Tsumego Pro (Go problems) vs SmartGo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
Enhance your Go skills with a vast library of tsumego puzzles. Learn from detailed solutions and explore variations to understand mistakes. Features daily problems, adaptive difficulty, and customizable game settings.
- Daily tsumego problems
- Adaptive difficulty modes
- Detailed solutions and bad variations
- Color selection (black, white, random)
- Hint system
- Book theme
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Improve your Go game (weiqi, baduk) with Tsumego Pro and its large collection of tsumego problems! Each problem contains all valid answers and a lot of bad variations, to help you know why you are wrong. Features: - 6 daily problems - A simple mode: try to solve all problems in each package - A progress mode: the difficulty increases or decreases depending on your level - Choose your color (black, white, random) - Browse the solution, or just get a hint - A book theme (black and white)
SmartGo
Learn, play, and study the ancient game of Go with this comprehensive app. It offers adjustable board sizes, a powerful AI engine, interactive books, and a vast database of professional games to help you improve your skills.
- Multiple board sizes (9x9 to 19x19)
- Powerful KataGo AI engine
- Interactive Go books
- 138,000+ professional game records
- Go problems and tutorials
- Pattern matching for game analysis
- Record, annotate, and edit games
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SmartGo is the only Go app you’ll need, whether you’re just getting started or already a seasoned player. Learn, play, study, and improve with SmartGo. Experience the ancient game of Go on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac in a whole new way. Also known as igo (囲碁), wéiqí (围棋), or baduk (바둑), Go begins with an empty board that gradually fills as players surround territory and capture stones. Start with a 9x9 board and move up to 13x13 and 19x19 as your skills grow. SmartGo adapts to your strength, automatically adjusting the handicap so games stay competitive and enjoyable. And when you’re ready for a serious challenge, the KataGo-based engine delivers strong, rewarding play. But SmartGo is far more than a way to play Go. Read interactive Go books and replay the moves they describe right in the diagrams. Explore more than 140,000 professional game records, from historical masters to today’s top players. Sharpen your reading and decision-making with a growing library of Go problems. Want to know how a master would handle a position on your board? SmartGo’s pattern matching compares your position with professional games and shows how strong players handled similar situations. No matter your level, SmartGo helps you keep improving. Features include: • 9x9, 11x11, 13x13, and 19x19 board sizes • Powerful KataGo-based engine • More than 160 interactive Go books available • Manual or automatic handicap adjustment • Record, annotate, and edit your games • Open and edit SGF files, synced via iCloud Drive • Import games from photos of a board • Play online on OGS (Online Go Server) • Territory estimator • Hints and move analysis • Undo and replay controls • Tutorial with over 100 problems • Extensive user manual SmartGo is free to download, and the free version includes the tutorial, 200 problems, computer play on boards up to 13x13, and recording, replaying, and annotating games. The Pro upgrade (yearly, monthly, or one-time purchase) adds KataGo on 19x19, game analysis, the GoGoD database of professional games, pattern and joseki matching, 4,500 more problems, import from photos, and online play on OGS. Go books are sold individually, each with a free sample chapter. We value your privacy and only collect the minimum information necessary to make our apps work well for you. Learn more at https://smartgo.com/privacy.html. This app is licensed under Apple’s standard Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: SmartGo at none against Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s shown. SmartGo also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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. Tsumego Pro (Go problems) sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and SmartGo sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
SmartGo holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.8K and 2K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s written reviews are positive against 77% of SmartGo's.
Tsumego Pro (Go problems) ships an update every 3 weeks, SmartGo every 8 days. Both last shipped on November 13, 2026.
| Parameter | Tsumego Pro (Go problems) | SmartGo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.8K ratings) | 4.8 (2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 74.1% of reviews | 77.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.8K | 2K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 158 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Emmanuel Mathis | Smart Go, Inc. |
Customer experience
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
SmartGo
User reviews
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
From 1.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Stimulate thinking
- 👍 Minimalistic, Gets the Job Done
- 👍 Great app for learning Go on the move!
- 👍 Great app
- 👍 Amazing Go app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Do Not Buy All-Access Pack
- 🐛 Sometimes it says resolved when black loses
- 🐛 Not for beginners, not helpful at all
- 🐛 Decent - room for improvement
- 🐛 Lacking feedback, errors, & lack of control
SmartGo
From 2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome app
- 👍 Great for playing and learning Go
- 📚 Excellent integration with Go books
- 🔍 Powerful analysis and review features
- 💻 Seamless experience across devices
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🤔 Unintuitive user interface for beginners
- 💰 Paywall for full 19x19 board and some features
- 🤖 AI too strong for novice players
Bugs and requests
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
Reported bugs
3 issues- Purchases do not work
- Incorrect problems
- Issues with the progress mode and problem selection
Requested features
6 requests- Explanation when a move is correct or incorrect
- More explanations and instructions for beginners
- Ability to play out variations and see different outcomes
- Consistent difficulty ratings for problems
- Ability to bookmark and revisit problems
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- More content and problem sets
SmartGo
Reported bugs
3 issues- Illegal move detection issues on certain board positions
- Problems with missing variations or incorrect answers
- Inconsistent behavior when passing moves
Requested features
5 requests- Add read-only mode
- Improve move suggestion explanations
- Introduce difficulty settings for AI
- Integrate online play functionality
- Provide more randomness in AI moves
In-app purchases
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
- +150 Basic Problems$0.99
- +150 Intermediate problems$0.99
- Beginner problems$1.99
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- Elementary problems$1.99
- Intermediate problems$1.99
- Advanced problems$1.99
- Advanced problems #2$1.99
- Basic tesuji$1.99
- Daily problems - Easy$1.99
- All-Access Pass$9.99
SmartGo
- SmartGo One Pro – Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Games and Features14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Go Problems Master Collection$3.99
- Go Problems Add-on 2: Medium$3.99
- Go Problems Add-on 1: Easy$3.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Go: A Complete Introduction$5.99
- Learn to Play Go 1$7.99
- Graded Go Problems 1$9.99
- Tesuji$11.99
- Pro – Lifetime Unlock$99.00
Questions
Is Tsumego Pro (Go problems) free?
Is SmartGo free?
Which has better reviews, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or SmartGo?
Do Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or SmartGo have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or SmartGo?
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