Comparison

⋆Sudoku vs Sudoku ▦

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

Head to head
About

⋆Sudoku

This app offers a classic Sudoku puzzle experience with a modern design and intuitive controls. It features five difficulty levels, a smart hint system that teaches logic, and daily challenges to keep your mind sharp. Track your progress and enjoy a customizable and relaxing gameplay.

Highlights
  • Smart hint system teaches logic
  • Five difficulty levels
  • Daily puzzle challenges
  • Customizable board and themes
  • Progress tracking and statistics
  • Auto-fill and auto-check options
Features
Read full description

Sudoku by Brainium has updated the classic Sudoku puzzle game you know and love, with a clean, modern design, calming backdrops, and intuitive controls. With endless number puzzles and five levels of difficulty, our Sudoku is perfect for players of all skill levels. Whether you’re in the mood for a quick game to help you relax, or an expert level logic challenge to train your brain, there’s a board for you. Brainium Sudoku also features the first and best smart hint system available. It goes beyond simply giving you the answers. Instead, it helps you learn and improve your skills by teaching you “why” the answer is what it is. With every puzzle, our “Hint” button provides the techniques you need to make progress even when it seems like your path is blocked. The instructions are easy to understand, unique for every puzzle, and presented with easy to follow, helpful animations and colorful visuals. This feature will improve your Sudoku skills whether you’re a first-time player or a seasoned expert. It’s the perfect companion for anyone looking to take their number game or logic puzzle skills to the next level. Enjoy a clear, easy to read, and customizable Sudoku board with visual guides that make reading the board and figuring out where to place your next numbers a breeze. Our input system is designed to make entering numbers and notes simple, and our user-friendly scoring system makes it easy to compete with yourself or friends. Starting and keeping a daily habit of mental exercise is easy by playing Sudoku’s Daily Puzzles, which are sure to keep your mind sharp and at ease. Track your progress with onboard statistics and unlock fun achievements along the way. Brainium’s Classic Sudoku Features: • The world’s most advanced Sudoku learning tool and hint system • Hints that teach you the logic behind the answer • Five perfectly balanced difficulty levels from beginner to expert • Daily Puzzle Challenges - complete them to earn points and gold checkmarks • Two beautiful grid styles • Nine relaxing backdrops • Light or dark grid fonts with adjustable size • Auto Light/Dark mode adjusts the theme based on your device settings • Unlimited collection of brain training logic puzzles • Game Statistics to track progress • Auto-Fill Notes option • Auto-Clear Notes option • Auto-Check Errors option • Number Painting option allows you to rapidly fill open squares with a selected number or note • Universal App looks great on iPhone and iPad • Global and friend leader boards • Portrait and landscape play options • Right or left-handed option in landscape • iPad keyboard compatible We hope Sudoku by Brainium brings you endless fun, relaxation, and a challenge for your mind. More Fun & Free Logic and Classic Card Games from Brainium: • Solitaire • Mahjong • Spider Solitaire • FreeCell • Pyramid • Blackjack Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/BrainiumStudios Follow us on Twitter @BrainiumStudios Visit us on the web https://www.Brainium.com/

About

Sudoku ▦

Enjoy the classic paper-and-pencil puzzle game on your phone with a clean, elegant design. Challenge your mind with multiple difficulty levels and helpful tools to aid your solving experience.

Highlights
  • Thousands of free puzzles
  • Classic Sudoku design
  • Pencil mode for notes
  • Highlight duplicates
  • Optional mistake limit
  • Four difficulty levels
  • Customizable appearance
Features
Read full description

