ContraBee vs SpellingB
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ContraBee
This app offers a daily word puzzle using the same letter hive as the New York Times Spelling Bee. It challenges players to find words without using the required center letter, encouraging a different approach to word discovery.
- Daily word puzzles
- Uses NYT Spelling Bee letter hive
- Excludes center letter
- Encourages alternative word finding
- Unique puzzle twist
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ContraBee is a complement to each day’s official New York Times Spelling Bee. It uses the same hive as each day’s Spelling Bee, but with a twist: Instead of requiring the center letter, Contra Bee excludes it. You’ll be surprised at how many words you can find if you turn your mind upside down.
SpellingB
Test your vocabulary daily with a word-finding game. Use seven letters to discover as many words as possible, aiming for the "Queen Bee" status. Enjoy a clean, distraction-free experience with daily challenges and progress tracking.
- Unlimited daily play
- Find words from 7 letters
- Daily challenges
- Clean design
- Progress tracking
- Earn Queen Bee status
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Challenge your brain every day with unlimited play. Start with just 7 letters and see how many words you can find. There’s always at least one word encompassing all 7 words — can you reach Queen Bee status? With every day challenges, clean design, and no distractions, SpellingB is the perfect mix of relaxing and rewarding. Log in daily, track your progress, and earn your way to the top of the hive! Terms (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ContraBee at none against SpellingB's 1. ContraBee also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 18.2). SpellingB's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks) and review sentiment (50% vs 24%). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. SpellingB sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month. ContraBee asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.1 for ContraBee against 4.1 for SpellingB. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 10 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 24% of ContraBee's written reviews are positive against 50% of SpellingB's.
ContraBee ships an update every 2 weeks, SpellingB daily. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ContraBee | SpellingB |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (8 ratings) — better | 4.1 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 23.8% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 18.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lexi Games LLC | Neil McGrogan |
Customer experience
ContraBee
SpellingB
In-app purchases
ContraBee
No in-app purchases
SpellingB
- Premium$3.991 Month
