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
Read full descriptionHide full description
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
Enjoy a realistic pinball simulation with hundreds of community-created tables. Experience immersive haptic feedback and customize your gameplay with intuitive settings and controller support. Advanced options are available for power users.
- Hundreds of community-developed tables
- Haptic feedback for immersive gameplay
- Customizable settings and POV adjustments
- Game controller support
- External DMD and AltColor/AltSound support
- Touch overlay and instructions
Read full descriptionHide full description
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 79% 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 update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 12 months) and ratings volume (807 vs 73). On price, 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 807 ratings behind it against 73, 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 79% of Visual Pinball's.
Pinball Arcade ships an update every 3 weeks, Visual Pinball every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pinball Arcade | Visual Pinball |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (807 ratings) | 4.3 (73 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.5% of reviews | 78.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 807 — better | 73 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 12 months |
| 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 | 120 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | FarSight Studios | Jason Millard |
Customer experience
Pinball Arcade
Visual Pinball
User reviews
Pinball Arcade
From 807 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 73 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
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- 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
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- 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
