# Codea vs Pagi

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.

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.

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.

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

## The numbers

| Metric | Codea | Pagi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.5 (126 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/codea/id439571171/reviews) | **[4.5 (10 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pagi-morning-pages-and-diary/id1586446074/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **126** | 10 |
| Positive reviews | 88.1% of reviews | **90.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Monthly |
| Monetization | Freemium | **Free** |
| Size | 230 MB | 2 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 | **17.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Two Lives Left](https://appshunter.io/developer/335953314) | [Lucas Fischer](https://appshunter.io/developer/1586446076) |

## What reviewers say

### Codea

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/codea/id439571171)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Codea Pro (Monthly) | $4.99 | per month |
| Codea Pro (Yearly) | $29.99 | per year |
| Codea Pro Lifetime | $99.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for making games
- 👍 Lets me code when I feel the itch
- 💡 Powerful, Playful Development Environment
- 👍 Fantastic prototyping tool
- 👍 One of the best programming apps on iPad

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Assets don't work
- 🐛 Need Pencil scrolling slider. TOO MUCH ACCIDENTAL WRITING
- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🐛 Bugs with keyboard and cursor issues

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

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


### Pagi

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pagi-morning-pages-and-diary/id1586446074)

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

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lifetime | $9.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked 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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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*