Mini Metro vs THE MACHINE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mini Metro
Design and manage a subway system for a growing city. Draw lines, start trains, and adapt your network as new stations open. Strategically use limited resources to keep the city moving and achieve the highest score.
- Design subway maps
- Draw lines between stations
- Manage train routes
- Adapt to random city growth
- Utilize limited resources
- Over two dozen real-world cities
- Variety of upgrades
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Mini Metro, the sublime subway simulator, now on iPhone and iPad. • Included in the App Store Best of 2016 • Mac Game of the Year in over 30 countries • BAFTA-nominated • IGF award-winning • IGN Mobile Game of the Year nominee • Included in Gamespot's Best Mobile Games of 2016 Mini Metro is a game about designing a subway map for a growing city. Draw lines between stations and start your trains running. As new stations open, redraw your lines to keep them efficient. Decide where to use your limited resources. How long can you keep the city moving? • Random city growth means each game is unique. • Over two dozen of real-world cities to test your planning skills. • A variety of upgrades so you can tailor your network. • Normal mode for quick scored games, Endless to relax, or Extreme for the ultimate challenge. • Build your metro exactly how you want to with the Creative mode. • Compete against the world every day in the Daily Challenge. • Colorblind and night modes. • Responsive soundtrack created by your metro system, engineered by Disasterpeace. "If you love the city-planning aspect of Sim City but can't handle the pressure of playing god, then you may have just found your new favorite time-waster." - Ashley Feinberg, Gizmodo "Take my word for it that a game about mass-transit system design can be a tense, white-knuckle thriller." - Owen Faraday, Pocket Tactics "Mini Metro: fun game simulates planning and running public transit system." - Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing
THE MACHINE
Engage with a mechanical puzzle box focused on experimentation and understanding cause and effect. Install and reorder parts to observe signal flow and solve objectives. Discover new hardware and deeper systems as the machine awakens.
- Mechanical puzzle box gameplay
- Experimentation and cause/effect mechanics
- 34 unique mechanism families
- Stateful, order-sensitive puzzles
- Tuning and Fusion systems
- Offline play
- Single optional purchase for full content
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THE MACHINE is a mechanical puzzle box about experimentation, cause and effect, and learning a system by touching it. Install parts. Change their order. Send an input. Watch the signal travel through the machine. Every mechanism transforms, stores, redirects, amplifies, or relieves something. Solve each puzzle by making the whole machine satisfy its objectives. As THE MACHINE awakens, new hardware, tuning, fusion, routing, and deeper systems emerge. The rules stay consistent. The possibilities do not. • 34 mechanism families, each with its own behavior and physical identity • Stateful, order-sensitive puzzles where timing matters • Tuning and Fusion systems that turn familiar parts into new hardware • Five escalating Series, including the branching DUPLEX architecture • No ads, no subscriptions, no account required • Play offline on iPhone and iPad Series I and II are included. A single optional purchase unlocks Series III–V and everything beyond. Change something. Try again. Awaken THE MACHINE.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: THE MACHINE at Free against Mini Metro's $3.99. THE MACHINE also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 months). Mini Metro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (31K vs 1). On rating, ads and device support 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
THE MACHINE is free to download; Mini Metro costs $3.99 up front. THE MACHINE sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Mini Metro asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Mini Metro against 5.0 for THE MACHINE. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mini Metro has 31K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Mini Metro ships an update every 2 months, THE MACHINE daily. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mini Metro | THE MACHINE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.9 (31K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 89.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 31K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #16 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 179 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dinosaur Polo Club | IAN FABIAN FAGERSTROM |
Customer experience
Mini Metro
THE MACHINE
Bugs and requests
Mini Metro
Reported bugs
3 issues- Leaderboard issues with daily challenges
- Crashes and compatibility problems on certain devices
- Unexpected behavior when trains skip stations
Requested features
5 requests- Undo/redo functionality
- Ability to create branching lines
- More detailed statistics and analytics
- Additional game modes (e.g. career, scenarios)
- Integration with real-world transit data
THE MACHINE
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mini Metro
No in-app purchases
THE MACHINE
- THE MACHINE$4.99









