KATOA vs Bug & Seek
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
KATOA
Defend the oceans by building vibrant underwater habitats and battling pollution. Play to earn real money that funds global environmental projects. Discover marine life, restore ecosystems, and become an ocean defender.
- Earn real money for environmental projects
- Build underwater habitats
- Discover and bond with sea creatures
- Defeat pollution-based enemies
- Explore ocean biomes
- Design custom havens
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Become a Guardian of Light! Defend the oceans from the toxic Blight and build breath-taking underwater habitats in KATOA. Just by playing, you’ll earn real money that will help fund environmental projects from around the globe that urgently need your help! Create reefs filled with colorful corals. Invite turtles, rays, dolphins, parrotfish, and other exotic sea creatures to your safe havens, and bond with them through their stories and shared adventures. Defeat the malignant Blight; foul invaders created from the ocean’s pollution. Restore these magical underwater worlds and climb the leaderboards of ocean defenders! Be a hero. Play the game. Save the world. ■ Earn real money that goes to saving our oceans just by playing the game ■ Meet a colorful cast of characters, with unique personalities and lots to say ■ Explore the world’s oceans and discover new biomes to reclaim and expand ■ Design your own havens with a variety of beautiful Flora ■ Defeat the toxic Blight that pollutes the world ■ Assemble a team of adventurous Fauna to embark on Quests and bring back valuable resources * Please note: KATOA works best on iPhone 8 and above. Need help? Just contact support@sankaristudios.com! We'd love to talk to you.
Bug & Seek
Become a bug collector in a peaceful simulation game. Catch over 200 real insects, customize your insectarium, and explore a charming town with a light mystery. Enjoy simple, stress-free gameplay and learn interesting facts about bugs.
- Catch 200+ real insects
- Customize and expand insectarium
- Explore the world
- Meet locals and solve mystery
- Simple, stress-free gameplay
- Bug-based economy
- Learn real bug facts
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Catch 200+ real life bugs in this peaceful creature collector. You’ve bought the local insectarium (bug zoo) in the cozy town of Buggburg, so start swinging your net to build your dream bug collection and create the best insectarium Buggburg has ever seen. Developed by a tiny, two-person dev team, Bug & Seek is a relaxing bug-catching game with a mystery twist and pixel art bugs. You've just bought an abandoned Insectarium (bug zoo)—congratulations! Now, go catch real-life bugs, build your collection, and level up your skills. Bug & Seek features a very simple and peaceful gameplay loop, no stress, and no wrong choices. So relax and enjoy all those bugs (and learn about them too)! * Discover 200+ adorable and real insects * Customize and Expand Your Insectarium * Explore The World * Meet the Locals * Solve the Mystery What to Expect: * Simple Game Mechanics — Explore, shake objects to reveal hiding bugs, and swing your net. Bug & Seek was meant to be easy, peaceful, and stress-free. A leveling system increases the rarity of bugs you can catch, and some special items boost your chances too. * A Bug-Based Economy — To earn money, you will have to sell bugs at the stores and for jobs and quests. But don't worry, you will be able to catch more! * Cozy, Humorous Vibes — The cute little town of Buggburg to explore, lots of goofy and bug-obsessed NPC's, bugs with personalities and jokes, and a fun mystery about someone stealing a bunch of bugs. * Light Customization — There are a handful of adorable new decoration sets, and even a few new clothing items you can acquire. * Real Facts and Information — Every bug in the game is a real bug, and you'll learn things like why bugs are so important to biodiversity and environmental health. What Bug & Seek DOES NOT have: * Challenging gameplay; the gameplay loop in Bug & Seek is very simple. * Mini games; if you swing your net at a bug, you will catch it. * Energy meters or sleep requirements; after all, you can only catch certain bugs at night. * Multiplayer options; * Combat; while bugs in real life do attack and eat other bugs, they don't in Bug & Seek, and you won't fight NPC's with your bugs. The bugs also do not carry swords or wear medieval armor, as fun as that might sound. * Romance; while you can talk to NPC's, and do jobs for them involving catching bugs, you cannot romance them, nor can you romance the bugs, regardless of the superpowers that might give to your offspring.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: KATOA at none against Bug & Seek's shown. Bug & Seek's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and review sentiment (86% vs 67%). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. KATOA sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Bug & Seek sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bug & Seek holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 118 and 62 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of KATOA's written reviews are positive against 86% of Bug & Seek's.
KATOA ships an update monthly, Bug & Seek weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | KATOA | Bug & Seek |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (118 ratings) | 4.8 (62 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 118 — better | 62 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 570 MB | 487 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sankari Studios, Inc. | So Peculiar, LLC |
Customer experience
KATOA
Bug & Seek
User reviews
KATOA
From 118 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🌊 Beautiful ocean visuals
- 🐠 Cute and diverse aquatic fauna
- 🌱 Relaxing gameplay loop
- 🌍 Supports environmental causes
- 🎨 Gorgeous art style
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- ⏱️ Slow progression and unlock process
- 🔁 Repetitive daily quests
- 🤖 Unintuitive or unclear mechanics
- 💤 Lack of content and things to do
Bug & Seek
From 62 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💖 Brings so much joy
- 🎨 Beautiful art and colors
- 😌 Peaceful and relaxing gameplay
- 💡 Lots of love put into it
- 💯 Highly recommended
Room to improve
- 🎮 No controller support
- 📱 Thumbs on screen
- 💰 Majority of game behind paywall
- 💸 Full version costs $10
- 📱 Ads on iOS are disruptive
Bugs and requests
KATOA
Reported bugs
5 issues- Quests and fauna getting stuck
- Inability to expand certain areas
- Graphical glitches and UI issues
- Login and loading problems
- Unresponsive or buggy controls
Requested features
5 requests- More unlockable areas and expansions
- Ability to rename or customize fauna
- Improved tutorial and in-game help
- Additional mini-games or activities
- Smoother combat and raid mechanics
Bug & Seek
Reported bugs
8 issues- DLC not recognized as owned
- Insectarium maxed, no room for bugs
- Bugs disappeared after season change
- Game restarts when closed
- Expansion content not showing up
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- Paying didn't unlock content
- Furniture placement bug (aquarium opens storage)
- Ads on iOS are over a minute long
Requested features
8 requests- Add controller accessibility
- Include Latin names for bugs
- Add scientific names for bugs
- More expansions/DLC
- Search/filter in field guide
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- Apple Pencil support
- Build a home or greenhouse
- Add botany elements
In-app purchases
KATOA
- Handful of Stars$0.99
- Bunch of Stars$4.99
- Pile of Stars$9.99
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- Bag of Stars$19.99
- Barrel of Stars$39.99
- Chest of Stars$79.99
Bug & Seek
- English (U.S.)$6.99









