# SAM Studio vs Spike™ LEGO® Education

The clearest difference is review sentiment: SAM Studio at 100% against Spike™ LEGO® Education's 68%. SAM Studio also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Spike™ LEGO® Education's advantage is ratings volume (3.7K vs 3) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

SAM Studio holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spike™ LEGO® Education has 3.7K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of SAM Studio's written reviews are positive against 68% of Spike™ LEGO® Education's.

SAM Studio ships an update every 5 months, Spike™ LEGO® Education every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | SAM Studio | Spike™ LEGO® Education |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[5.0 (3 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sam-studio/id1582863218/reviews)** | [4.7 (3.7K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spike-lego-education/id6443545905/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 3 | **3.7K** |
| Positive reviews | **100.0% of reviews** | 68.2% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | **Every 2 months** |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 2 MB | 227 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | **14.0** |
| Devices | iPad | **iPad, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [SAM Labs](https://appshunter.io/developer/1033131753) | [LEGO Education](https://appshunter.io/developer/708170734) |

## What reviewers say

### SAM Studio

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sam-studio/id1582863218)

This platform offers tools and curriculum-aligned lesson plans for engaging STEAM and coding education. It features intuitive visual coding apps and wireless electronic blocks to bring computational thinking to life in the classroom.

**Highlights:** Curriculum-aligned lesson plans, Intuitive visual flow-based and block-based coding, Wireless Bluetooth electronic blocks, Lesson Builder tool, Teacher support and training, Support for various sensors and motors

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


### Spike™ LEGO® Education

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spike-lego-education/id6443545905)

This app facilitates playful STEAM learning for students, designed to work with specific LEGO® Education kits. It helps develop computational thinking through coding, encourages building and experimentation, and supports programming for various projects and competitions.

**Highlights:** Icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding, Develop computational thinking, Build, tinker, and experiment with LEGO® creations, Program and debug designs, Create stories with LEGO® Minifigures, Prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Awesome
- 🚀 Super good
- 🚀 Great app
- 👍 User friendly and easy to use
- 👍 Engineering Excitement in Kindergarten

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Restricted features due to LEGO's focus on profits
- 🐛 Missing basic quality of life functionality
- 🐛 Doesn't work on iPad
- 🐛 Slow loading and issues with connectivity
- 🐛 Tutorials have limitations

**Reported bugs**

- Bluetooth connection issues
- Unable to flash hub or connect
- Incompatibility with programs written in previous version

**Requested features**

- Hub-to-hub control
- RC features
- Merge Inventor app into one
- Add more color options for color sensor
- Bring back Python coding support


## Frequently asked questions

### Is SAM Studio free?

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

### Is Spike™ LEGO® Education free?

Spike™ LEGO® Education is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, SAM Studio or Spike™ LEGO® Education?

SAM Studio is rated higher. SAM Studio averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Spike™ LEGO® Education averages 4.7 from 3.7K ratings.

### Do SAM Studio or Spike™ LEGO® Education have ads?

Neither SAM Studio nor Spike™ LEGO® Education shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, SAM Studio or Spike™ LEGO® Education?

SAM Studio ships an update every 5 months, and Spike™ LEGO® Education every 2 months. Most recently, SAM Studio was updated on October 24, 2026 and Spike™ LEGO® Education on October 25, 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.*