Comparison

duk. vs Cartographer

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

Head to head
About

duk.

A charming puzzle game where you guide a character across lily pads by stepping a specific number of spaces. Solve 80 unique ponds in classic mode or tackle a new daily challenge. Enjoy a relaxing, ad-free experience with no internet or accounts required.

Highlights
  • Numbered lily pad stepping mechanic
  • 80 classic ponds
  • Daily puzzles (easy, medium, hard)
  • Streak tracking for daily play
  • No ads or accounts
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

duk. is a cozy little puzzle about duk trying to reach his friend goose. each lily pad holds a number, so you step exactly that many pads across the water, sinking the one you leave behind, wrapping around the pond's edges, until every pad is gone and you land on goose. 2 ways to play: • classic: a journey through 80 ponds, each named for a real water lily, growing gently harder as you go. • daily: a fresh puzzle every day at easy, medium, or hard. a win on any tier keeps your streak going. no ads. no accounts. no internet required. nothing tracked. made for a calm few minutes, whenever you need them.

About

Cartographer

Features
Read full description

Cartographer is a relaxing map-coloring puzzle: tap a province and choose a color – no two neighboring provinces may share the same color. Arrange the land until every map is completely colored, and watch each finished map unfold like an old atlas page. FEATURES • 120 unique island maps across four difficulty tiers • No ads, no sign-up, no tracking • Progress syncs automatically via iCloud across your devices • Earn gold for every completed map • Daily Challenge with a streak, plus Free Play with your own province count and difficulty THE FIRST 20 MAPS ARE FREE From map 11 onward, you unlock further map groups once you've collected enough gold. From map 21 onward, the full version is required – a one-time purchase, no subscription, for permanent access to all 120 maps. There's more to discover here as you journey on...

Screenshots

duk.4 screens
Cartographer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: duk. at none against Cartographer's 1. Cartographer's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence and ads 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. Cartographer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. duk. asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

duk. ships an update every 11 days, Cartographer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
duk. versus Cartographer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameterduk.Cartographer
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBetula Noir LLCBenjamin Kahl

In-app purchases

None

duk.

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Cartographer

One-time1
  • Full version$0.99

Questions

Is duk. free?
duk. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cartographer free?
Cartographer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do duk. or Cartographer have ads?
Neither duk. nor Cartographer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, duk. or Cartographer?
duk. ships an update every 11 days, and Cartographer weekly. Most recently, duk. was updated on October 24, 2026 and Cartographer on October 31, 2026.

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