Comparison

Pixelry Sudoku vs Sternzy

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

Head to head
About

Pixelry Sudoku

Features
Read full description

It's the kind of Sudoku where you look up and an hour has quietly gone. Tap a color, tap a cell - a cube clicks into place, a chime drifts into the ambient music underneath, and the grid breathes back. Color logic instead of numbers, made for the quiet moments between things. A fresh Daily Challenge arrives every morning, drawn from a library of 20,000 hand-graded puzzles. Build a streak, then come back tomorrow. No ads. No accounts. No tracking. No subscriptions. Everything runs offline, forever. - A meditative Sudoku, designed for slowness. Soft colors, slow movements, ambient music drifting underneath - everything tuned to dissolve the clock rather than chase it. - Tactile haptics on every interaction. The palette taps, cubes snap into place, completions ripple, conflicts pulse, removals click. The board feels physical in your hand. - Color logic, not numbers. Nine colors, with an optional symbol overlay for colorblind play. - Four difficulty tiers - Casual, Medium, Hard, Master - plus a gentle Mini tutorial to learn the rules. Every puzzle is solvable with classic technique alone. No forcing chains. No guessing. - Two-tier hints: a soft nudge that points to the right area, or a hard hint that fills a single cell. Always free, never paywalled. - Six chrome themes shared with the Pixelry family - Obsidian, Bone, Dusk, Moss, Fjord, Ember. Pick the mood by spinning the cube on the home screen. - Four puzzle palettes - Balanced is free; Vibrant, Pastel, and Dusk are part of the optional premium unlock. - Ambient dub-electronica with warm tape-echo textures. Headphones recommended. - Pencil marks (annotations) that auto-clear when you place a peer. - Soft conflict highlighting - the game points out duplicates but never blocks you. The puzzle trusts you. - Daily Challenge streak, best times per tier, full local stats. Eleven languages, full VoiceOver and Dynamic Type support. - Offline by default. The whole game travels with you - long flights, subway tunnels, mountain cabins, anywhere with no signal. - Local progress, local stats, local everything. Your data never leaves the device. Optional one-time premium unlock removes the puzzle limits, opens the full Daily Challenge archive, and adds the Vibrant, Pastel, and Dusk palettes plus all cube styles. No subscriptions. No paywalls mid-puzzle. Pixelry Sudoku is part of the Pixelry family - a small, independent set of meditative puzzle apps designed to be returned to, not optimized around. Made by a tiny team with plenty of headphones, coffee, and a love for carefully crafted puzzle details.

About

Sternzy

A relaxing block puzzle game where you drag shapes to fill rows and columns for points. Features unique diagonal clears, a daily challenge, and wildcard pieces. Play offline with no ads or paywalls.

Highlights
  • Drag and drop block puzzles
  • Fill rows/columns to clear
  • Diagonal clear mechanic
  • Daily puzzle challenges
  • Wildcard pieces
  • Offline play
  • Customizable appearance
Features
Read full description

BlockDrop is a beautifully simple block puzzle game. Drag shapes from the tray onto the 8×8 board, fill rows or columns to clear them, and try to beat your high score. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT • No ads. Ever. No banners, no pop-ups, no video interruptions. • No paywalls. The whole game is free to play — the only purchase is an optional tip if you'd like to support development. • Play offline. No account, no sign-up, no internet required. • Pick up where you left off. Take a call or close the app mid-game and your board, score, and even your undo history are saved. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT • Diagonal clears. Fill a full corner-to-corner diagonal to clear it — a twist most block games don't have. • A new Daily Puzzle. The same board for everyone, every day — climb the daily leaderboard. • The Beetle Hunt. A hidden beetle scurries across the daily board — box it in to earn bonus swaps and a confetti payoff. • Wildcard pieces. Stuck? Earn a "?" piece and turn it into any shape you want. • Challenge a friend. Share a seed code and your friend plays your exact piece sequence — then compare scores. • Undo. Made a mistake? Take it back — most block puzzles won't let you. • Rotate pieces. Spin blocks to slot them into tight spots. • Free shuffles. Earn shuffles as you score to swap out an awkward tray. MAKE IT YOURS • Customize the grid cell colors and opacity to match your style. • Sound and haptics you control. COMPETE • Game Center leaderboards for regular play, the daily puzzle, and efficiency (points per move). • Daily "king of the hill" rewards for holding the top spot. Whether you've got two minutes or twenty, BlockDrop is the calm, ad-free block puzzle that's always ready when you are. Download free and start clearing.

Screenshots

Pixelry Sudoku4 screens
Sternzy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Sternzy at weekly against Pixelry Sudoku's every 2 weeks. Pixelry Sudoku's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). 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. Pixelry Sudoku sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Sternzy sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixelry Sudoku ships an update every 2 weeks, Sternzy weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Pixelry Sudoku versus Sternzy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixelry SudokuSternzy
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNeowelt Interactive ABDavid Stern

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Pixelry Sudoku

One-time4
  • Coffee$0.99
  • Premium Unlock$4.99
  • Lunch$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Dinner$9.99
4 purchases

Sternzy

One-time4
  • Diner Coffee$0.99
  • Café Cappuccino$1.99
  • Artisan Pour-Over$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Fancy Bistro Latte$9.99

Questions

Is Pixelry Sudoku free?
Pixelry Sudoku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sternzy free?
Sternzy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pixelry Sudoku or Sternzy have ads?
Neither Pixelry Sudoku nor Sternzy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixelry Sudoku or Sternzy?
Pixelry Sudoku ships an update every 2 weeks, and Sternzy weekly. Most recently, Pixelry Sudoku was updated on October 31, 2026 and Sternzy on November 5, 2026.

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