Comparison

Crosswords Plus . vs Astraware Wordsearch

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

Head to head
About

Crosswords Plus .

Engage with a classic crossword experience where clues are integrated directly into the puzzle grid. Enjoy 1200 unique puzzles across four difficulty levels, designed for both quick breaks and extended challenges. Immerse yourself with customizable interfaces and optional sound effects.

Highlights
  • Clues integrated into the puzzle grid
  • 1200 unique puzzles
  • 4 difficulty levels
  • 3 interface options
  • Optional sound effects
  • Customizable grid sizes
Features
Read full description

Arrow Words is a classic crossword app with a useful twist. In arrow words puzzles, the clues are shown right in the puzzle grid, making them easy to view and play on the iPad screen. This lovingly produced app includes 1200 all-new Arrow Words puzzles in 4 levels. Easier levels use simpler words and a smaller grid, perfect for a short break. Harder levels have tougher clues and larger puzzle grids for hours of challenging fun. Also, careful editing and a huge pool of words ensure that clues don’t repeat too often. The sound and graphics are also designed for true crossword aficionados. Choose from three visual interfaces that recreate the atmosphere of the crossword in the Sunday paper. If you miss using your favorite pen to solve puzzels, you’ll love the optional sounds of a moving pen as you fill in the squares, custom recorded for each letter! PLEASE NOTE: our puzzles are created by British puzzle editors especially with players from Commonwealth countries in mind. Of course, North American players are welcome to join the fun. Features: • Once you’ve solved an Arrow Words puzzle on the iPad, you’ll never go back to paper! • 1200 puzzles, 4 difficulty levels and grid sizes • 3 interface options: Classic, News, Colour • Optional sound effects and background music • iPod function support

About

Astraware Wordsearch

Engage in a classic word search experience with daily and weekly puzzles. Discover hidden words across various themes and categories, with helpful hints and offline play options. Learn new words and test your vocabulary in this fun and engaging game.

Highlights
  • Daily and Weekender puzzles
  • 60 built-in puzzles
  • Over 20 categories
  • Helpful hints
  • Offline play
  • Themed puzzles
  • High score tables
Features
Read full description

Astraware Wordsearch is a quick and easy word game with lots of free puzzles for you to play - find all the words hidden in the puzzle! Play against the clock or take your time and just enjoy finding them all! You get free unlimited access to play four new Daily Wordsearch puzzles each day, there's also a new Weekender puzzle available each Friday! There are 60 built-in and unlocked puzzles with a range of categories, so you can play offline and have fun right away. With over 20 categories, and more than 100 different word lists, there's lots of variety as you play the free puzzles each day - and perhaps learn something new too. Many of the puzzles have a different theme, so you might see cute paw-prints on the cat breeds wordsearch, a cascade of leaves on the nature puzzles, a sparkle of stars on the space theme, and much more! Astraware Wordsearch has helpful hints - tap to sparkle the start of a word to give you somewhere to look!), and our popular hold-and-highlight so that you can hold a word to see the first letter lit up throughout the grid, or hold a letter to highlight that letter everywhere! Astraware Wordsearch Top Features: - Free unlimited access to our Daily and Weekender puzzles, each with their own online high score table! - 60 fully-free puzzles in a range of categories to give you plenty of fun! - Play any of the puzzles from the past week and catch up whenever you like! - Unlimited helpful hints - Endless puzzle streams - A wide variety of words in lots of themes - very helpful for early readers and students! - Built-in Special Event Searches, each available for just a few days! - Jump straight into a daily game from the iOS 14 widget, or asking Siri Wordsearch categories and lists include: Cat breeds, dogs, animals, birds, nature, world capitals, geography, weather, fashion, food and drink, history, music, poetry, books, history, USA states & capitals, songs, language, spelling, books, girls' & boys' names, TV shows, films, shows & musicals, sports, football and baseball teams, computer games, constellations, and lots more! If you love this game and you're an avid puzzler, you will be pleased to know that we have other apps available in the Astraware range: CodeWords, Kriss Kross, Number Cross, Acrostics, and of course Astraware Crosswords! Puzzles Plus Subscription Terms and Details Puzzles Plus is our optional subscription which entitles you to play all of the available Daily, Weekender and Stream puzzles as soon as they are available, without in-game adverts. Subscriptions are available with renewal periods of either monthly, quarterly, or yearly. The price shown is the cost of the renewal, with the saving compared to the monthly option. After you confirm a subscription, you will have a free trial period of seven days. Your iTunes Account will be charged as soon as the free trial is over. If you cancel the subscription at any time before the free trial is over, you will not be billed. The subscriptions are automatically renewing, and you will be charged again at the end of your current subscription period. Your subscription will automatically renew unless you turn this off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. The renewal cost will be the same for each subscription period, and will be charged within the 24 hours before the end of your current subscription. You can manage the subscriptions at any time by going to the Account Settings in the Settings App after purchase. There are options to either change to a different renewal period or to cancel your subscription completely. If you cancel the renewal you will still have access to the Puzzles Plus features until the subscription period is complete. If you confirm the subscription before the free trial is complete, any unused portionwill be lost. These terms are available at : https://www.astraware.com/about/puzzlesplus/ For more information on Data and Privacy, please view https://www.astraware.com/privacy

