Comparison

Fly Tying Simulator vs Fly Tyer's Bench

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

Head to head
About

Fly Tying Simulator

Design and catalog custom fishing flies in detailed 3D. Explore a vast library of materials and tying styles, or follow guided tutorials to learn new techniques. Share your creations and discover patterns from a global community.

Highlights
  • Detailed 3D fly creation
  • Extensive material library
  • Guided tying tutorials
  • Freeform design mode
  • Save and catalog flies
  • Community sharing and discovery
Features
Read full description

Fly Tying Simulator allows you to create new fly patterns, catalog your favorite flies, and share your creations with the community. You create your flies in detailed 3D, choosing from a huge variety of materials, and view your flies from any angle as you create them. Fly Tying Simulator offers guided tying mode, walking through the steps to create many styles of flies, from Catskill dry flies to bead-head nymphs, marabou streamers, married wing wet flies, Tenkara flies and more. In guided mode you choose your materials for each component of the fly in the order you would add them in the real world. It’s a great teaching tool for new fly tiers. In non-guided mode you’re free to add any components of any materials in any order. This gives you the freedom to explore new ideas for countless flies quickly and easily. The material selection is broad: • A large assortment of hook styles • Round and conic beads in metallic and painted colors • Dozens of colors of thread • Dry fly, wet fly and schlappen hackles • More than 20 natural hackle colors • More than 50 dyed solid hackle colors • Grizzly and badger hackles in more than 50 dyed colors • Natural and dyed partridge feathers • Quill feather sections in natural colors and many dyed colors • Other feathers like grouse, guinea hen, pheasant, etc. • Marabou and CDC in over 50 colors • Wire, oval and flat tinsel for metallic bodies and ribs • Chenille and yarn in basic and reflective colors • A wide variety of floss • Stripped hackle stems and peacock quills • Dubbing in a wide variety of natural and dyed colors • Elk hair in natural colors • Deer hair in natural and dyed colors • Bucktail, squirrel tail, calf tail • Peacock and ostrich herl, plus peacock sword As you create flies you’ll pick from a wide assortment of fly components, and different styles for each of them. For example, just within dry fly wings you can choose: • Paired upright wings • Parachute posts • Comparadun hair wings • Down wings • Spent wings • Cripple wings • Caddis front wings Within each you can pick the perfect material and color. You can also customize most components. You can select a different hackle size and a thicker or more sparse application. When adding dubbing you can pick the fiber length, coarseness and shape it in a taper, flat, reverse taper, double taper, etc. You can even combine multiple colors in the same component. That includes mixing any combination of dubbing colors, wedding quill sections for multi-colored wings, stacking layers of bucktail on a streamer, etc. You can save all the flies you create and sort them by name, style, or creation date. You can view the recipe, reload the fly, give them your own star ratings, and even watch the flies get tied again. You also get access to flies created by the community. You can add any published fly to your own collection, and publish the flies you create yourself. Fly Tying Simulator is also available as a feature of the Complete Package in Fly Fishing Simulator HD. There you have all the same features, and can also use your flies to fish in the simulation.

About

Fly Tyer's Bench

Organize your fly tying materials, discover patterns, and manage your inventory. Scan materials with AI, track what you own, and generate shopping lists for missing items. Share your creations with a community of anglers.

Highlights
  • AI Material Scanner
  • Inventory Tracking
  • Pattern Matching
  • Pattern Library
  • Shopping List Generator
  • Photo Gallery
  • Barcode Scanner
Features
Read full description

Fly Tyer’s Bench helps you organize your fly tying materials, discover patterns you can actually tie, and keep your boxes full. Scan materials with AI, track your inventory, see which patterns match what you already own, and build shopping lists for what you’re missing. Browse a growing pattern library, explore On the Water recommendations for local fishing conditions, scan barcodes for faster entry, and share your flies with the community. FEATURES: On the Water recommendations AI Material Scanner Inventory Tracking Pattern Matching Pattern Library Shopping List Photo Gallery Barcode Scanner Shareable Pattern Cards TYING BENCH PRO: Start with a 7-day free trial 500 AI scans per month Cloud sync and backup Restore inventory across devices Export to PDF/CSV Priority support SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: Tying Bench Pro Monthly: $5.99/month Tying Bench Pro Yearly: $59.99/year Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://flytyersbench.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://flytyersbench.app/terms

Screenshots

Fly Tying Simulator4 screens
Fly Tyer's Bench4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Fly Tyer's Bench at Free against Fly Tying Simulator's $4.99. Fly Tyer's Bench also leads on ratings volume (19 vs 1). Fly Tying Simulator's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Fly Tyer's Bench is free to download; Fly Tying Simulator costs $4.99 up front. Fly Tyer's Bench sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Fly Tying Simulator asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fly Tying Simulator holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Fly Tyer's Bench has 19 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fly Tying Simulator ships an update weekly, Fly Tyer's Bench fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Fly Tying Simulator versus Fly Tyer's Bench: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFly Tying SimulatorFly Tyer's Bench
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (19 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings119 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPishtech LLCGregory Laird

Customer experience

Fly Tying Simulator

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Fly Tyer's Bench

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Fly Tying Simulator

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Fly Tyer's Bench

Subscriptions2
  • Fly Tyer's Bench - Monthly Pro$5.991 Month
  • Fly Tyer's Bench Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Fly Tying Simulator free?
Fly Tying Simulator costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fly Tyer's Bench free?
Fly Tyer's Bench is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Fly Tying Simulator or Fly Tyer's Bench?
Fly Tying Simulator is rated higher. Fly Tying Simulator averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Fly Tyer's Bench averages 4.5 from 19 ratings.
Do Fly Tying Simulator or Fly Tyer's Bench have ads?
Neither Fly Tying Simulator nor Fly Tyer's Bench shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fly Tying Simulator or Fly Tyer's Bench?
Fly Tying Simulator ships an update weekly, and Fly Tyer's Bench fortnightly. Most recently, Fly Tying Simulator was updated on October 30, 2026 and Fly Tyer's Bench on November 5, 2026.

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