A cosmetic shop, a one-time unlock and a paid random draw all ask for money in different ways. Ranking them under one 'free-to-play' label hides the question a player needs answered: what can I buy, and does it change the game?
This ranking separates them. It judges the model, not the game — plenty of excellent games use models that sit low here, and a few forgettable ones sit at the top.
The ranking
How this was ranked
Each model is judged on four things: whether you can see what you are buying before you pay, whether money buys an advantage over other players, whether the game remains enjoyable when you stop spending, and how much pressure the design puts on the moment of purchase. This ranks models, not individual games — a good game can use a poor model, and a cynical game can use a fair one.
- Applies to:
- Free-to-play and paid mobile games generally
- Written for:
- Players deciding what a game will cost them over time
- Based on:
- Editorial assessment, July 2026
Balance changes, new content and updates can move any of these placements. Check the date above before relying on it.
Tier A: Treats players well
One-off purchase
You see the up-front price. If there are no additional purchases, the design has less reason to push spending later; check the listing and licence terms for the specific game.
Subscription catalogue
A catalogue subscription can replace direct in-game spending, but its terms and each game's purchase options vary. Check the specific listing before assuming the game sells nothing else.
Cosmetic-only shop
If purchases truly change appearance only, they need not confer a gameplay advantage. Verify that claim in the game itself rather than trusting a shop label.
Tier B: Fair with caveats
Completable battle pass
A season of rewards for a fixed price. Fair when it can be finished at a reasonable pace; less so when completion quietly assumes daily attendance.
Expansion or content pack
Priced, visible and optional. The main risk is fragmentation, where the base game degrades as content moves behind packs.
Ad-supported with a removal option
Honest about the trade and lets you buy out of it. Sits here rather than higher because the free experience is often deliberately made worse to drive the purchase.
Tier C: Depends entirely on the tuning
Energy and timers
Paces play and sells the ability to skip the wait. Benign when the limit lands after you would have stopped anyway; hostile when it interrupts you mid-session.
Progression currency
Money buys speed rather than power. Whether that matters depends on whether the unpaid pace is designed to be tolerable or to be escaped.
Rewarded ads
Optional advertising for a bonus. Reasonable in principle, but the reward is often tuned so that skipping it feels like a penalty.
Tier D: Treats players poorly
Gacha for competitive advantage
Randomised purchases for competitive power combine uncertain cost with an advantage over non-paying opponents — the two properties this ranking weighs most heavily.
Loot boxes with undisclosed odds
You cannot know what you are buying or what it costs to get it. Where odds are published the model moves up; where they are not, this is the worst position in the ranking.
Countdown-priced offers
Limited-time bundles that manufacture urgency around a spending decision. The clock exists to prevent the comparison you would otherwise make.
Change history
- — First published. Four tiers, twelve models. No changes to report yet — this note exists so the change history is visible from the first version rather than appearing later.
Why transparency outweighs price
This ranking values a clear up-front price above repeated random purchases because the player can judge the cost and what is included. That is an editorial value judgement, not a legal classification of a particular game or purchase.
That is why published odds move a model up a tier on their own. It does not make a randomised purchase a good deal, but it makes it a decision you can actually make.
Why advantage over other players is weighted heavily
Spending that only affects your own experience is a matter between you and the game. Spending that affects someone else's match changes what the game is for everyone in it, including the people who chose not to spend. A cosmetic shop cannot do that. A gacha attached to competitive play does it by design.
How this list will change
Rankings that never move are usually rankings nobody is maintaining. This one will change when the practice changes — the most likely revisions are odds disclosure becoming standard, which would lift the bottom tier, or subscription catalogues changing terms, which would move the top.
Every revision is dated and summarised in the change history above, and the criteria are published so you can disagree with the placement rather than just the conclusion. Our full approach is on the tier list methodology page.
Sources
- Choosing a business model (opens in a new tab) — Apple Developer (accessed )
- PhonePlayers tier list methodology (opens in a new tab) — PhonePlayers (accessed )
Corrections and updates
Updates
- — Updated the cover with a sourced photograph and recorded its creator and licence.
- — Removed an unsupported reviewer credit and qualified several purchase-model claims.
