Circuit Playground vs NetSpot WiFi Analyzer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Circuit Playground
This app serves as a comprehensive electronics reference and calculation tool. It helps makers and hobbyists by simplifying complex calculations for various circuits, deciphering component codes, and providing essential diagrams.
- Circuit value calculations
- Resistor and capacitor code deciphering
- Ohm's Law and power calculators
- Number and character conversions
- Series/parallel component calculations
- IC and connector pinout diagrams
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Circuit Playground simplifies electronics reference & calculation – so you can have more fun hacking, making, & building your projects. Features: • Calculate component values for Op Amp, 555, RC Filter, Resistor Divider circuits & more • Decipher resistor & capacitor codes with ease • Calculate power, resistance, current, and voltage with Ohm's Law & Power Calculators • Quickly convert between decimal, hexadecimal, binary or ASCII characters • Calculate values for multiple resistors or capacitors in series or parallel • Pinout diagrams for widely-used ICs, connectors, & boards • Find color for LED wavelength • Detect a magnet's polarity • Show off your project by submitting pics to Adafruit's Show & Tell • Access exclusive deals from Adafruit Industries All that, plus more functions & enhancements to come!
NetSpot WiFi Analyzer
Analyze and troubleshoot wireless networks with interactive heatmaps and speed tests. Discover connected devices and test network latency. Visualize WiFi coverage and identify areas needing improvement.
- WiFi heatmaps
- Internet speed tests
- Ping tests
- Device discovery
- Network analysis
- Site survey projects
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NetSpot 3 delivers powerful WiFi site surveys with internet speed, ping tests and device discovery to iPhone and iPad users. Build realistic WiFi heatmaps right on your iPhone or iPad in minutes, without additional expensive hardware! Analyze and troubleshoot your wireless networks with color-coded interactive heatmaps, very simple to create and interpret. NetSpot, famous for its versatile network tools with millions of business and home users across all platforms, is the only WiFi scanner app with heatmap visualizations on the App Store. Effortlessly manage your Wi-Fi survey projects by organizing them into multiple zones and snapshots for each surveyed area. Flexible configuration settings let you customize the look and feel of your WiFi map and choose the desired gradient to properly highlight areas with high WiFi speed and stable connection, as well as the areas with low WiFi signal that may need improvements. NetSpot’s WiFi speedtest is a great one-tap solution to verify and track performance of your wireless setups over time. NetSpot also offers Ping Tests. A ping test is a great way to check network connectivity for any underlying network issues and measure the latency. High latency may indicate slow or laggy internet, which affects gaming or video calls quality. NetSpot offers a handy Device Discovery mode, which basically turns the app into a network scanner collecting information on all devices connected to your network. It depends on devices, which information can be collected, but in general you can see such data as MAC address, IP address, device names, software and firmware versions, a class of device (e.g. smartphone, smart device or a laptop.), etc. The free version of NetSpot for iOS lets you use Device Discovery mode, as well as test the ping and Internet speed. WiFi Survey mode with heatmaps is available in NetSpot Plus - a one-time in-app purchase. USE NETSPOT AS... * WiFi analyzer - diagnose your wireless network connection speed and latency * WiFi scanner - collect and visualize your WiFi data * Speed tester - check your internet, WiFi or mobile download and upload speed, record historical results * WiFi mapper - conduct active WiFi site surveys for connected networks * Ping tester - verify your WiFi or mobile connection latency to major or custom websites * Network scanner – find and collect information about devices currently connected to your wireless network * WiFi troubleshooting app NetSpot WiFi heat mapper is fast, accurate and extremely simple. It helps you see the true coverage of your WiFi like never before, regardless of your mesh or no-mesh configuration, security settings, interfering networks or other factors. Every time you use NetSpot internet speed meter for WiFi site surveys, it delivers reliable interactive heatmaps that are easy to analyze. NETSPOT IS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL FOR... * WiFi network setup verification * WiFi signal, speed and ping test * Creating WiFi heat map to detect areas of weak signal (part of NetSpot Plus) * Find out who is on your Wi-Fi * Extending WiFi coverage and more
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Circuit Playground at 86% against NetSpot WiFi Analyzer's 15%. Circuit Playground also leads on rating (4.3 vs 3.7) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). NetSpot WiFi Analyzer's advantage is price (Free vs $2.99) and ratings volume (354 vs 19). On ads 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
NetSpot WiFi Analyzer is free to download; Circuit Playground costs $2.99 up front. NetSpot WiFi Analyzer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Circuit Playground asks for nothing beyond the download.
