Comparison

Ethos Idle vs Idle Chest

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

Head to head
About

Ethos Idle

Guide humanity's progress from its earliest discoveries to the distant future. Manage your tribe's choices, develop over 200 unique ideas, and explore the world. Advance your civilization, unlock bonuses, and enjoy a single-player, offline experience with optional ads.

Highlights
  • Develop over 200 historic ideas
  • Explore and exploit the world
  • Manage tribe choices
  • Unlock exploration bonuses and synergies
  • Prestige mechanic upgrades
  • Customizable challenge scenarios
  • Offline single-player experience
Features
Read full description

Chart the progess of Humanity through the ages, and guide their every discovery from the moment they kindle the first fire to the far future. Develop over 200 unique ideas across three different flavours of thought. Help your people to conquer or make peace with their enemies, explore and exploit the world, and develop projects to meet their needs. Manage your tribe's choices to squeeze out more strength, or sit back and idle as your clan develop on their own. Advance as far as you can take your people, and then collect bonuses to improve future runs. Select varied challenges that change the way the game plays, and combine these challenges to create your own unique scenarios with big rewards. Features: - Over 200 historic ideas to develop, across 3 flavours of thought - Dozens of exploration bonuses and synergies to unlock and exploit - Permanently power up your civilisation with prestige mechanic upgrades - Combine varied challenge conditions to create your own scenarios with powerful rewards - Optional, out-of-the-way ads won't interrupt your experience - A completely offline, single player experience - All game content is accessible for free

About

Idle Chest

Embark on a treasure-hunting adventure where every click earns rewards. Upgrade your skills, collect and enhance equipment, and unlock unique abilities. Discover the secrets of this world through engaging gameplay and an addictive incremental experience.

Highlights
  • Open various chests
  • Loot and upgrade equipment
  • Buy skill upgrades
  • Unlock unique skills
  • Discover game story
Features
Read full description

Dive in "Idle Chest", an adventure where each click brings you closer to fabulous treasures. Earn rewards, upgrade your skills, and unlock new chests for endless fun! Get ready to be hooked on this addictive endless incremental clicker experience! * OPEN CHESTS Open a variety of chests and discover everything they hide, from equipments to resources or other awesome chests! * LOOT EQUIPMENTS Collect different equipments upgrade them and equip them to gain bonus and discover more legendary equipments! * BUY UPGRADES Upgrade your opening skills by buying upgrades to allow you to drop more rewards and open chests faster! * UNLOCK UNIQUE SKILLS Using skill points, unlock every skills in the skill tree to become stronger and obtain unique powers! * DISCOVER THE STORY Progress in the game to discover the secret behind this world! Come discover "Idle Chest", the new incremental, clicker game which you wouldn't want to miss !

Screenshots

Ethos Idle4 screens
Idle Chest4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Ethos Idle at 4.8 against Idle Chest's 4.5. On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Ethos Idle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Idle Chest sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ethos Idle holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 242 and 109 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Ethos Idle's written reviews are positive against 81% of Idle Chest's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ethos Idle ships an update every 3 weeks, Idle Chest every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Ethos Idle versus Idle Chest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEthos IdleIdle Chest
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (242 ratings) — better4.5 (109 ratings)
Positive reviews84.4% of reviews — better80.9% of reviews
Number of ratings242 — better109
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size101 MB192 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGraham GoldsteinThomas Gunzburger

Customer experience

Ethos Idle

All ratings241 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.7%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral9.4%
Negative6.3%

Idle Chest

All ratings109 ratings
Positive86.2%
Neutral5.5%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews115 reviews
Positive80.9%
Neutral7.8%
Negative11.3%

User reviews

Ethos Idle

From 242 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast progression
  • 👍 Minimal ad interruption
  • 👍 Simple and enjoyable design
  • 👍 Great for relaxing and watching numbers go up
  • 👍 Excellent incremental game design

Room to improve

  • 🐢 Slower progression speed desired
  • 🛒 IAP for 2x production doesn't eliminate video ads

Idle Chest

From 109 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun short idle clicker
  • 👍 Consistent theme
  • 👍 Enjoyable experience
  • 👍 Minimalistic but rewarding grind
  • 💰 Non-intrusive ads

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Game breaking bug with 'Chosen One' minion
  • 🔍 Difficult to compare tap damage to acolyte damage
  • 🔍 Some explanations could be improved
  • 🔍 Slightly linear progression

Bugs and requests

Ethos Idle

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • RNG for challenges is unfair and unfun
  • Unlocking buffs for inaccessible technologies

Requested features

2 requests
  • Option to remove ads entirely
  • Clarification on prestige warp gain multipliers

Idle Chest

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Progress resets or reverts
  • Minions not working after equipping 'Chosen One'

Requested features

2 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Better UI for comparing damage sources

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Ethos Idle

One-time1
  • x2 Speed$6.99
5 purchases

Idle Chest

One-time5
  • Underwater Background Skin$3.99
  • Underwater Chests Skin$3.99
  • Underwater Acolytes Skin$3.99
Show 2 more
  • No Ads$3.99
  • Underwater Complete Skins Pack$8.99

Questions

Is Ethos Idle free?
Ethos Idle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Idle Chest free?
Idle Chest is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Ethos Idle or Idle Chest?
Ethos Idle is rated higher. Ethos Idle averages 4.8 out of 5 from 242 ratings, while Idle Chest averages 4.5 from 109 ratings.
Do Ethos Idle or Idle Chest have ads?
Both Ethos Idle and Idle Chest show ads.
Which is updated more often, Ethos Idle or Idle Chest?
Ethos Idle ships an update every 3 weeks, and Idle Chest every 10 days. Most recently, Ethos Idle was updated on November 4, 2026 and Idle Chest on November 10, 2026.

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