X vs Flight Sim
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
X
Experience a highly realistic flight simulator with accurate physics and detailed 3D cockpits. Explore numerous airports and terrain, with options to expand scenery and aircraft through subscription and in-app purchases.
- Realistic flight model
- Interactive 3D cockpits
- Detailed 3D airports
- Free tutorials
- Massive multiplayer
- System failure simulation
- Emergency scenarios
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The most realistic aircraft. The world at your fingertips. It’s not a game, it’s a flight simulator. ▶ "Highly recommended." — Mel Martin, Engadget ◀ ▶ Featured by Apple in "Best New Games" ◀ ▶ Over 1 million downloads! ◀ Come experience why real pilots fly X-Plane. It starts with the flight model—the same flight model used in our FAA-certified desktop simulator—that’s complete enough to model the flex in your wings & the tilt in your landing gear. Add to that our desktop-quality aircraft with multiple liveries and interactive 3-D cockpits—so detailed you can do a full startup procedure using the hundreds of buttons, knobs, & switches in the cockpit. With working gauges, flight displays, & more, these cockpits are as realistic as those in our full desktop sim. But aircraft are no good without a place to fly them. That's why each of our 5 ▸free◂ regions features detailed terrain, lifelike city buildings, & 3D airports—complete with terminal buildings, jetways, hangars, & more. Want more? Subscribe to unlock global scenery, and get access to over 37,000 airports, with more than 11,500 airports featuring 3D terminals, hangars, & more. ▶ FEATURES √ 9 ▸free◂ tutorials, teaching the basics of takeoffs & landings, traffic patterns, helicopters, & more √ Massive multiplayer with thousands of other pilots and controllers in a single shared world (Professional subscribers only; non-subscribers can get free trial flights for a limited time) √ Fully interactive cockpits on many aircraft, wired to real systems models, with working gauges, displays, buttons, & switches √ Full startup procedures supported on many aircraft (optionally start any aircraft from cold & dark) √ More than 50 systems modeled, each of which can be failed on command √ Emergency scenarios √ Combat missions ▶ AIRCRAFT The app includes 2 aircraft (plus 5 scenery regions) for free. In addition, the following aircraft are available as in-app purchases: • ▸Free!◂ Cessna 172SP w/ 4 liveries • ▸Free!◂ Cirrus Vision SF50 w/ 5 liveries • Cirrus SR22 w/ 3 liveries • Cessna Citation X w/ 3 liveries • Airbus A320 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Airbus A330-300 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Boeing B737-800 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Boeing B777-200ER Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Boeing B747-400 Jumbo Jet w/ 3 liveries • Bombardier CRJ200 Regional Jet w/ 3 liveries • Douglas DC-3 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • McDonnell Douglas MD-80 w/ 3 liveries • A-10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”) Fighter • F-22 Raptor Fighter • F-4 Phantom II Fighter • Beechcraft Baron B58 • Beechcraft King Air C90B • Piper PA-18 Super Cub • Piaggio P.180 Avanti • Sikorsky S76 Helicopter ▶ SCENERY 5 scenery regions are ▸free◂ for everyone! • Oahu, Hawaii • Grand Canyon • Seattle/Tacoma, Washington • Juneau, Alaska • Innsbruck, Austria Global scenery is available by purchasing a monthly or yearly subscription. ▶ MULTIPLAYER Come join tens of thousands of other pilots and controllers in a single, shared world! Try the Fly-In of the Day to meet up with hundreds of other pilots, or explore the MMO world for more chance encounters. Massive multiplayer is in early access—we wanted to get it in your hands as soon as possible—so we’re going to continue adding new features & improvements over the coming months. Terms of Service available at: https://www.x-plane.com/x-plane-mobile-terms-of-service/ Download X-Plane now to experience aviation like never before.
Flight Sim
Experience realistic flight simulation with an open world, diverse missions, and training courses. Earn money, buy planes and homes, and master takeoffs, landings, and maneuvers.
- Open world flight simulation
- Test drive any aircraft
- Pilot training courses
- Variety of flight missions
- Real day/night and weather systems
- Buyable home positions
- Multiple unique islands and airports
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New and better version of flight simulator: plane pilot game. So if you are a flight simulation lover and you feel yourself an airplane pilot, don't loose time, get your airplane and feel real pilot experience in our flight world. FREE WORLD - best open world flight simulation with contracts, buying home positions, saving at different home positions, earning money like real pilots do. TEST DRIVE - try any airplane you want to feel how each of them works, what is different in parameters and physics. TRAINING - our training course will teach you how to control airplane. You will learn how to do a takeoff, how to do flight maneuvers, how to do an excellent landing with different airplanes and jets. MISSIONS - flight simulator includes various missions where you can check your pilot skills + earn money. You need to pass checkpoints, far checkpoint circles, do landings. Completing flight missions you will earn money. Show your plane pilot skills in action! To give the best flight simulation experience we have developed real day time system for you. So you will get real morning, day, evening and night feeling. Also you will get a weather - wind system. Islands are unique: winter snow island, desert island with name Colorado, tropic islands, rocky islands and more. There are many airports where you can land or start game from. Airports are located on various islands across the sea. As a real airplane pilot your goal is to earn money doing contracts (transportation jobs from one island to another) and missions (you can earn rank and stars if you complete flight maneuvers well). Home positions are the next unique experience in our open world flight game. You can use your money to buy home positions, then you can save game at that position and restart the game from the saved position. If you are a good pilot, start right away, fly, earn money, buy better planes, buy homes and complete hard missions. But if you are a starter, no worries, start from training and we will help you to become an expert airplane pilot. Enjoy flight simulation and good luck on air!!!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: X at 4.0 against Flight Sim's 3.2. X also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months). Flight Sim's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and review sentiment (83% vs 58%). On price 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. X sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Flight Sim asks for nothing beyond the download.
X holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: X has 25K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of X's written reviews are positive against 83% of Flight Sim's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
X ships an update fortnightly, Flight Sim every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and August 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | X | Flight Sim |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (25K ratings) — better | 3.2 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 58.2% of reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 25K — better | 13 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.0 GB | 178 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Laminar Research | Vahagn Sargsyan |
Customer experience
X
Flight Sim
Bugs and requests
X
Reported bugs
3 issues- Altitude hold issues in the MD-80
- Inconsistent cockpit quality across different planes
- Unexpected plane behavior during takeoff and landing
Requested features
5 requests- More free planes, especially commercial airliners
- Larger free flight area and more airports
- Improved autopilot and flight planning features
- Addition of ground services like pushback and jetways
- More realistic weather, lighting, and environmental effects
Flight Sim
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
X
- X-Plane Mobile Basic$4.991 Month
- X-Plane Mobile Professional$5.991 Month
- Piper SuperCub$0.99
- Baron B58$1.99
- Sikorsky S76$2.99
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- McDonnell Douglas MD-80$4.99
- Airbus A320$4.99
- F-22 Raptor$4.99
- Boeing 777-200ER$4.99
- Boeing 747-400$4.99
- Boeing B737-800$4.99
Flight Sim
No in-app purchases









