Candy Crush Saga vs Plants vs. Zombies™

How do Candy Crush Saga and Plants vs. Zombies™ compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

 Candy Crush Saga iconCandy Crush SagaPlants vs. Zombies™ iconPlants vs. Zombies™
GenrePuzzlePuzzle
PriceFreeFree
Difficultyhardmedium
Ad intensityhighhigh
In-app-purchase pressurehighhigh
Typical sessionvariablevariable
Rating4.7 / 54.8 / 5
Ratings count3,956,196917,146
Reviews say
What players like
  • Addictive core match-3 gameplay with escalating difficulty
  • Free to play with offline support
  • Daily rewards and time-limited events for engagement
Common complaints
  • Aggressive ad placement and hard-to-close ad windows causing accidental clicks
  • Pay-to-win mechanics with removed ad-based rewards after updates
  • Technical bugs including crashes, freezing, and broken iPad UI
What players like
  • Strategic tower-defense gameplay with 49 unique plants
  • Timeless classic with high-quality art and soundtrack
  • Replayable with 50 adventure levels plus survival mode
Common complaints
  • Intrusive ads after every stage
  • Ad remover purchase doesn't eliminate all ads as promised
  • Game crashes on certain levels like pool stages

Candy Crush Saga — Match-3 puzzle game where you blast candies through thousands of levels while navigating aggressive monetization and intrusive ads. (rated hard difficulty, high ad pressure) Plants vs. Zombies™ — Deploy an arsenal of quirky plants to defend your home from waves of increasingly bizarre zombies in this beloved tower-defense puzzle classic. (rated medium difficulty, high ad pressure)

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Data: Apple App Store, as of 2026-07-10. Last updated 2026-07-10.