# Barred Crossword vs GridWords

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: GridWords at none against Barred Crossword's 1. Barred Crossword's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Barred Crossword sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per year. GridWords asks for nothing beyond the download.

Barred Crossword ships an update every 3 months, GridWords every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Barred Crossword | GridWords |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.2 (21 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/barred-crossword/id953010888/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **21** | — |
| Positive reviews | 57.9% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Every 2 months** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 99 MB | 103 MB |
| Requires iOS | **12.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Havos](https://appshunter.io/developer/309789068) | [Wayne Perry](https://appshunter.io/developer/1341619685) |

## What reviewers say

### Barred Crossword

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/barred-crossword/id953010888)

This app offers an unlimited supply of automatically generated crosswords with customizable grids and difficulty. It supports multiple languages and features aids to help you solve puzzles, making it ideal for crossword enthusiasts.

**Highlights:** Unlimited auto-generated crosswords, Configurable grid size and difficulty, Multiple crossword grid types (Barred, British, Arrow), Thousands of clues, Multi-language support, Zoom and pan grid functionality, Save and reload games

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Supporter (no ads) | $4.99 | per year |


### GridWords

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gridwords/id1610955967)

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Barred Crossword free?

Barred Crossword is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is GridWords free?

GridWords is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Barred Crossword or GridWords have ads?

Both Barred Crossword and GridWords show ads.

### Which is updated more often, Barred Crossword or GridWords?

Barred Crossword ships an update every 3 months, and GridWords every 2 months. Most recently, Barred Crossword was updated on October 24, 2026 and GridWords on October 27, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*