Comparison

3D Pinball Space vs Visual Pinball

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

Head to head
About

3D Pinball Space

Experience classic pinball action with a space-themed mission system. Complete objectives to advance through ranks and unlock new challenges. Manage your fuel to avoid aborting missions and aim for the highest rank.

Highlights
  • Space fleet missions
  • Rank progression system
  • Mission targets and launch ramp
  • Attack bumpers
  • Fuel management
  • Rank advancement circles
Features
Read full description

The table features the player as a member of a space fleet that completes missions to increase rank. Players can attain nine different ranks (listed from lowest to highest): Cadet, Ensign, Lieutenant, Captain, LT Commander, Commander, Commodore, Admiral, and Fleet Admiral. Players accept a mission by hitting "mission targets" which select which mission they will take, and by going up the "launch ramp". Each mission has a set number of things for players to do, such as hitting the "attack bumpers" (which are a set of four bumpers at the top of the table) eight times (this is the "target practice" mission). Some missions involve a number of steps which must be completed in sequence. Missions end either by being completed, or by being aborted due to running out of "fuel", as indicated by the lights in the passage that passes under the launch ramp. The "fuel" lights go out one by one at a time interval, and can be re-lit by having the ball go over them, or all at once by going up the launch ramp again. Upon completing a mission, some of the blue lights in a circle in the middle of the table turn on. When all of the lights in the blue circle turn on, the player's rank increases, and a light in the orange circle turns on.

About

Visual Pinball

Enjoy a realistic pinball simulation with hundreds of community-created tables. Experience immersive haptic feedback and customize your gameplay with intuitive settings and controller support. Advanced options are available for power users.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of community-developed tables
  • Haptic feedback for immersive gameplay
  • Customizable settings and POV adjustments
  • Game controller support
  • External DMD and AltColor/AltSound support
  • Touch overlay and instructions
Features
Read full description

The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.

Screenshots

3D Pinball Space4 screens
Visual Pinball3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Visual Pinball at 79% against 3D Pinball Space's 30%. Visual Pinball also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2). 3D Pinball Space's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 12 months) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.6). On price, 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. 3D Pinball Space sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

3D Pinball Space ships an update every 2 weeks, Visual Pinball every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
3D Pinball Space versus Visual Pinball: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter3D Pinball SpaceVisual Pinball
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.3 (74 ratings) — better
Positive reviews30.0% of reviews78.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—74 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 12 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.6 — better26.6
Further details — not scored
Size100 MB120 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperDu Nguyen VietJason Millard

Customer experience

3D Pinball Space

Written reviews120 reviews
Positive30.0%
Neutral8.3%
Negative61.7%

Visual Pinball

All ratings73 ratings
Positive80.8%
Neutral6.8%
Negative12.3%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral12.5%
Negative8.9%

User reviews

3D Pinball Space

From App Store reviews

What we love

  • 🤩 Nostalgic gameplay
  • 👍 Works like the original
  • ✨ Good sound effects
  • 🕹️ Playable gameplay

Room to improve

  • 😠 Too many ads
  • 📱 Screen size issues
  • 💸 Not worth the money
  • 🔇 Unstoppable music
  • 🐌 Lagging and choppy

Visual Pinball

From 74 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Awesome way to play virtual pinball on the go
  • 👍 Super easy to set up with minimal file prep time
  • 👍 Insane that I can play favorite pins on just my phone
  • 👍 Fantastic portable implementation of VPX
  • 👍 Fun and exciting to archive the history of pinball

Room to improve

  • 🔧 More ability to adjust table settings needed
  • 🔧 Struggling to manage camera angle
  • 🔧 No fullscreen on iPad, plunger and outlanes cropped
  • 🔧 Some tables don't work or have issues

Bugs and requests

3D Pinball Space

Reported bugs

26 issues
  • App crashes on launch
  • Game lags significantly
  • Ads make game lag
  • Loading screen glitches
  • Unnecessary background music
Show 21 more
  • MFI game controller not supported
  • Xbox controller not working
  • App opens to a black screen
  • App locked up after a week
  • Full screen is too small
  • Game is unplayable
  • Score board input buttons not working
  • Rotation lock causes issues
  • Ball not running smoothly
  • Save score buttons not working
  • No sound
  • Game doesn't work on newer iPhones
  • Flipper buttons not responsive
  • Screen jumps when spacebar is hit
  • Ball physics issues
  • High scores only last while app is open
  • Bumper doesn't react
  • Game is too slow
  • App doesn't work at all
  • Paddles freeze after launching ball
  • Sound only with headphones

Requested features

10 requests
  • Ability to turn off music
  • Adjustable screen size
  • Save high scores
  • Edit high score name
  • More features
Show 5 more
  • Improve graphics
  • Fix controller support
  • Add volume control
  • Offline play option
  • HD remaster

Visual Pinball

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Tables don't load for some users
  • Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS

Requested features

6 requests
  • List of most played tables
  • Ability to reposition DMD
  • Option to skip startup checks for some tables
  • Ability to edit table scripts on the app
  • Direct link to table depository
Show 1 more
  • iPad version with more screen space

In-app purchases

2 purchases

3D Pinball Space

One-time2
  • Remove Ads$1.99
  • VIP - No Ads & Gems$3.99
None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 3D Pinball Space free?
3D Pinball Space is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do 3D Pinball Space or Visual Pinball have ads?
Neither 3D Pinball Space nor Visual Pinball shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 3D Pinball Space or Visual Pinball?
3D Pinball Space ships an update every 2 weeks, and Visual Pinball every 12 months. Most recently, 3D Pinball Space was updated on October 20, 2026 and Visual Pinball on October 22, 2026.

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