10. PatternMate also leads on review sentiment (90% vs 61%) and price ($3.99 vs $8.99). Northgard's advantage is chart position (#23 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (13.6 vs 16.4). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Northgard costs $8.99 and PatternMate $3.99 up front. Northgard sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. PatternMate asks for nothing beyond the download.

Northgard ships an update every 6 weeks, PatternMate every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Northgard | PatternMate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $8.99 | **$3.99** |
| Rating | **[4.6 (3.7K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/northgard/id1533979882/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **3.7K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 61.4% of reviews | **90.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | **Every 9 days** |
| Monetization | **Free with in-app purchases** | Paid |
| Best chart rank | **#23** | — |
| Size | 892 MB | 75 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.6** | 16.4 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Playdigious](https://appshunter.io/developer/1041387229) | [Max Schneider](https://appshunter.io/developer/1216198710) |

## What reviewers say

### Northgard

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/northgard/id1533979882)

**Currently charting:** #23 Top Paid · Role Playing, #61 Top Paid · Strategy, #188 Top Paid · Games (US App Store)

Lead a Viking clan to explore, settle, and conquer a mysterious new continent. Manage resources, assign jobs, and survive harsh winters and dangerous foes. Choose your clan's path to victory through conquest, trade, or devotion.

**Highlights:** Build and manage settlements, Assign Vikings to jobs, Resource management and survival, Territory expansion and discovery, Multiple victory conditions, Story mode campaign, Multiplayer modes

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Clan of the snake | $2.99 | one-time |
| Clan of the Dragon | $2.99 | one-time |
| Clan of the Horse | $2.99 | one-time |
| Clan of the Ox | $2.99 | one-time |
| Clan of the Kraken | $2.99 | one-time |
| Clan of the Lynx | $2.99 | one-time |
| Clan of the Eagle | $2.99 | one-time |
| Scale Bundle | $6.99 | one-time |
| Fur Bundle | $6.99 | one-time |
| Winter Bundle | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great game
- 👍 Fantastic strategy game
- 👍 Challenging and fun
- 👍 Excellent port to mobile
- 👍 Lots of replayability

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- 🐛 Buggy menus and UI
- 🔋 Battery draining
- 🐛 Glitchy audio
- 🐛 Saves getting deleted

**Reported bugs**

- Game crashes frequently
- Menus and UI are buggy
- Audio glitches and cuts out
- Saves get deleted unexpectedly
- Multiplayer is unreliable

**Requested features**

- Add multiplayer mode
- Improve tutorial and instructions
- Add controller support
- Optimize performance and stability
- Add Chinese language support


### PatternMate

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/patternmate-chess-puzzles/id6795521475)

Sharpen your chess vision with over 51,000 offline tactics puzzles. Choose from three training modes to improve your rating, test your limits, or focus on specific weaknesses. Enjoy an ad-free, subscription-free experience with all puzzles included.

**Highlights:** 51,200 chess puzzles, Three game modes: Tactics, Survival, Practice, Adaptive puzzle difficulty, Over 40 tactic themes, Customizable practice rating range, Offline functionality, No ads or subscriptions

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Northgard free?

Northgard costs $8.99, and also offers in-app purchases.

### Is PatternMate free?

PatternMate costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Northgard or PatternMate have ads?

Neither Northgard nor PatternMate shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Northgard or PatternMate?

Northgard ships an update every 6 weeks, and PatternMate every 9 days. Most recently, Northgard was updated on November 7, 2026 and PatternMate on November 6, 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.*