Comparison

Pixel Starships™ vs Space Frontier

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Starships™

Command every aspect of your starship in a persistent online universe. Build, battle, explore, and manage resources in this 8-bit spaceship management game. Form alliances and conquer with friends.

Highlights
  • Build custom starships
  • Command multiple races and factions
  • Online player battles
  • Manage resources and power
  • Explore planets and secrets
  • Form alliances
  • Program AI for automatic combat
Features
Read full description

Featured by Apple in Best New Games! From one of the most successful Mobile Game Kickstarter campaigns of the year comes Pixel Starships! Pixel Starships is the world’s first total spaceship management game in an 8bit massive online universe. In Pixel Starships, you command every aspect of your ship from construction to battles in a single persistent world. Featured Reviews - Touch Arcade - Pixel Starships tasks you with outfitting your very own ship with resource rooms, staff, and weapons. This looks Awesome! MMGN - The graphics in this 8Bit indie game is the best we've seen in a retro style game for a long time PocketTactics - I’m intrigued by the cutaway side-view of the starship with turbolifts and transporters at the ready TechTimes - The World’s First 8-Bit Total Starship Management Game Hits The Online Universe The Discovery Channel - A fully immersive starship captain experience. Key Features - ● Build Epic Starships of your own design. ● Many races, aliens, factions to command and conquer. ● Battle it out with other real players in a single massive online universe. ● Manage diplomacy, recruitment, research, exploration! ● Control ship's power and limited resources. Discover epic weapons. ● Build and deploy support ships to support your Starfleet. ● Cross section full ship control and battles. ● Explore planets, discover secrets of space. ● Form alliances and battle with your friends to achieve victory! ● Program situational AI commands to systems and crew allowing automatic combats and offline play. If you're a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek; if you enjoy games like EVE, Clash of Clans, FTL, or Homeworld, you'll love Pixel Starships! Note - Pixel Starships is totally free to play and is designed for perfect balance for all players. However, there are in-app items that can be purchased for real money to help speed up progress or offer cosmetic improvements. If you don't want this feature, please disable in-app purchases in your device's settings. Note on Auto-Renewing Subscription - Pixel Starships contains a optional Subscription Membership. Members receive extra missions, bonuses, and daily rewards. Membership content is regularly updated. The Monthly Membership Subscription cost is USD $3.99 per month or a similarly adjusted currency price in your local region. Please refer to IAP menu or in app display for localised pricing. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription is auto renewable and will renew monthly unless cancelled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Subscription can be cancelled via iTunes subscription manager. There is also a 7 day free trial for the membership; the free trial period is not transferrable and any remaining free time is cancelled if a paying subscription starts. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. EULA: http://www.pixelstarships.com/eula Privacy Policy: http://www.pixelstarships.com/privacypolicy As per Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, you must be at least 13 years of age to play or download Pixel Starships.

About

Space Frontier

Launch rockets to orbit and beyond to colonize Mars in this addictive physics game. Earn in-game currency to upgrade your rockets and compete for high scores. Easy to learn, but challenging to master, offering endless replayability.

Highlights
  • One-button gameplay
  • Fun, fast physics
  • Easy to learn, hard to master
  • Colonize Mars
  • Earn in-game currency
  • Buy new rocket parts
  • Multiple rocket styles
Features
Read full description

Blast off to the stratosphere and colonize Mars in Space Frontier, the addictive physics rocket game that your friends will want to play—but they can’t! Because it’s your phone. But hey! They can download it on theirs, too. In fact, you want them to do that. So you can pound them into dust with your superior rocket scores! In Space Frontier your mission is to launch your rocket as high in to the orbit as possible and beyond to Mars. Earn in-game currency from launches and hard working Martians. Invest it to acquire new parts/styles, and send more people to mars! Easy to play but hard to master gameplay means you’ll be coming back again and again for one more boost. Ridiculously Cool Features List: ◉ One-button gameplay ◉ Fun, fast physics ◉ Easy to learn, hard to master ◉ Colonize Mars ◉ Infinite variety and replayability ◉ Earn in-game currency to buy new rocket parts ◉ More than sixteen rocket styles to try

Screenshots

Pixel Starships™4 screens
Space Frontier4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pixel Starships™ at 82% against Space Frontier's 47%. Pixel Starships™ also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). Space Frontier's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pixel Starships™ sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Space Frontier sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixel Starships™ holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 35K and 14K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Pixel Starships™'s written reviews are positive against 47% of Space Frontier's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 9 days, Space Frontier every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pixel Starships™ versus Space Frontier: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Starships™Space Frontier
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (35K ratings) — better4.3 (14K ratings)
Positive reviews81.9% of reviews — better46.6% of reviews
Number of ratings35K — better14K
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size450 MB231 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperSavy Soda Pty LtdKetchapp

