# Visual Pinball vs PicoPinball Studio

The clearest difference is price: Visual Pinball at Free against PicoPinball Studio's $1.99. PicoPinball Studio's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 12 months) and iOS requirement (16.6 vs 26.6). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Visual Pinball is free to download; PicoPinball Studio costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Visual Pinball ships an update every 12 months, PicoPinball Studio every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Visual Pinball | PicoPinball Studio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $1.99 |
| Rating | **[4.3 (73 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/visual-pinball/id6547859926/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **73** | — |
| Positive reviews | 78.6% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Size | 120 MB | 35 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.6 | **16.6** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jason Millard](https://appshunter.io/developer/1527911552) | [Scott Bennett](https://appshunter.io/developer/1087259330) |

## What reviewers say

### Visual Pinball

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/visual-pinball/id6547859926)

Enjoy a realistic pinball simulation with hundreds of community-created tables. Experience immersive haptic feedback and customize your gameplay with intuitive settings and controller support. Advanced options are available for power users.

**Highlights:** Hundreds of community-developed tables, Haptic feedback for immersive gameplay, Customizable settings and POV adjustments, Game controller support, External DMD and AltColor/AltSound support, Touch overlay and instructions

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Game Controller support, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Awesome way to play virtual pinball on the go
- 👍 Super easy to set up with minimal file prep time
- 👍 Insane that I can play favorite pins on just my phone
- 👍 Fantastic portable implementation of VPX
- 👍 Fun and exciting to archive the history of pinball

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔧 More ability to adjust table settings needed
- 🔧 Struggling to manage camera angle
- 🔧 No fullscreen on iPad, plunger and outlanes cropped
- 🔧 Some tables don't work or have issues

**Reported bugs**

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

**Requested features**

- 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


### PicoPinball Studio

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/picopinball-studio/id6795632273)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Visual Pinball free?

Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is PicoPinball Studio free?

PicoPinball Studio costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Visual Pinball or PicoPinball Studio have ads?

Neither Visual Pinball nor PicoPinball Studio shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Visual Pinball or PicoPinball Studio?

Visual Pinball ships an update every 12 months, and PicoPinball Studio every 3 weeks. Most recently, Visual Pinball was updated on October 18, 2026 and PicoPinball Studio on October 16, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*