Comparisons
Geode or AIStone?
Both apps name a stone from a photo. Where they differ is what you get before paying, the price, and whether the answer tells you how sure it is.
Updated October 23, 2026
This page compares what each app says about itself: Geode on this site, and AIStone — Rock Identifier - AIStone, by Sarun Wongpatcharapakorn — on its App Store listing, as read on 23 October 2026. A listing changes; if a line below has gone out of date, the listing is what counts.
Side by side
| Geode | AIStone | |
|---|---|---|
| Before paying | A handful of complete identifications every week, with no account | "A Separate Subscription purchase is needed to use the features", says its listing |
| Price | €5.99 a month or €34.99 a year (France, tax included) | $4.99 a week or $24.99 a year (US App Store) |
| Free trial | 7 days, on the yearly plan | None mentioned on its listing |
| Phones | iPhone and Android | iPhone — its listing also names Apple-silicon Macs and Apple Vision |
| How sure it is | Every answer says very likely, possible or uncertain, and lists the other matches when a photo cannot settle it | Its listing calls identification "quick" and "accurate", and does not mention a confidence level |
| Languages | English and French | English |
Where AIStone may suit you better
Its yearly plan costs less than Geode's on paper: $24.99 against €34.99. If you already know you will pay, and a name is all you are after, that is a real difference.
Where Geode is different
You can try it on your own stones before paying. The free identifications come back every week, and they are complete — the full sheet, how sure it is, your collection. Nothing asks you to create an account.
It tells you when it is not sure. A polished or weathered stone, a poor photo, two minerals that look alike: the answer says so, and shows the other candidates instead of deciding for you.
The sheet tells the stone's story. How it formed, where it is found, what crystal lore makes of it as cultural heritage — and a catalogue of over 2,500 rocks and minerals to look up without photographing anything.
Whichever you use, check it yourself
No app sees hardness or density in a photograph, and those are the properties that settle most identifications. Checking an answer takes a few minutes and things you already own:
- Look at the lustre, in daylight: glassy, metallic, waxy or dull. It is the first real fork in the road.
- Scratch it against a copper coin, a steel nail and a shard of glass: the Mohs scale turns the result into a range.
- Drag it across unglazed porcelain: the streak test shows the colour of its powder, far steadier than the colour of the stone.
- Weigh it in your hand against a pebble of the same size. A stone that feels too heavy for its size is already a clue.
The whole method, in the order that rules out the most, is in how to identify a rock.