Comparison

Cirquanta vs Perfboard Lab

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

Head to head
About

Cirquanta

Visualize digital logic with a native circuit simulator. Build schematics, connect components, and observe real-time signal reactions. Ideal for learning, teaching, or prototyping digital systems offline.

Highlights
  • Build schematics on canvas
  • Real-time simulation
  • 40+ components library
  • 30-level learning campaign
  • Offline functionality
  • Private iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Make digital logic visible. Cirquanta is a native circuit simulator for iPhone and iPad. Build clear schematics, connect components directly on the canvas, and watch every logical signal react in real time. Whether you are learning Boolean logic, teaching digital electronics, or sketching a design before HDL or firmware, Cirquanta gives you a focused workspace that works offline. DESIGN ON THE CANVAS • Choose and place 60+ components from an organized library • Move, wire, rotate, duplicate, and configure elements with undo and redo • Select several parts at once, then move, duplicate, copy, or cut the whole sub-circuit and paste it into any circuit, wiring included • Organize larger designs with buses, zones, sticky notes, zoom, full screen, and curved or right-angle wires SIMULATE IN REAL TIME • Toggle switches and inputs directly on your circuit • Run, pause, advance step by step, or reset the simulation • Follow color-coded signals with deterministic four-state logic: 0, 1, unknown X, and high-impedance Z LEARN WITH CHALLENGES • Work through a 30-level campaign, from a single wire to a state machine • Follow a clear objective, with optional hints and step-by-step guidance • Earn up to three stars per challenge, graded on correctness and efficiency • Play the first six challenges free; unlock the whole campaign with Pro GO FROM GATES TO SEQUENTIAL LOGIC Start with AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR, and XNOR gates. Then explore multiplexers, demultiplexers, decoders, encoders, adders, latches, D/JK/T flip-flops, registers, counters, buses, clocks, LEDs, probes, and displays. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account and no sign-up: just open the app and start building • Works fully offline; your circuits are saved locally on the device • No ads, and your data is never sold; your designs stay yours • Optional private iCloud sync between your own devices with the same Apple Account (iCloud is never required) KEEP CONTROL OF YOUR PROJECTS • Start from a blank canvas or a built-in example • Search, sort, favorite, and archive your circuits • Export a portable backup to save or share your work Free to start with room for 3 circuits and up to 24 components each, plus six free challenges. Unlock Cirquanta Pro once for unlimited circuits and components and the full challenge campaign, with no subscription. Cirquanta is made for students, teachers, makers, and developers who want to understand or prototype digital systems. It simulates digital logic only; it is not an analog or SPICE simulator.

About

Perfboard Lab

Features
Read full description

Understand electronics by trying it out: Perfboard Lab turns your iPhone, iPad or Mac with Apple silicon into an electronics lab. Build a circuit and switch on the power. Right away you see what happens: LEDs light up, buzzers beep, motors turn and hum. And if your maths was off: it smokes, it sparks and the part burns out – without any real damage. SEE WHAT HAPPENS, INSTANTLY • Every change is computed instantly with real physics • Overloaded parts smoke in four levels until they burn out • The analysis explains in plain words what is wrong: an LED the wrong way round, a missing series resistor, a short circuit, an open circuit MEASURE LIKE IN A REAL LAB • Multimeter: voltage, current and power at every part • Oscilloscope: voltage and current over time OVER 20 REAL PARTS • DC voltage source, AC source, current source and breadboard power supply • Resistors, potentiometers, ceramic and electrolytic capacitors, inductors, switches • Diodes and Zener diodes, NPN and PNP transistors, N- and P-channel MOSFETs, relays, op-amps, voltage regulators and Timer NE555 • LEDs in six colours, an incandescent lamp, a buzzer with a real tone and a motor whose hum matches its turning • Real characteristics as in a parts catalogue, each with a short explanation JUST LIKE ON THE WORKBENCH • Draw wires with the pen – straight wires with bends and branches • Perfboard, with Perfboard Lab Pro also stripboard with cuttable strips and breadboard as used with Arduino • Copy parts with all their values; text labels annotate your circuit • Real 2.54 mm grid: what fits in the app fits on the real board • Bill of materials with every part and the length of every wire • With Perfboard Lab Pro you see your circuit in the 3D view: real parts on the board that you turn, tilt and measure PERFECT FOR SCHOOL AND CLASS • A guided tutorial builds your first circuit with you • AI-assisted tasks and explanations in Perfboard Lab Pro: tasks that suit your level, explanations step by step on the board. • Lots of ready-made examples: from an LED with a series resistor to logic circuits, transistors and op-amps • The interactive formula collection adapts to your circuit: with the power on, every worked example calculates with the measured values of your parts and shows where each number comes from. • Teachers pass their default settings on to the whole class as a file FOR EVERYONE • For iPhone, iPad and Macs with Apple silicon • In many languages and usable with VoiceOver and Voice Control • No ads, no tracking FREE The perfboard with almost all parts and their examples, text labels, the instruments and the simulation are free. A circuit can have up to 7 parts. Your circuit is kept automatically. PERFBOARD LAB PRO With “Perfboard Lab Pro” you save as many circuits as you like and keep working on the same circuit on iPhone, iPad and Mac. You export them as PDF with a bill of materials and share them with others. Plus circuits with more than 7 parts, op-amp, voltage regulator, Timer NE555, motor, Zener diode and current source with their examples, the stripboard and the breadboard with their examples, AI-assisted tasks and explanations, and the 3D view. • Try it free for 3 days, then a weekly subscription. The App Store shows the price in your currency before you buy. • The subscription renews automatically every week unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. You can cancel at any time in your Apple Account settings under “Subscriptions”. • Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ • Privacy policy: https://pascalschroeer.github.io/PerfboardLab_PrivacyPolicy/ Legal notice: https://pascalschroeer.github.io/PerfboardLab_PrivacyPolicy/#legal-notice

Screenshots

Cirquanta4 screens
Perfboard Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

Cirquanta and Perfboard Lab are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Cirquanta sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Perfboard Lab sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cirquanta ships an update weekly, Perfboard Lab every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Cirquanta versus Perfboard Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCirquantaPerfboard Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMeweyPascal Schroeer

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Cirquanta

One-time1
  • Cirquanta Pro$9.99
1 purchases

Perfboard Lab

Subscriptions1
  • Perfboard Lab Pro3 Days trial$0.997 Days

Questions

Is Cirquanta free?
Cirquanta is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Perfboard Lab free?
Perfboard Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cirquanta or Perfboard Lab have ads?
Neither Cirquanta nor Perfboard Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cirquanta or Perfboard Lab?
Cirquanta ships an update weekly, and Perfboard Lab every 9 days. Most recently, Cirquanta was updated on October 31, 2026 and Perfboard Lab on October 29, 2026.

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