Comparison

Molecules vs iMolview

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

iMolview

Explore biological molecules in 3D. View proteins, DNA, and drug structures from major databases. Customize representations, select specific elements, and analyze molecular interactions. Sync your own files and save scenes for later.

Highlights
  • 3D molecular visualization
  • Browse PDB, DrugBank, Pubchem
  • Customizable representations
  • Individual element coloring
  • Neighbor analysis
  • Electron density map contouring
  • Scene saving and management
Features
Read full description

Explore the fascinating world of biological macromolecules: iMolview lets you browse and view in 3D protein and DNA structures from Protein Data Bank, drug molecules from DrugBank, and small molecules from Pubchem. Search for drug names like 'ibuprofen' or 'gefitinib' in DrugBank, or proteins like 'insulin' or 'thyroid receptor' in PDB. Information associated with each molecule in these databases is also at your fingertips. Sync and view your own structure files via iTunes. Molecular view can be customized with a rich set of molecular representations (wires, balls-and-sticks, space filling, ribbon diagrams, molecular surfaces) and various coloring schemes. Select residues, atoms or chains and color or change their representations individually. Select 'neighbors' of a ligand or any other selection to identify interacting atoms or residues. Set 'inertia' to the maximum and let your molecule spin in 3D indefinitely. Save the current scene (viewpoint + representation) as a slide which can be easily accessed later. Save the whole molecular document with multiple slides. Load and contour electron density map

Screenshots

Molecules4 screens
iMolview1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Molecules at Free against iMolview's $0.99. Molecules also leads on ratings volume (166 vs 13). iMolview's advantage is review sentiment (78% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Molecules is free to download; iMolview costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.6 for Molecules against 3.6 for iMolview. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Molecules has 166 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 65% of Molecules's written reviews are positive against 78% of iMolview's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 5, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Molecules versus iMolview: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoleculesiMolview
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating3.6 (166 ratings)3.6 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews65.5% of reviews78.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings166 — better13
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSunset Lake SoftwareMolsoft

Customer experience

Molecules

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

iMolview

All ratings13 ratings
Positive61.5%
Neutral7.7%
Negative30.8%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive78.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative18.8%

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

iMolview

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Molecules

No in-app purchases

None

iMolview

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Molecules free?
Molecules is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is iMolview free?
iMolview costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Molecules or iMolview?
Molecules and iMolview are both rated 3.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 166 and 13 ratings respectively.
Do Molecules or iMolview have ads?
Neither Molecules nor iMolview shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Molecules or iMolview?
Molecules ships an update every 2 months, and iMolview every 2 months. Most recently, Molecules was updated on August 5, 2026 and iMolview on September 22, 2026.

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