Comparison

Pennant Chase vs HoopSim

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

Head to head
About

Pennant Chase

Engage in a free baseball simulation experience with this app, mirroring the full website's functionality. Compete in leagues using historical stats, manage your team deeply, and interact with a passionate community.

Highlights
  • Join new leagues
  • Submit trade offers
  • Edit lineups
  • Manage farm system
  • Change team strategy
  • View standings and stats
Features
Read full description

PennantChase is the world's best free baseball simulation site (with other sports too!), and this new version of the iOS mobile app allows you all the functionality you get on the full-blown website. This app is a companion to the website (which is also FREE). There are currently over 1,800 leagues and 25,000 registered users at pennantchase.com! Unlike many sims, all stats matter here. Neglecting any facet of the game - defense, hitting, pitching, speed - can have consequences. Come join the passionate baseball community at PennantChase, where there is no shortage of sports dialogue and friendly debate! The site is built and maintained by a single webmaster who grew up inspired by the great simulation games of the past. Compete against other fans using real historic baseball stats, or build a creative league of your own using deep and flexible commissioner tools. If you've ever wanted to be baseball manager or general manager, this game is for you. Join up to 25 leagues at a time, featuring players from every era of baseball's history. It's fantasy baseball on a whole new level! - Join new leagues - Submit trade offers - Edit lineups - Pick Slump Busters - Manage farm system - Change team strategy - View standings, power rankings, award leaders, all-star leaders, league history, and more! Have you always wanted to draft and manage your own baseball team? Love being a baseball manager or GM? Follow your free baseball simulation teams with this app! Whether you already have an account at pennantchase.com, or plan to get one, this app will give you fast, easy access to all your leagues and teams. Manage your team from start to finish - edit lineups, pick slump busters, change strategy, manage your farm system, and more. PennantChase.com is a free site where you can join leagues featuring historical stats from a variety of eras. Auto Leagues play two to three games a day, lasting a couple months. Other creative leagues run by individual commissioners are also available.

About

HoopSim

Simulate basketball games across different eras with a statistical model. Build rosters, play single matchups, full seasons, or live versus games with friends. Offers multiple draft and game modes for endless replayability.

Highlights
  • Cross-era player simulation
  • Statistical box-score modeling
  • Matchup, Season, and Versus modes
  • Roster building with free picks or salary cap
  • Live multiplayer versus games
  • Historical player-season data
Features
Read full description

HoopSim is a cross-era basketball simulator. Pick any player-season from 1951–2025, build 10-man rosters, and let a statistical model decide the box score. THREE MODES • Matchup — One game, head-to-head. Build two teams from any era and simulate a single game, or run hundreds of sims for win odds and score distributions. • Season — Full season + playoffs. Draft your roster (free picks or salary cap), face a league of rivals, then chase a title through a best-of-7 bracket. • Versus — Play against friends, live. Share a 6-character join code, chat in lobby, and settle it in a best-of-7 series. HOW IT WORKS HoopSim runs stochastic box-score simulations on a hosted model — the same engine powering matchup odds, season games, and Versus series. Rosters are player-seasons (e.g. Jordan ’98, Jokic ’23), so you can mix eras freely. FREE TO USE No accounts. No in-app purchases. No ads. For entertainment only. Not affiliated with the NBA, NBPA, or any team. Player names and statistics are derived from publicly available NBA data.

Screenshots

Pennant Chase4 screens
HoopSim4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: HoopSim at none against Pennant Chase's shown. HoopSim also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 20 months) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, rating, ratings volume 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

Both are free to download. 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 — 5.0 for Pennant Chase against 5.0 for HoopSim. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pennant Chase ships an update every 20 months, HoopSim every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pennant Chase versus HoopSim: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPennant ChaseHoopSim
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews78.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 20 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.114.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB4 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBacci MediaSamuel Spink

Customer experience

Pennant Chase

Written reviews38 reviews
Positive78.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative21.1%

HoopSim

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pennant Chase

No in-app purchases

None

HoopSim

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pennant Chase free?
Pennant Chase is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HoopSim free?
HoopSim is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pennant Chase or HoopSim?
Pennant Chase and HoopSim are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Pennant Chase or HoopSim have ads?
Pennant Chase shows ads; HoopSim does not.
Which is updated more often, Pennant Chase or HoopSim?
Pennant Chase ships an update every 20 months, and HoopSim every 9 days. Most recently, Pennant Chase was updated on October 31, 2026 and HoopSim on October 31, 2026.

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