Comparison

Tiny Text Terrarium vs PixelBay

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

Head to head
About

Tiny Text Terrarium

Cultivate a serene text-based garden that grows over time. Discover unique flora and fauna, track your garden's history through diary entries, and enjoy seasonal changes. Widgets provide a glance at your growing world.

Highlights
  • Plant seeds and watch them grow with real time
  • Diary logs of garden events
  • Discover 27 species and oddities
  • Real weather and seasonal changes
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Time acceleration option
  • Customizable appearance
Features
Read full description

Plant a seed. Close the app. Come back to a little world that grew while you were away. Tiny Text Terrarium is a cozy garden built entirely from text. Every plant, puddle, and passing bee is an emoji living in a tiny grid. There's nothing to optimize, no timers to beat, and no way to lose. Just a quiet patch of soil that keeps growing while you live your life. • Plant seeds, sprinkle droplets, and let real time do the rest • Come back to a hand-written diary of everything that happened, "A bee stopped by the daisies and did a little happy dance." • Discover 27 species, visitors, and oddities for your Almanac • Learn the garden's secrets: something likes rainy mountains… • Real weather moods, day and night, snow in winter, and a few seasonal surprises • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: your garden at a glance, one tap away • Can't wait? The Sundial nudges time forward, a day's worth per day • Make it yours: five backdrop tints and a light/dark appearance switch • Wilted flowers forgive you. One droplet fixes everything • Nothing to buy, ever. A tip jar exists only if you'd like to say thanks Fully playable with VoiceOver. No ads, no accounts, no data collected, your garden never leaves your device.

About

PixelBay

Features
Read full description

Welcome to Pixel Bay, a relaxing game that brings together aquarium care, charming pixel art, and match-3 puzzles. Build Your Pixel Aquarium Collect clownfish, blue tangs, puffers, and angelfish. Feed them, interact with them, and keep their water clean as they grow from young fish into adults. Meet Every Companion Give each fish a name and discover its age, personality, growth status, and companionship level. The longer you stay together, the closer your friendship becomes. Decorate Your Underwater Home Collect seaweed, coral, treasure chests, and castles. Move decorations freely and create a pixel aquarium that feels completely your own. Play Starry Match-3 Puzzles Swap neighboring tiles, create matches, trigger cascades, and collect stars before you run out of moves. Earn shells and fish food, then bring your rewards back to the aquarium. Relaxed, Pressure-Free Care Your fish continue progressing while you are away. Low conditions may pause growth, but fish never die and you never suffer permanent loss. Keep Your Progress Safe Fish status, names, decorations, resources, and high scores are saved automatically on your device. Optional iCloud saves let you back up and restore your progress. Helpful Reminders Choose whether to receive care alerts, growth updates, companionship milestones, or a gentle daily reminder. Return to Pixel Bay and meet your first underwater companion today.

Screenshots

Tiny Text Terrarium4 screens
PixelBay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PixelBay at none against Tiny Text Terrarium's 3. PixelBay also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Tiny Text Terrarium sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. PixelBay asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tiny Text Terrarium ships an update monthly, PixelBay every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Tiny Text Terrarium versus PixelBay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTiny Text TerrariumPixelBay
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAntonio Gordillo Toledo志跃 王

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Tiny Text Terrarium

One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Kind Tip$2.99
  • Generous Tip$6.99
None

PixelBay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tiny Text Terrarium free?
Tiny Text Terrarium is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PixelBay free?
PixelBay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Tiny Text Terrarium or PixelBay have ads?
Neither Tiny Text Terrarium nor PixelBay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tiny Text Terrarium or PixelBay?
Tiny Text Terrarium ships an update monthly, and PixelBay every 2 weeks. Most recently, Tiny Text Terrarium was updated on September 30, 2026 and PixelBay on October 4, 2026.

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