Comparison

Visual Pinball vs Z

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

Head to head
About

Visual Pinball

Experience the full virtual pinball simulator with realistic physics, lighting, and sound. This open-source app offers a redesigned interface, enhanced table management, and the complete desktop experience for mobile devices. Enjoy a vast library of tables without ads or in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Realistic physics, lighting, and sound
  • Redesigned interface with Liquid Glass
  • Full in-game menu for graphics and controls
  • Support for various backglass and display types
  • Easy table import and management
  • Optimized memory usage
Features
Read full description

The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.

About

Z

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3D Topdown Horde Survival Shooter Survive multiple hordes of zombies in this game with firearms and defence buildings. Defend your area using the weapons in the shop to increase your power. Use your skillful aiming to survive in this thrilling game.

Screenshots

Visual Pinball3 screens
Z4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Visual Pinball at none against Z's shown. Z's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.6). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Visual Pinball ships an update fortnightly, Z every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Visual Pinball versus Z: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual PinballZ
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (75 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings75 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size134 MB108 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperJason MillardVAN THANH THI KHUC

Bugs and requests

Visual Pinball

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Tables don't load for some users
  • Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS

Requested features

6 requests
  • List of most played tables
  • Ability to reposition DMD
  • Option to skip startup checks for some tables
  • Ability to edit table scripts on the app
  • Direct link to table depository
Show 1 more
  • iPad version with more screen space

Z

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

None

Z

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Z free?
Z is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Visual Pinball or Z have ads?
Z shows ads; Visual Pinball does not.
Which is updated more often, Visual Pinball or Z?
Visual Pinball ships an update fortnightly, and Z every 2 weeks. Most recently, Visual Pinball was updated on November 5, 2026 and Z on October 30, 2026.

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