Comparison

Catanerator vs Catan Universe

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

Head to head
About

Catanerator

Generate balanced and customizable game boards for Settlers of Catan. This tool helps create fair maps with various configuration options, ensuring no player has an unfair advantage. Enhance your gameplay with expansion pack support.

Highlights
  • Customizable board generation
  • Adjacent reds configuration
  • Max dots per intersection
  • Fair port distribution
  • Expansion pack support
  • Sea Farers support
Features
Read full description

The #1 competitive board generator for Settlers of Catan. With countless configurations, including adjacent reds, max dots per intersection, fair ports, and much more. Upgrade your app for the Expansion packs and Sea Farers. Settlers of Catan is an exciting, strategy, social board game which is played around a randomly generated board. Players collect resources, including wood, brick, sheep, wheat and ore, to trade or build new roads and settlements. First person to 10 points wins. Catanerator is a tool used to generate a board which distributes the odds in a fashion that allows a customizable balance. Now you can play Settlers of Catan with a board which does not give unfair advantages to certain players. Check it out and let us know what you think or what you'd like to see! NOTE: The difference between Catanerator Pro and this is that Pro comes with some of the in app purchases by default. Enjoy!

About

Catan Universe

Experience the classic board game and its card game counterpart on your mobile device. Trade, build, and settle on the island of Catan, competing against players worldwide. Unlock expansions and new game modes for endless strategic fun.

Highlights
  • Trade, build, and settle
  • Play across multiple devices with one account
  • Faithful adaptation of board and card games
  • Design your own avatar
  • Chat with players and form guilds
  • Participate in seasons and win prizes
  • Unlock achievements and rewards
Features
Read full description

Play your favorite game CATAN anytime and anywhere: the original board game, the card game, the expansions and ‘CATAN – Rise of the Inkas‘, all in one app! After a long voyage of great deprivation, your ships have finally reached the coast of an uncharted island. However, other explorers have also landed on Catan: The race to settle the island has begun! Build roads and cities, trade skillfully and become Lord or Lady of Catan! Go on a journey to the Catan universe, and compete in exciting duels against players from all over the world. The board game classic and the Catan card game bring a real tabletop feeling to your screen! Play with your Catan Universe account on the device of your choice: You can use your login on numerous desktop and mobile platforms! Become part of the huge worldwide Catan community, and compete against players from all over the world, and on all supported platforms. The board game: Play the basic board game in multiplayer mode! Join two of your friends for a maximum of three players and face all the challenges in “Arrival on Catan”. Make things even more exciting by unlocking the full Basegame; the expansions “Cities & Knights” and “Seafarers”, each for up to six players. The special scenario pack containing the scenarios “Enchanted Land” and “The Great Canal” adds even more variety to your games. The game edition ‘Rise of the Inkas‘ is another exciting challenge for you, as your settlements are doomed in their heyday. The jungle swallows the signs of human civilization, and your opponents seize their chance to build their settlement at the location they crave for. The card game: Play the introductory game of the popular 2 player card game “Catan – The Duel” online free of charge or master the free “Arrival on Catan”, to permanently unlock the single player mode against the AI. Get the complete card game as an in-game purchase to play three different theme sets against friends, other fans friends or different AI opponents and submerge yourself into the bustling life on Catan. Features: - Trade – build – settle – Become Lord of Catan! - Play on all your devices with one account. - Faithful to the original version of the board game “Catan”, as well as the card game “Catan – The Duel” (aka “Rivals for Catan”) - Design your own avatar. - Chat with other players and form guilds. - Participate in seasons and win amazing prizes. - Play to earn numerous achievements and unlock rewards. - Get additional expansions and play modes as in-game purchases. - Get started very easily with the comprehensive tutorial. Free-to-play content: - Basic game free matches against two other human players - Introductory game free matches Catan – The Duel against a human player - “Arrival on Catan”: Master the challenges in all areas of the game to get more red Catan suns. - You can use Catan suns to play against the computer. Your yellow suns recharge on their own. ***** Questions or suggestions for improvements: Mail to support@catanuniverse.com We are looking forward to your feedback! For more information on news and updates: www.catanuniverse.com or visit us on www.facebook.com/CatanUniverse *****

Screenshots

Catanerator4 screens
Catan Universe4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Catanerator at 55% against Catan Universe's 13%. Catanerator also leads on rating (4.0 vs 3.8) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). Catan Universe's advantage is ratings volume (31K vs 236) and chart position (#125 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Catanerator sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Catan Universe sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Catanerator holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Catan Universe has 31K ratings behind it against 236, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Catanerator's written reviews are positive against 13% of Catan Universe's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 9, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Catanerator versus Catan Universe: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCataneratorCatan Universe
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (236 ratings) — better3.8 (31K ratings)
Positive reviews55.2% of reviews — better12.6% of reviews
Number of ratings23631K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#125 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB901 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperElevated Pixels SoftwareUnited Soft Media Verlag GmbH

Customer experience

Catanerator

All ratings236 ratings
Positive74.2%
Neutral5.5%
Negative20.3%
Written reviews116 reviews
Positive55.2%
Neutral8.6%
Negative36.2%

Catan Universe

All ratings30,848 ratings
Positive68.8%
Neutral6.2%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews3,305 reviews
Positive12.6%
Neutral14.0%
Negative73.4%

User reviews

Catanerator

From 236 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great map generator
  • 👍 Useful tool for game setup
  • 💡 Allows for different board configurations
  • 🚀 Saves time setting up the game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes on some devices
  • 🔒 Paywall for advanced features
  • 👎 Difficult to navigate
  • 👎 Unclear color-resource mapping

Catan Universe

From 31K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great representation of board game
  • 👍 Lots of game modes and expansions
  • 🎨 Good visual design

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
  • 🔁 Unreliable connectivity and server issues
  • 🤖 Unfair and unbalanced AI
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases

Bugs and requests

Catanerator

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes on startup for some users
  • Allows adjacent high-value tiles despite setting
  • Resets board when switching between portrait and landscape
  • Difficulty distinguishing resource types due to color scheme

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions
  • Implement a dice roller for Knights and Barbarians
  • Allow custom tile placement and saving of custom boards
  • Improve board balancing and prevent adjacent high-value tiles

Catan Universe

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes and gets stuck during play
  • Frequent log-out and login issues
  • Inconsistent enforcement of game rules
  • Disappearing resources and settlements

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to mute group chat
  • Improve trade interface and AI trading behavior
  • Randomize dice rolls and resource distribution
  • Provide more customization options for game setup

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Catanerator

One-time4
  • Standard$0.99
  • Expansion$1.99
  • Seafarers Small$1.99
Show 1 more
  • Seafarers Large$1.99
6 purchases

Catan Universe

One-time6
  • 200 Catan Gold$2.99
  • 300 Catan Gold$3.99
  • 500 Catan Gold$4.99
Show 3 more
  • 900 Catan Gold$7.99
  • 1700 Catan Gold$14.99
  • 3000 Catan Gold$26.99

Questions

Is Catanerator free?
Catanerator is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Catan Universe free?
Catan Universe is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Catanerator or Catan Universe?
Catanerator is rated higher. Catanerator averages 4.0 out of 5 from 236 ratings, while Catan Universe averages 3.8 from 31K ratings.
Do Catanerator or Catan Universe have ads?
Neither Catanerator nor Catan Universe shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Catanerator or Catan Universe?
Catanerator ships an update every 2 months, and Catan Universe every 2 months. Most recently, Catanerator was updated on August 9, 2026 and Catan Universe on September 27, 2026.

Other comparisons