Wildfrost vs Balatro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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-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
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.
- Poker and Solitaire hybrid gameplay
- Rule-bending mechanics
- Collect over 150 unique Joker cards
- Create powerful combos
- Campaign and challenge modes
- Pixel art visuals
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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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
Wildfrost ships an update monthly, Balatro every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Wildfrost | Balatro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (516 ratings) | 5.0 (108K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.1% of reviews | 81.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 516 | 108K — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #2 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 724 MB | 94 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Chucklefish Limited | Playstack Ltd |
Customer experience
Wildfrost
Balatro
User reviews
Wildfrost
From 516 App Store ratingsWhat 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 ratingsWhat 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
Wildfrost
- Wildfrost Full Game$6.99
Balatro
No in-app purchases









