SimCity BuildIt vs Civilization Hex
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SimCity BuildIt
Design and build a bustling city metropolis, managing resources, citizen happiness, and urban challenges like traffic and pollution. Trade with other players, compete in city wars, and unlock unique landmarks and regional styles to create your dream city.
- Design and build city metropolis
- Manage citizen happiness and services
- Solve urban challenges like traffic
- Trade with other players
- Compete in Club Wars and contests
- Unlock landmarks and regional styles
- Build and customize train networks
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Includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items. Welcome, Mayor, to the city builder and simulator! Be the hero of your very own city metropolis. This is the city-building game to design and create a beautiful, bustling town or metropolis. Every decision is yours as your city simulation grows larger and more intricate. You need to make smart building choices as a city builder to keep your citizens happy and your skyline growing. Then build, trade, chat, compete, and join clubs with fellow city-building Mayors. The city game that lets you build your city, your way! BRING YOUR CITY METROPOLIS TO LIFE Build your metropolis with skyscrapers, parks, bridges, and much more! Place buildings strategically to keep your taxes flowing and your city growing. Solve real-life city-building challenges like traffic and pollution. Provide your town and city services like power plants and police departments. Strategize, build and keep traffic moving with grand avenues and streetcars in this fun city builder and simulator. PUT YOUR IMAGINATION AND CITY ON THE MAP The possibilities are endless in this town and city-building simulator! A worldwide city game, build Tokyo-, London-, or Paris-style neighborhoods, and unlock exclusive city landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty. Make building rewarding and discover new technologies with the Future Cities while getting athletic with sports stadiums to become a pro city builder. Build and decorate your town or city with rivers, lakes, forests, and expand along the beach or mountain slopes. Unlock your city-builder strategies with new geographic regions for your metropolis, such as the Sunny Isles or Frosty Fjords, each with a unique architectural style. The city-building game where there’s always something new and different to make your city simulation unique. BUILD AND BATTLE YOUR WAY TO VICTORY The city-building game that lets you defend your city metropolis against monsters or compete against other mayors in Club Wars. Plot winning city-builder strategies with your Club mates and declare war on other cities. Once the battle simulation is on, unleash crazy disasters like the Disco Twister and Plant Monster on your opponents. Earn valuable rewards to use in battle, in building or to improve your city. In addition, take on other players in the Contest of Mayors, where you can complete weekly challenges and climb the League ranks toward the top of this city game. BUILD A BETTER CITY WITH TRAINS The city-building game to improve as a city builder with unlockable and upgradeable trains. Discover new trains and train stations for your dream metropolis! Build, expand and customize your rail network to fit your unique city simulation. BUILD, CONNECT AND TEAM UP Join a Mayor’s Club to trade city supplies with other members who love and chat about city-building strategies and available resources. Collaborate with other town and city builders to help someone complete their personal vision as well as get support to complete yours. Build big, work together, lead other Mayors, and watch your city simulation come to life in this city-building game and simulator! ___ Important Consumer Information. This app: Requires a persistent Internet connection (network fees may apply). Requires acceptance of EA’s Privacy & Cookie Policy and User Agreement. Includes in-game advertising. Contains direct links to the Internet and social networking sites intended for an audience over 13. The app uses Game Center. Log out of Game Center before installation if you don’t want to share your game play with friends. User Agreement: http://terms.ea.com Privacy and Cookie Policy: http://privacy.ea.com Visit https://help.ea.com/en/ for assistance or inquiries. EA may retire online features after 30 days’ notice posted on www.ea.com/service-updates.
Civilization Hex
Build a thriving civilization from a small tribe to a world empire. Develop your lands, engage in diplomacy, and command armies on the battlefield. Explore new territories, research technologies, and customize your units and cities to achieve greatness.
