Comparison

Control Tower Free vs Planes Control!

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

Head to head
About

Control Tower Free

Guide aircraft to safe landing zones and prevent collisions by drawing flight paths. This strategy game requires quick reflexes and careful planning to manage air traffic and achieve high scores.

Highlights
  • Guide aircraft to landing zones
  • Draw flight paths
  • Classic game mode
  • Online high scores
  • Achievements
  • Addictive gameplay
Features
Read full description

Guide aircraft to their landing zones and do not let them collide! This sounds easy? You will need good strategy and fast fingers to draw flight paths and keep the chaos under control. WARNING:Insanely Addictive! FEATURES - Classic game mode with 6 different planes and helicopters - Online highs cores - Achievements (6) - Countless hours of addictive gameplay - No 1 air traffic controller game Similar games: Air Control,Air Traffic Control

About

Planes Control!

Guide aircraft to safe landings while avoiding hazards like storms and enemy attacks. Control over 60 different planes and helicopters across 13 challenging levels. Engage in aerial combat, fight wildfires, and manage air traffic in this addictive simulation game.

Highlights
  • Draw flight paths for aircraft
  • Avoid collisions and environmental hazards
  • Pilot over 60 types of planes and helicopters
  • Engage in aerial combat
  • Fight wildfires with air tankers
  • Navigate diverse and challenging levels
Features
Read full description

Take control of the sky and land your planes avoiding collisions and enemies. Guide your planes to ensure safe landing in this incredibly easy to learn yet surprisingly addictive game! Get an adrenalin rush while avoiding dangerous collisions, blazing storms and tornadoes, put out forest fire, get ready to repel an attack of enemy fighters and fight off an alien invasion! GAMEPLAY Planes Control is an game with simple controls. Draw lines with your fingers to determine the path each plane will follow as they find their way to land or to engage the enemy. This sounds easy? You will need fast fingers and strategy to manage all your planes and keep the sky under control. AIRCRAFTS You can navigate more than 60 different planes and helicopters including airliners, WWII fighters, jet planes and tilt rotors while playing Planes Control. Beside this, you will enjoy flying the SR-71 Black Bird (the world's fastest plane), the Antonov 225 (the largest aircraft in the world to fly multiple times) and famous combat planes like the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the F-14 Tomcat or the Apache AH-64 combat helicopter. LEVELS Planes Control has 13 awesome levels for mobile devices plus 6 new levels full of challenges created for tablets. More levels are on the way. • Earn your wings on a holiday resort, guiding your planes and helicopters. • Aerial combat! Shoot down hostile planes and helicopters over the scorching desert. • Air Tankers: Fight wildfires by dropping water with your planes and helicopters. • Storm Carrier landings: Command your military fighters and helicopters between the clouds and rain. • Navigate canyons in the Arizona’s Desert. • Successfully land your Aircraft during a tornado outbreak. • Night landings: Switch your landing lights on and find your way around the airfield. • Keep an eye on emergency calls and give priority landing to the planes that are running out of fuel. • Avoid cargo planes flying around your air space. • Land your planes in the middle of an alien invasion ! READY FOR A CHALLENGE? Earn new and different achievements in every level and challenge yourself to the limit. Please sit back, fasten your seatbelt and enjoy taking control of the sky – download Planes Control now! ⓘ For the latest inside information from Rarepixels: ► Like us at https://www.facebook.com/planesApp ► Visit us at http://rarepixels.com/games/planes-control/ ► Follow us at https://www.twitter.com/planes_control

Screenshots

Control Tower Free4 screens
Planes Control!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Planes Control! at 79% against Control Tower Free's 40%. Planes Control! also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). Control Tower Free's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (6.0 vs 12.0). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Control Tower Free sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Planes Control! sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Planes Control! holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Planes Control! has 6.8K ratings behind it against 178, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Control Tower Free's written reviews are positive against 79% of Planes Control!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Control Tower Free ships an update every 7 months, Planes Control! monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Control Tower Free versus Planes Control!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterControl Tower FreePlanes Control!
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (178 ratings)4.7 (6.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.8% of reviews79.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1786.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS6.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer4 Save SoftAntonio Calvino Esquer

Customer experience

Control Tower Free

All ratings178 ratings
Positive79.8%
Neutral7.3%
Negative12.9%
Written reviews98 reviews
Positive39.8%
Neutral12.2%
Negative48.0%

Planes Control!

