Golly vs IdleSpiral
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Golly
Explore Conway's Game of Life and various cellular automata with this open-source application. It supports diverse universe types, multiple algorithms, and a wide array of cellular automata rules. Users can import patterns, download from online archives, and utilize unlimited undo/redo functionality.
- Supports bounded and unbounded universes
- Multiple algorithms including hashlife
- Variety of cellular automata types included
- Reads multiple file formats (RLE, macrocell, etc.)
- Extracts patterns and rules from zip files
- Downloads patterns and rules from online archives
- Unlimited undo/redo
Read full descriptionHide full description
Golly is an open source, cross-platform application for exploring Conway's Game of Life and many other types of cellular automata. Key features: Supports bounded and unbounded universes, with cells of up to 256 states. Supports multiple algorithms, including Bill Gosper's super fast hashlife algorithm. Many different types of CA are included: John von Neumann's 29-state CA, Wolfram's 1D rules, WireWorld, Generations, Langton's Loops, Larger than Life, etc. Reads RLE, macrocell, Life 1.05/1.06, dblife, and MCell files. Can extract patterns and rules from zip files. Can download patterns and rules from online archives. Includes a state-of-the-art pattern collection. Unlimited undo/redo. Extensive help, with an integrated Life Lexicon.
IdleSpiral
An idle, incremental game where players aim to grow a spiral. It combines simple gameplay with mathematical beauty for long-term engagement.
- Idle gameplay
- Incremental progression
- Spiral mathematics
- Long-term engagement
- Simple mechanics
Read full descriptionHide full description
Idle Spiral is a beautiful idle and incremental game inspired by spirals and mathematics. Grow your spiral farther and farther from the origin. Improve its parameters, discover formulas, challenge enemies, collect rewards, and watch simple mathematical rules create increasingly complex patterns. The controls are simple, but the progression is deep and designed to be enjoyed over a long time. Play actively when you want to optimize your build, or return later and continue from your offline progress. Features: • Deep idle and incremental progression • Spiral growth based on mathematical formulas • Upgrades, battles, challenges, achievements, and daily rewards • Optional ads and in-app purchases • Account, shared Mileage, and cross-platform save foundations • Performance and battery-use options for mobile devices How far can you grow your spiral?
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Golly at 97% against IdleSpiral's 54%. Golly also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). IdleSpiral's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 32 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ratings volume and iOS requirement 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. IdleSpiral sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Golly asks for nothing beyond the download.
Golly holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 47 and 79 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 97% of Golly's written reviews are positive against 54% of IdleSpiral's.
Golly ships an update every 32 months, IdleSpiral every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Golly | IdleSpiral |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (47 ratings) — better | 4.2 (79 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 96.8% of reviews — better | 54.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 47 | 79 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 32 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 235 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andrew Trevorrow | Idle System, Inc. |
Customer experience
Golly
IdleSpiral
Bugs and requests
Golly
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
IdleSpiral
Reported bugs
28 issues- Game is unresponsive
- Ads don't work or give rewards
- Patterns are random
- Bar at the bottom center not growable
- Phone gets super hot and drains battery
Show 23 moreShow fewer
- Translation is poor
- Offline progress not accumulating
- Game speed items cause overheating
- Game becomes laggy
- Last two Z Reactors missing
- Last three challenges missing
- Game not idle, requires active play
- Rewards reset when app is closed
- Memory of Formula system confusing
- Battles no longer progress offline
- Text is too small
- Daily bonus not working
- Offline gains broken
- Achievements not unlocking
- Offline battles don't increase difficulty
- Stats not functioning
- Social sharing (screenshot/tweet) broken
- Daily rewards unclear
- Challenges past first versions inaccessible
- Save process wipes progress
- Offline enemy kills not counting
- Spiral Equations not working
- Difficulty of fighting tab not increasing offline
Requested features
10 requests- Fix bugs and glitches
- Improve ad rewards and length
- Make the game truly idle again
- Fix offline gains and progress
- Improve translation and text display
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Bring PC version content to mobile
- Fix social sharing features
- Add dark mode
- Fix challenges not appearing
- Fix Z-Reactors not appearing
In-app purchases
Golly
No in-app purchases
IdleSpiral
- Spiral Point 500$1.99
- Bubble Spiral$4.99
- Arrow Spiral$4.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Space Spiral$9.99
- Bonfire Spiral$9.99
- Permanent Bonus$9.99
- Pixel Spiral$9.99
- Railway Spiral$9.99
- Spiral Point 3000$12.99
- Spiral Point 10000$29.99
