Cookie Empire vs Switchgear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cookie Empire
Click to bake cookies, automate production, and grow your empire in this idle incremental game. Explore minigames, uncover cryptic lore, and ascend to unlock powerful boosts. Features include offline progress, complex synergies, and a unique grandma sacrifice mechanic.
- Incremental cookie baking
- Automation and complex synergies
- Offline progress
- Multiple minigames (Farming, Stock Market, Lucky Wheel, Tile Matching)
- Ascension/Prestige mechanics
- Grandma sacrifice to demons
- Public leaderboards
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Cookie Empire is an idle incremental clicker with a dark sense of humor: tap to bake, automate production, earn offline, and prestige for exponential growth — until one big cookie becomes a baking empire that probably shouldn't exist. What starts as a simple tapping game grows into a long-term incremental game with upgrades, automation, ascension, minigames, and a few increasingly questionable grandmas. THE ECONOMY MUST GROW. COOKIES ARE ALL WE KNOW. Hire lovely grandmas. Build farms, factories, alchemy labs, mines, and machines that should probably never have been switched on. Dig into eldritch mines. Sacrifice grandmas to Japanese demons. Follow the numbers upward until the bakery stops feeling cozy and starts feeling like something ancient is watching the production graph. FEATURES • Tap-to-bake progression with exponential upgrades • Grandmas, farms, factories, mines, and stranger production systems • Automation, prestige, ascension, and long-term incremental growth • Garden, mine expeditions, stock market, lucky wheel, tile matching, and leaderboards • Idle production and return rewards • Dark secrets, cosmetic skins, frequent solo-dev updates, and a cookie economy that absolutely refuses to stop growing Build your cookie empire one tap at a time.
Switchgear
Navigate an endless cycle of rotating gears, collecting items to beat your high score. Avoid hazards like falling off, being crushed, or caught by enemies. Power-ups offer a temporary advantage in this fast-paced hunt.
- Endless rotating gear system
- Item collection for high scores
- Achievement cogs to unlock
- Hazard avoidance (falling, crushing)
- Enemy encounters
- Power-up collection
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Switchgear is an endless system of rotating cogs where you spin around in an endless circle of rotating gears while participating in a hunt where you are both the hunter and the hunted at the same time. The aim of the game is to collect all the items that appear to beat your highest score, and unlock achievement cogs, whilst avoiding falling off the cog, being crushed between the cog teeth or caught by enemies whose purpose is to stop you. Collect power ups to help you stay one step ahead where every second counts.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Cookie Empire at none against Switchgear's shown. Cookie Empire also leads on ratings volume (654 vs 1) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). Switchgear's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Cookie Empire sells 15 one-off in-app purchases and Switchgear sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Switchgear holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cookie Empire has 654 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Cookie Empire ships an update weekly, Switchgear monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cookie Empire | Switchgear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (654 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 654 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 90 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alejandro Jimenez Rico | Alpha Innovation Game Studios Ltd |
Bugs and requests
Cookie Empire
Reported bugs
7 issues- Offline progress not working
- Ascension issues
- Alchemy lab not working
- Upgrades not appearing
- Crashes after updates
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- Resets progress
- Rotating screen issues
Requested features
10 requests- Add backbone please
- More audio suggestions
- Ability to see vegetables in the garden
- Volleyball skin
- Achievements
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- More menu buttons
- Prestige system
- More buildings and upgrades
- Ability to see how many of a building can be bought
- Cookie SFX
Switchgear
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Cookie Empire
- Mini Gem Pack$0.99
- 53 Wings$0.99
- Magic Cookie$0.99
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- Gems 1.2$1.99
- Medium Gems Pack$1.99
- Permanent Boost$1.99
- Time Warp$2.99
- Gems Small Pack 2$3.99
- No-Ads$4.99
- Large Gems Pack$4.99
- Gems Mid Pack$5.99
- Seasonal Pack$9.99
- Big Gems Pack$9.99
- Larger Gems Pack$24.99
- Largest Gems Pack$39.99
Switchgear
- Slow Time X5$0.99
- Jolly Roger X5$0.99
- Extra Time X5$0.99
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- Shield X5$0.99
- Extra Life x5$0.99
- Special Pack X3$4.99
- Special Pack X10$9.99
- Special Pack X25$19.99
- Special Pack X75$49.99
- Special Pack X200$99.99
Questions
Is Cookie Empire free?
Is Switchgear free?
Which has better reviews, Cookie Empire or Switchgear?
Do Cookie Empire or Switchgear have ads?
Which is updated more often, Cookie Empire or Switchgear?
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