Comparison

Papers, Please vs Tiny Space Program

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

Head to head
About

Papers, Please

Step into the shoes of a border inspector in a dystopian communist state. Examine documents, interrogate travelers, and decide who is allowed to enter. Your choices impact your family's survival and the fate of the nation.

Highlights
  • Dystopian border inspector simulation
  • Document examination and verification
  • Interrogation and decision-making
  • Multiple endings based on choices
  • Unlockable multitouch support
  • Game Center achievements and leaderboards
Features
Read full description

A dystopian document thriller. The award-winning, critically-acclaimed border inspector game. ______________________________________ "Congratulations." "The October labor lottery is complete. Your name was pulled." "For immediate placement, report to the Ministry of Admission at Grestin Border Checkpoint." "An apartment will be provided for you and your family in East Grestin. Expect a Class-8 dwelling." "Glory to Arstotzka." ______________________________________ Awards ◉ Best Game of 2013 - The New Yorker ◉ Best Game of 2013 - Wired Magazine ◉ Top Indie Game 2013 - Forbes Magazine ◉ Best Strategy & Simulation Game 2014 - BAFTA ◉ Grand Prize Winner 2014 - Independent Games Festival ◉ Excellence in Design Winner - IGF 2014 ◉ Excellence in Narrative Winner - IGF 2014 ◉ GameCity Prize Winner 2014 - GameCity ◉ Cultural Innovation Award 2013 - SXSW ◉ Best PC Game 2014 - LARA Game Awards ◉ Innovation Award - GDCA 2014 ◉ Most Innovative 2014 - Games For Change ◉ Best Gameplay 2014 - Games For Change ◉ Best Game of 2013 - Ars Technica ◉ Best Game of 2013 - PC World ◉ Best PC Game of 2013 - Destructoid ◉ Best Story of 2013 - Destructoid ... and more ______________________________________ Story The communist state of Arstotzka has just ended a 6-year war with neighboring Kolechia and reclaimed its rightful half of the border town, Grestin. Your job as immigration inspector is to control the flow of people entering the Arstotzkan side of Grestin from Kolechia. Among the throngs of immigrants and visitors looking for work are hidden smugglers, spies, and terrorists. Using only the documents provided by travelers and the Ministry of Admission's primitive inspect, search, and fingerprint systems you must decide who can enter Arstotzka and who will be turned away or arrested. ______________________________________ Features Includes the complete original game with all 31 days and 20 endings. Also adds unlockable multitouch support for faster paperwork, an enhanced inspection mode, Game Center achievements, leaderboards, mid-day resume, and more. ______________________________________ Warning This game contains mature themes, non-photographic nudity, and brief moments of pixelated violence.

About

Tiny Space Program

Manage your own space agency, from designing and building rockets to launching missions for research, mining, or tourism. Explore planets and moons, establish off-world economies, and advance your technology in this interplanetary simulation.

Highlights
  • Space program management
  • Build off-world colonies
  • Launch rockets and spaceships
  • Research technologies
  • Mine resources from celestial bodies
  • Astronaut progression
  • Simulates orbital mechanics
Features
Read full description

Build and run your own space program — like SpaceX, but yours. Launch rockets, manage astronauts, mine planets, and colonize the solar system from the Moon to beyond the Kuiper Belt. WHAT WOULD YOU DO AS A SPACE BILLIONAIRE? Send tourists on a spacewalk? Start a mining operation on Titan? Build a space station around Mars? In Tiny Space Program you manage the early colonization of our solar system — based on real orbital mechanics and ship propulsion. BUILD YOUR SPACE AGENCY - Launch rockets and spaceships into orbit - Build off-world colonies, outposts, and modular space stations - Mine resources on moons, planets, and dwarf planets - Research new technologies and better spacecraft - Level up your astronauts and equip spacesuits - Establish off-world economies and trade A CHILL GAME, NOT A CHORE No forced ads, no daily-streak punishments. Play at your own pace — run an hour-long research expedition, take tourists on a quick tour, then put it down and come back later. Mines keep producing while you're away. MADE BY ONE DEVELOPER Actively updated (space stations, automation, dwarf planets, and vehicles all shipped recently). Join the Discord and help shape what comes next.

Screenshots

Papers, Please4 screens
Tiny Space Program4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tiny Space Program at Free against Papers, Please's $4.99. Papers, Please's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 14) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, ratings volume and device support 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

Tiny Space Program is free to download; Papers, Please costs $4.99 up front. Tiny Space Program sells 14 one-off in-app purchases. Papers, Please asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Papers, Please holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.2K and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 80% of Papers, Please's written reviews are positive against 81% of Tiny Space Program's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Papers, Please ships an update weekly, Tiny Space Program monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Papers, Please versus Tiny Space Program: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPapers, PleaseTiny Space Program
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (1.2K ratings) — better4.5 (1.6K ratings)
Positive reviews79.6% of reviews81.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.2K1.6K — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#5 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB32 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developer3909Jerry Neimann

Customer experience

Papers, Please

All ratings1,202 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral3.7%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews992 reviews
Positive79.6%
Neutral7.6%
Negative12.8%

Tiny Space Program

All ratings1,633 ratings
Positive87.7%
Neutral3.9%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews661 reviews
Positive81.2%
Neutral7.4%
Negative11.3%

Bugs and requests

Papers, Please

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Tiny Space Program

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Buttons not working or unresponsive
  • Disappearing ships and resources
  • Crashes and freezes after updates
  • Quests and missions not tracking properly

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more planets and moons to explore
  • Improve the economy and resource management
  • Implement cloud/online save functionality
  • Streamline the UI and make it more intuitive
  • Expand the research and upgrade trees
Show 1 more
  • Add more animations and visual effects

In-app purchases

None

Papers, Please

No in-app purchases

14 purchases

Tiny Space Program

One-time14
  • Supporting the game, thank you$1.99
  • Helping out, many thanks$4.99
  • Crystal Pack 1$4.99
Show 11 more
  • Starter Pack$4.99
  • Plasma Space Ship Package$8.99
  • You are great! Many thanks$9.99
  • Crystal Pack 2$9.99
  • Colonizer Pack$9.99
  • Experimental Dragon Ships$9.99
  • Aerospike space ship pack$9.99
  • A big pile of credits$19.99
  • Crystal Pack 3$19.99
  • Biggest box of credits$49.99
  • Crystal Pack 4$49.99

Questions

Is Papers, Please free?
Papers, Please costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tiny Space Program free?
Tiny Space Program is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Papers, Please or Tiny Space Program?
Papers, Please is rated higher. Papers, Please averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Tiny Space Program averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Papers, Please or Tiny Space Program have ads?
Tiny Space Program shows ads; Papers, Please does not.
Which is updated more often, Papers, Please or Tiny Space Program?
Papers, Please ships an update weekly, and Tiny Space Program monthly. Most recently, Papers, Please was updated on September 28, 2026 and Tiny Space Program on September 29, 2026.

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