Comparison

Codea vs Pagi

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 and visual ideas using a touch-friendly code editor. Build projects with 2D/3D rendering, physics, and export them to create real apps. Supports Lua and GLSL.

Highlights
  • 2D and 3D renderer
  • Touch-based visual editors
  • Lua programming language
  • Export to Xcode
  • Physics engines
  • GLSL shader editor
  • Import assets from Dropbox
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

Pagi

This writing app helps you capture your thoughts with a focus mode that highlights your current sentence. Track your word count and progress towards your writing goals. Customize the look with different colors and fonts, and sync your work across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Focus mode for current sentence
  • Word counter and progress bar
  • Customizable colors and fonts
  • iCloud Drive synchronization
  • Plain text file editing
  • Offline functionality
Read full description

Introducing Pagi - the perfect writing app for morning pages!  Start your day off right with morning pages in Pagi. It features a special focus mode to highlight your current sentence and gives you the perfect environment to capture your stream of consciousness. With Pagi’s word counter and progress bar, you can easily track your progress to meet your writing goals, whether it’s 1,500 words for three pages, 750 words, or whatever feels right for you. Plus, you can customize the colors and choose from 3 different fonts to make it yours. Pagi is available on macOS and iOS, so you can start your morning pages wherever you are. STORAGE By default, Pagi stores everything you write in iCloud Drive to sync it with your other devices. You can disable this to only store your files on your device, or not at all, depending on your preference. You have the option to export everything you write on a per-file basis, and files from Pagi will show up in the Files app. It's able to open and edit any plain text file and uses the .txt extension for saved files by default. This can be overwritten when saving. ABOUT The name »Pagi« /paɡi/ is Indonesian and means »morning«. DEVELOPMENT Pagi is developed by Lucas, as an independent side-project. It's crafted with longevity in mind: working completely offline, with no user tracking or third-party dependencies. Updates to Pagi are sporadic, but you can be sure each version has been built to last. SUPPORT / FEEDBACK / CONTACT If you need direct contact to the developer, you can send an email to xoxo@lucas.love.  I welcome feedback and like to help with any problems. Visit https://pagi.lucas.love for more information. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Codea4 screens
Pagi4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Pagi at free against Codea's freemium. Codea's advantage is ratings volume (126 vs 10) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Codea sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Pagi sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Codea against 4.5 for Pagi. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Codea has 126 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Codea's written reviews are positive against 90% of Pagi's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Codea ships an update every 2 weeks, Pagi monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Codea versus Pagi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCodeaPagi
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (126 ratings)4.5 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.1% of reviews90.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings126 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size230 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTwo Lives LeftLucas Fischer

Customer experience

Codea

All ratings126 ratings
Positive86.5%
Neutral4.0%
Negative9.5%
Written reviews523 reviews
Positive88.1%
Neutral6.1%
Negative5.7%

Pagi

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

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

Pagi

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
1 purchases

Pagi

One-time1
  • Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is Codea free?
Codea is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pagi free?
Pagi is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Codea or Pagi?
Pagi is rated higher. Codea averages 4.5 out of 5 from 126 ratings, while Pagi averages 4.5 from 10 ratings.
Do Codea or Pagi have ads?
Neither Codea nor Pagi shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Codea or Pagi?
Codea ships an update every 2 weeks, and Pagi monthly. Most recently, Codea was updated on October 23, 2026 and Pagi on October 24, 2026.

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