Comparison

DeckForge vs Ki

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

Head to head
About

DeckForge

Features
Read full description

Card Game Prototyping & Playtesting Tool DeckForge is the fastest way to design, build, and playtest custom card games on your phone. Stop printing paper prototypes — create your entire tabletop deck digitally and start shuffling in minutes. Whether you're a board game designer iterating on a new card game or a group of friends playtesting a homebrew, DeckForge gives you everything you need to go from idea to play session without cutting a single card. **BUILD YOUR DECK** Create cards individually or generate entire decks at once with the bulk card wizard. Set names, colors, tags, types (cards, tokens, tiles), quantities, and custom characteristics. Duplicate decks to branch your design without losing previous versions. Import and export decks as JSON to share with collaborators. **DESIGN CUSTOM CARD LAYOUTS** Use the drag-and-drop card designer to build visual templates for your cards. Place text, icons, and images anywhere on the canvas. Bind fields to card data so every card renders with its own stats. Design a custom card back for your deck. Apply templates to individual cards or entire sets in one tap. **PLAY LIKE IT'S ON THE TABLE** Shuffle, draw, discard, and flip cards with smooth animations and haptic feedback that feels like a real tabletop experience. Tap any card to inspect it, move it between piles, or trigger game actions. Pinch to zoom on card details. Create custom piles — draw decks, hands, discard piles, fields — to match any game's layout. **THREE REALISTIC SHUFFLE ALGORITHMS** Choose how your deck shuffles: Fisher-Yates for perfect randomization, Overhand for a casual table shuffle feel, or Riffle for authentic card-game shuffling. Configure pass and cut counts for the simulation style you want. **LOCAL MULTIPLAYER — 2 TO 6 PLAYERS** Pass the device and play with friends. DeckForge supports 2–6 players with custom names, color-coded turns, a privacy screen between handoffs, and an optional turn timer. A full action log tracks every draw, discard, and move so no one loses track of the game. **ADD GAME LOGIC WITHOUT CODE** Attach scripts to any card using a visual builder — no programming required. Set triggers (on draw, on play, on discard, on tap, on flip), add conditions, and define actions like drawing extra cards, moving cards between piles, shuffling, flipping, adjusting counters, or displaying messages. Your game rules run automatically during play. **TRACK YOUR STATS** The statistics dashboard shows draw probabilities for every card, tag, and color in your deck. After playtesting, review balance scores, most-drawn cards, total playtime, and auto-generated insights to refine your game design. **SESSION TEMPLATES** Save starting layouts so you can replay the same setup instantly. Define which piles exist, how many cards each starts with, face-up or face-down orientation, and which piles are player-specific. Start a four-player game with a single tap. **EXPORT FOR PRINT** When your game is ready, export a print-ready PDF with crop marks, bleed, and CMYK color support. Home print and print-shop presets are built in. Printer Friendly option black/white grayscale.

About

Ki

Capture, organize, and connect all your learning in one place. This app allows you to save notes, links, code snippets, and ideas, then link them together to build a web of knowledge. Find anything fast with full-text search and visual knowledge graphs.

Highlights
  • Capture notes, links, quotes, code snippets, and ideas
  • Organize with color-coded tags and custom topics
  • Connect notes with bidirectional linking
  • Visualize knowledge with interactive graphs
  • Full-text search and saved searches
  • Quick capture via floating button and widgets
  • Review workflow for managing notes
Features
Read full description

Ki-note is your personal knowledge base. Capture, organize, and connect everything you learn — all in one place. CAPTURE EVERYTHING • Notes, links, quotes, code snippets, ideas, and references • Quick capture with a floating + button from anywhere in the app • Save source URLs and titles for web content. You can share links from Safari to Ki-note! • Tag code snippets with their programming language (Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust) • You can insert notes, text, links, into Ki-notes using the Share functionality • You can insert notes using voice in the Control Center widget or using a shortcut with Siri ORGANIZE YOUR WAY • Tags — color-coded labels to categorize your notes • Topics — group related notes under a single theme with custom icons • Smart Collections — automatic filters like Inbox, Favorites, Reading Queue, Unreviewed, Quotes, Ideas, Links, Untagged, and Unlinked • Configurable Quick Access dashboard on the home screen • Pin, favorite, and archive notes • Review workflow — track notes from Inbox → Unreviewed → Reviewing → Reviewed CONNECT YOUR KNOWLEDGE • Link notes together to build a web of ideas • Bidirectional linking — see which notes link to and from each note • Interactive Knowledge Graph — visualize all your notes and their connections • Customizable graph settings for colors, forces, and display options FIND ANYTHING FAST • Full-text search across all notes • Save frequently used searches for quick access • Browse by tags and topics • Filter by note type, status, or collection BUILT FOR YOU • 100% free — no ads, no subscriptions, all features unlocked • Local-first — your data stays on your device with SwiftData • Localized in 6 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese • Light and dark mode with customizable themes • Optional one-time tip to support development Ki-note is designed for students, researchers, developers, writers, and anyone who wants to build a personal knowledge base that grows with them.

Screenshots

DeckForge4 screens
Ki4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Ki at every 2 days against DeckForge's every 10 days. DeckForge's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 18.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. DeckForge sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Ki sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DeckForge ships an update every 10 days, Ki every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
DeckForge versus Ki: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeckForgeKi
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB4 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperSamuel HarmonJuan Casanueva

In-app purchases

1 purchases

DeckForge

One-time1
  • DeckForge Pro$4.99
1 purchases

Ki

One-time1
  • Buy me a coffee$0.99

Questions

Is DeckForge free?
DeckForge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ki free?
Ki is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do DeckForge or Ki have ads?
Neither DeckForge nor Ki shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DeckForge or Ki?
DeckForge ships an update every 10 days, and Ki every 2 days. Most recently, DeckForge was updated on October 8, 2026 and Ki on September 29, 2026.

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