Comparison

Wildfrost vs Balatro

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

Head to head
About

Wildfrost

Embark on a tactical roguelike deckbuilder adventure where you build a deck of card companions and elemental items to banish an eternal winter. Explore endless replayability with daily runs, challenges, and a dynamic counter system. Develop your hub town and unlock new content between runs.

Highlights
  • Build a deck with over 160 cards
  • Endless replayability with daily runs
  • Recruit card companions and elemental items
  • Master a dynamic counter system
  • Expand and develop the hub town
  • Unlock new cards and customization options
Features
Read full description

-TRY BEFORE YOU BUY- Play for free until you beat the first boss. Unlock the full game with an in-app purchase. The sun has frozen over. The world has succumbed to the Wildfrost. Now only the town of Snowdwell and its survivors stand as the last bastion against an eternal winter… Build up a deck of powerful card companions and elemental items, as you battle to banish the frost once and for all! * Build your perfect deck with over 160 cards! * Endless replayability with daily runs and challenges * Great for new and veteran card game fans alike, with an all-new tutorial and difficulty scaling ‘Storm Bell’ system * Recruit cute card companions, elemental items and equip powerful charms to aid in your fight against the Wildfrost * Choose your Leader from a variety of tribes, each with randomized skills and stats * Master a dynamic ‘counter’ system to put your strategic skills to the test * Expand and develop the hub town of Snowdwell between runs * Unlock new cards, events, customisation options and more! * Fully updated and ready to play with the latest content - ‘Better Adventures’ & ‘Storm Bells’! * Updated UI for mobile play

About

Balatro

This game blends poker and solitaire mechanics with unique rule-bending twists. Build powerful poker hands, discover game-changing Joker cards, and create exciting combos to defeat challenging Boss Blinds. Explore different decks and game modes for endless replayability.

Highlights
  • Poker and Solitaire hybrid gameplay
  • Rule-bending mechanics
  • Collect over 150 unique Joker cards
  • Create powerful combos
  • Campaign and challenge modes
  • Pixel art visuals
Features
Read full description

Welcome to the official Balatro mobile game! Hypnotic and endlessly satisfying, Balatro is a magical mix of card games like Solitaire and Poker, that lets you twist the rules in ways never seen before! Your goal is to beat the Boss Blinds by making strong poker hands. Find new Jokers that change the game and create awesome and exciting combos! Win enough chips to beat tricky bosses, and find hidden bonus hands and decks as you play. You’ll need all the help you can get to beat the big boss, win the final challenge, and win the game. Features: * Remastered controls for touch screen devices. * Each run is different: every pick-up, discard and joker can dramatically alter the course of your run. * Multiple game items: discover over 150 Jokers, each with special powers. Use them with different decks,upgrade cards and vouchers to boost your scores. * Different Game modes: Campaign mode and challenge mode for you to play. * Beautiful Pixel Art: Immerse yourself in the CRT fuzz and enjoy detailed, hand-crafted pixel art.

Screenshots

Wildfrost4 screens
Balatro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Wildfrost at Free against Balatro's $9.99. Balatro's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Wildfrost is free to download; Balatro costs $9.99 up front. Wildfrost sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Balatro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Balatro holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Balatro has 108K ratings behind it against 516, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Wildfrost's written reviews are positive against 81% of Balatro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Wildfrost ships an update monthly, Balatro every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Wildfrost versus Balatro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWildfrostBalatro
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.2 (516 ratings)5.0 (108K ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.1% of reviews81.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings516108K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#2 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size724 MB94 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperChucklefish LimitedPlaystack Ltd

Customer experience

Wildfrost

All ratings507 ratings
Positive77.7%
Neutral3.4%
Negative18.9%
Written reviews330 reviews
Positive66.1%
Neutral9.7%
Negative24.2%

Balatro

All ratings107,874 ratings
Positive99.2%
Neutral0.3%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews1,885 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral5.3%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

Wildfrost

From 516 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Endless replayability
  • 👍 Unique and charming design
  • 🎨 Gorgeous art and animations
  • 🎶 Fitting and amazing music
  • 🤯 Incredible depth and complexity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and save data loss issues
  • 👀 Tiny text and UI elements
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 🤕 Overly punishing difficulty

Balatro

From 108K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Addictive gameplay
  • 💎 Unique and compelling mechanics
  • 👍 Easy to learn, hard to master
  • 🎨 Charming pixel art and music
  • 💰 Great value for money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and save issues
  • 🔍 Small text and UI elements
  • 🔋 Battery draining
  • 🔇 No background music support

Bugs and requests

Wildfrost

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game crashing on launch
  • Progress reset after device switch
  • Tutorial stages not functioning properly

Requested features

3 requests
  • Cloud save sync across devices
  • Option to increase font size
  • More content and faction updates

Balatro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unlocks and achievements not registering properly
  • Crashes and freezes on certain devices
  • Joker and card interactions not working as expected

Requested features

3 requests
  • Cloud save sync across devices
  • Portrait mode option
  • Customizable UI and accessibility settings

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Wildfrost

One-time1
  • Wildfrost Full Game$6.99
None

Balatro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Wildfrost free?
Wildfrost is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Balatro free?
Balatro costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Wildfrost or Balatro?
Balatro is rated higher. Wildfrost averages 4.2 out of 5 from 516 ratings, while Balatro averages 5.0 from 108K ratings.
Do Wildfrost or Balatro have ads?
Neither Wildfrost nor Balatro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Wildfrost or Balatro?
Wildfrost ships an update monthly, and Balatro every 8 days. Most recently, Wildfrost was updated on October 30, 2026 and Balatro on November 1, 2026.

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