CoughDrop vs ChatterBoards AAC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CoughDrop
This app provides a modern communication and support tool for individuals with complex communication needs. It offers customizable boards with symbols, images, and audio, along with reporting features for support teams.
- Customizable communication boards
- Rich symbol set and image personalization
- User-recorded audio and speech synthesis
- Cross-device synchronization
- Support team access and collaboration
- Built-in reporting and messaging
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CoughDrop is a simple, modern AAC communication and support tool that empowers individuals and the teams around them. It is a full-featured communication app built for individuals with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Rett syndrome, or other complex communication needs. CoughDrop is flexible and configurable enough to accommodate the access and comprehension needs of many communicators. CoughDrop users can install this app to access CoughDrop's communication and reporting features on their mobile device. The app includes starter boards for different levels of communication, and boards with large or small buttons can be personalized using the rich symbol set, user-provided images or camera photos, user-recorded audio, speech synthesis, etc. CoughDrop runs on multiple devices, so you can log in on your tablet, phone and computer and have access to the same communication tools and interface. In addition, users can be linked so parents, therapists and supervisors can access a communicator's boards from their own devices to better facilitate modeling, and to make it easier to modify boards without taking away the communicator's device. The built-in reporting and messaging tools also help the support team have a consistent strategy and know what's working across locations and times.
ChatterBoards AAC
This app provides an affordable and user-friendly augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) solution for individuals with speech or language difficulties. It allows for the creation of custom vocabulary and phrase boards with extensive customization options for buttons and audio.
- Customizable vocabulary and phrase boards
- Progressive board levels for vocabulary building
- Multiple user profiles
- Customizable buttons with text, color, image, and audio
- Text-to-Speech with multiple voices and languages
- Keyboard input mode
- Board sharing functionality
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The cheapest AAC app compared to others offering the same features. Chatterboards was professionally developed, in collaboration with Speech Therapists and end users, with the aim of providing people in need with an AAC app that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars or require monthly subscriptions. ChatterBoards is an easy to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) aid for people of any age who have speech or language difficulties. This can include people with autism, aphasia, apraxia, stroke, downs syndrome, or any other disability that causes the individual to have difficulties in communicating or expressing their needs. Continually updated with new features and enhancements. All suggestions and/or requests are considered. Full feature list: - Create and use vocabulary boards, including multiple paged vocabularies, for forming sentences. - Board levels. Levels provide a way to progressively build up a user's vocabulary. A limited set of words can be displayed at each level, progressively building up the number of words shown until the full board is used. Words/Tiles do not move position between boards, allowing users to remember and learn a number of words at a time without them moving. - Create and use basic phrase boards which associate a basic full phrase/sentence to an individual button, providing quick responses or questions for basic communication needs. - Ability to create and switch between different profiles, each with their own set of boards and settings. Ideal for households with multiple users, or specialists with multiple clients. - All board dimensions supported up to and included 16x16 (rows x columns) per page. - Fully customisable buttons. Change their text, colour (border and background), image and audio playback - Change a buttons image from either your devices photo library, camera, or from over 4000 sample symbols. - Includes over 3500 symbols provided by Mulberry Symbols (https://mulberrysymbols.org/) - Includes over 500 symbols designed by Freepik and distributed by Flaticon. - Save images from the internet, or from your own symbol libraries, into your photo library for use. - Supports text-only and image-only buttons. - Fully customisable button audio. Use the Text to Speech synthesiser or record your own voice(s) using your devices microphone. - Keyboard input mode. Alternatively to using symbols, manually enter desired vocabulary with keyboard input. - Text to Speech supports all iOS packaged languages (over 50 languages/dialects). Includes multiple male and female voices for English. - Change rate, pitch and/or volume of Text to Speech synthesiser. - Set App wide voice/language, rate, pitch and volume default values for the Text to Speech synthesiser. - Fully customisable boards. Change dimensions anytime, add, delete and move buttons as desired. - Copy existing boards to create new permutations - Copy/paste individual tiles - Share boards with other users of ChatterBoards. Use Apple AirDrop, Mail, Message, or any other valid installed application on your device. - The ability to lock controls, e.g. editing. Like a parental control. - Supports both iPhone and iPad Also a number of Arasaac Symbols are included as samples (approx. 20). These pictograms used are property of Aragon Goberment and have been created by Sergio Palao to ARASAAC (http://arasaac.org) which distribute them under Creative Commons License (BY-NC-SA)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ChatterBoards AAC at 4.2 against CoughDrop's 3.7. ChatterBoards AAC also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (71% vs 52%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. CoughDrop sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ChatterBoards AAC asks for nothing beyond the download.
ChatterBoards AAC holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 57 and 90 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of CoughDrop's written reviews are positive against 71% of ChatterBoards AAC's.
CoughDrop ships an update monthly, ChatterBoards AAC every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 29, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CoughDrop | ChatterBoards AAC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (57 ratings) | 4.2 (90 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | 71.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 57 | 90 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 10.3 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 116 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CoughDrop, Inc. | Paul Popiel |
Customer experience
CoughDrop
ChatterBoards AAC
In-app purchases
CoughDrop
- Evaluator Access$29.99
- Supporter Access$44.99
- Communicator Access$294.99
ChatterBoards AAC
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CoughDrop free?
Is ChatterBoards AAC free?
Which has better reviews, CoughDrop or ChatterBoards AAC?
Do CoughDrop or ChatterBoards AAC have ads?
Which is updated more often, CoughDrop or ChatterBoards AAC?
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