⋆Sudoku vs Microsoft Sudoku
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
⋆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.
- 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
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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/
Microsoft Sudoku
Enjoy classic and unique Sudoku puzzles with adjustable difficulty. Engage in daily challenges, track your progress, and customize your gameplay with various themes and settings. An optional premium subscription removes ads and unlocks past challenges.
- Classic and Irregular Sudoku modes
- 6 difficulty levels
- Daily Challenges with badges
- Multiple themes and symbol options
- Note-taking and mistake erasing
- Cloud save and Xbox Live achievements
- Progress tracking and statistics
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Relax and keep your mind sharp with a game of Microsoft Sudoku, the world’s best Sudoku app. Classic: Play puzzles you’ve come to love now with 6 difficulty levels to choose from! Elegant, clean and intellectually stimulating. Play at your leisure where every puzzle is freshly generated giving you a never-ending supply of unique classic Sudoku games to play. Irregular: Try a whole new take on Sudoku! Rules are the same but the blocks have irregular shapes. You might not ever go back to the classic way of playing again! It’s cool to be Irregular. Daily Challenges: Play 3 unique challenges every day, collect coins and win badges! Classic, Irregular and an all new Ice Breaker game mode! In Ice Breaker placing correct numbers sends shockwaves across the board that break the ice. Give it a try, it’s a breeze! Features… • Freshly generated puzzles every game across 6 levels of difficulty for Classic and Irregular Sudoku • 3 new Daily Challenges every day • Multiple different themes to choose from. Are you a visual person? Try the Charms theme that uses symbols instead of numbers and can be played in any game mode! • Take notes like you would like you did on paper that get automatically updated each time you fill in a cell. • Made a mistake? No problem just erase it • Sign in with a Microsoft account to earn Xbox Live achievements and save your progress in the cloud across all your Apple devices. • Track your Statistics for all game modes including your Best Time, Average Time, and Games Played. • Customize the way you play with tons of settings including Block Duplicates, Show Mistakes, Show All Notes, and more! • Play by choosing a square first or a number first. Any input method works! • Pick up right where you left off, your classic and irregular puzzle progress is saved when you close the app! Upgrade to Premium on iPhone and iPad. You can purchase the Microsoft Sudoku Premium Subscription for $1.99 per Month or $9.99 per Year. Benefits that come with a Premium Subscription include: • Removing advertisements from your game • Play Daily Challenges from previous months NOTE: Premium Subscription grants premium experience on mobile only. It is non-transferrable to other platforms. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account on confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews monthly or annually depending on the subscription type purchased. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period ($1.99 monthly, or $9.99 annually, depending on the subscription type purchased). You can turn off your auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. If auto-renewal is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period, you will not be charged for the next period. All cancellations will take effect at the end of the current period. © Microsoft 2025. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft, Microsoft Casual Games, the product logos and Sudoku, and the Sudoku logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Acceptance of Microsoft Services Agreement and Privacy Statement are required to play. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/servicesagreement, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement) Microsoft account registration required for cross-platform play. Game offers in-app purchases. Persistent internet connection required. Features, online services and system requirements may vary by country and are subject to change or retirement over time.
Screenshots
Verdict
⋆Sudoku and Microsoft Sudoku both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 64% of ⋆Sudoku's written reviews are positive against 37% of Microsoft Sudoku's. ⋆Sudoku also leads on ratings volume (161K vs 7.5K) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). Microsoft Sudoku's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. ⋆Sudoku sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Microsoft Sudoku sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for ⋆Sudoku against 4.7 for Microsoft Sudoku. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ⋆Sudoku has 161K ratings behind it against 7.5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of ⋆Sudoku's written reviews are positive against 37% of Microsoft Sudoku's.
⋆Sudoku ships an update monthly, Microsoft Sudoku every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.
| Parameter | ⋆Sudoku | Microsoft Sudoku |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (161K ratings) — better | 4.7 (7.5K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 63.8% of reviews — better | 37.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 161K — better | 7.5K |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 316 MB | 153 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brainium Studios LLC | Microsoft Corporation |
Customer experience
⋆Sudoku
Microsoft Sudoku
User reviews
⋆Sudoku
From 161K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Microsoft Sudoku
From 7.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Intuitive and fast gameplay
- 🔒 Robust security features
- 👍 Variety of puzzle types
- 👍 Customizable options
- 👍 Great for beginners and experts
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🔋 Ads play audio even in silent mode
- 🔋 Excessive ads and intrusive monetization
- 🐛 Progress not saving properly
- 🐛 Compatibility issues on certain devices
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
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- Clearer explanation of scoring system
Microsoft Sudoku
Reported bugs
4 issues- Daily challenge progress not syncing across devices
- Levels and scores resetting unexpectedly
- App getting stuck on loading screens
- Ads hijacking device controls and interrupting background audio
Requested features
5 requests- Landscape mode support for tablets
- More customization options for notes and highlighting
- Ability to replay past daily challenges
- Improved undo/redo functionality
- Autofill or auto-complete options for advanced players
In-app purchases
⋆Sudoku
- Remove Ads$11.99
Microsoft Sudoku
- Premium Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
- Premium Yearly Subscription$9.991 Year
Questions
Is ⋆Sudoku free?
Is Microsoft Sudoku free?
Which has better reviews, ⋆Sudoku or Microsoft Sudoku?
Do ⋆Sudoku or Microsoft Sudoku have ads?
Which is updated more often, ⋆Sudoku or Microsoft Sudoku?
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