Comparison

puzzling.com vs Simon's Bacteria

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

Head to head
About

puzzling.com

Engage your mind daily with a variety of classic puzzles like Crosswords and Sudoku. Access thousands of puzzles and an ad-free experience with a VIP subscription. Track your progress and earn rewards.

Highlights
  • Daily new puzzles
  • Classic puzzle variety
  • Thousands of puzzles with subscription
  • Ad-free VIP experience
  • Progress tracking and rewards
  • Smart search filters
  • Help and tutorial videos
Read full description

Keep your mind active with new puzzles every day. · The dream team of classic puzzles: Crossword, Sudoku, Picture Cross, Codeword, Word Search, and dozens more. · Download free and enjoy a new page of puzzles every morning and evening. · Subscribe at any time to access thousands of puzzles, ad-free. · Smart search filters help you find puzzles of your preferred type, genre or difficulty. · Learn to play new puzzles with extensive online help and videos. · Track your progress and earn trophies and rewards. Whether you're looking for a new challenge or to relax with a familiar old favorite, you can find it all in the puzzling.com app. ■ Subscribe for VIP access With a puzzling.com VIP subscription, you'll get free, unlimited access to all the puzzles on your Morning and Evening pages each day, including all previous days' pages. You can also browse puzzling.com's growing library of Themed Issues (puzzle books), using replenishing VIP keys to unlock puzzles and expand your collection. What's more, as a subscriber you won't be interrupted by ad breaks between puzzles. (Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of the current period. You can manage your subscriptions through your iTunes and App Store Account Settings. On cancelling a subscription, you will continue to be subscribed until the end of the current billing period.) ■ Product support Please select the [HELP] option from the menu if you require assistance. Can't access the app? You can also contact us by email: support@puzzling.com Terms of use: https://www.puzzling.com/terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://www.puzzling.com/privacy/ ■ Latest news WEB: www.puzzling.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/getpuzzling BLUESKY: bsky.app/profile/puzzling.com

About

Simon's Bacteria

Features
Read full description

Simon's Bacteria is a turn-based strategy game built around one deceptively simple mechanic: rotate a stone, and watch the board change. HOW IT WORKS Each stone on the board points in one of four directions. On your turn, rotate one of your stones 90° clockwise — it moves into the cell it now points to, and can trigger a chain reaction of captures across the board. Read the board carefully: a single rotation can flip the momentum of the entire game. PLAY TOGETHER Challenge your friends through Game Center and play together across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Choose your favorite game mode, compete for victories, unlock achievements, and jump straight into a rematch. Your first 3 multiplayer games are free — after that, a one-time purchase unlocks unlimited multiplayer for good. • Multiplayer across iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Three unique game modes • Game Center achievements and statistics • Quick rematches with friends PLAY YOUR WAY • Chaos Mode — a fully randomized board for a classic, unpredictable game every time. • Symmetry Mode — mirrored starting positions for a perfectly fair fight. • Balanced Mode — randomized but evenly distributed starting directions. THREE LEVELS OF AI (VINTAGE 1998) No neural networks, no cloud, no buzzwords — just an honest, old-school game AI in the spirit of 1998, built on classic move-search logic rather than anything fashionable. It adapts to the difficulty you choose — from a forgiving opponent that favors easy captures, to a sharp one that looks several moves ahead and plans around your counter-attacks. DESIGNED TO GET OUT OF YOUR WAY • Clean, focused board — no clutter, no timers pressuring your every move. • Three visual stone styles to match your taste. • Game Center leaderboards and achievements to track your wins. • Your games and stats are saved locally — pick up right where you left off. • No ads. No account required for single-player. No data collection beyond what Game Center itself handles. FREE TO PLAY, OPEN SOURCE Single-player is completely free, forever, with everything unlocked — it's an open-source passion project. Multiplayer includes 3 free games to try it out, then a small one-time purchase for unlimited play. If you'd like to say thanks separately, optional tips are available in the Tips menu; they simply help cover the cost of the Apple Developer license required to bring an open-source project like this one to the App Store. Whether you have two minutes or twenty, Simon's Bacteria rewards careful thinking over fast reflexes. COMING SOON We're actively working on additional board generation modes and new AI difficulty tiers.

Screenshots

puzzling.com4 screens
Simon's Bacteria2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Simon's Bacteria at none against puzzling.com's shown. Simon's Bacteria also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). puzzling.com's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, 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. puzzling.com sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Simon's Bacteria sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

puzzling.com ships an update every 2 months, Simon's Bacteria every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
puzzling.com versus Simon's Bacteria: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameterpuzzling.comSimon's Bacteria
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (78 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews35.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings78 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size363 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAppyNation Ltd.Andrei Kondratev

In-app purchases

10 purchases

puzzling.com

Subscriptions6
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Monthly Subscription3 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • 12 Month Subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • 12 Month Subscription7 Days trial$59.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Coin Pack$2.99
  • Medium Coin Pack$4.99
  • Large Coin Pack$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Extra Large Coin Pack$19.99
4 purchases

Simon's Bacteria

One-time4
  • Multiplayer Unlock$0.99
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Large Tip$4.99

Questions

Is puzzling.com free?
puzzling.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Simon's Bacteria free?
Simon's Bacteria is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do puzzling.com or Simon's Bacteria have ads?
puzzling.com shows ads; Simon's Bacteria does not.
Which is updated more often, puzzling.com or Simon's Bacteria?
puzzling.com ships an update every 2 months, and Simon's Bacteria every 3 weeks. Most recently, puzzling.com was updated on November 8, 2026 and Simon's Bacteria on October 31, 2026.

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