Earth Editor vs Contraptor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Earth Editor
Create your own world by placing various elements like sand, water, and lava on a gravity field. This simulation game allows for boundless creativity in designing unique planetary landscapes. Explore the possibilities of a sandbox environment where you are the architect of your own planet.
- World creation sandbox
- Gravity field simulation
- Place sand, water, seeds, lava
- Creative planetary design
- Element interaction
Read full descriptionHide full description
This game is the 21st iOS game for the Web game site "DAN-BALL". A simulation game that creates the Earth using various dots on the field of gravity. There are various dots of sand, water, seeds, lava, and more. Be creative. It's up to you!
Contraptor
Create intricate machines to solve physics-based puzzles. Design your own challenges, share them with the community, and compete on leaderboards. Learn physics principles through hands-on tutorials.
- Build with real 2D physics
- Solve community challenges
- Design and share custom puzzles
- Climb leaderboards
- Hands-on tutorials
- Universal app for iPhone and iPad
Read full descriptionHide full description
Contraptor is a physics playground where you build machines to solve hand-crafted puzzles. Drop in rods, wheels, pins, motors, and welds, wire up a contraption, hit Play, and let real physics decide how it works. NEW TO BUILDING? START WITH PLAY. Thirty short levels teach the whole game one trick at a time. Your first level hands you a single oval. Thirty levels later you're wiring motors, bracing with ghost rods, and threading payloads through wormholes. Every level keeps the machine you built to beat it, so you can come back and watch it run. Beat them all and you earn a Certificate of Completion with your name on it. THEN TAKE ON THE COMMUNITY. Every challenge is a puzzle: get the payload (or many payloads) to the target(s) using whatever that challenge allows. Some let you shove pieces around, some ration your parts with Twists, some bend the rules with wormholes and moving hazards. Solve it and you've earned bragging rights. Then flip it around: design your own challenge, prove it's solvable if you like, and dare everyone to crack it. • Build with real 2D physics — mass, gravity, momentum, friction, bounce, damping, and motors • 30 hand-built levels that teach every tool, plus a certificate at the top • A growing library of community challenges, with search • Design your own, prove they're solvable, and post them • Twists: cap the parts, cap the speed, or hand solvers exactly the toolbox you choose • Wormholes, slow-motion zones, and other rule-benders • Rate, follow other builders, and climb the leaderboards • Hands-on tutorials for every tool • Universal — iPhone and iPad Seeing a solution isn't the same as building one. That skill gap is the whole game. Contraptor uses your iCloud account for community features (posting, rating, following, leaderboards, usernames). You can play every level, follow the tutorials, and browse and play everything in the Community without iCloud — it's only needed to post or interact. iCloud is free. Designed by JohnCowMilk · Built in Xcode with Apple's Coding Intelligence and Claude · Physics by Box2D
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Contraptor at none against Earth Editor's shown. Contraptor also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 79%). Earth Editor's advantage is ratings volume (919 vs 4) and rating (4.3 vs 4.0). On price, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Earth Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Earth Editor has 919 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of Earth Editor's written reviews are positive against 100% of Contraptor's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Earth Editor ships an update every 4 months, Contraptor every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Earth Editor | Contraptor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (919 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 919 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DAN-BALL | John Coumerilh |
Customer experience
Earth Editor
Contraptor
Bugs and requests
Earth Editor
Reported bugs
3 issues- Black holes causing glitches
- Ice not freezing water properly
- Cloned elements not behaving as expected
Requested features
8 requests- More elements and materials to experiment with
- Ability to save multiple worlds
- Zoom and camera controls
- Realistic physics and behaviors (e.g. sand sinking in water)
- Ability to create life, animals, or civilizations
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Supernova and star effects
- Atmosphere and weather systems
- Ability to move immobile objects
Contraptor
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Earth Editor
No in-app purchases
Contraptor
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Earth Editor free?
Is Contraptor free?
Which has better reviews, Earth Editor or Contraptor?
Do Earth Editor or Contraptor have ads?
Which is updated more often, Earth Editor or Contraptor?
Other comparisons















