Comparison

Abaculator vs Liminal

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

Head to head
About

Abaculator

Features
Read full description

Abaculator can be used as a calculator or an abacus. You can do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with abaculator. Simple tutorials are available for you to learn abacus. And you can switch between 3 languages. The bead movement speed can also be adjusted.

About

Liminal

Engage in thoughtful conversations with AI reconstructions of great minds. Explore philosophical concepts through interactive games and unique encounters designed for quiet reflection. Many features are available offline and free to use.

Highlights
  • AI reconstructions of great minds
  • Interactive philosophical games
  • Poetry generation
  • Question and answer sessions
  • Thought experiments
  • Offline play
  • No ads or tracking
Features
Read full description

Liminal is a quiet game about thinking. You arrive in the Atrium — a hall of doors. Behind each door is a great mind, reconstructed from their writings to think *with* you: Albert Camus on the café terrace, Nietzsche at altitude, Rumi turning toward the Beloved, Kafka in the unmarked office, the Stoic Marcus Aurelius, and more than a dozen others. Choose a voice, choose how you want to be met — challenged, accompanied, or left mostly to silence — and play. THE GAMES • Words for the Sea — offer a handful of words and receive a short poem in the thinker's voice. • Ask anything — put a real question to a real mind and hear a considered reply. • The Descent — one question, then deeper, and deeper still. • The Dilemma — a classic thought-experiment that branches to a reflection with no clean answer. • The Fork, The Reframe, Agree or Disagree, The Mask, A Minute of Silence — short games that read you back to yourself. ENCOUNTERS — where the voices meet • Two Voices — ask two thinkers one question and watch the second answer the first. • The Symposium — a panel answers, and a neutral narrator names the sharpest disagreement. • Philosophers' Football — draft two sides from the roster and let the eternal match be narrated. • The Oracle, The Gift, The Mirror — smaller rooms for fortune, reflection, and a parting tool to carry. QUIET BY DESIGN No ads. No tracking. No feed. Liminal asks nothing of you but attention. Many games work offline, for free. A NOTE ON THE VOICES The thinkers in Liminal are AI reconstructions written in each mind's spirit — they are not the real people, and nothing they say is professional advice. Liminal is for reflection, not counsel. Live, in-character answers are generated by Anthropic's Claude. The thinkers in Liminal are AI reconstructions — not the real people, and nothing they say is professional advice. Every line is original, written in each voice's spirit — never a verbatim quote from any author. Liminal is for reflection, not counsel. Live, in-character answers are generated by Anthropic's Claude. Sign in with Apple to carry your account and credits across devices. A handful of live answers are free; more are available as a small in-app purchase.

Screenshots

Abaculator4 screens
Liminal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Abaculator at none against Liminal's 1. Abaculator also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Liminal's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 35 months). On price, ads and device support 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

Both are free to download. Liminal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Abaculator asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Abaculator ships an update every 35 months, Liminal every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Abaculator versus Liminal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAbaculatorLiminal
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 35 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB10 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperChi-Cheng LiaoHessam Zahedi

In-app purchases

None

Abaculator

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Liminal

One-time1
  • 100 Credits$9.99

Questions

Is Abaculator free?
Abaculator is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Liminal free?
Liminal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Abaculator or Liminal have ads?
Neither Abaculator nor Liminal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Abaculator or Liminal?
Abaculator ships an update every 35 months, and Liminal every 3 weeks. Most recently, Abaculator was updated on October 22, 2026 and Liminal on October 11, 2026.

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