Comparison

Hopscotch vs Playground Engineer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Hopscotch

This app allows children to create their own games, art, and stories using kid-friendly programming. Users can share their creations with a moderated community, play and remix projects from others, and learn to code through interactive video tutorials.

Highlights
  • Create games, art, and stories
  • Kid-friendly programming interface
  • Share creations with a moderated community
  • Play and remix projects from other users
  • Learn coding through video tutorials
  • Build advanced games and apps
Features
Read full description

“Hopscotch is the best way to express your imagination! Most other "learn to code" apps just make you complete boring levels with 4 "move" blocks, but in hopscotch you have the freedom to create anything, which is amazing.” — BuildASnowman, Hopscotcher “This taught me sooooo much about basics of coding. I have been able to make some cool games I hope to learn more as I advance this app was extremely helpful and easy to learn.” — BestBeginnersCoding, Hopcotcher “I had ZERO background or programming experience. I personally checked all 8 or 10 of these blogs about recommendations. And Hopscotch was the most intuitive and interactive. It’s not like you’re just playing video games. My daughter loves it!” — Mom, S. to daughter, 8 “I am a 4th grade teacher who LOVES your app. Our students have been introduced to coding through it and I am impressed with the creativity they have shown and the skills they are building while creating projects.” — Kelley, 4th grade teacher CREATE Whether games, art, stories or more, you can code whatever you want with kid-friendly programming. Publish your creations to Hopscotch’s fully moderated community, where kids can play and learn from your games. PLAY Explore and learn from millions of projects created by other kids. Open up any project to play, tweak, or remix it. With thousands of games published every week, you’ll never run out of ideas or inspiration! LEARN Our play-along video tutorials teach you to make Crossy Road, PokemonGo, and more. Listen, watch, and code as you go! As you become a better programmer, Hopscotch will challenge you to create increasingly advanced games and apps. These skills will help you in high school, college, and beyond. PRESS + AWARDS ** Parents Magazine: Best Apps for Families ** ** FastCompany: Innovation By Design Finalist ** ** Parent’s Choice Gold Medal: Software ** ** Children’s Technology Review: Best Educational Technology ** Featured in: ** The New York Times ** ** The Wall Street Journal ** ** WIRED ** ** Parents Magazine ** ** FastCompany ** ** Apple App Store Editors ** FOR PARENTS See how much your child will love learning to code with Hopscotch! Join 10 million families coding on Hopscotch. Upgrade to Hopscotch Pro for premium creation tools. Get a week-long free trial, and then subscribe for $9.99/month or $79.99/year. You can cancel anytime, hassle free. FOR EDUCATORS Hopscotch is used on 44% of school iPads in the US. Sign up as an educator when you download Hopscotch, and then start coding in your classroom with free lesson plans and student accounts. Increase student engagement with our library of self-guided video tutorials. Email us at classrooms@gethopscotch.com to get started. SAFETY + PRIVACY Hopscotch values kids’ safety and privacy. Hopscotch does not require or collect Personal Information from children, and is COPPA Certified by iKeep Safe. SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscribe to Hopscotch Pro for premium creation tools. You can choose between two auto-renewing subscription options: - $9.99 per month - $79.99 per year Get a 7-day free trial when you upgrade to Hopscotch Pro. Cancel at any time before the trial period ends, and you won’t be charged until after the trial period. Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. To cancel a subscription, disable auto-renewal in your iTunes settings (General > iTunes Settings > Subscriptions > Manage) and allow the current period to end. Refunds are not available for unused portions of a subscription per iTunes policy. Hopscotch Privacy Policy: https://gethopscotch.com/privacy-policy Hopscotch Terms of Use: https://gethopscotch.com/terms

About

Playground Engineer

This program mentors young minds to become leaders in digital innovation. Participants develop essential skills like creativity, critical thinking, and leadership while building their own iPhone apps and games.

Highlights
  • Digital Innovation Leadership Program
  • Enhances creativity and critical thinking
  • Develops leadership skills
  • Teaches technology application
  • Create iPhone apps and games
Features
Read full description

Playground Engineer introduces the Digital Innovation Leadership Program, designed to enhance a comprehensive set of skills including creativity, critical thinking, leadership, and technology. Through this program, we mentor young minds to become leaders in digital innovation. Students have the unique opportunity to channel their creativity into practical outcomes by developing their own iPhone apps and games.

Screenshots

Hopscotch4 screens
Playground Engineer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Playground Engineer at none against Hopscotch's 10. Playground Engineer also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5). Hopscotch's advantage is ratings volume (15K vs 5) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Hopscotch sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Playground Engineer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Playground Engineer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hopscotch has 15K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hopscotch ships an update every 2 weeks, Playground Engineer every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Hopscotch versus Playground Engineer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHopscotchPlayground Engineer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (15K ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings15K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size203 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHopscotch TechnologiesSATYANANDA CORP

Customer experience

Hopscotch

All ratings14,975 ratings
Positive87.7%
Neutral4.8%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews491 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral9.4%
Negative20.4%

Playground Engineer

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Hopscotch

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Projects disappearing or not saving properly
  • Shapes/objects not displaying correctly
  • Crashes and freezes when using certain features
  • Subscription/login issues

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add cloud variables and multiplayer support
  • Allow custom sounds and profile pictures for free
  • Improve the 'Newest' tab to better showcase new projects
  • Restore old features like unlimited free projects
  • Add a 'reset' button for projects
Show 1 more
  • Improve the coding logic and debugging tools

Playground Engineer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Hopscotch

Subscriptions9
  • 1 Month Subscription with free trial7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Hopscotch Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Hopscotch Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$7.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Hopscotch Monthly Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Hopscotch Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • 1 Year Subscription with free trial1 Month trial$79.991 Year
  • 1 Year Subscription with free trial7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Hopscotch Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Hopscotch Yearly Subscription1 Month trial$79.991 Year
None

Playground Engineer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hopscotch free?
Hopscotch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Playground Engineer free?
Playground Engineer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Hopscotch or Playground Engineer?
Playground Engineer is rated higher. Hopscotch averages 4.5 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while Playground Engineer averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Hopscotch or Playground Engineer have ads?
Neither Hopscotch nor Playground Engineer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hopscotch or Playground Engineer?
Hopscotch ships an update every 2 weeks, and Playground Engineer every 3 weeks. Most recently, Hopscotch was updated on October 31, 2026 and Playground Engineer on October 30, 2026.

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