Pinball Arcade vs Visual Pinball
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pinball Arcade
Experience over 30 authentic digital pinball machines with stunningly accurate recreations of classic tables. Enjoy two free tables each month and explore meticulously emulated gameplay, sounds, and visuals for an immersive arcade experience.
- Over 30 authentic pinball machines
- Exact recreations of classic tables
- Meticulous emulation of gameplay
- High-detail sound effects and visuals
- Two free tables offered monthly
- New tables added regularly
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Play over 30 REAL PINBALL machines! Pinball Arcade is the most realistic and comprehensive pinball simulation ever created! Play TWO FREE TABLES this month! This month's free tables are: * Big Buck Hunter™ * Gladiators™ New table added in this update: * Big Buck Hunter™ * Whoa Nellie™ This expansive digital arcade features exact recreations of the all-time greatest pinball tables from Stern Pinball® and Gottlieb® together in one app. Every flipper, bumper, sound effect, and display pixel has been painstakingly emulated in astonishing detail. Rated 9.0 on IGN! G4TV Mobile game of the year.
Visual Pinball
Experience the full virtual pinball simulator with realistic physics, lighting, and sound. This open-source app offers a redesigned interface, enhanced table management, and the complete desktop experience for mobile devices. Enjoy a vast library of tables without ads or in-app purchases.
- Realistic physics, lighting, and sound
- Redesigned interface with Liquid Glass
- Full in-game menu for graphics and controls
- Support for various backglass and display types
- Easy table import and management
- Optimized memory usage
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The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Visual Pinball at 78% against Pinball Arcade's 32%. Visual Pinball also leads on rating (4.3 vs 3.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). Pinball Arcade's advantage is ratings volume (808 vs 75) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 26.6). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Pinball Arcade sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.
Visual Pinball holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pinball Arcade has 808 ratings behind it against 75, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 32% of Pinball Arcade's written reviews are positive against 78% of Visual Pinball's.
Pinball Arcade ships an update every 3 weeks, Visual Pinball fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pinball Arcade | Visual Pinball |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (808 ratings) | 4.3 (75 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.5% of reviews | 78.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 808 — better | 75 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 26.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 138 MB | 134 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | FarSight Studios | Jason Millard |
Customer experience
Pinball Arcade
Visual Pinball
User reviews
Pinball Arcade
From 808 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Realistic pinball simulation
- 🎮 Faithful recreation of classic tables
- 🎨 Excellent graphics and visuals
- 💰 Good value for purchased tables
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 🔍 Difficult to see score/UI elements on newer devices
- 💰 Expensive table packs
- 🤖 Lack of updates and support for newer devices
Visual Pinball
From 75 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome way to play virtual pinball on the go
- 👍 Super easy to set up with minimal file prep time
- 👍 Insane that I can play favorite pins on just my phone
- 👍 Fantastic portable implementation of VPX
- 👍 Fun and exciting to archive the history of pinball
Room to improve
- 🔧 More ability to adjust table settings needed
- 🔧 Struggling to manage camera angle
- 🔧 No fullscreen on iPad, plunger and outlanes cropped
- 🔧 Some tables don't work or have issues
Bugs and requests
Pinball Arcade
Reported bugs
4 issues- Tables failing to download or load properly
- Unresponsive controls and flippers
- Scoreboard and UI elements being cut off
- Inconsistent or reversed flipper controls
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to purchase individual tables
- More classic and licensed pinball tables
- Improved UI and controls customization
- Cross-platform/device syncing of purchases
Visual Pinball
Reported bugs
2 issues- Tables don't load for some users
- Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS
Requested features
6 requests- List of most played tables
- Ability to reposition DMD
- Option to skip startup checks for some tables
- Ability to edit table scripts on the app
- Direct link to table depository
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- iPad version with more screen space
In-app purchases
Pinball Arcade
- Tales of the Arabian Nights® Pinball Table$0.99
- The Machine: Bride of Pin•bot™ + Medieval Madness™$4.99
- Fun House™ + Cirqus Voltaire™$4.99
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- Monster Bash™ & Gorgar Pinball$4.99
- Creature from the Black Lagoon$4.99
- Elvira's Scared Stiff™ Pinball$4.99
- The Addams Family® Pinball$4.99
- Gottlieb Pack 1$4.99
- Four Pack of Launch Tables$9.99
- Season 1 Pass$29.99
Visual Pinball
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pinball Arcade free?
Is Visual Pinball free?
Which has better reviews, Pinball Arcade or Visual Pinball?
Do Pinball Arcade or Visual Pinball have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pinball Arcade or Visual Pinball?
Other comparisons