Screenshots

Crosswords Plus .4 screens
Astraware Wordsearch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Astraware Wordsearch at Free against Crosswords Plus .'s $4.99. Astraware Wordsearch also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 5 months). Crosswords Plus .'s advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.6). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

Astraware Wordsearch is free to download; Crosswords Plus . costs $4.99 up front. Crosswords Plus . sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Astraware Wordsearch sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. 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 — 4.8 for Crosswords Plus . against 4.8 for Astraware Wordsearch. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 59 and 56 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Crosswords Plus .'s written reviews are positive against 80% of Astraware Wordsearch's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Crosswords Plus . ships an update every 5 months, Astraware Wordsearch every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Crosswords Plus . versus Astraware Wordsearch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCrosswords Plus .Astraware Wordsearch
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (59 ratings)4.8 (56 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.8% of reviews — better80.5% of reviews
Number of ratings59 — better56
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size93 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerthe binary familyAstraware Limited

Customer experience

Crosswords Plus .

All ratings59 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral3.4%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews163 reviews
Positive82.8%
Neutral9.2%
Negative8.0%

Astraware Wordsearch

All ratings56 ratings
Positive98.2%
Neutral1.8%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive80.5%
Neutral7.3%
Negative12.2%

Bugs and requests

Crosswords Plus .

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Puzzle completion not always recognized properly
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to resize puzzles to fit screen better
  • Option to mark errors/incomplete squares
  • More frequent puzzle updates
  • Scoring/progress tracking system

Astraware Wordsearch

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Crosswords Plus .

One-time5
  • 300 Puzzles4 variants$1.99
  • 300 Puzzles (easy)$1.99
  • 300 Puzzles (normal)$1.99
Show 2 more
  • 300 Puzzles (difficult)$1.99
  • 300 Puzzles (very difficult)$1.99
12 purchases

Astraware Wordsearch

Subscriptions3
  • Puzzles Plus7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Puzzles Plus7 Days trial$2.993 Months
  • Puzzles Plus7 Days trial$7.991 Year
One-time9
  • Fun-size Pack$0.99
  • Animal Puzzles Pack$0.99
  • Fun Size Pack 2$0.99
Show 6 more
  • Family Pack$1.99
  • Family Pack 2$1.99
  • Vacation Pack$3.99
  • Ad-Free daily puzzles$3.99
  • Deluxe Puzzle Pack$4.99
  • Deluxe Puzzle Pack 2$4.99

Questions

Is Crosswords Plus . free?
Crosswords Plus . costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Astraware Wordsearch free?
Astraware Wordsearch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Crosswords Plus . or Astraware Wordsearch?
Astraware Wordsearch is rated higher. Crosswords Plus . averages 4.8 out of 5 from 59 ratings, while Astraware Wordsearch averages 4.8 from 56 ratings.
Do Crosswords Plus . or Astraware Wordsearch have ads?
Astraware Wordsearch shows ads; Crosswords Plus . does not.
Which is updated more often, Crosswords Plus . or Astraware Wordsearch?
Crosswords Plus . ships an update every 5 months, and Astraware Wordsearch every 6 weeks. Most recently, Crosswords Plus . was updated on October 29, 2026 and Astraware Wordsearch on October 20, 2026.

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