Comparison

NWEA Secure Testing vs Spike™ LEGO® Education

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

NWEA Secure Testing

This application allows K-12 students to take standardized assessments on an iPad. It supports various NWEA tests, including MAP Growth and state summative assessments, ensuring a secure testing environment.

Highlights
  • K-12 assessment delivery
  • iPad compatibility
  • MAP Growth support
  • MAP Growth K-2 support
  • State summative assessments
Features
Read full description

The NWEA™ Secure Testing app provides students the ability to complete our K–12 assessments on an iPad®. The app supports MAP® Growth™, MAP Growth K-2 and NWEA state summative assessments.

About

Spike™ LEGO® Education

This app facilitates playful STEAM learning for students, designed to work with specific LEGO® Education kits. It helps develop computational thinking through coding, encourages building and experimentation, and supports programming for various projects and competitions.

Highlights
  • Icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding
  • Develop computational thinking
  • Build, tinker, and experiment with LEGO® creations
  • Program and debug designs
  • Create stories with LEGO® Minifigures
  • Prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions
Read full description

Engage every student in playful STEAM learning with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App. Designed for use with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Portfolio, the SPIKE App is a powerful tool that helps teachers facilitate engaging, hands-on STEAM learning.      When combined with SPIKE Essential or SPIKE Prime, the SPIKE App allows students to:  - Develop computational thinking skills using a progression of icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding. - Build, tinker, and experiment - progressing from simple creations to complex structures. - Learn to program, test and tweak designs, debug and optimize, create stories with LEGO® Minifigures, prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions, and more! *** IMPORTANT***  This is not a standalone educational app. This app is used to program LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential and LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime, which are sold separately. Please contact your local LEGO Education reseller for further information.    LEARN MORE: LEGOeducation.com/Teacher-resources For app support, contact LEGO® Education at https://support.legoeducation.com. LEGO, the LEGO logo and the SPIKE logo are trademarks and/or copyrights of the LEGO Group. FIRST® LEGO® League is a jointly held trademark of FIRST® and the LEGO Group. ©2026 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Spike™ LEGO® Education at 68% against NWEA Secure Testing's 18%. Spike™ LEGO® Education also leads on rating (4.7 vs 1.5) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Spike™ LEGO® Education holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.4K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 18% of NWEA Secure Testing's written reviews are positive against 68% of Spike™ LEGO® Education's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NWEA Secure Testing ships an update every 8 months, Spike™ LEGO® Education every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
NWEA Secure Testing versus Spike™ LEGO® Education: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNWEA Secure TestingSpike™ LEGO® Education
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.5 (1.4K ratings)4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews17.9% of reviews68.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.4K3.7K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB227 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNWEALEGO Education

Customer experience

NWEA Secure Testing

All ratings1,350 ratings
Positive11.9%
Neutral1.5%
Negative86.7%
Written reviews223 reviews
Positive17.9%
Neutral4.9%
Negative77.1%

Spike™ LEGO® Education

All ratings3,010 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral2.2%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews132 reviews
Positive68.2%
Neutral8.3%
Negative23.5%

User reviews

NWEA Secure Testing

From 1.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📊 Accurate assessment of student progress
  • ⏱️ Efficient testing experience
  • 💻 Works well on computers

Room to improve

  • 🤯 Overly difficult and stressful questions
  • 🔒 Restrictive app lock feature
  • 🕰️ Inconsistent test duration
  • 🤢 Caused health issues for some users

Spike™ LEGO® Education

From 3.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Awesome
  • 🚀 Super good
  • 🚀 Great app
  • 👍 User friendly and easy to use
  • 👍 Engineering Excitement in Kindergarten

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Restricted features due to LEGO's focus on profits
  • 🐛 Missing basic quality of life functionality
  • 🐛 Doesn't work on iPad
  • 🐛 Slow loading and issues with connectivity
  • 🐛 Tutorials have limitations

Bugs and requests

NWEA Secure Testing

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • Compatibility issues with certain devices
  • Inconsistent test results

Requested features

3 requests
  • Allow going back to previous questions
  • Provide more detailed feedback on performance
  • Adjust question difficulty to grade level

Spike™ LEGO® Education

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Bluetooth connection issues
  • Unable to flash hub or connect
  • Incompatibility with programs written in previous version

Requested features

5 requests
  • Hub-to-hub control
  • RC features
  • Merge Inventor app into one
  • Add more color options for color sensor
  • Bring back Python coding support

In-app purchases

None

NWEA Secure Testing

No in-app purchases

None

Spike™ LEGO® Education

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NWEA Secure Testing free?
NWEA Secure Testing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Spike™ LEGO® Education free?
Spike™ LEGO® Education is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, NWEA Secure Testing or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
Spike™ LEGO® Education is rated higher. NWEA Secure Testing averages 1.5 out of 5 from 1.4K ratings, while Spike™ LEGO® Education averages 4.7 from 3.7K ratings.
Do NWEA Secure Testing or Spike™ LEGO® Education have ads?
Neither NWEA Secure Testing nor Spike™ LEGO® Education shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NWEA Secure Testing or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
NWEA Secure Testing ships an update every 8 months, and Spike™ LEGO® Education every 2 months. Most recently, NWEA Secure Testing was updated on October 24, 2026 and Spike™ LEGO® Education on October 25, 2026.

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