Red Herring vs Knotwords
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Red Herring
This word puzzle game challenges you to group words into categories while identifying misleading "Red Herring" words. Enjoy a fun, challenging, and easy-to-learn experience with no time limits and three difficulty levels suitable for all ages.
- Group words into categories
- Identify misleading "Red Herring" words
- No time limit
- Three difficulty levels
- Daily puzzle
Read full descriptionHide full description
Red Herring is the word connections game. How to play: 1. Make the connections and group words into categories. 2. Look out for the Red Herrings, pesky words whose sole purpose is to mislead you. 3. Have fun making the connections! Red Herring is a FUN, CHALLENGING, and EASY TO LEARN word connections puzzle game. Each puzzle has only one correct solution and there's no time limit. Three difficulty levels make it suitable for the whole family. Don't say we didn't warn you if you can't stop playing. Give Red Herring a try today! From the creators of 7 Little Words and Moxie. ----- Red Herring contains 25 puzzles and a daily puzzle that you can play for free. Additional puzzles are available for purchase inside the app.
Knotwords
A daily word puzzle game that challenges you to arrange letters into valid words across and down. Its minimal design and intuitive progression make it an engaging and accessible brain teaser.
- Minimalist and elegant design
- Logic-based word puzzles
- Daily challenges
- Intuitive progression system
- Valid word arrangement
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Knotwords is a minimal and elegant logic puzzle — with words. The rules are simple: arrange the letters in each section so every word is valid, across and down. Each puzzle may seem difficult at first — but like all my favorite newspaper puzzles, it gets easier as you progress. Each step guides you naturally towards the solution. This is the kind of game I've been trying to make my whole career — I'm amazed Jack and I discovered this design. We hope you like it. -- Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Knotwords at none against Red Herring's shown. Knotwords also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (13.6 vs 16.6). Red Herring's advantage is ratings volume (48K vs 8.1K). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Red Herring sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Knotwords sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Red Herring against 4.8 for Knotwords. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Red Herring has 48K ratings behind it against 8.1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Red Herring's written reviews are positive against 73% of Knotwords's.
Red Herring ships an update every 3 months, Knotwords every 10 days. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Red Herring | Knotwords |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (48K ratings) | 4.8 (8.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.6% of reviews — better | 73.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 48K — better | 8.1K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 13.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 507 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blue Ox Family Games, Inc. | Zach Gage |
Customer experience
Red Herring
Knotwords
User reviews
Red Herring
From 48K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🤔 Challenging and thought-provoking
- 🧠 Exercises the mind
- ⏰ Good time-passer
- 🎮 Fun and addictive game
- 🎓 Educational and expands vocabulary
Room to improve
- 🇺🇸 Too American-centric
- 💰 Expensive paid content
- 🚫 Limited free content
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes
- 🔍 Obscure references and categories
Knotwords
From 8.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great game
- 👍 Fun and challenging
- 🚀 Simple but engaging
- 👍 Unique concept
- 👍 Addictive
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Buggy cursor/input issues
- 🐛 Slow performance
- 🐛 Questionable word choices
- 🔋 Battery drain
Bugs and requests
Red Herring
Reported bugs
3 issues- Formatting issues after updates
- Inability to access previous daily puzzles
- Ads that cannot be dismissed
Requested features
5 requests- More free daily puzzles
- Less American-focused content
- Dark mode option
- Ability to replay past puzzles
- Hints system improvements
Knotwords
Reported bugs
4 issues- Puzzles with missing/incorrect squares
- Incorrect words being accepted
- Puzzles not properly credited as completed
- Hints not matching the correct answers
Requested features
9 requests- Ability to turn off haptic feedback
- Improved cursor/input behavior
- Cloud sync across devices
- Difficulty settings
- Ability to see definitions of completed words
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Restart button for puzzles
- Customizable themes
- Daily leaderboards
- Ability to disable hints once used
In-app purchases
Red Herring
- Curiosity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Brilliant! - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Allegro - 50 Puzzles$1.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Spelunking - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Renaissance - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- IQ - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Serendipity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Unlimited Hints$2.99
- Older Daily Puzzles 2014 Jul - Dec$3.99
- Quantum Leap - 175 Puzzles$4.99
Knotwords
- Knotwords Pro subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Year
- Full Game$11.99







