You get pretty much a FULL game. Through steam you pay a few Euros and have the full content. On the iPad you get the FULL GAME for FREE(!) with some options on to unlock end-game stuff like big powerlines or some government agency/secret research facility. Before you even need those things you have collected those diamonds and you can unlock pretty much everything you want and need. If you really want to have the 100% from the beginning (which you will not need/cannot use anyway) then you just pay your 5-6 Euros and there you go. No microtransaction horror.
I LOVE theotown and I recommend it to everyone who wants:
1) Sim City
2) on an iPad/iPhone/Android device
3) many hours of gameplay and a pretty balanced game + end game content
4) free mods
5) NO ADS
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084020/TheoTown/ https://hi.theotown.com/
Cytopia looks fine, but Theotown just has TONS of more content and is available on mobile, too.