Crossword puzzles are excellent brain teasers. The easy ones take a few minutes, while the most complicated ones can take days. It’s a good way to learn new things, and it’s one of the most popular word puzzles in the world. As it turns out, we sometimes bite off more than we can chew. There are many apps and websites to help when you’re entirely stumped. Here are the best crossword solvers for Android, iPhone, iPad, and the web that work. You should be able to solve those crosswords pretty easily with these.

Of course, we also recommend something like Google Assistant or Google Search (Google Play) since you can, in fact, Google many crossword questions and either get answers or something close to the answer.

The best crossword solvers on all platforms

Anagram Solver (Android) Crossword Solver King (Android) Across Lite Crosswords (iPad only) Anagram Solver (iPhone/iPad) The Crossword Anagram Solver (iPhone/iPad) Crossword Solver by Havos (iPhone/iPad) Clue Solver (iPhone/iPad) Crossword Heaven (web) Crossword Solver (web) Dictionary.com (web) Google Search (web) Wordplays (web) Wordsolver by Mooflower Ltd. (web) Crossword-solver.io (web) Wordunscrambler (web)

What makes a good crossword helper?

There are dozens of websites and apps that work for this. However, the vast majority are rather simple. The best ones include modern references and potentially even pop culture solutions, along with the usual stuff. Every app and site on this list can do the basics and at least a little extra. Additionally, all the crossword solvers on this list are free with ads or have a single premium cost. There are no subscriptions here!

Given how much information can change and how many new solutions are available weekly with new crosswords, it’s impossible to keep up with everything. However, most of these apps should work on most clues.

For the iOS section of this list, unless otherwise specified, all the apps should work on both iOS and iPad.

Android crossword solvers

Anagram Solver

Price: Free

Joe Hindy / Android AuthorityAnagram Solver does two different things. It solves anagrams and helps with crossword puzzles. It supports blank spots, so you can look for almost any word as long as you know at least part of it. Additionally, the app has word definitions, various hints and tips, and some additional features. It’s a relatively simple app that works as an anagram and crossword puzzle solver.

Crossword Solver King

Price: Free

Crossword Solver King is another competent crossword solver. It has over 280,000 words available offline. Additionally, it supports missing letters, solves anagrams, and has a bunch of filters to help narrow your searches. It also integrates with this English Offline Dictionary for even more offline functionality. It worked well enough in our tests from the same developer as the Anagram Solver. The pro version removes ads, lowers the needed permissions to zero, and more.

iPhone and iPad crossword solvers

Across Lite Crosswords (iPad only)

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Across Lite Crosswords is an iPad app for crossword fans. It features an exceptionally advanced solver and some actual crossword puzzles. The app also offers a variety of filters, blank letter support, and other tools to help you narrow things down as much as possible. Additionally, it supports left—and right-handed folks and has some other neat features. You can use it as a solver, but the developer says it may not work for crosswords that aren’t Across Lite formatted.

Anagram Solver

Price: Free / $2.99

Joe Hindy / Android AuthorityAnagram Solver is primarily for solving anagrams and for games like Words With Friends and Scrabble. However, one of the features includes crossword solvers along with some features. It has over 280,000 offline words, multi-word support, blank letter support, and filters for refining search results. The crossword solver is mostly just an extension of the anagram solver with support for more blank letters. Thus, you probably won’t be able to use this alone. Still, it’s quite good at what it does, and the price tag is relatively cheap.

The Crossword Anagram Solver

Price: Free / $1.99-$2.99

The Crossword Anagram Solver is not the most unique name, but it’s an effective app. It works very much like the Anagram Solver above. You enter your letters along with the blank spaces and get a bunch of potential word matches. The app also supports anagram unscrambling and iOS Dark Mode; you can see word definitions. The anagram stuff requires a $1.99 in-app purchase, or you can get it and remove ads for a single $2.99 payment. Like Anagram Solver above, it’s a useful tool, but it probably won’t find every answer you might need.

Crossword Solver

Price: Free / $4.99

Crossword Solver is a simple, basic app. It’s by Havos, the developer who created the Android app above. Thus, it has a lot of the same features. That includes over 200,000 proper nouns, places, movies, books, songs, and other pop culture references. Additionally, there are 150,000 synonyms and support for blank or missing letters, and it includes support for English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and, surprisingly, Latin. It doesn’t work well with puzzle clues but can help you fill in the blanks with the best.

