Comparison

Pinball Simulator 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

Pinball Simulator

Experience classic arcade pinball with original music and authentic sound effects. Score points by hitting targets and prevent the ball from passing your paddle. Be the first to reach three points to win.

Highlights
  • Classic pinball gameplay
  • Score by hitting targets
  • Prevent ball from passing paddle
  • Original mood-enhancing music
  • Authentic arcade sound effects
  • First to three points wins
Features
Read full description

Welcome to this modern classic pinball game! It's an addictive and extremely fun game where you bounce the ball off different targets to score. But be careful, don't let it slide past your paddle, otherwise your opponent will score! The game features original mood-enhancing music, along with authentic arcade pinball sound effects, making it suitable for players of all ages. This game follows the "Who first to score three who will wins" rule. Are you ready to accept the challenge from your opponent and emerge success? Join the endless pinball fun!

About

Visual Pinball

Experience the full virtual pinball simulator with realistic physics, lighting, and sound. This open-source app offers a redesigned interface, enhanced table management, and the complete desktop experience for mobile devices. Enjoy a vast library of tables without ads or in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Realistic physics, lighting, and sound
  • Redesigned interface with Liquid Glass
  • Full in-game menu for graphics and controls
  • Support for various backglass and display types
  • Easy table import and management
  • Optimized memory usage
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

Pinball Simulator4 screens
Visual Pinball3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Visual Pinball at none against Pinball Simulator's shown. Visual Pinball also leads on rating (4.3 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (75 vs 4). Pinball Simulator's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 26.6). On price, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Visual Pinball holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Visual Pinball has 75 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pinball Simulator versus Visual Pinball: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPinball SimulatorVisual Pinball
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (4 ratings)4.3 (75 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—78.0% of reviews
Number of ratings475 — better
Update frequency—Fortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better26.6
Further details — not scored
Size58 MB134 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperBeijing Popeach Network Technology LimitedJason Millard

Customer experience

Pinball Simulator

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Visual Pinball

All ratings74 ratings
Positive81.1%
Neutral6.8%
Negative12.2%
Written reviews59 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral11.9%
Negative10.2%

Bugs and requests

Pinball Simulator

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

None

Pinball Simulator

No in-app purchases

None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pinball Simulator free?
Pinball Simulator is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pinball Simulator or Visual Pinball?
Visual Pinball is rated higher. Pinball Simulator averages 4.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Visual Pinball averages 4.3 from 75 ratings.
Do Pinball Simulator or Visual Pinball have ads?
Pinball Simulator shows ads; Visual Pinball does not.

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