Ethos Idle vs Upload Labs
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Upload Labs
Build optimized node-based systems to manage computer components and processes. Research new technologies, hack organizations for intel, and code custom solutions. Develop an AI to boost income and achieve Artificial General Intelligence to save the universe.
- Node-based system building
- Resource flow and data pipeline control
- Research tree for new technologies
- Strategic hacking for intel and resources
- Custom code optimization and application development
- AI development and evolution
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Welcome to the Labs! In Upload Labs you are tasked to save the universe from the inevitable heat death. Use your ingenuity and power to build optimized systems using a node-based system. These nodes are window-like interfaces representing components and processes within your computer. You will connect nodes from output to input to control resource flow and data pipelines Research: Scan files to unlock powerful new technologies via the research tree. There you will find game-changing nodes, innovative systems, and scientific milestones, all critical for achieving your ultimate goal. Hack: Strategically engage in breaches of organizations through hacking. This provides access to critical intel, enables the disruption of opposing systems, and secures resources vital for your mission. Code: Get contributors by committing important code, Implement custom solutions for your system by crafting code optimizations, developing custom applications, and programming essential drivers. These tools allow for precise tuning and automation, ensuring optimal performance. AI Development: Cultivate and evolve an Artificial Intelligence by feeding it downloaded files for processing and learning. As the AI progresses, it will generate improved files, greatly boosting your income. Guide its development to ultimately achieve Artificial General Intelligence, a pivotal step in overcoming the universal crisis.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ethos Idle at 4.8 against Upload Labs's 4.4. Ethos Idle also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 64%) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). Upload Labs's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, ratings volume, ads 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. Ethos Idle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Upload Labs sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ethos Idle holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 239 and 90 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Ethos Idle's written reviews are positive against 64% of Upload Labs's.
Ethos Idle ships an update fortnightly, Upload Labs weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ethos Idle | Upload Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (239 ratings) — better | 4.4 (90 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.4% of reviews — better | 64.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 239 — better | 90 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 101 MB | 168 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Graham Goldstein | EnigmaDev Studios |
Customer experience
Ethos Idle
Upload Labs
User reviews
Ethos Idle
From 239 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Upload Labs
From 90 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun game
- 🚀 Insanely addictive
- 👍 Fantastic game
- 👍 Incredible game
Room to improve
- 🐛 Complications with UI and UX
- 🐛 Can't rotate left
- 🐛 Clunky touch controls
- 🐛 Hard to read text
- 🐛 Wires are hard to follow
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
Upload Labs
Reported bugs
2 issues- Scrolling issues
- Full screen issues
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to rotate left
- Improve UI and UX
- Make text more readable
- Improve wire management
In-app purchases
Ethos Idle
- x2 Speed$6.99
Upload Labs
- Customizations$3.99
- Daily Tokens$3.99
- AD Converter$4.99
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- Daily Tokens+$5.99
- Chronomancer$7.99
- Permanent Boosts$9.99
Questions
Is Ethos Idle free?
Is Upload Labs free?
Which has better reviews, Ethos Idle or Upload Labs?
Do Ethos Idle or Upload Labs have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ethos Idle or Upload Labs?
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