Comparison

Pixel Starships™ vs Tiny Space Program

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

Tiny Space Program

Manage your own space agency, from designing and building rockets to launching missions for research, mining, or tourism. Explore planets and moons, establish off-world economies, and advance your technology in this interplanetary simulation.

Highlights
  • Space program management
  • Build off-world colonies
  • Launch rockets and spaceships
  • Research technologies
  • Mine resources from celestial bodies
  • Astronaut progression
  • Simulates orbital mechanics
Features
Read full description

Build and run your own space program — like SpaceX, but yours. Launch rockets, manage astronauts, mine planets, and colonize the solar system from the Moon to beyond the Kuiper Belt. WHAT WOULD YOU DO AS A SPACE BILLIONAIRE? Send tourists on a spacewalk? Start a mining operation on Titan? Build a space station around Mars? In Tiny Space Program you manage the early colonization of our solar system — based on real orbital mechanics and ship propulsion. BUILD YOUR SPACE AGENCY - Launch rockets and spaceships into orbit - Build off-world colonies, outposts, and modular space stations - Mine resources on moons, planets, and dwarf planets - Research new technologies and better spacecraft - Level up your astronauts and equip spacesuits - Establish off-world economies and trade A CHILL GAME, NOT A CHORE No forced ads, no daily-streak punishments. Play at your own pace — run an hour-long research expedition, take tourists on a quick tour, then put it down and come back later. Mines keep producing while you're away. MADE BY ONE DEVELOPER Actively updated (space stations, automation, dwarf planets, and vehicles all shipped recently). Join the Discord and help shape what comes next.

Screenshots

Pixel Starships™4 screens
Tiny Space Program4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Pixel Starships™ at none against Tiny Space Program's shown. Pixel Starships™ also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (35K vs 1.7K). Tiny Space Program's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, 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 Tiny Space Program sells 14 one-off in-app purchases. 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 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Starships™ has 35K ratings behind it against 1.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 82% and 81% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 10 days, Tiny Space Program every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pixel Starships™ versus Tiny Space Program: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Starships™Tiny Space Program
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (35K ratings) — better4.5 (1.7K ratings)
Positive reviews81.9% of reviews — better81.1% of reviews
Number of ratings35K — better1.7K
Update frequencyEvery 10 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 MB32 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperSavy Soda Pty LtdJerry Neimann

Customer experience

Pixel Starships™

All ratings35,058 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews777 reviews
Positive81.9%
Neutral4.8%
Negative13.4%

Tiny Space Program

All ratings1,671 ratings
Positive87.6%
Neutral3.9%
Negative8.4%
Written reviews665 reviews
Positive81.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative11.4%

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

Tiny Space Program

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Awesome game
  • 👍 No ads or pay-to-win
  • 🚀 Engaging gameplay
  • 🚀 Lots of depth and content
  • 👍 Great for space enthusiasts

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🔧 Confusing UI and menus
  • 💰 Difficult to earn credits/resources
  • 🕰️ Slow progression and long wait times
  • 🤔 Unclear tutorials and instructions

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

Tiny Space Program

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Buttons not working or unresponsive
  • Disappearing ships and resources
  • Crashes and freezes after updates
  • Quests and missions not tracking properly

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more planets and moons to explore
  • Improve the economy and resource management
  • Implement cloud/online save functionality
  • Streamline the UI and make it more intuitive
  • Expand the research and upgrade trees
Show 1 more
  • Add more animations and visual effects

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
14 purchases

Tiny Space Program

One-time14
  • Supporting the game, thank you$1.99
  • Helping out, many thanks$4.99
  • Crystal Pack 1$4.99
Show 11 more
  • Starter Pack$4.99
  • Plasma Space Ship Package$8.99
  • You are great! Many thanks$9.99
  • Crystal Pack 2$9.99
  • Colonizer Pack$9.99
  • Experimental Dragon Ships$9.99
  • Aerospike space ship pack$9.99
  • A big pile of credits$19.99
  • Crystal Pack 3$19.99
  • Biggest box of credits$49.99
  • Crystal Pack 4$49.99

Questions

Is Pixel Starships™ free?
Pixel Starships™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tiny Space Program free?
Tiny Space Program is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Starships™ or Tiny Space Program?
Pixel Starships™ is rated higher. Pixel Starships™ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35K ratings, while Tiny Space Program averages 4.5 from 1.7K ratings.
Do Pixel Starships™ or Tiny Space Program have ads?
Tiny Space Program shows ads; Pixel Starships™ does not.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Starships™ or Tiny Space Program?
Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 10 days, and Tiny Space Program every 2 months. Most recently, Pixel Starships™ was updated on October 14, 2026 and Tiny Space Program on October 9, 2026.

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