Sudoku.com vs PeopleFun Sudoku: Pay Once or Subscribe?

Sudoku.com and PeopleFun's Sudoku are both free, both show ads and both have been on the App Store for years. The biggest practical difference is how you pay to make them quiet: Sudoku.com sells a one-time Sudoku.com No Ads purchase at $14.99, while PeopleFun sells ad-free play as a subscription (Ads Free Subscription, $2.99 on the US listing). Pick Sudoku.com for daily trophies, seasonal events and a pay-once fix for ads. Pick PeopleFun if you want every puzzle scored, streaks of solves called Runs, Game Center leaderboards and undo. The grids are the same classic 9x9 sudoku. What you get around them is a different idea of what makes a sudoku app worth reopening.

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.

PeopleFun's app is the veteran here, listed since 2010. Sudoku.com arrived in 2017 and has since gathered 1.87 million US ratings to PeopleFun's 663,589. The star averages are close enough that neither should decide this for you. Two smaller details from the listings: Sudoku.com is translated into 17 languages and PeopleFun into 8. PeopleFun's listing shows Game Center support and Sudoku.com's does not, which matters if you want your scores on Apple's leaderboards.

What each listing says it does

"Not in listing" means the App Store description does not mention it. Both apps are updated often, and a missing line is not proof the feature is missing.

Paying for no ads: once, or every period

Both apps carry Apple's "Contains advertising" note, and both put ad removal behind a payment. The structure is what differs. Sudoku.com's Sudoku.com No Ads is bought once and kept. PeopleFun's listing describes "an optional ad-free subscription" and shows Ads Free Subscription at $2.99, without saying how often it bills, so check the purchase screen before you subscribe.

If you expect to play for years, a one-time purchase usually wins on cost, because a subscription keeps charging after the one-time price would have been paid off. If you only want a quiet month, a subscription you cancel can be the cheaper route. PeopleFun's listing also says it shares personal information with advertising partners to personalize ads, and both apps' privacy labels include "Data Used to Track You". Our list of sudoku apps without a subscription covers more pay-once and free options.

Two ways to keep score

PeopleFun pitches itself as "classic Sudoku with a competitive twist". Each puzzle earns points for speed, accuracy and every row, column and block you complete, and Runs reward solving one puzzle after another without a break. Scores feed Game Center leaderboards, so you can see where you stand against friends and strangers. The loop is about beating a number, puzzle after puzzle.

Sudoku.com rewards showing up rather than scoring high. Its Daily Challenges hand out a trophy per day, Seasonal Events award medals, and a statistics screen tracks your progress. There is no points race in its listing and no leaderboard. If a calendar full of trophies motivates you more than a rank, Sudoku.com fits better. If you want to compare results with other people, see our sudoku apps with leaderboards.

Helpers, and how much they do for you

Both lists of helpers look similar at first: hints, notes and auto-check in each. The defaults differ. Sudoku.com's listing says you can figure out your mistakes yourself or enable Auto-Check to see them as you go, and its notes update automatically when you fill a cell, which saves erasing candidates by hand. It also highlights duplicates in a row, column or block.

PeopleFun lists pencil notes, hints, undo and auto-check, and says each can be turned off "for a cleaner challenge". Undo is the notable extra: Sudoku.com's listing does not mention it. If you like to test a guess and take it back, that matters. If you prefer to find errors the paper way, both apps let you play without checking; our guide on finding mistakes in sudoku helps when you do.

Difficulty

PeopleFun names four levels, Easy to Expert. Sudoku.com describes easier levels up to expert without listing them. Neither listing mentions anything above Expert, and neither describes lessons for the techniques expert puzzles need, such as naked pairs or X-Wing. For most daily players, Expert is plenty; if you have outgrown it in either app, the third option below is built for that.

Where Sudoku.com is the better pick

• You want to pay once. A one-time ad removal is simpler than a subscription you have to remember.
• You like daily goals. Daily Challenges with trophies and Seasonal Events with medals give you something to collect.
• You want killer sudoku from the same maker. Easybrain publishes it as a separate app, covered in our killer sudoku guide.
• You play on Android too. Sudoku.com is on both platforms.

Where PeopleFun's Sudoku is the better pick

• You play for points. Per-puzzle scores and Runs are the core of the app, and Sudoku.com has nothing like them.
• You want to compare scores. Game Center leaderboards and achievements are in its listing.
• You want undo. PeopleFun lists it; Sudoku.com's listing does not.
• You only want ads gone for a while. A subscription you cancel can cost less than a one-time unlock if you stop playing soon.

A third option: Sudoku Royale

If the ads are what brought you here, Sudoku Royale (our app) removes the choice between paying once and subscribing: it has no ads, no purchases and no subscription. It also goes past Expert, with Master and Extreme levels, and its hint names the technique and the cell instead of handing you the number. It is narrower than both apps above in places: no undo, no switch to turn mistake checking off, no automatic notes and no Android version, and it is new, with 11 US ratings. Our head-to-heads with Sudoku.com and PeopleFun Sudoku go into the details, or get Sudoku Royale on the App Store and play it next to whichever you keep. More options are on the PeopleFun alternatives page, the Sudoku.com alternatives page and the comparisons hub.