Comparison

AEON 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

AEON

Create and expand your own universe from scattered dust to vast galaxies. Experience cosmic evolution with realistic physics, unlock new laws, and witness civilizations rise and fall. This meditative idle game offers a relaxing journey through the cosmos.

Highlights
  • Universe creation from dust to observable universe
  • Realistic N-body physics simulation
  • Unlockable laws and content via discovery tree
  • Life and civilization simulation
  • Offline progress and notifications
  • Constellation discovery and rare cosmic wonders
Read full description

AEON is a meditative, relaxing idle game about creating a universe from nothing. Tap the screen to draw scattered interstellar dust together — particles pull on each other like real physics and slowly grow. Given enough mass they become a molecular cloud, then a blazing star, a star system with orbiting planets, a cluster of thousands of stars, a vast galaxy, and beyond — galaxy clusters, superclusters, and the observable universe itself. Grow your cosmos far enough and Big Bang collapses it for a "cosmic constant." Strengthen the laws of physics — time dilation, fusion, gravity, dark matter — and open new laws and content on a discovery tree, so the next universe grows faster than the last. Watch long enough and life sprouts on some world, and a civilization lights the windows of its cities. They send signals, form alliances or wage war, and wonder about the creator of their universe. You watch over it all — and, now and then, grant a blessing. Features - Ten stages of evolution, from dust to the observable universe - Real N-body physics: particles clump and react - A differently-flavored universe every Big Bang — 24 traits, 5 galaxy types - Some universes arrive in a whole different visual language — monochrome, pixel art, green phosphor, cube, Hubble palette, ink wash, watercolor, or oil painting - Discover and record 27 real constellations of the night sky - Catch rare wonders — black holes, pulsars, quasars, and supernovae - Real meteor shower nights reach your universe too — seven showers a year, each with its own constellation and a dazzling peak - A discovery tree that unlocks new laws and content with each cosmic constant - Codex & milestones: permanent bonuses that outlive the Big Bang - A living universe — life and civilizations arise, signal, ally, and war - Offline progress and return notifications - Daily check-in gifts that grow each day, and a welcome-back gift after time away - Cloud save through Game Center — your progress follows you to a new device - Sixteen languages (EN, KO, JA, ZH-Hant, ZH-Hans, ES, DE, RU, UK, PT-BR, ID, VI, FR, IT, TR, PL), save backup/restore - A calm, relaxing cosmos — free to play with ads; one optional purchase removes them

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
Read full description

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

AEON4 screens
Idle Space Mining4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: AEON at 5.0 against Idle Space Mining's 4.3. Idle Space Mining's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ratings volume, 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. AEON sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Idle Space Mining asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AEON holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 4 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
AEON versus Idle Space Mining: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAEONIdle Space Mining
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.3 (4 ratings)
Number of ratings5 — better4
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB121 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJung Gil SeoISAAC MICHAEL FRETT

Customer experience

AEON

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Idle Space Mining

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

AEON

One-time1
  • Creator's Mark$2.99
None

Idle Space Mining

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is AEON free?
AEON 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, AEON or Idle Space Mining?
AEON is rated higher. AEON averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Idle Space Mining averages 4.3 from 4 ratings.
Do AEON or Idle Space Mining have ads?
Both AEON and Idle Space Mining show ads.
Which is updated more often, AEON or Idle Space Mining?
AEON ships an update weekly, and Idle Space Mining weekly. Most recently, AEON was updated on November 5, 2026 and Idle Space Mining on November 5, 2026.

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