Comparison

Idle Rune Foundry vs Idle Space Mining

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

Head to head
About

Idle Rune Foundry

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Become the ultimate Runesmith! Tap to forge mystical runes, build an army of enchanted auto-forgers, and grow your forge into a legendary powerhouse. FORGE YOUR DESTINY Start with nothing but a hammer and an anvil. Every tap crafts a rune, and every rune brings you closer to mastery. Upgrade your tap power, land critical strikes, and build explosive combos to supercharge your output. BUILD YOUR WORKFORCE Hire Apprentices, enchant Rune Chisels, fuel Mana Bellows, and command mighty Golem Workers. As your forge grows, unlock powerful machines like the Arcane Lathe, Elder Runesmith, Phoenix Furnace, and the mysterious Void Conduit — each producing runes automatically, even while you're away. ENCHANT & UPGRADE Convert your runes into powerful Enchanted Runes to unlock premium upgrades. Boost your tap power, increase production multipliers, and automate your enchanting process for maximum efficiency. PRESTIGE FOR POWER When you've pushed your forge to its limits, perform a Prestige reset to earn Ancient Essence — a permanent currency that makes every new run faster and more powerful. Unlock Ancient Upgrades that persist forever, giving you an edge that compounds with every prestige. EARN WHILE YOU'RE AWAY Your forge never sleeps! Come back to collect runes earned by your workers while you were gone. Upgrade your offline earnings to collect even more. CUSTOMIZE YOUR FORGE Express your style with unique forge skins — from the Classic Forge to the ethereal Celestial Forge. Collect them all and make your forge truly yours. KEY FEATURES - Satisfying tap-to-forge gameplay with critical strikes and combos - 8 unique auto-forger types to unlock and upgrade - Deep upgrade system across Tap, Forge, and Enchanting categories - Prestige system with permanent progression - Offline earnings that keep your forge running 24/7 - Beautiful forge cosmetic skins - Speed boosts and auto-tap for accelerated gameplay - Dark, atmospheric fantasy aesthetic - No internet required to play ACCESSIBILITY - VoiceOver support across every game screen - Dynamic Type — game text scales with your iOS text size preference - Reduce Motion honored — sparks, glows, and ceremonial animations calm down when enabled - Sound, haptic, and Reduce Motion toggles in Settings - Color-blind friendly — affordability, selection, and castle piece state are shown by icon and shape, never by color alone - 44pt minimum touch targets on every button and tab Download Idle Rune Foundry and start your journey from humble apprentice to legendary Runesmith!

About

Idle Space Mining

Build and expand a space mining empire through incremental upgrades and strategic choices. Reset your progress to gain permanent bonuses and achieve ultimate power. Earn resources even while offline.

Highlights
  • Incremental mining empire building
  • Strategic doctrine choices
  • Prestige system with Dark Matter
  • Permanent upgrades via Star Shards
  • Offline earnings
  • Challenging game modes
  • Comet catching events
Features
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Tap an asteroid. Build a mining empire. Then destroy it — and come back stronger. IDLE SPACE MINING is an idle game about scale. You start hand-mining ore from a bare rock. You end up rewriting local physics so the ore was always there. BUILD THE COLONY Twenty-six machines, from a rickety Drone Hangar to the Terminus Drillhead. Each one runs its own harvest cycle — watch the bars fill, watch the ore land. Every 10 you own doubles that machine's output, and every tier lifts the one beneath it. CHOOSE YOUR DOCTRINE At each tier you pick ONE of three paths and forfeit the other two. Triple your early generators, or cut the price of everything, or tighten your milestones. There is no right answer — and you re-decide every single run. ASCEND When growth stalls, collapse the whole colony into a singularity. You lose your ore, your generators, your tech. You keep DARK MATTER — and every scrap you have ever earned makes you permanently stronger. Dark Matter is deliberately scarce. Each one matters. HEAT DEATH Then there's the prestige above prestige. Let the universe run down, trade everything — even your Dark Matter — for Star Shards, and buy upgrades that survive the end of everything. TAKE ON CHALLENGES Mine with no hands. Run with triple-length cycles. Build with only three generator types. Beat one and keep the bonus forever. CATCH COMETS Comets drift past while you play. Tap one for a lump of ore or a burst of production. EARN WHILE YOU SLEEP Your colony keeps mining when the app is closed. Come back to a pile. One optional ad, and only if you want it: watch a Supply Drop for double production for four hours. No banners, no interstitials, nothing that interrupts play. No energy timers, no countdown "offers". Just numbers going up, forever.

Screenshots

Idle Rune Foundry4 screens
Idle Space Mining4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Idle Rune Foundry at 5.0 against Idle Space Mining's 4.0. Idle Space Mining's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and device support. On price 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. Idle Rune Foundry sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Idle Space Mining asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Idle Rune Foundry holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Idle Rune Foundry ships an update every 2 weeks, Idle Space Mining weekly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 4 level
Idle Rune Foundry versus Idle Space Mining: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIdle Rune FoundryIdle Space Mining
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.0 (3 ratings)
Number of ratings13 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
Ads—Yes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
Devices—iPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size69 MB121 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael EakinsISAAC MICHAEL FRETT

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Idle Rune Foundry

One-time5
  • Pouch of Gems$0.99
  • Remove Ads$2.99
  • Chest of Gems$3.99
Show 2 more
  • Legendary Hoard$6.99
  • Vault of Gems$14.99
None

Idle Space Mining

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Idle Rune Foundry free?
Idle Rune Foundry is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Idle Space Mining free?
Idle Space Mining is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Idle Rune Foundry or Idle Space Mining?
Idle Rune Foundry is rated higher. Idle Rune Foundry averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Idle Space Mining averages 4.0 from 3 ratings.
Which is updated more often, Idle Rune Foundry or Idle Space Mining?
Idle Rune Foundry ships an update every 2 weeks, and Idle Space Mining weekly. Most recently, Idle Rune Foundry was updated on October 24, 2026 and Idle Space Mining on October 24, 2026.

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