Design A Train vs Design & Run Train
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Design A Train
Design and color your own trains with a variety of tools and stickers. Once complete, you can save, share, print, or integrate your creations into other train-themed games.
- Customize train cars and engines
- Easy one-touch coloring
- Add and reposition stickers
- Assemble and rearrange full trains
- Export to other train games
- Save, share, and print creations
Read full descriptionHide full description
Do you love trains? Do you love coloring? Then Design A Train is the perfect app for you - or your train-loving toddler. Design A Train allows you to select a train car or engine and customize it to your heart's delight. Simply pick a train car or engine, color it in as desired with easy one-touch fill, and then add some stickers for extra fun. When you're done with your locomotive masterpiece you can save it to your device, share it with the family - or perhaps print it out for a prize place on the family fridge. FEATURES: - CUSTOMIZE & COLOR Easily add color to your train. Just tap a color from the palette and then tap your train. - ZOOM (iPhone/iPod Touch only) Easily zoom in to color some of the smaller regions. - STICKERS Browse a range of stickers and then tap to add to your train. Change your mind about a sticker? You can drag stickers to reposition them or just double-tap to delete. - PLAY WITH YOUR TRAIN Once you have customized a car or engine, you can add it to your full train and then rearrange and place your train cars as desired. - INTEGRATION WITH BUILD A TRAIN Customize your train and then with one tap, you can export your very own personal train for use with Build A Train. - INTEGRATION WITH BUILD A TRAIN PUZZLES Customize your train and select the train yard of your choice. Then with one tap, you can export your very own customized puzzle for use with Build A Train Puzzles. - SAVE, SHARE AND PRINT You can save your train cars to your device library, easily send them to friends or print them out. Note: printing is supported for devices running iOS 4.2+ that are connected to AirPrint enabled printers. "Highly recommend" - http://Best10Apps.com Got suggestions for improving Design A Train? Leave a review and let us know! We love to hear constructive feedback - it helps make the app better. -- To learn more about Playtend please visit us at http://playtend.com
Design & Run Train
Design and build custom trains from various parts and templates. Then, drive your creations on tracks, controlling speed, horns, and switches while experiencing realistic station announcements.
- Design and build custom trains
- Control train speed and horns
- Use railroad switches
- Experience realistic station announcements
- Add and remove train wagons
- Craft train parts from brick pieces
Read full descriptionHide full description
Design & run train games allow you to play and learn everything about train craft and driving. You will learn how to control a train as it goes around a track, activate different horns, control speed, add and remove wagons, use railroad switches, listen to real train station announcements, and train riding around tracks. Design & craft all the parts of the train to ride on railway tracks. You can build unique trains by putting together pieces of colorful bricks like a puzzle. You can select from multiple varieties of classical locomotive templates, which range from old steam train to powerful diesel locomotive to modern high-speed train. Optionally, they can create entirely new designs using various brick styles and train parts. Once a train has been built, you can thus go on the railway and experience exciting train riding adventures.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Design A Train at 71% against Design & Run Train's 0%. Design A Train also leads on rating (4.4 vs 1.8) and ads (none vs shown). Design & Run Train's advantage is price (Free vs $1.99). On ratings volume, in-app purchases 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
Design & Run Train is free to download; Design A Train costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Design A Train holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 25 and 23 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Design A Train's written reviews are positive against 0% of Design & Run Train's.
Design A Train ships an update every 2 months, Design & Run Train every 47 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Design A Train | Design & Run Train |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (25 ratings) — better | 1.8 (23 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 25 — better | 23 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 47 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Playtend Apps LLP | Farrukh Ahmad |
Customer experience
Design A Train
Design & Run Train
In-app purchases
Design A Train
No in-app purchases
Design & Run Train
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Design A Train free?
Is Design & Run Train free?
Which has better reviews, Design A Train or Design & Run Train?
Do Design A Train or Design & Run Train have ads?
Which is updated more often, Design A Train or Design & Run Train?
Other comparisons















