Comparison

Taikai vs Chrono

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

Head to head
About

Taikai

Features
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Taikai is the easiest way to track your TCG life β€” from your first Swiss round to the top cut. Whether you're a casual player or a competitive grinder, Taikai keeps every tournament, deck and match in one place so you can focus on playing and improving. WHAT YOU CAN DO β€’ Log tournaments round by round β€” Swiss, top cut, ties and forfeits β€’ Build and save your decks, with leaders and colors β€’ Record every match result and watch your win rate update live β€’ Track your performance across multiple games and seasons β€’ Share your runs with friends MULTIPLE GAMES, ONE APP Track several popular trading card games from a single app. Enable only the games you play and keep your dashboard tidy. Download Taikai and start tracking your road to the top.

About

Chrono

Features
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We have all been trapped in that pod. The board is a clogged mess, someone has been staring at their hand for ten minutes trying to sequence a cantrip, your cold brew is empty, and you are aging in real time. Enter Chrono-Tithe. Chrono-Tithe is not just a sleek life counter. It is an automated tax collector for slow play. Instead of a passive chess clock everyone ignores, it enforces an escalating β€œTithe Tax.” Overstay your welcome in the think tank and your life total starts draining automatically. It is the perfect way to keep the table moving, or to quietly pressure the pod while you assemble your lock behind a wall of artifacts. CORE FEATURES (always free) THE TITHE ENGINE: An escalating turn timer that ramps through four tiers, from Standard to Accelerated to Punishing to Lethal. Choose the turn the tax starts to tighten and watch it change the way your pod plays. BLIND-TAP LIFE TRACKING: Zero-friction split cards. Tap the right side of a player’s color block to gain life, tap the left to lose it. Press and hold to swing by 5 at a time. You never have to take your eyes off the board. FULL COMMANDER TRACKING: Poison, energy, experience, +1/+1, commander tax, and per-source commander damage, with 21 from a single commander tracked and flagged automatically. Monarch and the Initiative too. BUILT FOR THE TABLE: 2 to 6 players, format presets for Commander, 1v1, Two-Headed Giant, and Brawl, a pre-game lobby to set seating and decide who goes first, plus a dice roller, coin flip, and random-player picker. PLAY TOGETHER, ON EVERY PHONE: Connect the whole pod over local Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and everyone plays on their own screen, in sync. Tap your own life, pass your own turn, track your own commander damage, and watch it land on every device instantly. No internet, no accounts, no server. Joining a pod is always free. POST-GAME BREAKDOWN: Average turn length for every pilot and a golden Efficiency Star for the fastest player at the table. Hit Replay Pod to run it back with the same roster in one tap. MINIMALIST AND TACTILE: Deep true blacks, fluid gestures, and subtle haptics, designed to preserve battery and reduce visual fatigue during long matches. Scales cleanly from iPhone to a 12.9-inch iPad, and the screen stays awake during play. CHRONO-TITHE PRO (optional, one-time) The full game is free forever, with every life total, counter, timer, and tool included. A single one-time unlock (no subscription) adds: HOST MULTIPLAYER: Host a synced pod so the whole table plays on their own phones. Joining a pod is always free; hosting one is Pro. THEMES AND ACCENTS: Ten background themes and a full neon accent palette. CLOCK MODES: Alternate ways for the clock to bite. Three are live: Sudden Death (at the Lethal tier, overtime eliminates you outright), Time Bank (unused seconds roll into your next turn), and Chess Clock (one game-long budget per player). Team Clock is on the way, included free. TIMER-ONLY MODE: Switch the Tithe off to time turns with no life loss. COMMANDER ART AND SEAT COLORS: Set any commander’s art as a seat’s background and give each seat its own color. MATCH HISTORY: Every pod saved and synced to your own iCloud, so it survives a reinstall or a new phone with no login. All future Pro features included, free. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No ads. No tracking. Your roster, settings, and history live on your device and in your own iCloud, never on our servers. Multiplayer is a direct device-to-device connection over your local network, not through any server of ours. Chrono-Tithe collects zero data about you. Set your pod. Start the clock. Pay the tithe. Chrono-Tithe is an unofficial fan-made utility. It is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Magic: The Gathering and Commander are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast.

Screenshots

Taikai4 screens
Chrono4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Chrono at none against Taikai's shown. Chrono also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Taikai sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Chrono sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Taikai ships an update fortnightly, Chrono every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Taikai versus Chrono: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTaikaiChrono
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 4 days β€” better
AdsYesNo β€” better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad β€” better
Requires iOS18.0 β€” better18.6
Further details β€” not scored
Size24 MB21 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperAngel DominguezNICHOLAS SALVATORE PUYA

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Taikai

One-time1
  • Taikai Premium$4.99
1 purchases

Chrono

One-time1
  • Chrono-Tithe Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Taikai free?
Taikai is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chrono free?
Chrono is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Taikai or Chrono have ads?
Taikai shows ads; Chrono does not.
Which is updated more often, Taikai or Chrono?
Taikai ships an update fortnightly, and Chrono every 4 days. Most recently, Taikai was updated on October 14, 2026 and Chrono on October 15, 2026.

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