Meowdoku Alternatives: Logic Puzzles Without a Premium Plan

Meowdoku sells Premium and Premium Plus plans billed weekly, monthly or yearly, and its listing does not say what they add. If you want a logic puzzle without that, the alternatives below are all sudoku apps: Sudoku Royale has no ads and nothing to buy, Brainium Sudoku, Sudoku.com and Sudoku Now! remove ads with one payment, and Good Sudoku has a one-time unlock. One thing to know first: despite the name, Meowdoku is not a sudoku. It is a cat-placement puzzle, so moving to a sudoku app means a different (if related) kind of logic.

What Meowdoku actually is

OAKEVER Games, who also make a classic sudoku app, released Meowdoku in 2026, and it already has 373,631 US ratings. Its listing describes the rules: the board is split into colored sections, you place exactly one cat in each, and no two cats may share a row or column or touch, even diagonally. There are no digits. The listing says it blends sudoku's reasoning with Minesweeper's deduction. If you have played LinkedIn's Queens, the rules will feel close.

Two details from the listing shape how it plays. You get three hearts: each wrong cat costs one, and the listing is clear that guessing will not save you. And it promises "Non-Intrusive Ads", while its App Store age rating says it contains advertising. Daily puzzles, offline play and global leaderboards for fastest times round it out. The paid plans its listing shows are Meowdoku Premium Plus Weekly(1Week) $6.99, Meowdoku Premium Weekly(1 Week) $3.99, Meowdoku Premium Plus Monthly $14.99, Meowdoku Premium Monthly(1 Month) $7.99, Meowdoku Premium Yearly(1Year) $34.99, Meowdoku Premium Plus Yearly(1Year) $69.99.

The App Store facts

From each app's US App Store listing, checked October 26, 2026. Prices and paid items change, so check the listing before you buy.

Mistakes, daily puzzles and paying, side by side

The alternatives

Sudoku Royale: the three-strikes feel, without the plans

Sudoku Royale is ours, and it is classic sudoku, not a cat puzzle. If Meowdoku's hearts are part of what you enjoy, its Daily Challenge works in a similar spirit: three lives, each mistake also adds 30 seconds, and after the third your run continues but no longer counts for the leaderboard. Practice mode has no mistake limit at all. Every number is checked as you place it, so a wrong one never sits on the board. There are no ads, no purchases and no subscription. If you are new to sudoku, the 88-level Journey teaches one technique per chapter, starting from the basics. Limits: no undo, no variants, and iPhone and iPad only.

Sudoku.com: the big, familiar option

The most rated sudoku app in the US, with hints, notes that update when you fill a cell, an auto-check you can switch on or off, daily challenges with trophies and seasonal events. It shows ads; the Sudoku.com No Ads purchase is $14.99, once.

Sudoku by Staple Games: the most minimal

Its listing is short: a daily challenge, four levels, notes, hints that fill in a missing number, statistics, and digits that disappear from the number pad once all nine are placed. Its App Store age rating says it contains advertising, and the listing shows no paid items, so there is no listed way to pay the ads away. Our Staple Games alternatives page has more.

Brainium Sudoku: calm, with hints that explain

Brainium's listing describes hints that teach the logic behind each step, five levels, daily puzzles that earn points and gold checkmarks, relaxing backdrops, auto-fill notes and an optional error check. Ads go with Remove Ads at $11.99.

Sudoku Now! and Good Sudoku

Sudoku Now! lists over 20,000 puzzles at five levels up to Master, unlimited undo, notes that update themselves, offline play and hints that teach techniques; its No-Ads Pack is $12.99. Good Sudoku is for players who want depth: over 70,000 puzzles, AI hints and three daily modes with global leaderboards, with Full Game Unlock at $4.99.

Where Meowdoku is the better pick

• You want the cat puzzle itself. None of the apps here plays region-and-placement puzzles. They are all sudoku. If the no-touching rule is what hooked you, a sudoku app is a change of game, not a like-for-like swap.
• You like short, quick boards. A placement puzzle with one cat per region is fast to read. A hard 9x9 sudoku can take far longer.
• The ads do not bother you. It is free to download, and nothing in its listing says the puzzles need a plan.

If you move from cats to digits

The habits carry over. In Meowdoku you ask "where can the cat in this region go?"; in sudoku you ask where a digit can go in a row, column or box. When there is only one place, that is a hidden single, the most useful technique in the game. Start at an easy level and work up from there.

Which should you choose?

To keep playing the cat puzzle, stay with Meowdoku and skip the plans if the free version is enough. To swap a weekly charge for a one-time one, Brainium, Sudoku.com or Sudoku Now! will do it. To pay nothing and see no ads, download Sudoku Royale. More options: the best sudoku apps without a subscription, the best sudoku apps for beginners, our PeopleFun Sudoku alternatives and the sudoku app comparisons hub.