Comparison

Ant Colony vs PolyPine

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

Head to head
About

Ant Colony

Build and manage your own ant colony in a wild forest. Command swarms, expand your territory, and evolve your ants to survive against hostile insects and predators. Prove your strategic skills in this real-time simulation game.

Highlights
  • Freestyle anthill building
  • 10+ unique ant types
  • Swarm mechanics
  • 50+ enemies
  • Raids and battles
  • Evolution system
Features
Read full description

Build your ant empire in the wild forest! Create a thriving underground colony, command swarms of ants, and survive against hostile insects. Expand your territory, evolve your ants, and prove your strategy in this real-time simulator. Features: • Freestyle anthill building - design and expand your underground base. • 10+ unique ant types - from builders to fighters, with more coming soon. • Swarm mechanics - lead massive armies to overpower enemies. • 50+ enemies - termites, spiders, crabs and other dangerous predators. • Raids and battles - conquer enemy nests and defend your colony. • Evolution system - adapt your ants to new challenges and grow stronger. • Difficulty levels - relax in Normal or test survival in Hard. Every choice matters: gather resources, build your empire, and fight for survival. Will your colony rise as the strongest kingdom of the forest? Terms of use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

PolyPine

Cultivate a vibrant forest ecosystem by planting seeds and nurturing trees through their life cycles. Attract diverse wildlife by meeting their specific habitat needs and observe how their interactions influence the environment. Adapt to or reshape varied terrains and overcome natural disasters to foster a thriving, dynamic woodland.

Highlights
  • Plant and grow trees through full life cycles
  • Attract and manage diverse animal habitats
  • Observe animal interactions and their impact
  • Adapt to or terraform varied terrains
  • Survive and utilize natural disasters
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Create your own cozy forest! Plant Seeds and Watch Them Grow Experience the full lifecycle of trees: seed, sapling, adult tree, dead tree and fallen trunk. Each step creates a different habitat for other plants and animals. Fill Your Forest with Animals Each animal has specific habitat needs you have to fullfill before adding them. Squirrels need trees, butterflies need flowers etc. Click Animals to Make Them Poop and More Clicking on animals trigger different behaviors that influence the forest ecosystem: Moose poop, fertilizing the soil. Voles eat tree roots, damaging the tree. Foxes hunt other animals. Adapt to the Terrain or Terraform It to Your Needs Create forests in diverse terrains including hills, lakes, mountains, fjords and wetlands. Terraform the terrain if you want even more control. Survive Natural Disasters Forest fires, storms and bark beetle swarms affect the forest in various ways. Can you use them to your advantage and create a thriving ecosystem?

Screenshots

Ant Colony4 screens
PolyPine4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Ant Colony at Free against PolyPine's $3.99. Ant Colony also leads on ratings volume (6.4K vs 297) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). PolyPine's advantage is chart position (#102 vs unranked) and review sentiment (77% vs 68%). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Ant Colony is free to download; PolyPine costs $3.99 up front. Ant Colony sells 15 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and PolyPine sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ant Colony holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ant Colony has 6.4K ratings behind it against 297, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of Ant Colony's written reviews are positive against 77% of PolyPine's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ant Colony ships an update every 3 weeks, PolyPine fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Ant Colony versus PolyPine: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnt ColonyPolyPine
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.7 (6.4K ratings) — better4.5 (297 ratings)
Positive reviews67.8% of reviews76.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.4K — better297
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#102 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size489 MB93 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperHYPERCELL SIAYaozuo Games Ltd

Customer experience

Ant Colony

All ratings6,296 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.6%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews1,504 reviews
Positive67.8%
Neutral10.2%
Negative22.0%

PolyPine

All ratings267 ratings
Positive86.1%
Neutral7.9%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews185 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral11.4%
Negative11.9%

User reviews

Ant Colony

From 6.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Commitment to the game
  • 👍 Charming and unique gameplay
  • 👍 Optional ads, not forced
  • 👍 Great art style and animations
  • 👍 Addictive and fun

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Save corruption and data loss issues
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🐛 Difficulty spikes, unbalanced levels
  • 🐛 Ants not behaving as expected

PolyPine

From 297 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 High-quality graphics
  • 👍 Clean and smooth user experience
  • 👍 Interesting and engaging gameplay
  • 🌱 Educational content about plants and animals
  • 🕰️ Relaxing and peaceful game experience

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Paywall for full game access
  • 🐛 Audio issues and glitches

Bugs and requests

Ant Colony

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Soft locks and crashes
  • Ants getting stuck or not responding
  • Save file corruption
  • Inability to exit certain screens
  • Gameplay freezes and performance issues

Requested features

6 requests
  • More ant species and colony customization
  • Endless/sandbox mode
  • Ability to control ants more directly
  • Faster gameplay speed options
  • Multiplayer functionality
Show 1 more
  • Cloud save/sync across devices

PolyPine

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Audio breaks down and turns into 8-bit track

Requested features

2 requests
  • Add more content and updates
  • Improve the evolution/upgrade system

In-app purchases

15 purchases

Ant Colony

Subscriptions3
  • Premium Subscription$4.997 Days
  • Premium Subscription$7.497 Days
  • Premium Subscription$9.997 Days
One-time12
  • Handful of sugar$0.99
  • Starter pack2 variants$0.99
  • Small bag of sugar$2.99
Show 9 more
  • Small Mini Offer$2.99
  • No pop-up ADs pack$3.49
  • Premium Pack$3.69
  • Queen path$4.99
  • Medium Mini Offer$6.99
  • Sugar bowl$6.99
  • Premium Pack$7.49
  • Premium Pack2 variants$11.49
  • Crate of sugar$14.99
1 purchases

PolyPine

One-time1
  • Unlock Full Game$5.99

Questions

Is Ant Colony free?
Ant Colony is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PolyPine free?
PolyPine costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ant Colony or PolyPine?
Ant Colony is rated higher. Ant Colony averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.4K ratings, while PolyPine averages 4.5 from 297 ratings.
Do Ant Colony or PolyPine have ads?
Neither Ant Colony nor PolyPine shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ant Colony or PolyPine?
Ant Colony ships an update every 3 weeks, and PolyPine fortnightly. Most recently, Ant Colony was updated on October 24, 2026 and PolyPine on October 24, 2026.

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