Natural Selection Sim vs Spike™ LEGO® Education
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Natural Selection Sim
This educational simulation models natural selection processes. It is designed for use with a specific science curriculum and requires a school-provided login and license to function.
- Natural selection simulation
- Educational curriculum integration
- Requires school login and license
- iPad compatible
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A simulation of natural selection, for use with Amplify's science curriculum. **************************************************************** Natural Selection Sim WILL ONLY WORK IF YOU HAVE AN AMPLIFY LOGIN AND LICENSE PROVIDED BY A SCHOOL. You can download the app without a login, but you will not be able to use the app without a valid Amplify login. ****************************************************************"
Spike™ LEGO® Education
This app facilitates playful STEAM learning for students, designed to work with specific LEGO® Education kits. It helps develop computational thinking through coding, encourages building and experimentation, and supports programming for various projects and competitions.
- Icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding
- Develop computational thinking
- Build, tinker, and experiment with LEGO® creations
- Program and debug designs
- Create stories with LEGO® Minifigures
- Prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions
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Engage every student in playful STEAM learning with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App. Designed for use with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Portfolio, the SPIKE App is a powerful tool that helps teachers facilitate engaging, hands-on STEAM learning. When combined with SPIKE Essential or SPIKE Prime, the SPIKE App allows students to: - Develop computational thinking skills using a progression of icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding. - Build, tinker, and experiment - progressing from simple creations to complex structures. - Learn to program, test and tweak designs, debug and optimize, create stories with LEGO® Minifigures, prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions, and more! *** IMPORTANT*** This is not a standalone educational app. This app is used to program LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential and LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime, which are sold separately. Please contact your local LEGO Education reseller for further information. LEARN MORE: LEGOeducation.com/Teacher-resources For app support, contact LEGO® Education at https://support.legoeducation.com. LEGO, the LEGO logo and the SPIKE logo are trademarks and/or copyrights of the LEGO Group. FIRST® LEGO® League is a jointly held trademark of FIRST® and the LEGO Group. ©2026 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Spike™ LEGO® Education at 4.7 against Natural Selection Sim's 3.4. Spike™ LEGO® Education also leads on ratings volume (3.7K vs 22) and review sentiment (68% vs 50%). Natural Selection Sim's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 14.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Spike™ LEGO® Education holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spike™ LEGO® Education has 3.7K ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Natural Selection Sim's written reviews are positive against 68% of Spike™ LEGO® Education's.
Natural Selection Sim ships an update every 3 months, Spike™ LEGO® Education every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Natural Selection Sim | Spike™ LEGO® Education |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (22 ratings) | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 68.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 22 | 3.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 128 MB | 227 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Amplify Education, Inc. | LEGO Education |
Customer experience
Natural Selection Sim
Spike™ LEGO® Education
Bugs and requests
Natural Selection Sim
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Spike™ LEGO® Education
Reported bugs
3 issues- Bluetooth connection issues
- Unable to flash hub or connect
- Incompatibility with programs written in previous version
Requested features
5 requests- Hub-to-hub control
- RC features
- Merge Inventor app into one
- Add more color options for color sensor
- Bring back Python coding support
In-app purchases
Natural Selection Sim
No in-app purchases
Spike™ LEGO® Education
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Natural Selection Sim free?
Is Spike™ LEGO® Education free?
Which has better reviews, Natural Selection Sim or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
Do Natural Selection Sim or Spike™ LEGO® Education have ads?
Which is updated more often, Natural Selection Sim or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
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