All ratings6,833 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews421 reviews
Positive79.1%
Neutral8.1%
Negative12.8%

User reviews

Control Tower Free

From 178 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Addictive and engaging gameplay
  • 👍 Simple and easy to learn mechanics
  • 🧠 Good brain exercise and attention training
  • 🎨 Nice graphics and visual design
  • ⚡ Quick to download and lightweight

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • 📺 Excessive and intrusive advertisements
  • 🎮 Uncontrollable planes at screen borders
  • 📱 Poor scaling on newer devices (iPhone 11+)
  • 🎯 Unfair gameplay mechanics (planes spawn uncontrollably)

Planes Control!

From 6.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fun game
  • 👍 Simple yet challenging
  • 🚀 Addictive gameplay
  • 👍 Good variety of levels
  • 🚀 Responsive controls

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly
  • 🐛 Progress not saved
  • 🐛 Collision detection issues
  • 🐛 Planes spawning off-screen

Bugs and requests

Control Tower Free

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Planes spawn on screen edges and cannot be controlled
  • App crashes when submitting scores
  • App freezes mid-game with no save function
  • Touch input delay and unresponsive controls
  • Planes crash due to uncontrollable border spawns
Show 6 more
  • Screen scaling issues on newer iPhone models
  • Ad banner causes crashes when displaying
  • Controls flip upside down (orientation bug)
  • Pause function does not work properly
  • Game won't load or start properly
  • Planes don't respond to drawn flight paths

Requested features

9 requests
  • New maps and levels
  • Restore original Flight Control game
  • Better sound design and music
  • Improved plane graphics and visual clarity
  • Tutorial for new players
Show 4 more
  • Faster plane spawn rates
  • Multiple free levels instead of just one
  • Option to disable ads with one-time payment
  • Full-screen support for modern devices

Planes Control!

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes on iOS 14
  • High score not recorded correctly
  • Planes colliding off-screen
  • Notification bar interfering with gameplay

Requested features

5 requests
  • More level options and customization
  • Ability to pause and resume games
  • Improved tutorial and instructions
  • Difficulty settings for each level
  • Leaderboards and achievements

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Control Tower Free

One-time1
  • Unlock FULL game$0.99
10 purchases

Planes Control!

One-time10
  • Pack of 5× Rescue Teams.$0.99
  • Unlock all HD Levels$0.99
  • Classic levels$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Unlock "Time Machine" levels!$0.99
  • Unlock "10th Anniversary" levels!$0.99
  • Three crashes per game.$1.99
  • Classic levels and no ads$2.99
  • Pack of 20× Rescue Teams.$2.99
  • No Ads.$2.99
  • Pack of 50× Rescue Teams.$4.99

Questions

Is Control Tower Free free?
Control Tower Free is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Planes Control! free?
Planes Control! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Control Tower Free or Planes Control!?
Planes Control! is rated higher. Control Tower Free averages 4.3 out of 5 from 178 ratings, while Planes Control! averages 4.7 from 6.8K ratings.
Do Control Tower Free or Planes Control! have ads?
Planes Control! shows ads; Control Tower Free does not.
Which is updated more often, Control Tower Free or Planes Control!?
Control Tower Free ships an update every 7 months, and Planes Control! monthly. Most recently, Control Tower Free was updated on October 7, 2026 and Planes Control! on October 11, 2026.

Other comparisons