Comparison

Star Realms vs Card Thief

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

Head to head
About

Star Realms

Engage in thrilling space combat with this popular deckbuilding game. Build your deck, outmaneuver opponents, and conquer the galaxy. Offers both single-player campaigns and multiplayer battles.

Highlights
  • Deckbuilding gameplay
  • Player vs Player combat
  • AI battles
  • Campaign mode
  • Online multiplayer
  • Pass and Play mode
Features
Read full description

Star Realms is a hugely popular space combat deckbuilding game. Download and play today to find out why Star Realms is the winner of SXSW 2014 Board Game of the Year, 7 Golden Geek Awards from BoardGameGeek, including Best Mobile Game, and 2 Dice Tower awards! Reviews: "My readers are going to have a seizure about how good Star Realms is." -Owen Faraday, pockettactics.com “Good on all levels, thumbs up!” -Tom Vasel, The Dice Tower “This game is superb! I think it’s a brilliant game. Beautiful artwork, second to none.” -Tim Norris, Grey Elephant Gaming “What can I say? Star Realms is excellent.” - Lenny, ISlaytheDragon.com “I desperately wanted to play again and again. It's just consistently fun every time.” -The Critical Boardgamer Star Realms combines addictive deck building game play with exciting Trading Card Game (TCG) style combat! Designed by Magic the Gathering Hall of Famers Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty (of the Ascension Deckbuilding Game), Star Realms provides tons of playability for free, and a one-time upgrade to be able play with your friends and more on any device. Free Version •Universal Application: Play on iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad Mini, and Ipad Air. •Addictive Deckbuilding Game with Player VS Player Combat. •Tutorial teaches you to play in minutes. •Stunning visuals. •Play VS the AI. •6 mission campaign mode. Full Game Additional Features •Play the AI on 3 different difficulty settings. •9 additional campaign missions. •Battle friends face to face with Pass and Play. •Online play with global rankings. •Challenge a friend online.

About

Card Thief

A solitaire-style stealth game where you play as a master thief. Sneak through darkness, steal treasure, and escape without getting caught. It offers deep strategy and roguelike replayability in short, engaging sessions.

Highlights
  • Solitaire-style stealth gameplay
  • 4 unique heists
  • Unlockable equipment cards
  • Hireable thieves with special rules
  • Mini deck-building mechanics
  • Daily Heist mode with leaderboards
  • Roguelike replayability
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

Card Thief is a solitaire-style stealth card game that transforms your deck into a shadowy world of cunning heists and daring escapes. Sneak through the darkness as a master thief. Extinguish torches, pickpocket guards, and steal precious treasure without getting caught. Every card you flip is a calculated risk. Every move could be your last. From the makers of Card Crawl, the hit indie card dungeon crawler, Card Thief distills the tension of classic stealth games into a sleek, strategic card game you can play in minutes. Easy to learn, endlessly deep. Plan. Steal. Escape. Repeat. With a rich layer of tactical decision-making, risk/reward choices, and roguelike replayability, Card Thief is the perfect pick-up-and-play strategy card game for fans of stealth, puzzle games, and solo card games alike. Features - Solitaire-style stealth gameplay with no internet required - 4 unique heists with distinct enemies, traps, and obstacles - 12 unlockable and upgradable equipment cards with unique abilities - Hire 10 thieves, each with special gameplay rules - Mini deck-building mechanics for deep strategic customization - Daily Heist mode with global leaderboards - Roguelike replayability so every run plays differently - Perfect session length of 2 to 3 minutes per game - Offline play, great for travel

Screenshots

Star Realms3 screens
Card Thief4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Star Realms at none against Card Thief's shown. Star Realms also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (4.5K vs 1K). Card Thief's advantage is review sentiment (70% vs 57%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Star Realms sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Card Thief sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Star Realms against 4.7 for Card Thief. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.5K and 1K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 57% of Star Realms's written reviews are positive against 70% of Card Thief's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Realms ships an update every 10 days, Card Thief every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Star Realms versus Card Thief: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar RealmsCard Thief
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.5K ratings)4.7 (1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.0% of reviews69.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.5K — better1K
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size509 MB161 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperWhite Wizard GamesArnold Rauers

Customer experience

Star Realms

All ratings4,453 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral2.1%
Negative6.6%
Written reviews405 reviews
Positive57.0%
Neutral10.9%
Negative32.1%

Card Thief

All ratings981 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral1.3%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews478 reviews
Positive69.9%
Neutral9.4%
Negative20.7%

User reviews

Star Realms

From 4.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great game
  • 👍 Excellent implementation
  • 💡 Lots of content and features
  • 🚀 Fast and smooth gameplay
  • 👍 Challenging AI

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🐛 Issues with online play and connectivity
  • 🐛 Unbalanced AI difficulty
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases
  • 🐛 Confusing UI and navigation

Card Thief

From 1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great game
  • 👍 Fun and unique stealth mechanics
  • 👍 Very fun for offline gaming
  • 👍 New favorite card game
  • 👍 Creative and addictive game

Room to improve

  • ❓ What is the goal?
  • 🐛 Issueee
  • 🐛 Buggy
  • 🐛 Crashes on load
  • 🐛 Cannot select path

Bugs and requests

Star Realms

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes and crashes on launch
  • Online games getting stuck or timing out
  • Inability to scrap or play certain cards
  • Incorrect card behavior and interactions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add undo/rewind functionality
  • Improve offline/single-player experience
  • Implement better matchmaking and player communication
  • Provide more detailed game statistics and analytics

Card Thief

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Crystals which you can get when playing are useless
  • Notch covers game information on iPhone X+
  • Ads error prevents chest opening
  • Hideout heists have unrealistically high scores
  • Can't open hideout, game crashes
Show 4 more
  • Crashes right after starting on M1 iPad Pro with iPadOS 14.7.1
  • Crashes all the time
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

9 requests
  • More enemies or traps to deal with
  • More equipment to try out
  • 4x4 layout rather than 3x3
  • Endless mode
  • Multiplayer compatibility
Show 4 more
  • Sync game data between Android and iOS
  • Shop to use crystals
  • More levels, incentives, and variations in the Hideout games
  • Ability to cash in stolen goods for new tool cards or special cards

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Star Realms

One-time10
  • Crisis: Bases and Battleships Set$1.99
  • Crisis: Events Set$1.99
  • Crisis: Heroes Set$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses$1.99
  • Command$1.99
  • Gambit Set$3.99
  • Cosmic Gambit$3.99
  • Full Version$4.99
  • Colony Wars$4.99
  • Frontiers$4.99
1 purchases

Card Thief

One-time1
  • Unlock Card Thief$4.99

Questions

Is Star Realms free?
Star Realms is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Card Thief free?
Card Thief is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Star Realms or Card Thief?
Card Thief is rated higher. Star Realms averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.5K ratings, while Card Thief averages 4.7 from 1K ratings.
Do Star Realms or Card Thief have ads?
Card Thief shows ads; Star Realms does not.
Which is updated more often, Star Realms or Card Thief?
Star Realms ships an update every 10 days, and Card Thief every 4 months. Most recently, Star Realms was updated on November 4, 2026 and Card Thief on November 3, 2026.

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