Scioly Codebusters vs Cipher Challenge
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Scioly Codebusters
Practice codebreaking with a vast collection of quotes covering Aristocrats, Patristocrats, and Xenocrypts. Offers assisted modes with hints for beginners and manual modes for advanced users. Includes a dictionary to learn common word patterns and accelerate cipher-solving skills.
- Practice Aristocrats, Patristocrats, Xenocrypts
- Over a thousand quotes
- Assisted mode with hints
- Manual mode for challenges
- Unique dictionary feature
- Learn common word patterns
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Scioly Codebusters is the ultimate codebusters prep app! Practice with over a thousand different quotes with Aristocrats, Patristocrats, and Xenocrypts so you can level up your codebusting skills! For hobbyists and beginners, enjoy the assisted mode and hints to help you solve each cipher. If you are a science olympiad student or looking for a challenge, check out the manual mode, removing many helpful features like the autofill! Finally, we have a unique dictionary feature that teaches you common word patterns to accelerate your progress. This is the best way to learn and practice the 3 biggest ciphers in Scioly Codebusters! We are always accepting suggestions :) Developed by Suvan & Manoj. **WE ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE OFFICIAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD ORGANIZATION IN ANY WAY**
Cipher Challenge
Engage your mind with a variety of cipher decoding challenges. Practice different cipher types, track your progress, and compete with friends. Unlock quotes and sync your achievements across devices.
- Multiple cipher modes
- Letter frequency analysis
- Multiplayer competition
- Unlocked quote gallery
- Score history tracking
- iCloud sync across devices
- Hard mode challenge
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A cipher decoding game. Cipher modes: Aristocrat, Patristocrat, Caesar, Random substitution cipher, K1 cipher, K2 cipher Additional features: - See letter frequency table and cipher letter -> original letter mapping table - Share link or game id to friends and compete on the same puzzle - View all the unlocked quotes - See score history - Unlocked quotes and scores are sync'ed across iPhone, iPad and Mac computers through iCloud - Enable hard mode for a special challenge Also perfect for Science Olympiad (SciOly) Codebusters practice.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Cipher Challenge at 5.0 against Scioly Codebusters's 4.6. Scioly Codebusters's advantage is review sentiment (86% vs 67%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Cipher Challenge holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 4 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 86% of Scioly Codebusters's written reviews are positive against 67% of Cipher Challenge's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Scioly Codebusters ships an update weekly, Cipher Challenge every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on July 6, 2026 and June 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Scioly Codebusters | Cipher Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (17 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 17 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rohit Kumar | Bao Lei |
Customer experience
Scioly Codebusters
Cipher Challenge
In-app purchases
Scioly Codebusters
No in-app purchases
Cipher Challenge
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Scioly Codebusters free?
Is Cipher Challenge free?
Which has better reviews, Scioly Codebusters or Cipher Challenge?
Do Scioly Codebusters or Cipher Challenge have ads?
Which is updated more often, Scioly Codebusters or Cipher Challenge?
Other comparisons
