Comparison

OgStar Reading Complete vs Read with Ello

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

Head to head
About

OgStar Reading Complete

This comprehensive literacy game uses the Orton-Gillingham approach to teach reading skills to students in pre-K through 8th grade. It incorporates multisensory activities, handwriting and speech recognition, and engaging mini-games to foster phonological awareness, phonics, and reading fluency.

Highlights
  • Orton-Gillingham approach
  • Multisensory learning
  • Handwriting recognition
  • Speech recognition
  • Progress tracking
  • Mini-games and rewards
Features
Read full description

OgStar Reading™ provides students in grades pre-K through 8 with an enjoyable and comprehensive 106-lesson literacy game, based on the well-respected Orton-Gillingham approach. Students practice: phonological awareness systematic/synthetic phonics multisensory sound/symbol associations visual-auditory-kinesthetic-tactile reading and writing of sight words oral reading of phonetically-controlled words and sentences finger tracing and writing of syllables, words, and sentences word building with prefixes and suffixes oral reading fluency activities OgStar Reading takes students on a captivating reading adventure and includes built-in mini-games and rewards to keep students motivated and engaged. OgStar Reading is a patent-pending, technologically-sophisticated app with handwriting recognition feedback, speech recognition feedback, audio-visual synchronization, voiceover correction feedback, and built-in word pronunciation features. Data collection is available for parents and teachers describing student performance and progress over time. This delightful, multisensory, structured literacy game helps students of all ages to independently develop evidence-based literacy skills, in accordance with the scientific standards recommended by the National Reading Panel indicating the best ways to teach students how to read.

About

Read with Ello

This app uses advanced AI to act as a personalized reading coach for children. It listens, provides feedback, and guides young learners through a library of decodable books to build reading confidence and skills.

Highlights
  • AI reading coach
  • Personalized 1:1 instruction
  • Library of 700+ decodable books
  • Speech recognition technology
  • Science of Reading principles
  • Adaptive learning system
Features
Read full description

Build confident, independent reading with Ello. Learn to read with the most advanced AI reading coach, Ello. Your child’s read-along companion who listens, teaches, and transforms them into a confident reader. Ello is a transformative reading companion that goes beyond just teaching – Ello listens, corrects, and guides your child as they learn to read. Recognized as one of Time Magazine's top inventions of 2024, and featured on Good Morning America, Ello stands out as an award-winning reading program. More than just an app, Ello acts as a personal reading coach, using speech recognition technology and evidence-based reading instruction to provide immediate assistance when your child gets stuck. Key Features: 1:1 reading companion personalized to your child's needs Library of more than 700 decodable books Crafted by literary experts Uses principles backed by the Science of Reading Trusted by more than 30,000 parents Powered by our AI Adaptive Learn system Built for Pre-K through 3rd Grade What the experts say: "AI reading tutor shines as a responsible AI application" – Common Sense Media "Ello aims to eradicate childhood illiteracy by leveraging artificial intelligence and child speech recognition technology." – TechCrunch Parents love us: "I love this app so much. My granddaughter is struggling with reading. I heard about this app, gave it a try. We both love it so much. When my granddaughter gets stuck on a word, she just taps the screen and the elephant helps her. For those who don’t have patience with helping kids read, this app will help and be patient. I highly recommend this app. The books are also very interesting. She’s eager to read them all." – Kathy J. "She is 6 and has struggled with reading, but Ello makes reading fun. Coupled with us encouraging and making reading fun, it becomes a great partnership and now she comes to me and asks if she can read one of her Ello books. This is a great thing after only one month. Definitely recommend. Give them a try. Our daughter has really flourished this month and made some real progress in her reading." – Jamie M. "My daughter struggles with reading but since we downloaded Ello she enjoys reading, and it has helped her build confidence in her reading!" – Brandie D. How it works: To subscribe to the service, parents sign up for a free trial and then pay $14.99/month for a digital subscription. The subscription includes full app access to Ello’s 1:1 instruction, an exclusive library of digital books, and digital prizes weekly. Ello is recommended for children in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade. Privacy Policy http://ello.com/privacy Terms of Service http://ello.com/terms

Screenshots

Read with Ello4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Read with Ello at Free against OgStar Reading Complete's $49.99. Read with Ello also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.0) and review sentiment (78% vs 40%). OgStar Reading Complete's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 14.0). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Read with Ello is free to download; OgStar Reading Complete costs $49.99 up front. Read with Ello sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. OgStar Reading Complete asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Read with Ello holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read with Ello has 2.8K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of OgStar Reading Complete's written reviews are positive against 78% of Read with Ello's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OgStar Reading Complete ships an update every 5 months, Read with Ello every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard10 real differences · 1 level
OgStar Reading Complete versus Read with Ello: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOgStar Reading CompleteRead with Ello
Price$49.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (3 ratings)4.8 (2.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews78.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings32.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid — betterSubscription
Best chart rank—#195 — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS10.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size917 MB639 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOGSTAR READING, LLCEllo Technology, Inc.

Customer experience

OgStar Reading Complete

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative40.0%

Read with Ello

All ratings2,766 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews205 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral6.3%
Negative15.6%

Bugs and requests

OgStar Reading Complete

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Read with Ello

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Books not loading properly
  • App skipping pages during reading
  • Incorrect word recognition

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to repeat words/sentences
  • Larger font size options
  • More book variety and levels
  • Sibling profiles and shared books
  • Progress tracking and reporting for parents

In-app purchases

None

OgStar Reading Complete

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Read with Ello

Subscriptions7
  • Read with Ello Subscription14 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Read with Ello Monthly Plan7 Days trial3 variants$14.991 Month
  • Read with Ello Subscription14 Days trial$25.001 Month
Show 4 more
  • Read with Ello Annual Plan7 Days trial$99.001 Year
  • Read with Ello Subscription14 Days trial2 variants$139.001 Year
  • Read with Ello Annual Plan7 Days trial$139.001 Year
  • Read with Ello Annual Plan14 Days trial$139.001 Year

Questions

Is OgStar Reading Complete free?
OgStar Reading Complete costs $49.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Read with Ello free?
Read with Ello is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, OgStar Reading Complete or Read with Ello?
Read with Ello is rated higher. OgStar Reading Complete averages 4.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Read with Ello averages 4.8 from 2.8K ratings.
Do OgStar Reading Complete or Read with Ello have ads?
Neither OgStar Reading Complete nor Read with Ello shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OgStar Reading Complete or Read with Ello?
OgStar Reading Complete ships an update every 5 months, and Read with Ello every 2 weeks. Most recently, OgStar Reading Complete was updated on September 21, 2026 and Read with Ello on September 23, 2026.

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