Red Herring vs Well Word
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.
Well Word
Challenge yourself daily with a letter board to form words and achieve high scores. Strategic play, including letter usage limits and multiplier bonuses, is key. Discover new words, compete with friends, and play offline without ads.
- Daily letter board challenges
- Word scoring and multiplier system
- Vocabulary expansion with definitions
- Offline play
- Shareable results
- Daily Lightning mode
- Game history and stats
Read full descriptionHide full description
Welcome to Well Word! Every day you'll get a board of 25 letters. Your goal? Make the best words you can to get the highest score you can! Be careful though, each letter can only be used 3 times. Ok fine, you can use the center letter as much as you want. Think Strategically! Your word multiplier increases if you use the center letter, if your letters are all touching, or if you use 8 or more letters in a word. How high can you push the multiplier? Full Clear! Earn bonus points for each row and column you clear. Earn even more points if you clear the whole board! Share and Compete! After you finish a board, share your results with friends and enemies. Use Your Brain! Grow your vocabulary by finding new words. Tap an unknown word to see its definition. Offline Play! No internet connection required. No Ads! I don't like ads and I don't like tracking. Well Word is free. If you like it, consider the one-time purchase to upgrade to PRO. ============= Well Word PRO ============= Want more Well Word? Go PRO to unlock: - Daily Lightning. 2 minutes. No pausing. All instinct. - History. See your complete record and play any board you missed. - Stats. In-depth, shareable analysis for every board you play. - Global Stats. See how you stack up against the world. - Challenges. Compete with your friends. - Themes. Use the colors you like. - Warm Feelings. Your support helps me continue making games like this.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Well Word at none against Red Herring's shown. Well Word also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.6). Red Herring's advantage is ratings volume (48K vs 778). 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 Well Word sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 Well Word. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Red Herring has 48K ratings behind it against 778, 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 80% of Well Word's.
Red Herring ships an update every 3 months, Well Word every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 27, 2026.
| Parameter | Red Herring | Well Word |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (48K ratings) | 4.8 (778 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.8% of reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 48K — better | 778 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blue Ox Family Games, Inc. | Bird Cartel LLC |
Customer experience
Red Herring
Well Word
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
Well Word
From 778 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and engaging game
- 🧠 Challenges vocabulary and brain
- 🔒 No ads or distractions
- 💰 Fair one-time purchase model
- 🎨 Visually appealing design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Limited word recognition
- ⏰ Can only play once per day
- 🤔 Lack of social features (leaderboards, sharing)
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
Well Word
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional crashes or freezing
- Issues with game progress/history
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to replay past daily challenges
- Option to see top words used by others
- Expanded dictionary and word recognition
- Longer timed mode (e.g. 3 minutes instead of 2)
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
Well Word
- Well Word Pro$4.99
