Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Realm Defense vs Summoners Greed

Realm Defense 4.7★ · Free + IAP 60
Winner Summoners Greed
Summoners Greed 4.9★ · Free + IAP 75

Summoners Greed offers a more engaging and less restrictive free-to-play experience despite some recent balancing issues, making it the better choice for most players over Realm Defense's aggressive paywalls.

Summoners Greed generally provides a fun and grindable tower defense experience with optional purchases, though recent updates have frustrated some players with nerfs and progression roadblocks. Realm Defense, while praised for its core gameplay, is heavily criticized for aggressive paywalls and difficulty spikes that hinder free-to-play progression.

Head to head

Features & Content edge: Summoners GreedR1R10R16R32
Realm Defense Realm Defense offers challenging levels and a variety of heroes and worlds, keeping players engaged for a long time R10. Users enjoy unlocking new characters and abilities and appreciate the continuous updates and events R32. However, some levels are described as 'nearly impossible' R1R16.
Summoners Greed Summoners Greed features unique summons, different game modes (normal, hard, nightmare), and evolving characters, providing a lot of content . Players enjoy the grinding aspect and the ability to choose which monsters to upgrade . Some users wish for more evolutions and an AFK option for farming .
Ease of Use & Progression tieR3R7R9R11
Realm Defense Realm Defense is praised for its friendly interface and relaxing gameplay . However, progression for free-to-play users is severely hampered by paywalls, especially after World 2 or 3, making it difficult to acquire new heroes or materials R3R7R9R11. Leveling up heroes is described as a slow and long process R16.
Summoners Greed Summoners Greed is generally easy to pick up, with players enjoying the ability to grind with little effort . However, many users report getting stuck at specific points, like the Ice Queen, requiring extensive grinding or specific heroes . Recent updates have made progression significantly harder by nerfing monsters and increasing upgrade costs R79R91R100R106. Some users also report issues with monster placement, as they cannot be rearranged after being placed .
Reliability & Support tieR19R23R61R63
Realm Defense Some Realm Defense users have experienced critical issues like lost progress that could not be restored R19. One user reported a purchase not appearing in-game and received no response from customer service for three days R23.
Summoners Greed Summoners Greed has issues with in-app purchases failing and ads not providing rewards or crashing R61R63R64R66. Some players also reported losing all game progress . There are also complaints about promised free summons not being delivered .
Price & Value (Free vs. Paid) edge: Summoners GreedR3R6R7R9
Realm Defense Realm Defense is heavily criticized for being 'pay-to-win' and designed to 'bleed you dry' R9. Many users feel forced to spend significant money to progress, especially past early worlds R3R7R9R11. While some players manage to progress without paying, they acknowledge the grind R6.
Summoners Greed Summoners Greed is also criticized for being 'pay-to-play' or 'pay-to-win' by some, with many mechanics having IAP built-in . Ads are frequent and often required for rewards, leading to frustration when they don't work R61. However, other users state that purchases are optional and the game can be grinded on with no effort . The 2x speed feature is a common IAP that many feel should be free .
Pick Realm Defense if

You enjoy classic tower defense gameplay reminiscent of Kingdom Rush and don't mind a significant grind or making in-app purchases to progress .

Pick Summoners Greed if

You prefer an idle tower defense game with a strong grinding component, cute monsters, and a variety of game modes, and are willing to tolerate occasional ad issues or recent balancing changes .

Evidence note: Realm Defense reviews are more polarized, with many recent negative reviews focusing on aggressive monetization and progression issues, while positive reviews are often older or less detailed. Summoners Greed has a higher volume of reviews and a higher lifetime rating, but recent negative reviews highlight significant issues with ads, IAP, and game balancing.

