Essential Sudoku vs Digfender
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Essential Sudoku
A minimalist and clean logic-based number puzzle game for iPhone and iPod touch. It offers a pure sudoku experience with no ads, in-app purchases, or distracting features. Enjoy straightforward gameplay focused solely on solving puzzles.
- Minimalist design
- No ads
- No in-app purchases
- No tracking
- No hints
- No timers
- Pure sudoku gameplay
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Solve sudoku puzzles on your iPhone or iPod touch. This is a clean, simple, minimalist sudoku app: • No ads • No in-app purchases • No tracking • No hints • No timers • No themes • No leaderboards • No achievements • No clutter Enjoy! (c:
Digfender
Defend your castle by digging deep underground to find resources and build powerful towers and traps. Customize your defenses through upgrade trees and challenge friends in survival mode. Enjoy a unique tower defense experience with no paywalls or wait timers.
- Digging for treasure and relics
- Building towers and traps
- Customizable defense upgrades
- Survival mode with leaderboards
- Over 70 challenging levels
- No paywalls or wait timers
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"Digfender is easily one of the best tower defense games I've played in a long time" - TOUCH ARCADE "There's a million tower defense games but only one like this" - GAMERANX Beneath your castle an enemy lies waiting. Grab your shovel and prepare your defenses! Dig deep into the ground and find valuable treasures and ancient relics to help you on your mission. Then use your loot to build powerful towers, set clever traps and unleash spectacular magic on your enemies. FEATURES - Over 70 challenging levels - 5 upgrade trees to customize your defenses - Survival mode - challenge your friends to beat your high score - Leaderboards and achievements - No paywalls or wait timers - Digging. Everyone loves digging Terms of service: http://www.mugshotgames.com/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Digfender at Free against Essential Sudoku's $3.00. Digfender also leads on ratings volume (1K vs 14). Essential Sudoku's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, update cadence, device support 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
Digfender is free to download; Essential Sudoku costs $3.00 up front. Digfender sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Essential Sudoku asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Essential Sudoku against 4.7 for Digfender. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Digfender has 1K ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Essential Sudoku's written reviews are positive against 91% of Digfender's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on August 29, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Essential Sudoku | Digfender |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.00 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (14 ratings) — better | 4.7 (1K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 91.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 | 1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 482 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | CyberMoai | Mugshot Games Pty Ltd |
Customer experience
Essential Sudoku
Digfender
Bugs and requests
Essential Sudoku
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Digfender
Reported bugs
2 issues- Game freezes and crashes
- UI elements not visible on newer devices
Requested features
4 requests- More levels and content
- Custom level creator
- Endless mode without tower-destroying enemies
- Target priority options for towers
In-app purchases
Essential Sudoku
No in-app purchases
Digfender
- 1500 Diamonds$1.99
- 4000 Diamonds$3.99
- Remove Ads$3.99
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Special Offer 1$4.99
- Jeweler's Cart$5.99
- 10000 Diamonds$7.99
- Dwarven Stronghold$7.99
- Dark Fortress$7.99
- Ice Palace$7.99
- Special Offer 2$14.99
- 30000 Diamonds$19.99
Questions
Is Essential Sudoku free?
Is Digfender free?
Which has better reviews, Essential Sudoku or Digfender?
Do Essential Sudoku or Digfender have ads?
Which is updated more often, Essential Sudoku or Digfender?
Other comparisons
