Prison Struggle vs Contraband
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Prison Struggle
Engage in a gritty idle-RPG where you rise through the criminal ranks from petty theft to major heists. Earn cash and XP even when offline, specialize your character with skill trees, and craft gear. Recruit cellmates and join crews to conquer territory and compete in raids and fights.
- Idle earning while offline
- Eleven escalating criminal jobs
- Four skill branches for specialization
- Gear collection and crafting
- Recruit and upgrade cellmates
- Daily contracts and bounties
- Cooperative endless raids
- 1v1 player and NPC fights
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Do the time. Run the crime. Prison Struggle: Idle is a gritty crime idle-RPG set inside the walls. Start by combing the yard drains for loose change and claw your way up to blowing the main vault wide open. Every job you pull earns cash and XP — and the hustle keeps paying out even while you're locked away from your phone. EARN WHILE YOU'RE AWAY Your inmate keeps working when the app is closed. Come back to stacks of cash and a pile of loot from the jobs that ran while you were gone. Tap in, collect, and push for the next big score. CLIMB THE CRIMINAL LADDER Eleven escalating jobs, from petty pickpocketing and shakedowns to armed robbery, breakout runs, and full-blown vault demolition. Bigger scores demand more nerve, the right gear, and a body built for the work. SPECIALIZE YOUR BUILD Unlock four skill branches — Muscle, Hustle, Stealth, and Influence — and spend skill points on permanent upgrades that stick with you. Boost raw power, juice crime payouts, sharpen drop rates, or stack bonuses for raids, fights, and territory wars. Respec when your hustle changes direction. GEAR UP Loot shivs, brass knuckles, pistols, riot shields, kevlar, gold chains, and legendary blades from your crimes and boss fights. Equip the best with one tap, sell the rest, and tune your build around four stats — Attack, Defense, Speed, and Stealth. THE WORKSHOP Salvage duplicate gear into materials and craft contraband in your own queue — lockpicks, guard uniforms, burner phones, and more. The best inmates don't just loot the yard; they manufacture what the block can't buy. RECRUIT CELLMATES Build a crew of idle earners tied to your crimes. Each cellmate stashes cash passively while you run the yard. Upgrade them, collect their haul, and watch your idle income compound. DAILY CONTRACTS Fresh bounties every day — hit crime targets, win fights, deal raid damage, craft gear, upgrade cellmates, and more. Chain completions for streak rewards and bonus cash. PIMP YOUR CELL Spend your earnings on permanent upgrades: a weight bench for raw power, a smuggled treadmill for speed, a false wall panel to stay unseen, black-market rations to soak up punishment. A fully kitted cell is the difference between a small-time crook and the inmate who runs the block. ENDLESS RAID — TOGETHER The whole block fights one shared boss at a time. Every kill spawns a stronger successor — climb stages together before the 4-hour window runs out. Chip HP in real time, share the loot with everyone who contributed, and push for the highest stage score before the run ends. Raids spend Energy, separate from Nerve, so auto-running crimes never drains your fight bar dry. 1v1 FIGHTS Challenge NPCs and real players head-to-head for cash, XP, and loot when you've got the muscle to back it up. JOIN A CREW. CLAIM THE YARD. Form or join a gang, climb the leaderboards, search for rivals by name, and fight for control of the prison map. Conquer territory tile by tile across a living seasonal map — every tile your crew holds buffs every member. Launch war strikes against rival gangs and grind your way to the top before the 14-day season resets. FAIR PLAY, BUILT IN Every payout, drop, and boss hit is verified on the server, so leaderboards and territory wars are won by the smartest hustle — not by cheaters. Gritty. Tense. Always grinding. Build your rep, gear up, gang up, and take over the block. Crime never sleeps. Will you?
Contraband
Engage in a fast-paced drug trading simulation across six American cities. Manage your cash, survive random events, and choose a criminal faction to maximize your profits within a 30-day limit. Your choices determine your survival and success in the game's challenging circuit.
- Drug trading simulation
- Six American cities
- 30-day survival challenge
- Multiple criminal factions
- Random street events
- Health and jail mechanics
- Banking and loan system
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You've got 30 days, a pocket full of cash, and a city that doesn't care if you live or die. Contraband is a fast-paced drug-trading game inspired by the classic street hustle. Buy cheap, move product across six cities, and sell high before your time runs out — or someone runs it out for you. TRADE ACROSS AMERICA Six cities. Six different markets. Weed's cheap in LA. Coke moves fast in Miami. Meth flows out of Albuquerque. Learn the routes, read the prices, and exploit every edge you can find. CHOOSE YOUR FACTION Seven criminal organizations. Each one plays differently — different starting cash, police heat, buy/sell advantages, and loan terms. The Independent and the Syndicate are yours from the start. Unlock the Mafia, Outlaws, Cartel, Yakuza, and Red Network for $0.99 each. SURVIVE THE STREETS Every move carries risk. Police chases. Corrupt officials. Informants. Street jackings. Undercover busts. When trouble hits, you choose how to handle it — fight, bribe, run, or take the hit. Having a pistol, rifle, or bodyguard on hand changes your options. So does being broke. MANAGE YOUR OPERATION Take loans from your faction's loan shark — but pay them back in time. Stash cash in the bank before a seizure wipes you out. Stock up on med packs, tourniquets, and steroids to stay alive. Weapons in your arsenal shift the odds every time things go sideways. NO ADS. NO TIMERS. NO NONSENSE. One price gets you in the door. No energy bars. No forced ads. No pay-to-win. Just you, the market, and 30 days to make your name.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Contraband at 100% against Prison Struggle's 0%. Contraband also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and ads (none vs shown). Prison Struggle's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Contraband sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Prison Struggle asks for nothing beyond the download.
Contraband holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Prison Struggle's written reviews are positive against 100% of Contraband's.
Prison Struggle ships an update weekly, Contraband fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prison Struggle | Contraband |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 66 MB | 82 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Lockdown Gaming | Ian Robinson |
Customer experience
Prison Struggle
Contraband
In-app purchases
Prison Struggle
No in-app purchases
Contraband
- The Mafia$0.99
- The Cartel$0.99
- The Outlaws$0.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- The Yakuza$0.99
- The Red Network$0.99
Questions
Is Prison Struggle free?
Is Contraband free?
Which has better reviews, Prison Struggle or Contraband?
Do Prison Struggle or Contraband have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prison Struggle or Contraband?
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