Comparison

Ethos Idle vs Scratch Inc.

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

Scratch Inc.

An idle incremental game where you build an empire by scratching cards and earning points. Upgrade your cards, unlock automation, and prestige to progress faster. Enjoy endless upgrades, achievements, and global leaderboards with no ads or wait timers.

Highlights
  • Endless Upgrades
  • Prestige for Progress
  • Achievements with Rewards
  • Global Leaderboards
  • Playable Offline
  • No Ads
Features
Read full description

Build an Empire, From Scratch Scratch cards, earn points, and grow your empire in this idle/incremental game. Upgrade your cards, unlock automation, prestige across industries, and climb the leaderboards — all with no ads, ever. • Endless Upgrades – Boost your point gain, match multipliers, grid size, and so much more. • Prestige for Progress – Reset to climb faster across deep progression layers. • Achievements with Rewards – Earn Gold and multipliers by completing fun challenges. • Global Leaderboards – Compete with others across the world across a variety of challenges. • Playable Offline – Play anywhere anytime • No Ads. No Wait Timers. Just Progress and Big Numbers. Made by a solo dev. Built to respect your time. (A reimagining of my first game)

Screenshots

Ethos Idle4 screens
Scratch Inc.4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Scratch Inc. at none against Ethos Idle's shown. Scratch Inc. also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly) and ratings volume (1.9K vs 239). On price, rating, 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. Ethos Idle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Scratch Inc. 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Ethos Idle against 4.7 for Scratch Inc.. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scratch Inc. has 1.9K ratings behind it against 239, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Ethos Idle's written reviews are positive against 93% of Scratch Inc.'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ethos Idle ships an update fortnightly, Scratch Inc. every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Ethos Idle versus Scratch Inc.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEthos IdleScratch Inc.
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (239 ratings) — better4.7 (1.9K ratings)
Positive reviews84.4% of reviews93.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2391.9K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size101 MB37 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperGraham GoldsteinMakopaz LLC

Customer experience

Ethos Idle

All ratings239 ratings
Positive93.7%
Neutral3.8%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral9.4%
Negative6.3%

Scratch Inc.

All ratings1,875 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral3.5%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews456 reviews
Positive93.2%
Neutral4.2%
Negative2.6%

User reviews

Ethos Idle

From 239 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

Scratch Inc.

From 1.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable gameplay
  • 🚀 Satisfying idle mechanics
  • 💡 Active developer listening to feedback
  • 👍 Optional in-app purchases
  • 👍 Polished interface

Room to improve

  • 💰 In-app purchases feel expensive
  • 🔧 Needs more balance and content
  • 🐛 Offline rewards not working consistently

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

Scratch Inc.

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Offline rewards rarely triggering
  • Lacking sound effects

Requested features

2 requests
  • More skin tone options for avatar
  • Better variety and more offline rewards

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Ethos Idle

One-time1
  • x2 Speed$6.99
5 purchases

Scratch Inc.

One-time5
  • 20 Gold$1.99
  • 55 Gold$4.99
  • 120 Gold$9.99
Show 2 more
  • 260 Gold$19.99
  • 750 Gold$49.99

Questions

Is Ethos Idle free?
Ethos Idle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Scratch Inc. free?
Scratch Inc. is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Ethos Idle or Scratch Inc.?
Ethos Idle is rated higher. Ethos Idle averages 4.8 out of 5 from 239 ratings, while Scratch Inc. averages 4.7 from 1.9K ratings.
Do Ethos Idle or Scratch Inc. have ads?
Ethos Idle shows ads; Scratch Inc. does not.
Which is updated more often, Ethos Idle or Scratch Inc.?
Ethos Idle ships an update fortnightly, and Scratch Inc. every 3 days. Most recently, Ethos Idle was updated on September 16, 2026 and Scratch Inc. on September 22, 2026.

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