Circuit Playground holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetSpot WiFi Analyzer has 354 ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Circuit Playground's written reviews are positive against 15% of NetSpot WiFi Analyzer's.
Circuit Playground ships an update every 6 weeks, NetSpot WiFi Analyzer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Circuit Playground | NetSpot WiFi Analyzer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (19 ratings) — better | 3.7 (354 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.0% of reviews — better | 15.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 19 | 354 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adafruit Industries | Etwok Inc |
Customer experience
Circuit Playground
NetSpot WiFi Analyzer
User reviews
Circuit Playground
From 19 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Clean, intuitive, easy-to-use interface
- 🚀 Fast load times and responsive performance
- 📚 Comprehensive reference tools and calculators
- 🎯 Resistor and capacitor color code tools
- 📍 Useful pinout references for various boards
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- ⚠️ Outdated and needs regular updates
- ❌ Limited calculator functionality and flexibility
- 🎨 Poor visual design in some areas
- 📱 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
NetSpot WiFi Analyzer
From 354 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Helped identify Wi-Fi issues
- 💡 Useful for mapping Wi-Fi coverage
- 🚀 Speedy and accurate
Room to improve
- 🐛 Limited functionality on iOS
- 🔒 Requires expensive hardware to unlock full features
- 🔒 Misleading about hardware requirements
- 🐛 Inaccurate speed test results
- 🐛 Confusing to set up and use
Bugs and requests
Circuit Playground
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes when opening multiple capacitors section
- LED Resistor Help Menu crashes the app
- Wavelength to Colour slider inoperable until text field activated
- Capacitor code function broken (incorrect default values)
- Number converter only accepts value 50
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- Resistor color codes show conflicting color solutions
- iPad side-wiping error with page ghosting
- Calculator input issues requiring excessive fiddling
- Document folder missing in version 2
- Crashes on iPad mini 1st generation
Requested features
21 requests- Update USB Type-C connector information
- Add transistor pinouts and HFE values
- Transistor and op-amp calculators
- Voltage divider calculator
- Arduino and Raspberry Pi pinout references
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- More Adafruit board pinouts (HATs, KiPPAHs, TFT, Trinkets)
- LED parallel circuit handling
- Logic gate truth tables (NAND, AND, NOR, etc.)
- Function generator with sine, square, sawtooth, triangle waves
- Tuned LC circuit calculator
- NPN and PNP transistor calculator
- Mica capacitor color codes for vintage radios
- Better PDF datasheet import (via Safari/Dropbox instead of iTunes)
- Ability to rename datasheets for easier identification
- Breadboard templates for drawing
- Number keypad instead of full keyboard for inputs
- Power dissipation calculations on resistor calculator
- Schematic symbol reference
- iCloud syncing for datasheets
- Direct browsing of Adafruit store within app
- iOS 11+ compatibility updates
NetSpot WiFi Analyzer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unable to scan for data points beyond a certain distance
- Crashes when trying to create heat maps
- Speed test functionality is unreliable
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to scan for nearby Wi-Fi networks
- Improve heat mapping capabilities
- Allow importing floor plans without external hardware
- Provide more detailed signal strength analysis
In-app purchases
Circuit Playground
No in-app purchases
NetSpot WiFi Analyzer
- NetSpot Plus Monthly$8.991 Month
- NetSpot Plus$6.99
- NetSpot Plus Lifetime$29.99
Questions
Is Circuit Playground free?
Is NetSpot WiFi Analyzer free?
Which has better reviews, Circuit Playground or NetSpot WiFi Analyzer?
Do Circuit Playground or NetSpot WiFi Analyzer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Circuit Playground or NetSpot WiFi Analyzer?
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