Power Inc vs Contraptor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Power Inc
Manage a power plant from the 1890s, generating electricity to build and grow a city. Research new technologies, craft items, and advance through different eras in this idle simulation game.
- Idle power production
- City building and growth
- Research and technology advancement
- Item crafting
- Pixel-art graphics
- Incremental gameplay
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Power Inc is an idle simulation tycoon game where you start in 1890 with one turbine, two stiff arms, and zero customers — and end up rewiring civilization itself. Crank. Automate. Electrify. Build a power empire across the eras in this jazzy idle tycoon game with historical ambitions. It's a city builder, a business tycoon, an incremental idle game, and a love letter to the people who hand-cranked the modern world. Tap to play, idle to win. GENERATE POWER - Spin a crank like it's 1890 (because it is) - Hire muscle so your wrists can retire - Unlock bigger, better, slightly less embarrassing turbines BUILD AND GROW A CITY - More watts → more houses → more customers → more watts (beautifully circular) - Construct commercial and industrial districts with juicy perks - Upgrade homes with tech your great-great-grandparents wouldn't recognize - Watch a sleepy hamlet sprawl into a glittering metropolis RESEARCH & AUTOMATE - Hire scientists. They invent things. You get rich. The system works. - Climb a skill tree and automate the daily grind - Invent products your citizens didn't know they needed - Manage a fleet of researchers across multiple cities A SOUNDTRACK WITH SWING - An original jazzy score with custom-composed tracks - High-production music that turns turbine-spinning into a smoky little jam session - Headphones strongly encouraged WHY YOU MIGHT LIKE POWER INC: - Classic idle tycoon mechanics with a fresh historical hook - Deep simulation systems — power, economy, research, all entangled - Easy to learn, satisfying to optimize - Cozy art, cheeky writing, zero pressure - No forced ads — watch one if you want a boost, never because we made you - No forced tutorials — poke around, break things, learn at your own pace
Contraptor
Create intricate machines to solve physics-based puzzles. Design your own challenges, share them with the community, and compete on leaderboards. Learn physics principles through hands-on tutorials.
- Build with real 2D physics
- Solve community challenges
- Design and share custom puzzles
- Climb leaderboards
- Hands-on tutorials
- Universal app for iPhone and iPad
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Contraptor is a Rube Goldberg physics playground where you build machines to solve hand-crafted puzzles. Drop in rods, wheels, pins, motors, and welds, wire up a contraption, hit Play, and let real physics decide how it works. NEW TO BUILDING? START WITH PLAY. Thirty short levels teach the whole game one trick at a time. Your first level hands you a single oval. Thirty levels later you're wiring motors, bracing with ghost rods, and threading payloads through wormholes. Every level keeps the machine you built to beat it, so you can come back and watch it run. Beat them all and you earn a Certificate of Completion with your name on it. THEN TAKE ON THE COMMUNITY. Every challenge is a puzzle: get the payload (or many payloads) to the target(s) using whatever that challenge allows. Some let you shove pieces around, some ration your parts with Twists, some bend the rules with wormholes. Solve it and you've earned bragging rights. Then flip it around: design your own challenge, prove it's solvable if you like, and dare everyone to crack it. • Build with real 2D physics — mass, gravity, momentum, friction, bounce, damping, and motors • Arrange tools to flip, align, and evenly space your pieces • 30 hand-built levels that teach all the core tools, plus a certificate at the top • A growing library of community challenges, with search • Design your own, prove they're solvable if you want to, and post them • Share any challenge or solution with a link and a short video of it running; friends open it right in the app • Twists: cap the parts, cap the speed, or hand solvers exactly the toolbox you choose • Win rules: all at once, hold-to-capture, or a Grand Tour of every Target • Wormholes, slow-motion zones, and other rule-benders • Rate and follow other builders • Hands-on tutorials for the core tools with more coming • Universal — iPhone and iPad Seeing a solution isn't the same as building one. That skill gap is the whole game. Free. No ads. Contraptor uses your iCloud account for community features (posting, rating, following, usernames). You can play every level, follow the tutorials, and browse and play everything in the Community without iCloud — it's only needed to post or interact. iCloud is free. Designed by JohnCowMilk · Built in Xcode with Apple's Coding Intelligence and Claude · Physics by Box2D
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Power Inc at 4.6 against Contraptor's 4.0. Power Inc also leads on ratings volume (547 vs 4) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Contraptor's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 13) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence 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. Power Inc sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. Contraptor asks for nothing beyond the download.
Power Inc holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Power Inc has 547 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of Power Inc's written reviews are positive against 100% of Contraptor's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Power Inc ships an update every 6 days, Contraptor every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Power Inc | Contraptor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (547 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 547 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 333 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dror Cohen | John Coumerilh |
Customer experience
Power Inc
Contraptor
Bugs and requests
Power Inc
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unlock requirements changing and breaking saves
- Trivia questions getting stuck or not working
- Ads not functioning properly
Requested features
4 requests- New levels and content updates
- More scientist and power generation options
- Customization options for player grid
- Multiplayer and social features
Contraptor
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Power Inc
- 10 Nobels$2.99
- Wendy's Christmas Boost$3.99
- Grouch's Christmas Boost$3.99
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- 20 Nobels$4.99
- Skip All Ads$5.99
- Wendy's 2025 Christmas Boost$5.99
- Costa Di Voltaggio Premium$5.99
- Desert Tower Premium Access$5.99
- Carbontopia Overdrive$6.99
- 50 Nobels$8.99
- Jazz Pack$12.99
- 80 Nobels$13.49
- Supporter Pack$17.99
Contraptor
No in-app purchases