Sudoku ▦ is one of the best loved and most popular puzzle games in the world. Now you can play the classic paper and pencil puzzle game right on your phone! With our simple and elegant design, Tripledot’s Sudoku▦ for mobile is the best way to play this timeless classic. Challenge your problem-solving skills with an expert-level game or take a break with a quick game on easy mode. Whether you’re a hyper competitive puzzle solver or just looking for a way to relax, a beginner or a master puzzler, Tripledot’s Sudoku ▦ will let you play the game your way. Choose from four different difficulty levels, and customise your experience with features to help or challenge you. Key Features: - Thousands of well-formed, totally free puzzles - The classic Sudoku design, beautifully recreated on your phone - Use the pencil to make notes right on the puzzle - Highlight duplicates to help you solve the puzzle - Challenge yourself by limiting yourself to three mistakes - Use hints to help you find your way through difficult puzzles - - Play Sudoku your way with our finely tuned customisation - Four perfectly crafted difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert. - Highlight duplicates to avoid repeating numbers in a row, column, and block - Automatically Check for Mistakes: Enable auto-check to easily spot your mistakes, or disable it to play a more free-form game - Optional Mistake Limit: challenge yourself to play a perfect game, or relax with unlimited mistakes - Pencil mode: Use the pencil mode to make notes on each cell, which automatically update as you play the game - Statistics: See your best times and streaks for every difficulty level - Autosave: Your puzzles save as you go, so you can come back anytime - Hints: Hints can guide you through the puzzle when you are stuck - Eraser: Made a mistake? Get rid of it by using the eraser feature - Unlimited undo's: Eliminate errors using our unlimited undo feature - Customize appearance: Choose from six different beautiful skins for a game that is as easy on the eyes as it is to play By using Sudoku ▦, you agree to our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines available at https://www.tripledotstudios.com/tos Questions? Email Sudoku_support@tripledotstudios.com for help!

Screenshots

⋆Sudoku4 screens
Sudoku ▦4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sudoku ▦ at none against ⋆Sudoku's 1. ⋆Sudoku's advantage is review sentiment (64% vs 38%). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. ⋆Sudoku sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sudoku ▦ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for ⋆Sudoku against 4.7 for Sudoku ▦. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 161K and 104K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of ⋆Sudoku's written reviews are positive against 38% of Sudoku ▦'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

⋆Sudoku ships an update monthly, Sudoku ▦ every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
⋆Sudoku versus Sudoku ▦: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter⋆SudokuSudoku ▦
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (161K ratings) — better4.7 (104K ratings)
Positive reviews63.8% of reviews — better37.6% of reviews
Number of ratings161K — better104K
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size316 MB249 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperBrainium Studios LLCTripledot Studios

Customer experience

⋆Sudoku

All ratings161,177 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral2.8%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews1,468 reviews
Positive63.8%
Neutral7.7%
Negative28.5%

Sudoku ▦

All ratings104,192 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral4.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews417 reviews
Positive37.6%
Neutral13.7%
Negative48.7%

User reviews

⋆Sudoku

From 161K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Challenging but not too challenging
  • 👍 Great for learning advanced techniques
  • 👍 Helpful hints that teach strategies
  • 👍 Relaxing and soothing game
  • 👍 Customizable themes and settings

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
  • 🔍 Difficult to see numbers and patterns
  • 🔍 Inconsistent difficulty levels
  • 🔍 Overly distracting UI elements
  • 🔍 Too many intrusive ads

Sudoku ▦

From 104K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Great game
  • 💡 Challenging levels
  • 📊 Useful statistics and insights
  • 🧠 Brain-stimulating

Room to improve

  • 🤖 Too many ads
  • 🕰️ Ads disrupt gameplay
  • 🔇 Loud ads disrupt audio
  • 🔋 High battery drain

Bugs and requests

⋆Sudoku

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Puzzle completion status not updating correctly
  • Floating number feature not working as expected
  • Scores not displaying properly on leaderboard
  • Game freezing or crashing on certain devices
  • Inability to play music in the background

Requested features

6 requests
  • Option to disable auto-check for errors
  • Ability to customize number colors and backgrounds
  • More granular difficulty settings between Hard and Expert
  • Ability to access past daily puzzles
  • Family sharing for ad-free version
Show 1 more
  • Clearer explanation of scoring system

Sudoku ▦

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Incorrect number placement detection
  • Daily challenge progress not saving properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to pay to remove ads
  • More customization options
  • Ability to reset puzzles
  • Improved performance on older devices

In-app purchases

1 purchases

⋆Sudoku

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$11.99
None

Sudoku ▦

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ⋆Sudoku free?
⋆Sudoku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sudoku ▦ free?
Sudoku ▦ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ⋆Sudoku or Sudoku ▦?
⋆Sudoku is rated higher. ⋆Sudoku averages 4.7 out of 5 from 161K ratings, while Sudoku ▦ averages 4.7 from 104K ratings.
Do ⋆Sudoku or Sudoku ▦ have ads?
Both ⋆Sudoku and Sudoku ▦ show ads.
Which is updated more often, ⋆Sudoku or Sudoku ▦?
⋆Sudoku ships an update monthly, and Sudoku ▦ every 2 weeks. Most recently, ⋆Sudoku was updated on October 31, 2026 and Sudoku ▦ on October 31, 2026.

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