Idle Space Mining vs Last Light
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.
Last Light
Guide ships home by sweeping a lighthouse beam across the sea. Manage your lighthouse and village, upgrade your equipment, and experience dynamic weather. A relaxing idle game that respects your time.
- Drag lighthouse beam to guide ships
- Upgrade lighthouse and village
- Dynamic weather system
- Collect ship lore
- Offline progress up to 8 hours
- Home screen widget
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A cozy idle lighthouse game. Drag the beam across a black sea, and every ship it catches finds its way home. Free to play. Rewarded ads are always optional, and one $3.99 purchase removes all other ads. You keep the only light on a dark coast. Ships come in out of the night, some quick, some heavy, some shy of the light. Put your finger on the sea and sweep the beam over them; the ones you light turn toward harbor, unload their cargo, and the village above the cliffs sells it for Coin. A NIGHT ON THE COAST Check in for two minutes to collect the night and queue an upgrade, or stay for a full sweep when a storm rolls in. Every night ends on a quiet summary: what you lit, what the rocks took, and tomorrow's forecast. WHAT YOU BUILD • A lighthouse that grows with you: lens for range, beam for width, a foghorn for the thick nights, a harbor with more berths. • A village of twelve buildings that lights up window by window and opens new branches of the tower. • A journal of 36 ships and visitors, each with a sketch and a few lines of lore. Some only come out in storms. • Three coasts. When one is fully lit, sail on to the next and keep a permanent bonus. WEATHER THAT CHANGES THE NIGHT Fog narrows the beam. Storms push ships toward the rocks. Calm nights bring double traffic. When a ship drifts toward the reef, a flare calls it home. Flares drop from storms you weather, and you can also get one by watching a short ad if you choose. A GAME THAT RESPECTS YOUR TIME • No game over. A ship lost to the rocks costs its cargo and nothing more. • The coast keeps working while you are away, up to 8 hours. • A daily storm with a Game Center leaderboard, plus eight achievements. Game Center is optional. • A home screen widget that shows your next build, or the ships waiting for your light. • Readable type, Dynamic Type, VoiceOver labels, colorblind-safe ship outlines, and Reduce Motion support. • No account and no login. WHAT IS FOR SALE Everything in the game can be earned by playing. The optional purchases are: • Remove ads ($3.99, one time): turns off the ads shown between nights. Rewarded ads stay available, and only play if you tap to watch one. • Starter chest ($0.99, once per account): 300 Coin and the Lantern keeper skin. • Coin sack ($4.99): 500 Coin, about three late nights of cargo on the first coast. • Keeper skins ($1.99, one time): the Lantern, Storm Coat and Festival looks for your keeper. Try them on the coast before you buy. Remove ads and Keeper skins support Family Sharing. Restore purchases is in the Harbor and in Settings. Ads are personalized only if you allow tracking when asked, and the game plays the same either way. Hushed, warm and weathered: a small light against a big sea. Privacy Policy: https://lastlight.devera.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Idle Space Mining at 5.0 against Last Light's 4.2. Idle Space Mining also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Last Light's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and monetization model 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. Last Light sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Idle Space Mining asks for nothing beyond the download.
Idle Space Mining holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Last Light has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Idle Space Mining ships an update weekly, Last Light every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Idle Space Mining | Last Light |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.2 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ISAAC MICHAEL FRETT | Farzin Tavakoli |
Customer experience
Idle Space Mining
Last Light
In-app purchases
Idle Space Mining
No in-app purchases
Last Light
- Starter chest$0.99
- Keeper skins$1.99
- Remove ads$3.99
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- Coin sack$4.99
Questions
Is Idle Space Mining free?
Is Last Light free?
Which has better reviews, Idle Space Mining or Last Light?
Do Idle Space Mining or Last Light have ads?
Which is updated more often, Idle Space Mining or Last Light?
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