- Build and upgrade cities and structures
- Explore open-world maps and discover new lands
- Engage in diplomacy and trade
- Command diverse military units in battles
- Extensive skill tree for technology and upgrades
- Randomly spawning enemies for unique sessions
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Do you like classic civilizational strategy? Then try a new, unique 4x RTS strategy, built on the love of classic games with lots of possibilities! Welcome to the Civilization Hex: Tribes Rise! Build your town from scratch! Start from a small tribe and go all the way to a world empire! Develop your lands, demonstrate your diplomacy abilities, and if it comes to that - show off your skills on the battlefield! Create your civilization and turn a small city into a large and powerful empire. Capture small villages and attach them to your civilization. Build farms, army barracks, mines, and more in new territories. Each building can be improved to produce more resources, gold, and accumulate military power. Help your citizens, show no mercy to your enemies, and make your kingdom thrive! How are you going to rule? Will it be a dictatorship of a frightful ruler or a democratic republic of a noble leader? It's all up to you! Discover new lands and wonders of the world to get more advantages for your Empire. Explore, find new continents in the Open World map, capture barbaric tribes, and colonize islands! Send units on expeditions and scout missions, so always know what the enemy nations are up to. Your units may clash with enemy armies. Watch how the enemies develop and build unbeatable tactics. Every action brings experience which improves your units and helps you become the strongest nation in the world. Each unit gains experience and new levels that will improve its stats, making it a true veteran of war. Cities also have their own levels, which you can upgrade by building up and improving structures. If the war is upon you, become an army commander! Send your armies to battle, control the battlefield, and win no matter the cost! Unlock new and unique units, summon them to your army to repel enemy attacks, defend your territory, and capture new ones. Complete your conquest with ease and become the grand lord of your nation! Each unit has a different skill set. Assemble an army for your playstyle: bring down all the power heads-on, or create stealthy assassins who will suddenly attack from a tuck. Don't like fighting? No problem, you can choose to develop through diplomacy. Open new trade routes, build alliances, and help your allies so they are always ready to come to your aid and protect you from new threats. But there is no progress until you know your ultimate goal! And that goal is represented via the huge and diverse skill tree. It has many branches of development and upgrades. Each branch covers different types of technologies. From fishing and farming to ship building and siege weapons. You can unlock the secrets of economics, philosophy, and military prowess to help you on your quest to greatness. - Lots of unique units. From fast infantrymen and sharp archers - to warships and catapults. - Several large maps, with randomly spawning enemies - each session will be unique - The skill tree offers extensive improvements, with tons of deep mechanics. Learn the art of building walls to protect your cities or powerful ballistas that will help you capture enemy castles quickly. - A large world to explore, in which you can find different biomes. - Different civilizations and tribes, each with their own abilities, buffs, and debuffs. - Each faction is based on real historical civilizations, with unique architecture, visuals, and culture. - The game is easy to learn but hard to master. With each new game, you will improve your skills. Only you will choose in which direction you want to develop. You can play this game the way you want, there is no definite right way! Strategize, use logic, improve your skills and you will definitely succeed! You can play this game even if you don't have internet because it has offline mode! So what are you waiting for? Download Civilization Hex: Tribes Rise right now, absolutely free, and become the ultimate ruler! Be the King!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SimCity BuildIt at 49% against Civilization Hex's 6%. SimCity BuildIt also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (86K vs 129). Civilization Hex's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.1). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. SimCity BuildIt sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Civilization Hex sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Civilization Hex holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SimCity BuildIt has 86K ratings behind it against 129, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of SimCity BuildIt's written reviews are positive against 6% of Civilization Hex's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
SimCity BuildIt ships an update every 3 weeks, Civilization Hex every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SimCity BuildIt | Civilization Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (86K ratings) | 4.6 (129 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 49.2% of reviews — better | 5.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 86K — better | 129 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #62 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 345 MB | 241 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Electronic Arts | MAD PIXEL |
Customer experience
SimCity BuildIt
Civilization Hex
Bugs and requests
SimCity BuildIt
Reported bugs
4 issues- Cars phasing through trains
- Inconsistent traffic patterns
- Disappearing delivery trucks
- Frequent crashes and connection issues
Requested features
5 requests- Add city layout editor
- Allow raising/lowering train tracks
- Improve free-to-play experience
- Introduce search function for trade depot
- Add option to disable construction bubbles
Civilization Hex
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SimCity BuildIt
- Small Daily SimCash$0.99
- Pocketful of SimCash 3$1.99
- Premium Vu Pass Level I$2.99
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- Pocketful of SimCash$4.99
- Premium Vu Pass Level II$5.99
- Premium Mayor's Pass +$8.99
- Little Stack of SimCash$9.99
- Nice Pile of SimCash$19.99
- Briefcase of SimCash$34.99
- Big Sack of SimCash$49.99
Civilization Hex
- Japanese Civilization$2.99
- Germanic Civilization$2.99
- Aztec Civilization$2.99
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Chinese Civilization$2.99
- Indian Civilization$2.99
- NO ADS$4.99
- Season Pass 1$14.99
Questions
Is SimCity BuildIt free?
Is Civilization Hex free?
Which has better reviews, SimCity BuildIt or Civilization Hex?
Do SimCity BuildIt or Civilization Hex have ads?
Which is updated more often, SimCity BuildIt or Civilization Hex?
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