Comparison

My Lisp vs a

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

Head to head
About

My Lisp

A comprehensive Lisp programming environment for iOS and macOS devices. It offers a local interpreter, editor, and extensive libraries for learning and developing Lisp programs, including advanced mathematical functions and symbolic derivation.

Highlights
  • Local Lisp interpreter
  • Integrated editor
  • Core and mathematical operators
  • Advanced mathematics functions
  • Symbolic derivation module
  • Library and example files
  • User and reference manuals
Features
Read full description

My Lisp is a complete and universal Lisp environment running directly on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This interpreter is true to the original John McCarthy Lisp implementation with the fundamental 7 operators quote, atom, eq, car, cdr, cons, cond, along with lambda and label. My Lisp also contains core and mathematical operators borrowed from other Lisp dialects (Le Lisp, Lisp 1.5, MacLisp, Common Lisp and Scheme to name a few) to make it easy to learn, program, and most importantly, enjoy Lisp. It also features built-in functions for advanced mathematics, including complex numbers and numerical analysis (roots and zeros finder, integral approximation). The complete description of the fundamental, core, and built-in functions is available using a set of library functions completely written in My Lisp. My Lisp offers an interpreter and an editor, all working on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and most importantly, without requiring any server connection, that is, the interpreter is executing locally on the iPhone, iPad or Mac My Lisp is installed on. Library and example files contain the source code of classical functions and problems solved by My Lisp and may be used as reference to learn Lisp and develop other programs. They include classical puzzles (hanoi and n-queens), basic mathematical functions (gcd, lcm, factorial, fibonacci, prime?), and the historical apply, mapcar and maplist functions. The Lambda Calculus example file contains various functions related to Lambda Calculus and Combinators, with alpha-conversion, beta-reduction, de Bruijn notations, etc. As a special note, the example file Symbolic Derivation contains a complete yet extensible symbolic derivation module allowing to compute the formal derivation of virtually any symbolic function expressed as a Lisp expression. A user manual and a reference manual are available from within the application but also on My Lisp web site (https://lisp.lsrodier.net) and in Apple Books. The complete source code of the library and example files is part of My Lisp. Last but not least, this overview couldn’t end without a sample definition of the notorious REPL function: (define (REPL eval_me) (REPL (println (eval (read)))))

About

a

Run a full Unix-like terminal environment on your iOS device. Execute a wide range of commands, edit files, and even program using included interpreters and compilers. Supports multitasking and integration with Shortcuts.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • SSH client
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Scripting languages (Python, Lua, Perl, JS)
  • C/C++ compiler
  • TeX distribution
Features
Read full description

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2.  Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS. a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-shell uses iOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc). a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.

Screenshots

My Lisp4 screens
a4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: a at Free against My Lisp's $3.99. a also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.1) and ratings volume (553 vs 17). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

a is free to download; My Lisp costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

a holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: a has 553 ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of My Lisp's written reviews are positive against 78% of a's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Lisp ships an update every 6 weeks, a monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
My Lisp versus a: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Lispa
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.1 (17 ratings)4.6 (553 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.8% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17553 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#18 — better#19
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB1.9 GB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperLaurent RodierNicolas Holzschuch

Customer experience

My Lisp

All ratings17 ratings
Positive82.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative17.6%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive68.8%
Neutral12.5%
Negative18.8%

a

All ratings553 ratings
Positive88.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews387 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral9.6%
Negative12.1%

Bugs and requests

My Lisp

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

a

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Toolbar buttons not accessible in portrait mode on some devices
  • Pasting from clipboard can insert unexpected characters
  • Sourcing certain script files causes crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for package managers like Homebrew or APT
  • Implement more advanced shell features like job control and better tab completion
  • Integrate Git for version control
  • Allow installing additional packages and libraries
  • Improve clipboard and file management integration

In-app purchases

None

My Lisp

No in-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is My Lisp free?
My Lisp costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, My Lisp or a?
a is rated higher. My Lisp averages 4.1 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while a averages 4.6 from 553 ratings.
Do My Lisp or a have ads?
Neither My Lisp nor a shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Lisp or a?
My Lisp ships an update every 6 weeks, and a monthly. Most recently, My Lisp was updated on October 12, 2026 and a on October 14, 2026.
Which is more popular, My Lisp or a?
My Lisp currently peaks at #18 in the App Store charts, and a at #19. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons