Chemistry By Design vs iORA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chemistry By Design
This interactive virtual flashcard app helps students practice chemistry synthesis skills. It displays reagents, starting materials, and products for each step in constructing natural products or pharmaceuticals. Various browsing options are available for self-testing.
- Interactive virtual flashcards
- Practice synthetic sequences
- Display reagents, starting materials, and products
- Natural product and pharmaceutical synthesis
- Multiple browsing options for testing
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Chemistry By Design is an interactive virtual flashcard that allows students to test their skills using known synthetic sequences. The goal is to display the reagents, starting materials and products for every single step used in constructing a natural product or pharmaceutical. Students are provided with different browsing options to test themselves.
iORA
Visualize chemical reactions in 3D using quantum-mechanical simulations. This free, interactive application makes complex chemistry concepts accessible and engaging for learners.
- 3D chemical reaction visualization
- Quantum-mechanical simulations
- Interactive learning
- Easy to use interface
- Educational tool
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iORA is a free, easy to use, highly interactive smartphone application that provides 3D visualization of chemical reactions based on quantum-mechanical simulations.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: iORA at every 2 months against Chemistry By Design's every 16 months. iORA also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 81%). Chemistry By Design's advantage is iOS requirement (6.0 vs 14.3). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Chemistry By Design against 5.0 for iORA. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 12 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Chemistry By Design's written reviews are positive against 100% of iORA's.
Chemistry By Design ships an update every 16 months, iORA every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chemistry By Design | iORA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (14 ratings) | 5.0 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 14 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 16 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 6.0 — better | 14.3 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | University of Arizona | Daniel Ess |
Customer experience
Chemistry By Design
iORA
In-app purchases
Chemistry By Design
No in-app purchases
iORA
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chemistry By Design free?
Is iORA free?
Which has better reviews, Chemistry By Design or iORA?
Do Chemistry By Design or iORA have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chemistry By Design or iORA?
Other comparisons