Crossword Clue Solver

Price: Free

Crossword Clue Solver is one of the few iPhone and iPad crossword solvers that works with clues. You can type in parts of the clue to see various words, and it still does the word search with missing letters like all the others. The UI is clean and efficient, which means the app doesn’t have many extra features. It gets the job done, though, and it’s free to download and use.

Website crossword solvers

Crossword Heaven

Price: Free

Crossword Heaven is an excellent, if simple, website for crossword solving. The app links crosswords from the Washington Times, New York Times, LA Times, and USA Today. We assume it tunes its crossword solver to those specific crosswords. The website is rather easy to use, with simple banner ads that never feel too intrusive. You can search by clue and input the parts of your answer with support for blank spaces. It’s a good, simple site overall.

Crossword Solver

Price: Free

Crossword Solver is another simple website that helps you quickly fill in the blanks. This one also works well as an anagram solver if you need one. You choose how many letters the word has and fill in the letters you already know. The website then gives you a list of potential words. Using the tabs toward the top, you can also use the Clue Database section to look up clues, although this was hit-and-miss in our experience. It’s a solid, competent website for some quick crossword help.

Dictionary.com

Price: Free

Dictionary.com has much more than dictionaries, as we were surprised to discover while researching this article. It has a whole section on the official website for word games, including a Words With Friends and Scrabble cheat section and a couple of crossword solvers. You input the clue and tell the engine the known letters. It then tries to guess from there, along with a percentage of how sure the site is about its answer. It’s a little bit finicky until you get used to it. For instance, it doesn’t just know that Pet Sematary’s author is Stephen King until I added a couple of known letters from his name. So it takes some work, but it does work with clue searches if you’re patient enough.

Google Search

Price: Free

We realize that Google Search is a laughably obvious answer, but that doesn’t make it suddenly bad. You can look up many pop culture references, clues, and other tidbits to help yourself. It’s also great for weirdly vague hints and obvious ones you can’t remember. Of course, you can use Google Search to find other crossword solvers for any platform. We used it rather heavily while looking for potential entrants for this list.

Wordplays

Price: Free

Wordplays is a decent site for crossword solvers and anagram solvers. It works better than average, although we wish it had better pop culture support. You enter keywords from the clue and the letters you know to see a list of potential answers. Additionally, the site lets you take an answer and search for clever clues for your crossword sculptors out there. It should work quite well for simpler answers and most non-proper nouns.

Wordsolver by Mooflower Ltd.

Price: Free

WebWordsolver is an exceptional tool for avid players of word games, both online and in print. Compatible with iPad and Web, it efficiently unscrambles words from up to 15 letters inputted by the user, incorporating wildcards represented by question marks for added versatility. Users can view word definitions directly if their device has an integrated dictionary. The app includes advanced filters to adapt words to existing letters on the game board. Ideal for various anagram-based puzzles, Wordsolver supports multiple dictionaries, including US/Canada (TWL), English (SOWPODS), WWF (ENABLE), 4P1W, and Draw Something, making it a comprehensive aid for word game enthusiasts.

Crossword-solver.io

Price: Free

Web The Crossword-Solver.io is a dynamic tool designed for crossword enthusiasts to find solutions easily. Users can input puzzling clues or specify letters and word lengths, making it a versatile helper for filling tricky spaces. The platform also offers a comprehensive “Ultimate Guide,” enriching users’ puzzle-solving strategies, including where to find crossword puzzles, tips on solving them, common clues and answers, and more. Whether you’re seeking answers for today’s puzzle without waiting for tomorrow’s paper or need assistance with a perplexing clue, CrosswordSolver.io is your gateway to becoming a top crossword solver and navigating through crossword challenges seamlessly.

Wordunscrambler

Price: Free

WebThe Wordunscrambler Crossword Solver simplifies the process of solving crossword puzzles. Entering a clue and, if desired, an answer pattern (using wildcards like “G???” for a four-letter word starting with G) helps you find solutions quickly. Designed for ease of use, it swiftly navigates through challenging clues, allowing you to progress. It draws on a vast database of answers from top publications, including The NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, The Guardian, and Daily Celebrity, ensuring comprehensive coverage and reliability. This tool is intentionally straightforward, facilitating a fast and efficient puzzle-solving experience.