Customer experience

Pixel Starships™

All ratings35,060 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews781 reviews
Positive81.9%
Neutral4.7%
Negative13.3%

Space Frontier

All ratings13,632 ratings
Positive81.3%
Neutral7.5%
Negative11.2%
Written reviews399 reviews
Positive46.6%
Neutral18.3%
Negative35.1%

User reviews

Pixel Starships™

From 35K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Decent game with no pay wall harassment
  • 🚀 Great little game
  • 🚀 Good game
  • 🚀 Straight gas
  • 🚀 Amazing game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy
  • 🐛 Horrible backend, would not recommend for slower devices
  • 🐛 Cleverly disguised ad farm
  • 🐛 Needs some fixing
  • 🐛 Unfair in battle

Space Frontier

From 14K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Good for getting into rocket science
  • 👍 Fun and interesting game
  • 🚀 Excellent game
  • 🚀 Great game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Game just slows down
  • 🐛 Crashes
  • 🤖 Ad takeover
  • 🤖 Too many ads
  • 🐛 Doesn't save

Bugs and requests

Pixel Starships™

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Crew abilities not working as intended
  • Losing resources and trophies due to connection issues
  • Ads not rewarding the promised amount of Starbux
  • Scrolling issues when rearranging ship layout
  • Inconsistent loading times
Show 3 more
  • Missions consuming daily allowance even on error
  • Starbux purchases not being credited
  • Resources not properly credited after selling on the market

Requested features

17 requests
  • Lower how much bux people can ask for items and resources
  • Set a limit on bux that's not too ridiculous
  • Add more galaxies to explore
  • Add larger ships
  • Add smaller support craft that can fight alongside the main ship
Show 12 more
  • Add a faction war mode with 3v3 or 5v5 battles
  • Add a way to have multiple ships in your fleet
  • Add a ranking system for top players and top ships
  • Add more ship customization options
  • Add a way to remove items from the market
  • Add a panel to view all crew stats
  • Add a button to fix all modules at once
  • Add multiple AI preset options for combat
  • Add a way to fight against your own ship to test vulnerabilities
  • Add a permanent live PvP mode
  • Add a way to change the email associated with an account
  • Add a daily login bonus that increases over consecutive days

Space Frontier

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Ads pop up during launch causing rocket to explode
  • Ads don't load properly
  • Game freezes and lags
  • Mute button doesn't work
  • Coins from ads not working correctly
Show 2 more
  • Rocket goes really slow due to glitches
  • Money randomly disappears

Requested features

16 requests
  • Add more planets
  • Add more content
  • Add more customization
  • Add more levels
  • Add more upgrades
Show 11 more
  • Add more planets to colonize
  • Add aliens and other obstacles
  • Add different types of people with different roles
  • Add more strategy elements
  • Add the ability to build on planets
  • Add the ability to travel between planets
  • Add the ability to steer the rocket
  • Add the ability to control the people
  • Add the ability to upgrade fuel efficiency, rocket size, etc.
  • Add the ability to choose fuel load
  • Add the ability to reach new planets beyond the solar system

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Pixel Starships™

Subscriptions1
  • One Month Membership7 Days trial$3.991 Month
One-time10
  • Special Offer$1.99
  • Clip of Starbux$4.99
  • Special Offer$4.99
Show 7 more
  • Season Pass$8.99
  • Roll of Starbux$9.99
  • Special Offer$9.99
  • Stash of Starbux$19.99
  • Special Offer$19.99
  • Case of Starbux$49.99
  • Bank of Starbux$99.99
1 purchases

Space Frontier

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99

Questions

Is Pixel Starships™ free?
Pixel Starships™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Space Frontier free?
Space Frontier is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Starships™ or Space Frontier?
Pixel Starships™ is rated higher. Pixel Starships™ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35K ratings, while Space Frontier averages 4.3 from 14K ratings.
Do Pixel Starships™ or Space Frontier have ads?
Space Frontier shows ads; Pixel Starships™ does not.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Starships™ or Space Frontier?
Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 9 days, and Space Frontier every 2 months. Most recently, Pixel Starships™ was updated on November 1, 2026 and Space Frontier on October 31, 2026.

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