Tsumego Pro (Go problems) vs Surround
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)
Surround
Play the ancient strategy game of Go online with a global community. Engage in live or turn-based matches, observe ongoing games, and connect with other players. Receive timely notifications for your games and enjoy a sleek dark mode interface.
- Play live and turn-based Go games
- Observe ongoing games
- Chat with other players
- Home screen widget for correspondence games
- Notifications for game turns
- Dark mode support
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Surround is a client to play Go online with other players on the website online-go.com (Online Go Server - OGS). OGS is a very popular Go Server with a friendly community, and this app aims to provide the best OGS experience on iPhones and iPads. Features: - Play Go with other Go players on OGS, either live games or turn-based (correspondence) games. - Observe other live games that are currently being played. - Chat with other players. - Get a glimpse of your correspondence games on your home screen with a widget. - Receive notifications when it is your turn in correspondence games. - Beautiful dark mode. There are many more features on OGS website that I plan to implement into the app gradually, so I hope to have your support to make it happen faster. Let me know if there is any feature you specifically want to have first. This app offers subscriptions for supporting the app's ongoing development. If you decide to participate in the subscriptions: - Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. - The subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. - You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. - All purchases are final. I cannot issue refunds for purchases charged to your Apple ID. The Terms of Use can be found at: https://files.honganhkhoa.com/SurroundTerms.html, and the Privacy Policy can be found at: https://files.honganhkhoa.com/SurroundPrivacyPolicy.html.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Tsumego Pro (Go problems) at free with in-app purchases against Surround's subscription. Tsumego Pro (Go problems) also leads on ratings volume (1.8K vs 49) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). Surround's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (83% vs 74%). On price, rating, update cadence 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 12 one-off in-app purchases and Surround sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Tsumego Pro (Go problems) against 4.4 for Surround. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tsumego Pro (Go problems) has 1.8K ratings behind it against 49, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s written reviews are positive against 83% of Surround's.
Tsumego Pro (Go problems) ships an update every 3 weeks, Surround fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tsumego Pro (Go problems) | Surround |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.8K ratings) — better | 4.4 (49 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 74.1% of reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.8K — better | 49 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Emmanuel Mathis | Hong Anh Khoa |
Customer experience
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
Surround
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
Surround
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tsumego Pro (Go problems)
- +150 Basic Problems$0.99
- +150 Intermediate problems$0.99
- +150 Easy problems$0.99
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Beginner problems$1.99
- 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
- Daily problems - Hard$1.99
- All-Access Pass$9.99
Surround
- Surround App Supporter$0.491 Month
- Surround App Supporter$1.991 Month
- Surround App Supporter$4.991 Month
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Surround App Supporter$9.991 Month
Questions
Is Tsumego Pro (Go problems) free?
Is Surround free?
Which has better reviews, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or Surround?
Do Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or Surround have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or Surround?
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