Idle Space Mining vs EmberForge
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
EmberForge
Build a blacksmithing empire by tapping to earn gold and hiring workers to automate production. Unlock new tiers of producers and prestige to gain permanent bonuses. Customize your forge with cosmetic skins.
- Tap-to-earn core loop
- Hire workers for automation
- 8 tiers of producers with upgrades
- Prestige system for bonuses
- Offline earnings
- Unlockable cosmetic skins
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Build a blacksmith empire, one tap at a time. EmberForge is a classic idle tycoon and incremental clicker with a forge theme: tap the anvil to earn gold, hire Apprentices and Blacksmiths to keep it flowing while you're away, and unlock ever more powerful producers as your empire grows all the way up to the legendary Dragon Forge. FEATURES • Simple, addictive tap-to-earn core loop • 8 tiers of producers with deep upgrade paths • Reforge system — prestige for permanent Ember Shard bonuses • Ascension — a second prestige layer for players who've maxed out Reforging • Achievements and a daily reward streak • Game Center leaderboards — compare gold and Reforges with everyone else • Unlockable cosmetic anvil skins • Offline earnings — your forge keeps working while you're away FAIR MONETIZATION EmberForge never locks gameplay behind a paywall. Every producer and upgrade is earnable through play. In-app purchases are limited to cosmetics and optional convenience never pay-to-win. Rewarded ads are entirely opt-in. Start forging.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Idle Space Mining at 5.0 against EmberForge's 4.0. Idle Space Mining also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). EmberForge's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Idle Space Mining holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively.
Idle Space Mining ships an update weekly, EmberForge every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Idle Space Mining | EmberForge |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ISAAC MICHAEL FRETT | BRAXTON REED CHANDLER |
Customer experience
Idle Space Mining
EmberForge
In-app purchases
Idle Space Mining
No in-app purchases
EmberForge
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Idle Space Mining free?
Is EmberForge free?
Which has better reviews, Idle Space Mining or EmberForge?
Do Idle Space Mining or EmberForge have ads?
Which is updated more often, Idle Space Mining or EmberForge?
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