Comparison

Qwirkle vs Tantrix.com

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

Head to head
About

Qwirkle

Experience the award-winning board game Qwirkle on your mobile device. Strategize by matching tiles based on color and shape to score points. Enjoy solo play, online multiplayer, and pass-and-play modes with customizable options and engaging animations.

Highlights
  • Solo, Online, and Pass and Play modes
  • Up to 4 players
  • 4 difficulty levels
  • Achievements and Leaderboards
  • Customizable backgrounds and tile colors
  • Tutorial and Help sections
Currently charting
Read full description

Challenging and thoroughly addictive! Now you can play the original award winning board game Qwirkle on your iPad and iPhone! Qwirkle is MindWare's best-selling board game, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide. Through the years, Qwirkle has received numerous awards including Mensa, Parents' Choice, Major Fun and the Spiel des Jahres, Germany's coveted Game of the Year award. FEATURES: - Solo, Online, and Pass and Play modes all support up to 4 players. - 4 levels of difficulty, from easy to expert. - Includes Achievements and Leaderboards through Game Center. - Customize your experience - choose your favorite background to play on. - Play with classic Qwirkle colors or personalize your tiles with custom colors. - Exciting animations and playful music enhance the Qwirkle experience! - Tutorial and Help sections get you playing fast and easy! WHO WILL YOU PLAY? - Play solo against 4 levels of robot, from easy to expert. - For family game night, use Pass and Play mode to play together on a single device. - Challenge your friends to play online through Game Center. - Find new online opponents through auto-match in Game Center. Find out more about Qwirkle on the MindWare website: https://www.mindware.orientaltrading.com/qwirkle-a2-32016.fltr Want to share your thoughts on the digital version of Qwirkle directly with the developers? Email us at mindware@mindware.com with your comments! We'd love to have your input about what you like and ideas for improvements. We look forward to your feedback! Happy Qwirkling!

About

Tantrix.com

A strategic puzzle game where players connect hexagonal tiles with colored paths. Compete against others online or a robot opponent, testing your spatial reasoning and planning skills.

Highlights
  • Hexagonal tile-based gameplay
  • Strategic path connection
  • Online multiplayer
  • Robot opponent
  • Develops strategic thinking
  • Enhances spatial ability
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Tantrix.com - a spatial game of colour and strategy - now available on iPad! This fascinating New Zealand game was invented in 1988 and has since won numerous awards worldwide for its quality, beauty and elegance. It consists of 56 unique hexagonal tiles connected by red, green, blue and yellow paths. Players must try to block or control their opponents path-colour while simultaneously growing their own. Online Tantrix has been available for nearly 20 years, and now with this app you can compete against the international Tantrix community on your mobile. Or challenge the resident robot opponent to a game anytime! Tantrix is simple enough to learn, yet with the possibility to be infinitely complex. Unlike conventional strategy games such as chess, in Tantrix the ratio of skill and luck varies from game to game. The best player usually wins, but not always! Great for training strategic thinking, spatial ability, problem solving, planning and also memory skills.

Screenshots

Qwirkle4 screens
Tantrix.com1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tantrix.com at Free against Qwirkle's $2.99. Tantrix.com also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (54% vs 36%). Qwirkle's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 3.6) and ratings volume (1.8K vs 5). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

Tantrix.com is free to download; Qwirkle costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Qwirkle holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Qwirkle has 1.8K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 36% of Qwirkle's written reviews are positive against 54% of Tantrix.com's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Qwirkle ships an update every 3 months, Tantrix.com every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Qwirkle versus Tantrix.com: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQwirkleTantrix.com
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (1.8K ratings) — better3.6 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews35.9% of reviews53.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.8K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#22 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.014.0
Further details — not scored
Size179 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMindWareDave Dyer

Customer experience

Qwirkle

All ratings1,806 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral3.5%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews549 reviews
Positive35.9%
Neutral17.7%
Negative46.4%

Tantrix.com

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive53.8%
Neutral15.4%
Negative30.8%

Bugs and requests

Qwirkle

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Games disappearing or not loading properly
  • Inability to start new games with friends
  • Tiles/bag not functioning correctly
  • Moves not registering properly
  • Crashes and freezes

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add chat/messaging feature
  • Improve online game invitations and management
  • Add notifications for turns
  • Improve scoring display and accuracy
  • Add more customization options
Show 1 more
  • Improve robot/AI difficulty balancing

Tantrix.com

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Qwirkle

No in-app purchases

None

Tantrix.com

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Qwirkle free?
Qwirkle costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tantrix.com free?
Tantrix.com is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Qwirkle or Tantrix.com?
Qwirkle is rated higher. Qwirkle averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.8K ratings, while Tantrix.com averages 3.6 from 5 ratings.
Do Qwirkle or Tantrix.com have ads?
Neither Qwirkle nor Tantrix.com shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Qwirkle or Tantrix.com?
Qwirkle ships an update every 3 months, and Tantrix.com every 2 weeks. Most recently, Qwirkle was updated on October 13, 2026 and Tantrix.com on October 1, 2026.

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