Comparison

Codea vs Iodine Code

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

Head to head
About

Codea

Create interactive games, simulations, and visual projects using a touch-friendly code editor. Turn your ideas into reality with Lua scripting, advanced rendering, and physics engines. Export your creations to produce real applications.

Highlights
  • 2D and 3D renderer
  • Visual code editor with touch controls
  • Lua programming language
  • Physics engines
  • Export to Xcode
  • Live shader editor
  • Bluetooth keyboard support
Features
Read full description

"It’s kind of like the Garage Band of coding." – Wired "Codea for iPad is a super slick way to write and run programs on your iPad." – Gizmodo Codea lets you create games and simulations — or just about any visual idea you have. Turn your thoughts into interactive creations that make use of iPad features like Multi-Touch and the accelerometer. We think Codea is the most beautiful code editor you'll use, and it's easy. Codea is designed to let you touch your code. Want to change a color, or an image? Tapping will bring up visual editors that let you choose exactly what you want. Codea is built on the Lua programming language. A simple, elegant language that doesn't rely too much on symbols — a perfect match for iPad. Here's how you use it: type your code. Press play to watch it run. Interact with it. Get creative. FEATURES • A fully featured 2D and 3D renderer • Lots of great example projects to learn from, including games • Touch your code: tap colors, images and sounds to adjust them • Export your finished projects to Xcode to produce real apps • Complete in-line reference documentation accessible from keyboard • Intelligent syntax highlighting and auto-completing code editor • Import your own assets from Dropbox • Full 2D and 3D physics engines for complex motion • Add parameters so you can tweak variables at runtime • Interact with accelerometer and multi-touch on your device • Generate retro-game sound effects • GLSL Shader Language support with live shader editor • Bluetooth keyboard support and keyboard shortcuts • Air Code: code live from your PC using WiFi • Much, much more IMPORTANT INFORMATION • Join the forums at https://talk.codea.io to ask questions, share ideas and get help when you need it • If you need help or wish to get in contact with us, please use the support link on this page • Privacy policy https://codea.io/privacy • Terms https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ SUBSCRIPTION • Codea is free to use for projects up to 500 lines, after which you can subscribe to Codea Pro for access to advanced features and unlimited project size • Monthly and yearly plans available • Lifetime one-time purchase also available • Pricing may vary by region. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings.

About

Iodine Code

A mobile code editor and Git tool that allows you to code, stage, commit, and push directly from your iPhone or iPad. It features syntax highlighting, code suggestions, and a diff viewer for a seamless coding experience.

Highlights
  • Powerful Git tool
  • Multi-tab code editor
  • Diff viewer
  • Project file manager
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Code suggestion
Features
Read full description

Iodine Code is a powerful git tool and beautiful code editor. With syntax highlighting and code suggestion, it offers you a fluent experience similar to coding on PC. Coding, staging, committing, pushing and viewing logs, every thing will be done just in your iPhone / iPad. • Powerful git tool (clone, pull, push, branch, tag, log, status, commit...) • Beatiful multi-tab code editor • Splendid diff viewer • Handy project file manager with Quick-Opener and Drag & Drop • iPad Pro smart keyboard shortcuts • Great syntax highlighting (Objective-C only so far) • Context awareness code suggestion (Objective-C only so far)

Screenshots

Codea4 screens
Iodine Code4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Codea at 88% against Iodine Code's 33%. Codea also leads on price (Free vs $4.99) and rating (4.5 vs 1.0). Iodine Code's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.5). On ads and device support 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

Codea is free to download; Iodine Code costs $4.99 up front. Codea sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Iodine Code asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Codea holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Codea has 127 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Codea's written reviews are positive against 33% of Iodine Code's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Codea ships an update fortnightly, Iodine Code every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Codea versus Iodine Code: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCodeaIodine Code
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.5 (127 ratings) — better1.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings127 — better3
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.515.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size235 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTwo Lives Left典 熊

Customer experience

Codea

All ratings127 ratings
Positive86.6%
Neutral3.9%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews524 reviews
Positive88.2%
Neutral6.1%
Negative5.7%

Iodine Code

All ratings3 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Codea

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when switching between documents
  • Xcode export not working with latest version of Xcode
  • Keyboard and cursor issues when using Bluetooth keyboard

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add ability to import sounds and 3D models
  • Improve documentation and provide more tutorials
  • Add support for more programming languages beyond Lua

Iodine Code

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Codea

Subscriptions2
  • Codea Pro (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Codea Pro (Yearly)$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Codea Pro Lifetime$99.99
None

Iodine Code

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Codea free?
Codea is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Iodine Code free?
Iodine Code costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Codea or Iodine Code?
Codea is rated higher. Codea averages 4.5 out of 5 from 127 ratings, while Iodine Code averages 1.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Codea or Iodine Code have ads?
Neither Codea nor Iodine Code shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Codea or Iodine Code?
Codea ships an update fortnightly, and Iodine Code every 7 months. Most recently, Codea was updated on November 8, 2026 and Iodine Code on November 6, 2026.

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