Comparison

Balatro vs Cat Towers

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Poker and Solitaire hybrid gameplay
  • Rule-bending mechanics
  • Collect over 150 unique Joker cards
  • Create powerful combos
  • Campaign and challenge modes
  • Pixel art visuals
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Cat Towers

Defend your feline friends from waves of monsters by strategically placing towers and recruiting unique cat defenders. Unleash powerful abilities and use device tilt controls to navigate the battlefield and protect your tower.

Highlights
  • Strategic tower placement
  • Recruit unique cat defenders
  • Unleash devastating abilities
  • Tilt-to-move controls
  • Collect coins for upgrades
  • Seasonal content updates
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Cat Tower — the ultimate tower defense game where Cats rule. Your Laser Cat is under siege. Ghosts, skeletons, witches, bats, monsters, and pirates are descending upon your crew, and it's up to you to stop them. Build an arsenal of towers, recruit powerful cat defenders, and unleash devastating abilities to protect your feline friends from wave after wave of relentless enemies. BUILD YOUR DEFENSES Place towers strategically across the battlefield. Ice Towers freeze enemies in their tracks. Fire Towers unleash scorching damage. Green Towers pack a punch. Mix and match to create the ultimate defensive line. RECRUIT LEGENDARY CATS From the scrappy Orange Cat to the almighty Rainbow Cat, unique cat defenders stand ready to join the fight. Each brings their own style to the battlefield. Collect coins, unlock new cats, and build the purrfect squad. UNLEASH THE COCONUT When things get intense, call in the Coconut — a massive area-of-effect ability that obliterates everything in its path. Charge it up, pick your target, and watch the pixel cubes fly. FACE AN ARMY OF ENEMIES They come from the shadows. Ghosts that blink through your defenses. Green ghosts that haunt in packs. Skeletons that march with purpose. Witches that zigzag unpredictably. Bats that swoop from the skies. Frankensteins that absorb massive damage. Pirates that arrive fashionably late and hit hard. Each enemy demands a different strategy. TILT TO MOVE Use your device's accelerometer to guide your cat across the screen. Dodge enemies, position yourself for the perfect shot, and stay alive. It's intuitive, responsive, and endlessly satisfying. The Laser Cats EDM soundtrack powers the flow. EARN & COLLECT COINS Every enemy defeated drops coins. Watch a quick video for bonus rewards. Spend your hard-earned coins on towers, cats, and upgrades. Your coin balance syncs across all your devices via iCloud — your progress goes wherever you go. SEASON ONE — NOW LIVE This is just the beginning. Season One brings the full Cat Tower experience with an ever-evolving roster of enemies and defenders. The tower is yours to protect. Achieve greatness on the leaderboard today! How long can you survive?

Screenshots

Balatro4 screens
Cat Towers4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Cat Towers at Free against Balatro's $9.99. Cat Towers also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 81%) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 8 days). Balatro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On rating 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

Cat Towers is free to download; Balatro costs $9.99 up front. Cat Towers sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Balatro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Balatro against 5.0 for Cat Towers. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Balatro has 108K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Balatro's written reviews are positive against 100% of Cat Towers's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Balatro ships an update every 8 days, Cat Towers every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Balatro versus Cat Towers: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBalatroCat Towers
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (108K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings108K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#2 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size94 MB103 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperPlaystack LtdPraxticus Mobile Labs LLC

Customer experience

Balatro

All ratings107,874 ratings
Positive99.2%
Neutral0.3%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews1,885 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral5.3%
Negative13.7%

Cat Towers

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

Bugs and requests

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

Cat Towers

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Balatro

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Cat Towers

One-time5
  • 2000 Coins$0.99
  • 7500 Coins$2.99
  • 15,000 Coins$4.99
Show 2 more
  • 40,000 Coins$9.99
  • 100,000 Coins$19.99

Questions

Is Balatro free?
Balatro costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cat Towers free?
Cat Towers is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Balatro or Cat Towers?
Cat Towers is rated higher. Balatro averages 5.0 out of 5 from 108K ratings, while Cat Towers averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Balatro or Cat Towers have ads?
Cat Towers shows ads; Balatro does not.
Which is updated more often, Balatro or Cat Towers?
Balatro ships an update every 8 days, and Cat Towers every 2 days. Most recently, Balatro was updated on November 6, 2026 and Cat Towers on October 31, 2026.

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