Frequently asked

Is Realm Defense truly free-to-play?
Realm Defense can be played for free, but many users report hitting significant paywalls after World 2 or 3, making progression very slow or impossible without spending money on heroes and materials R3R7R9R11.
Are there issues with ads in Summoners Greed?
Yes, many Summoners Greed users report issues with ads, including them crashing, not providing promised rewards, or appearing too frequently R61R63R64R66.
Has Summoners Greed become harder to play recently?
Yes, recent updates to Summoners Greed have made the game significantly harder, with players reporting nerfs to monster power, increased upgrade costs, and difficulty progressing through maps they previously cleared R79R91R100R106.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R1] Realm Defense 1/5 · US 180 Nearly Impossible: Really fun game until level 180, even using YouTube strategy guides this level is nearly impossible to beat, even with special items and leveled up heroes.
  2. [R10] Realm Defense 5/5 · US Love this game!: The best to pass the time. Levels get increasingly challenging, perfect to stimulate the brain.
  3. [R16] Realm Defense 5/5 · US Super Addicting: Only issue is some levels can be quite difficult which isn’t bad but leveling up is slow. All in all though it’s very fun and can’t wait for more additions.
  4. [R32] Realm Defense 5/5 · US Great game: Progression fun heroes… well done
  5. [R3] Realm Defense 1/5 · US Game used to be good: I really used to enjoy playing this game as a mostly f2p player and i was willing to have to grind a little bit longer to level my heroes up but now they’ve drastically increased how long that will take by replacing the free daily materials you need to rank your heroes up with another less valuable material. this also means that you cannot easily acquire new heroes without sp
  6. [R7] Realm Defense 2/5 · US Love this game… but: Game is absolutely amazing, everything you love about tower defense. But… you get engulfed in it, then you’re about to get to world 3 but you can’t. It says you need to spend 50 tournament tokens to unlock it. So I’m like “okay how hard can that be?” Well it’s only possible to make 20 tournament tokens every week and that’s if you’re first in your league. On top of that, the c
  7. [R9] Realm Defense 2/5 · GB Expensive freemium: This started well if a little easy. Now I’ve done the first two maps and it seems like you have to pay to continue. I actually don’t mind this. However, it looks very much like I’ll hit blocks like this over and over again, and have to pay over and over again. I’d consider paying for the whole game but I just don’t trust it as it is, looks like it’s designed to bleed you dry.
  8. [R11] Realm Defense 2/5 · GB Great potential spoiled by difficulty: The early stages of this game are great however to progress you need to spend a significant amount of money. Once you get to gold tournament there is no chance of progressing without expensive purchases Come on developers I don’t mind paying but not the amounts you need for this game.
  9. [R19] Realm Defense 1/5 · GB Restore broken: Lost all progress and won’t restore. So much for returning
  10. [R23] Realm Defense 1/5 · GB Nice game, payments broken, no customer service: I like this game, I really do. I would be happily ranking it 4 or 5 star. Great game buuutttttt a purchase hasn’t been appeared in game. Day 3 no response from customer service which isn’t acceptable, I am gonna to contact apple for a refund. I’m summary great game to play, but don’t spend.
  11. [R61] Summoners Greed 1/5 · US Years go by, more issues somehow: Played this game when the makers made you watch videos or pay to play even in early game. Now double speed videos got nerfed (trash). The videos are straight up FRAUD on a regular basis; the videos will say that they give u coins but it crashes halfway through and gives you NOTHING. Straight up FRAUD. Level gaps are outrageous. Literally just slows down to a crawl
  12. [R63] Summoners Greed 3/5 · US Second ad black out: Can’t finish the ads. The second one is always just black.
  13. [R6] Realm Defense 4/5 · US Good but difficult to progress staying FTP: Have to grind to progress while staying FTP
  14. [R64] Summoners Greed 1/5 · US Xem quảng cáo nhưng ko nhận được reward: Nó dụ mình xem nhiều quảng cáo tích gần đủ nguyên liệu để đổi thưởng. Đến khi gần đủ thì nó cho lỗi quảng cáo ko thể nhận phần thưởng nữa nhưng vẫn chạy quảng cáo. Loại tởm lợm
  15. [R66] Summoners Greed 3/5 · US Second 15 second ad not showing: Just trying to get mythical gems and I can’t watch the ads due to it going to a black screen with a red x in the top right corner. Other than that, this game is pretty okay. Fun thing to have in the background or just while you’re chilling
  16. [R79] Summoners Greed 1/5 · US Devs make it harder instead of more fun: I finally got through some tough maps, thinking was finally among progress only for them to nerf the monsters and make the maps harder than they were. Why am I failing on maps I easily defeated before? And on wave 1 to make matters worse
  17. [R91] Summoners Greed 1/5 · US Developers Greed: They periodically change things to make the game more difficult instead of adding content. The content that they DO add makes the game more difficult and hardly any more exciting. For example, they add more “special” monsters that take so money gold to level up that I can set up an autoclicker on the map that gives the most coins for 2 weeks straight and it won’t be enough to max
  18. [R100] Summoners Greed 1/5 · US Most recent balance change killed so much.: I have no clue what they did to this game but dear lord. They nerfed everything into the ground so heavily. My monsters feel like they do not damage. The newer special monsters take so much to upgrade despite not needing as much beforehand. Grinding summon stones is practically impossible due to the nerfs to all monsters while not changing anything hp wi
  19. [R106] Summoners Greed 1/5 · US Recent “balancing” update: I’ve always loved this game, played for quite a while, until this recent 1.100.3 “balancing” update, first of all this is a single player game, why is a balancing needed? Also why is this balancing only nerfed all of my monsters to oblivion? I went from barely clearing insane joint revenge to struggling to clear it. I’ve noticed the nerf a little too hard. Pls don’t nerf

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store