Updated July 2026

Magnetic tiles vs Magformers: know before you mix

This comparison exists to prevent one specific, common mistake: buying Magformers to extend a magnetic tile collection. They will not connect. Not badly, not weakly: not at all usefully. Here is what each actually is.

The structural difference

Magnetic tiles (Connetix, Magna-Tiles, Kmart Anko and kin) are solid translucent panels with magnets sealed along the edges. Magformers are open frames, an outline of a square or triangle with a hollow centre, containing rotating cylindrical magnets in the rim. The rotating magnets mean Magformers never repel each other, which enables their party trick: a flat sheet of frames pulled up into a 3D ball or star in one motion.

Different geometry, different magnet placement, different sizes. Put a Magformers frame against a Connetix tile and you get a weak, misaligned cling that no build survives. The two systems are parallel universes, and every collection has to pick one to grow.

What each does better

Tiles build architecture: walls, floors, towers, enclosures, the room-scale structures kids inhabit with cars and animals. The solid faces make buildings feel like buildings, catch light beautifully, and double as fridge and light-table material.

Magformers build geometry: the fold-up mechanic is genuinely brilliant for showing how 2D nets become 3D solids, and the never-repel magnets make them the most frustration-free system for very young children. The open frames build skeletal, mathematical shapes rather than habitable structures.

Which to choose

For most Australian families, tiles: the ecosystem is larger, the brand competition keeps quality high (see the brand ranking), nearly every brand cross-connects, and the play range runs wider. Magformers earn the pick for a child specifically drawn to shapes and folding, or as a deliberate second system once tiles are established. What they never are is an extension of each other: the full cross-brand picture is in the compatibility guide.