Comparison

Lightbot vs Monument Valley

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

Head to head
About

Lightbot

This game teaches programming logic through engaging puzzles. Players guide a robot using commands to solve levels, fostering an understanding of procedures, loops, and conditionals. It's an excellent introduction to coding for kids and puzzle enthusiasts.

Highlights
  • Programming logic puzzles
  • Robot guidance with commands
  • Teaches procedures, loops, conditionals
  • 50 levels and 20 challenge stars
  • Multiplayer progress tracking
  • Multiple language support
Features
Read full description

Featured by Apple in over 100 countries *Best New Apps and Games* *Best for Learning to Code* *Best in Hot Educational Games* Get kids hooked on coding within minutes! Lightbot is a programming puzzle game- a game whose game mechanics require using programming logic to solve levels. Simply guiding a robot to light up tiles and solve levels using commands, Lightbot cultivates a real understanding of procedures, loops, and conditionals. Educators around the world are choosing to use Lightbot first when introducing their students to programming, coding and Computer Science. Lightbot features 50 levels and 20 challenge stars to collect and is a must-have for puzzle enthusiasts. This version of Lightbot can be played in English, French, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Norwegian, Slovenian, Romanian, Indonesian, German, Polish, Danish, Croatian, Dutch, Slovak, Czech, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Thai, Hindi, Swedish, Finnish and Hungarian! Just hit the associated flag icon on the main screen to select a language. Lightbot features multiple save slots and separate progress tracking for multiple players. Multiple players can advance at their own pace in their own save slot, and also compete on number of levels finished, number of stars collected and number of overall commands used to complete the game. There are NO in-app purchases in Lightbot.

About

Monument Valley

Explore a world of impossible architecture and optical illusions. Guide a silent princess through stunningly beautiful, hand-crafted monuments by manipulating the environment. Uncover hidden paths and solve puzzles in this surreal exploration game.

Highlights
  • Impossible architecture manipulation
  • Optical illusion puzzles
  • Surreal exploration
  • Hand-crafted worlds
  • Intuitive twist and drag controls
  • Reactive soundscape
Features
Read full description

** Apple Game of the Year 2014 ** ** Winner of Apple Design Award 2014 ** In Monument Valley you will manipulate impossible architecture and guide a silent princess through a stunningly beautiful world. Monument Valley is a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry. Guide the silent princess Ida through mysterious monuments, uncovering hidden paths, unfolding optical illusions and outsmarting the enigmatic Crow People. Ida's Dream now available. Forgotten Shores: Eight new chapters of adventure and illusion available now as a separate purchase. Buy or download Monument Valley now and you’ll also get our fully animated iMessage sticker pack, including 5 stickers exclusive to players! Only available on iOS10 and above. ======= "This might be the most beautiful iPad game of 2014" - Wired "Brilliant design... stayed with me like a dream I didn't want to forget" 9/10 - Polygon "The most sublime hour my iPad has ever given me... and the value of such a thing is incalculable" - Kotaku "Monument Valley stuns with its serenity... each screen is a work of art" - Huffington Post "Almost impossibly gorgeous... a feast for your senses" 5/5 - Touch Arcade ======= BEAUTIFUL Inspired by minimalist 3D design, optical illusions and palaces and temples from around the world, every monument is a unique, hand-crafted world to explore. EASY TO USE Twist and drag to reshape the world and help Ida to explore. Designed to be easy for everyone to pick up, enjoy and complete. SOUND Audio reacts to your manipulation of the world to provide a surreal and beautiful soundscape. Best experienced with headphones. iCloud Synchronize your game across all your devices. ** Monument Valley is designed for iPhone 4 and above. It is NOT compatible with iPod Touch 4th Generation.

Screenshots

Lightbot4 screens
Monument Valley4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Lightbot at none against Monument Valley's 1. Lightbot also leads on price ($2.99 vs $3.99) and iOS requirement (5.1.1 vs 15.0). Monument Valley's advantage is ratings volume (16K vs 38) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). 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

Lightbot costs $2.99 and Monument Valley $3.99 up front. Monument Valley sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Lightbot asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Monument Valley holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Monument Valley has 16K ratings behind it against 38, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 85% of Lightbot's written reviews are positive against 81% of Monument Valley's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 12, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Lightbot versus Monument Valley: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightbotMonument Valley
Price$2.99 — better$3.99
Rating4.5 (38 ratings)4.8 (16K ratings) — better
Positive reviews84.7% of reviews — better80.6% of reviews
Number of ratings3816K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#4 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS5.1.1 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB324 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSpriteBox LLCustwo games

Customer experience

Lightbot

All ratings38 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral2.6%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews118 reviews
Positive84.7%
Neutral5.1%
Negative10.2%

Monument Valley

All ratings15,824 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews945 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral8.6%
Negative10.8%

User reviews

Lightbot

From 38 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for learning programming
  • 💡 Fun and engaging gameplay
  • 🧠 Thought-provoking puzzles
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Good for kids and adults
  • ✨ Well-designed and polished

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • ⏳ Game is too short
  • ❌ Difficulty spikes
  • 🎧 Cannot listen to music while playing
  • 🐞 Some levels have bugs

Monument Valley

From 16K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Stunning visuals and graphics
  • 🎶 Soothing and atmospheric audio
  • 🧠 Clever and mind-bending puzzles
  • 🕰️ Relaxing and calming gameplay
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly controls

Room to improve

  • 🕹️ Puzzles can be too easy at times
  • ⏱️ Game is relatively short in length
  • 💰 Expensive for the amount of content
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes reported

Bugs and requests

Lightbot

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • App crashes on open/startup
  • App crashes during gameplay/levels
  • Conditional level 2 bug
  • Play button covers code in Conditional level
  • Not loading due to iOS version
Show 2 more
  • English levels not working on iPod 4th gen
  • Crashing on 4th gen iPod/iPad

Requested features

8 requests
  • More levels
  • Puzzle editor/user-created levels
  • Hint system
  • Ability to listen to music while playing
  • Unlockable content/robot customization
Show 3 more
  • More reward for completing challenges
  • More levels to reinforce concepts
  • Solutions page

Monument Valley

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Levels not loading or freezing on certain devices
  • Inability to purchase or access DLC/expansion content
  • Compatibility issues with recent iOS updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • More levels and chapters to extend the gameplay
  • Increased difficulty and challenge in later puzzles
  • Ability to save progress and resume levels
  • Support for newer device screen sizes and resolutions

In-app purchases

None

Lightbot

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Monument Valley

One-time1
  • Forgotten Shores$1.99

Questions

Is Lightbot free?
Lightbot costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Monument Valley free?
Monument Valley costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lightbot or Monument Valley?
Monument Valley is rated higher. Lightbot averages 4.5 out of 5 from 38 ratings, while Monument Valley averages 4.8 from 16K ratings.
Do Lightbot or Monument Valley have ads?
Neither Lightbot nor Monument Valley shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lightbot or Monument Valley?
Lightbot ships an update every 2 months, and Monument Valley every 2 months. Most recently, Lightbot was updated on October 12, 2026 and Monument Valley on October 12, 2026.

Other comparisons