Comparison

Red Herring vs Puzzmo

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Group words into categories
  • Identify misleading "Red Herring" words
  • No time limit
  • Three difficulty levels
  • Daily puzzle
Features
Read 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.

About

Puzzmo

Discover a universe of daily puzzles with original games and modern classics. Enjoy word puzzles, strategy games, and crosswords with helpful hints. It's a free and engaging way to challenge your mind.

Highlights
  • Daily original puzzles
  • Classic puzzle games
  • Word puzzles
  • Strategy games
  • Crosswords with hints
  • Memory and matching games
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Hello! If you're reading this you either really love Puzzmo or you are somehow undecided about our app. Let's be clear: you should download the app. We made it for you and it's free and it's really good! What do you have to lose? Puzzmo is the center of the puzzle universe. You'll find fresh original games by brilliant designers like Zach Gage and new daily puzzles for modern classics like Cross|word, SpellTower, Flipart, Typeshift, Pile-Up Poker, Memoku, and more. You'll also find a little puzzle at the bottom of this AppStore description. Go on, scroll to the bottom. NEW: MEMOKU Inspired by the classic memory game, Memoku invites you to match pairs of numbers, but there's a twist – like Sudoku, no number can appear in the same row, column, or box twice. BONGO Bongo challenges you to build a better board out of twenty five tiles, often picked on a theme by Puzzmo's friends, community members, and celebrity guests. There’s always a better board. PILE-UP POKER Pile-Up Poker is a twist on traditional poker where players build rows and columns of poker hands. The objective is to create the highest overall score by adding cards one by one to the gird, making strategic decisions along the way. FLIPART Flipart is a modern twist on digital jigsaw puzzles. This free daily puzzle challenges you to rearrange Tetris-like shapes by tapping the pivot points so that none of the shapes overlap and they all fit within the border. Flipart puzzles are enjoyable for kids and adults alike! TYPESHIFT Typeshift is our free, daily captivating word puzzle game that challenges your vocabulary, spatial reasoning, and wit. Solve puzzles by shifting columns of letters like a combination lock to form words. Each puzzle is a fun brain-teaser chock full of both word search and strategy. CROSS|WORD Puzzmo crossword puzzles are for everyone. Some of the world’s top solvers compete daily for the fastest solve on Puzzmo, but that doesn’t mean we’re here to stump you. In fact if you’re new to crosswords or struggling complete a grid, we’re here to help. Only Puzzmo crosswords offer an optional, easier hint with every single clue. CUBECLEAR Cube Clear is a word puzzle game where players spell words in a grid whose letters then disappear. Longer words score higher points, and adjacent tiles disappear after use, causing remaining tiles to tumble to the bottom of the grid. With only 36 letters, the challenge of Cube Clear is two-fold. Can you clear the board, and in how few words? WORDBIND Wordbind is a directional anagram game that challenges you to discover new words hidden within the chosen words of the day. You can only key in letters from left to right, you’re allowed to skip letters, and you can use the same letter twice to find the perfect word. With each word you find, you rise the ranks on your way to Luminary status. REALLY BAD CHESS Aside from the small advantage white gains by making the first move, chess is a battle of wits between two competitors with the same pieces in the same positions. Puzzmo’s free daily Really Bad Chess game turns all of that “fairness” on its head. For example, you might have a huge material advantage with three queens while your computer opponent might have no queens and five rooks. The pieces may look random, but your advantage is carefully calculated! SPELLTOWER SpellTower is a two-dimensional grid of letters that looks like your typical word search puzzle. But unlike a traditional word search, you can change directions, cross your own path, go diagonal, and even spell backwards! This freedom of movement allows you to find more complex and challenging words, but this isn’t the only twist with SpellTower. As you use letters, they disappear from the grid, with the ultimate goal being a perfect, total clear of the entire board. You found it! If you can solve this classic riddle, enter the answer at puzzmo.com/code "Forward I’m heavy, backwards I’m not. What word am I?" Happy puzzling!

Screenshots

Red Herring3 screens
Puzzmo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Red Herring at 4.7 against Puzzmo's 3.7. Red Herring also leads on review sentiment (76% vs 43%) and ratings volume (48K vs 177). Puzzmo's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and chart position (#119 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Red Herring sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Puzzmo sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Red Herring holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Red Herring has 48K ratings behind it against 177, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Red Herring's written reviews are positive against 43% of Puzzmo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Red Herring ships an update every 3 months, Puzzmo fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Red Herring versus Puzzmo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRed HerringPuzzmo
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (48K ratings) — better3.7 (177 ratings)
Positive reviews75.8% of reviews — better42.9% of reviews
Number of ratings48K — better177
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#119 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB7 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperBlue Ox Family Games, Inc.Puzzmo Inc.

Customer experience

Red Herring

All ratings47,841 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral3.2%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews326 reviews
Positive75.8%
Neutral12.6%
Negative11.7%

Puzzmo

All ratings173 ratings
Positive65.3%
Neutral5.8%
Negative28.9%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive42.9%
Neutral16.9%
Negative40.3%

User reviews

Red Herring

From 48K App Store ratings

What 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

Puzzmo

From 177 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth app experience
  • 🎮 Variety of classic games
  • 👍 High-quality puzzles

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Suboptimal UI/UX
  • 📱 Lacks iPad optimization
  • 💰 Subscription model concerns

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

Puzzmo

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crossword clues not locking in correctly
  • Transitions between games could be smoother

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to resume games from where left off
  • Numerical order for crossword clues
  • Remove subscription, keep account option

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Red Herring

One-time10
  • Curiosity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
  • Brilliant! - 50 Puzzles$1.99
  • Allegro - 50 Puzzles$1.99
Show 7 more
  • 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
2 purchases

Puzzmo

Subscriptions2
  • Puzzmo Plus (monthly)7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Puzzmo Plus1 Month trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Red Herring free?
Red Herring is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Puzzmo free?
Puzzmo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Red Herring or Puzzmo?
Red Herring is rated higher. Red Herring averages 4.7 out of 5 from 48K ratings, while Puzzmo averages 3.7 from 177 ratings.
Do Red Herring or Puzzmo have ads?
Both Red Herring and Puzzmo show ads.
Which is updated more often, Red Herring or Puzzmo?
Red Herring ships an update every 3 months, and Puzzmo fortnightly. Most recently, Red Herring was updated on October 24, 2026 and Puzzmo on October 24, 2026.

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