The Great Courses vs A Starting Point
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Great Courses
Access thousands of educational videos from world-renowned professors and experts. Explore a vast range of subjects, from history and science to personal development, with flexible learning options available online and offline. Start your learning journey with a free trial.
- Thousands of educational videos
- Courses by world-class professors
- Diverse subject matter
- Online and offline access
- Flexible learning pace
- Free trial available
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Unlock your potential with The Great Courses, the premier platform for online courses that offers a wealth of educational videos to help you explore, learn, and grow in a wide variety of subjects. The Great Courses specializes in courses taught by the world’s greatest professors and experts covering diverse topics such as history, science, math, philosophy, religion, literature, health, travel, personal & professional development, and more. It’s the place to experience the pure joy of learning—anytime, anywhere. The Great Courses ensures an engaging and enriching learning experience for all. Catering to learners of all skill levels and interests, our platform provides the flexibility to deep-dive into specific topics or explore a variety of subjects at your leisure. The Great Courses grants seamless online and offline access to our extensive library of online courses, empowering you to learn and grow at your own pace. Existing users can sign in to access their purchases and subscription content, while new users can register and subscribe directly within the app to access thousands of educational videos online and offline for one low price. Optimized for iOS 15 and higher, The Great Courses offers a variety of subscription plans, along with a Free Trial to start your educational journey. Payment Details: - Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period - Subscriptions may be managed or canceled by accessing your Apple account - If you cancel during a Free Trial period, you will have access until the end of the trial period Privacy Policy: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/Privacy Terms of Service: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/TOS
A Starting Point
This app provides a bipartisan platform for Americans to communicate with their elected officials. It offers concise, video-based explanations of current issues to foster a more informed electorate.
- Bipartisan communication channel
- Connect with elected leaders
- Video-based issue explanations
- Understand issues in under 2 minutes
- Informed electorate creation
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A Starting Point is a civic engagement app that creates a clear and bipartisan channel of communication and connectivity between Americans and their elected leaders. The video-based platform helps voters better understand the issues of the day in less than two minutes. Our goal is to create a more informed electorate.
Screenshots
Verdict
The Great Courses and A Starting Point both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 95% of A Starting Point's written reviews are positive against 40% of The Great Courses's. A Starting Point also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). The Great Courses's advantage is ratings volume (17K vs 757) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks). On price, rating, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. The Great Courses sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. A Starting Point asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for The Great Courses against 4.9 for A Starting Point. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Great Courses has 17K ratings behind it against 757, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 40% of The Great Courses's written reviews are positive against 95% of A Starting Point's.
The Great Courses ships an update fortnightly, A Starting Point every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Great Courses | A Starting Point |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (17K ratings) | 4.9 (757 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 39.6% of reviews | 95.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 17K — better | 757 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | #98 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 120 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | The Great Courses | A Starting Point Llc |
Customer experience
The Great Courses
A Starting Point
User reviews
The Great Courses
From 17K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fantastic, use it all the time
- 👍 Excellent content and Outstanding Educators
- 👍 best app you'll ever subscribe to
- 👍 Math courses are phenomenal!
- 👍 Loving the content in the app!
Room to improve
- 🐛 Ok content, weak app
- 🐛 Broken
- 🐛 Technical problems trying to cast
- 🐛 Great content, poor streaming
- 🐛 Far fewer courses than before? App VERY buggy
A Starting Point
From 757 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Informative and unbiased
- 🚀 Concise and easy to digest
- 🔍 Provides direct access to politicians
- 💡 Facilitates bipartisan dialogue
- 👍 Visually appealing and intuitive
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional app crashes
- 🔍 Limited content and topics covered
- 🔍 Lack of closed captions or transcripts
- 🔍 Absence of independent or third-party perspectives
Bugs and requests
The Great Courses
Reported bugs
8 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
- Audio goes out of sync with video
- App constantly logs users out
- Downloading content doesn't work offline
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- Playback issues when switching between audio and video
- Inconsistent behavior when pausing/resuming playback
- Poor navigation and course tracking
Requested features
8 requests- Can we get a ton of courses on AI please, it's a mite urgent
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Allow audio-only downloads
- Ability to download an entire course in one go
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- Ability to browse other content while playing a lecture
- Note-taking during content and live closed captioning
- Ratings and reviews for content
A Starting Point
Reported bugs
2 issues- Login screen not functioning properly
- Video playback issues and stuttering
Requested features
4 requests- Add dark mode option
- Implement a way for users to submit questions
- Provide a filter to view content by home state
- Expand the range of topics and issues covered
In-app purchases
The Great Courses
- TGCPlus Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Month
- Quarterly Subscription7 Days trial$44.993 Months
- TGCPlus Annual Subscription7 Days trial$149.991 Year
A Starting Point
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is The Great Courses free?
Is A Starting Point free?
Which has better reviews, The Great Courses or A Starting Point?
Do The Great Courses or A Starting Point have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Great Courses or A Starting Point?
Other comparisons
