Comparison

Molecules vs Molecule Lab

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

Head to head
About

Molecules

Explore and interact with 3D molecular models on your device. Rotate, zoom, and pan structures using intuitive touch gestures. Visualize molecules in different modes and load custom structures from various sources.

Highlights
  • 3D molecule rendering
  • Finger-based manipulation (rotate, zoom, pan)
  • Ball-and-stick visualization
  • Spacefilling visualization
  • Load custom molecular structures
  • File sharing and iCloud import
Features
Read full description

Molecules is an application for viewing three-dimensional renderings of molecules and manipulating them using your fingers. You can rotate the molecules by moving your finger across the display, zoom in or out by using two-finger pinch gestures, or pan the molecule by moving two fingers across the screen at once. These structures can be viewed in both ball-and-stick and spacefilling visualization modes. Molecules can be stored on your handheld device for later viewing and are loaded via a standard document-based file browser. Custom molecular structures can be downloaded to the application via file sharing or iCloud, and obtained via sources like the RCSB Protein Data Bank (http://www.rcsb.org/pdb), an international repository of biological molecules and their 3-D structures, or NCBI's PubChem (http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), a public database of compounds. For more details, please visit our website. Molecules is a BSD-licensed open source project.

About

Molecule Lab

Create and view 3D molecular models with an intuitive editor. Supports various elements, bond types, and conformations, with undo/redo functionality. Share your creations easily via messaging and email.

Highlights
  • Build molecules in 3D
  • Supports oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, carbon, hydrogen
  • Double and triple bond creation
  • Branching and rotation conformations
  • Undo, redo, and delete controls
  • Save and edit molecules
  • Share via text, email, and other services
Features
Read full description

Molecule Lab is a simple yet powerful editor allowing users to build and visualize molecules in 3D. Our molecule editor can build more molecules than before, as it now supports three new elements—oxygen, nitrogen, and chlorine—in addition to carbon and hydrogen, double bonds, triple bonds, branches, and different rotation conformations. These incredible new features are enhanced by the flexibility of our molecule editor, which we further upgraded with undo, redo, and delete controls. Molecules can be saved and edited in the future. Additionally, we introduced the capability to share molecules via text message, email, and other third-party services for notetaking and document sharing. This seamless integration with different apps makes Molecule Lab more powerful for sharing and referencing molecules in the future. With all these exciting features, we are thrilled to debut a new look and feel for Molecule Lab. We hope the beautiful modern design will enrich each user’s experience with Molecule Lab.

Screenshots

Molecules4 screens
Molecule Lab1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Molecules at every 2 months against Molecule Lab's every 24 months. Molecules also leads on review sentiment (65% vs 50%) and ratings volume (166 vs 18). Molecule Lab's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.6) and iOS requirement (13.2 vs 16.0). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Molecule Lab holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Molecules has 166 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of Molecules's written reviews are positive against 50% of Molecule Lab's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Molecules ships an update every 2 months, Molecule Lab every 24 months. The most recent releases landed on August 5, 2026 and August 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Molecules versus Molecule Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoleculesMolecule Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (166 ratings)4.0 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews65.5% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings166 — better18
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 24 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.013.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSunset Lake SoftwareMaxamix

Customer experience

Molecules

All ratings166 ratings
Positive62.7%
Neutral12.0%
Negative25.3%
Written reviews388 reviews
Positive65.5%
Neutral18.6%
Negative16.0%

Molecule Lab

All ratings18 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral22.2%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%

Bugs and requests

Molecules

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when switching between views
  • Molecules disappear after reopening the app
  • Search function is unreliable and limited
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to build and edit molecules
  • Implement a color key for atom types
  • Include more basic molecules (H2O, CO2, etc.)
  • Allow sorting/organizing downloaded molecules
  • Integrate with databases like PubChem and RCSB

Molecule Lab

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Molecules

No in-app purchases

None

Molecule Lab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Molecules free?
Molecules is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Molecule Lab free?
Molecule Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Molecules or Molecule Lab?
Molecule Lab is rated higher. Molecules averages 3.6 out of 5 from 166 ratings, while Molecule Lab averages 4.0 from 18 ratings.
Do Molecules or Molecule Lab have ads?
Neither Molecules nor Molecule Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Molecules or Molecule Lab?
Molecules ships an update every 2 months, and Molecule Lab every 24 months. Most recently, Molecules was updated on August 5, 2026 and Molecule Lab on August 25, 2026.

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