Candy Crush Saga vs Crossword Explorer

Candy Crush Saga

King
App Store
$13.70M/mo
~$164.46M/yr · 671.4M installs
VS

Crossword Explorer

PlaySimple Games Pte Ltd
App Store
$53.5K/mo
~$641.9K/yr · 6.7M installs
Revenue winner Candy Crush Saga wins +25519% vs other
Installs winner Candy Crush Saga wins +9941% vs other
MAU winner Candy Crush Saga wins +691% vs other
Rating winner Crossword Explorer wins +5% vs other

Why Candy Crush Saga is winning

Top 4 reasons - backed by the public App Store / Play Store numbers.

  1. Candy Crush Saga earns roughly 256× more per month than Crossword Explorer - $13.70M vs $53.5K.
  2. Premium pricing. Candy Crush Saga charges $26.03/mo vs Crossword Explorer's $9.99/mo - higher ARPU per converted user.
  3. Bigger install base. Candy Crush Saga has ~671.4M lifetime installs vs Crossword Explorer's ~6.7M - 100.4× the funnel top.
  4. Charts placement. Candy Crush Saga ranks #16 on the US grossing chart (the other app is unranked) - chart placement is a self-reinforcing flywheel.

Find more apps with this revenue gap · Full Candy Crush Saga report

Side-by-side metrics

Bars scale to whichever app is bigger on that row. Green = winner.

Candy Crush Saga
vs
Crossword Explorer
Monthly revenue (est.)?
$13.70M
$53.5K
Annual revenue (est.)
$164.46M
$641.9K
Lifetime installs (est.)
671.4M
6.7M
Monthly active users (est.)?
10.7M
1.4M
App Store rating
4.71★
4.94★
Total ratings
3.9M
61K
US grossing rank
#16
-
Cheapest monthly sub
$26.03
$9.99
IAP tiers detected
8 tiers
10 tiers

Candy Crush Saga

King
App Store
Category
Games
Price
Free
Released
Nov 14, 2012
Last updated
Jul 1, 2026
File size
326.8 MB
Content rating
12+
Version
1.331.0.1
Languages
Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch +23 more
View full Candy Crush Saga report →

Crossword Explorer

PlaySimple Games Pte Ltd
App Store
Category
Games
Price
Free
Released
Sep 14, 2020
Last updated
Jun 29, 2026
File size
305.8 MB
Content rating
4+
Version
1.156
Languages
English
View full Crossword Explorer report →

Candy Crush Saga trajectory

AugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJul

Crossword Explorer trajectory

AugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJul

FAQ

Which makes more money, Candy Crush Saga or Crossword Explorer? v
Candy Crush Saga earns about $13.70M per month, while Crossword Explorer earns about $53.5K. That is a 256.2× revenue gap (~$13.65M more per month for Candy Crush Saga). Annual revenue: Candy Crush Saga ≈ $164.46M/year, Crossword Explorer ≈ $641.9K/year. Estimates are derived from public App Store signals - grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings and category benchmarks.
Which has more downloads, Candy Crush Saga or Crossword Explorer? v
Candy Crush Saga leads with about 671.4M estimated downloads vs 6.7M for Crossword Explorer - a 100.4× gap. Candy Crush Saga's App Store downloads are estimated from 3.9M ratings × the standard 1:75 ratio. Crossword Explorer's App Store downloads are estimated from 61K ratings.
Are Candy Crush Saga and Crossword Explorer in the same App Store category and competing for the same money? v
Yes - both apps sit in the Games category, which means they compete directly for the same paying users and category-level wallet share. Direct competitors, head-to-head.
What in-app purchases and subscription pricing do Candy Crush Saga and Crossword Explorer offer? v
Candy Crush Saga: IAP range 8 tiers detected. Crossword Explorer: IAP range 10 tiers detected. Candy Crush Saga runs a "Free casual game · ads + tiny sub take (~$0.08/MAU) · calibrated by US grossing rank #16" monetization model; Crossword Explorer runs "Free casual game · ads + tiny sub take (~$0.08/MAU)". Scraped tier prices and detected subscription pricing drive the bulk of the per-app revenue estimate above.
Which has better ratings, Candy Crush Saga or Crossword Explorer? v
Crossword Explorer edges ahead with ★ 4.9 vs ★ 4.7 (gap of 0.2 stars). Rating volume: Candy Crush Saga 3.9M ratings, Crossword Explorer 61K ratings. Higher rating volume = stronger ASO signal even when star averages are close.
How accurate are these Candy Crush Saga vs Crossword Explorer revenue estimates? v
Directional - typically within 2-3× of actual money earned for popular apps. The $13.70M for Candy Crush Saga and $53.5K for Crossword Explorer are derived from App Store grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings volume and category benchmarks (Games) - net of the 15-30% Apple/Google store cut. Real revenue depends on country mix, retention, refunds and ad fill rate, none of which Apple or Google publish.
How do I compare Candy Crush Saga or Crossword Explorer to a different App Store app? v
Use the search box at the bottom of this page or paste any two App Store links into the homepage tool. We auto-generate a permanent comparison URL with revenue, downloads, IAP tiers, subscription pricing and grossing rank for both apps.