Comparison

Times Alive vs Night Zookeeper

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

Head to head
About

Times Alive

This app makes learning multiplication tables engaging through story videos and songs. It offers quizzes and games covering all tables from 0-9, and tracks student progress. It's particularly beneficial for students with learning differences.

Highlights
  • Story videos and songs for memorization
  • Quizzes and games for all times tables (0-9)
  • Progress tracking (completed lessons, scores, time)
  • Pretest and post-test for progress monitoring
  • Supports students with learning differences
Features
Read full description

Times Alive is designed to make memorization easy and fun so students are eager to learn. Award winning Times Alive teaches multiplication with story videos and songs — includes quizzes and games to teach ALL the times tables 0s-9s. Shown helpful for students with dyslexia, adhd, dyscalculia, autism, and other learning differences. Times Alive keeps track of the student's progress showing completed lessons, test scores with time elapsed. Easily clear progress to re-take a test or to start a new student. Multiplication pretest and post-test included to monitor progress and facts learned. Studies show our Times Tables the Fun Way(™) picture, story, and songs program outperforms most methods for effectiveness and retention of the multiplication facts. Once the facts are committed to memory students find math class a breeze and are able to move on to ratios, division, and algebra.Times Alive is based on the widely used and award winning book, Times Tables the Fun Way. Provided by City Creek Press, established in 1992. Check out our youtube channel @timestablesthefunway. Try Online Times Alive for multiple student tracking, free trial found at CityCreek.com.

About

Night Zookeeper

This app makes reading and writing engaging for children aged 6-12 through interactive games, video lessons, and personalized feedback from tutors. It covers a full English language arts curriculum, boosting spelling, grammar, and confidence. Parents can track progress via a dashboard.

Highlights
  • Interactive mini-games
  • Video lessons
  • Skill challenges
  • Tutor feedback on writing
  • Parent progress dashboard
  • Weekly writing competitions
  • Collaborative writing opportunities
Features
Read full description

The multi-award winning Night Zookeeper makes reading & writing fantastically fun and easy for 6-12 year olds. It’s trusted by thousands of parents around the world to improve their children’s spelling, grammar, reading & writing skills and really boost their confidence. The app has exciting mini games, video lessons, and skill challenges, created by educational experts and covering an entire english language arts curriculum. Children can play independently, and at their own pace, earning exciting and motivating rewards along the way. Tips from characters and inspiring prompts then help your child to write pieces of writing which our qualified tutors then read and give encouraging feedback on. This feedback can be viewed in your parent dashboard, where you can also track your child’s progress and achievements, and receive monthly printable resources. Alongside the thousands of learning activities and tutor feedback, a Night Zookeeper subscription provides your child with monthly awards, weekly writing competitions, and opportunities for collaborative writing in a safe, moderated environment. Night Zookeeper is: FUN: There are thousands of exciting and engaging activities for Grades 1 to 6. TRUSTED: An award winning program, used by thousands of families. Rated 4.7 on Trustpilot from 500+ reviews. COMPREHENSIVE: The program covers a full language arts curriculum of reading, writing, spelling, grammar & punctuation, that rewards children as they progress. SELF-PACED: Children can play independently and work through the program at their own pace. PERSONALIZED: Children get written feedback from our team of tutors on their pieces of writing- so you don't need to be the bad guy! SAFE: No in-app ads or purchases. TRACKABLE: A parent dashboard helps you to easily track your child's progress. OFFLINE & ONLINE: Free monthly printable resources are sent straight to your inbox. Users must log in with their account details to access Night Zookeeper. "There is nothing quite like Night Zookeeper, and I wish I had started them on it sooner!" Tim & Jennifer, parents "My kids were always frustrated with writing and reading, now they are excited each day and have started writing full stories." Justin, parent “My kids are loving this program and writing more than they ever have before. The game format and reward system holds their attention, and their creative juices keep flowing" Paul, parent Technical details: * Internet connection required Recommended: Latest iPad, Latest iPad Pro, Latest iPad Air, Latest iPad mini, Latest iOS Subscription options: The first 7 days of a subscription are free. Subscriptions renew automatically; your App Store account will be charged unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://www.nightzookeeper.com/privacy-policy Terms & Conditions: https://www.nightzookeeper.com/terms-and-conditions Start a FREE trial of Night Zookeeper today!

Screenshots

Times Alive4 screens
Night Zookeeper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Night Zookeeper at Free against Times Alive's $14.99. Night Zookeeper also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (621 vs 153). Times Alive's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Night Zookeeper is free to download; Times Alive costs $14.99 up front. Night Zookeeper sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Times Alive asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Times Alive against 4.6 for Night Zookeeper. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 153 and 621 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Times Alive's written reviews are positive against 78% of Night Zookeeper's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Times Alive ships an update every 13 months, Night Zookeeper every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Times Alive versus Night Zookeeper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTimes AliveNight Zookeeper
Price$14.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (153 ratings) — better4.6 (621 ratings)
Positive reviews84.6% of reviews — better78.1% of reviews
Number of ratings153621 — better
Update frequencyEvery 13 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size156 MB393 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCity CreekWonky Star

Customer experience

Times Alive

All ratings153 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral7.2%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%

Night Zookeeper

All ratings621 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral2.4%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive78.1%
Neutral3.8%
Negative18.1%

Bugs and requests

Times Alive

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Night Zookeeper

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Upside-down screen when creating new characters
  • Audio not working consistently

Requested features

3 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Compatibility improvements for older devices
  • More content for older age groups

In-app purchases

None

Times Alive

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Night Zookeeper

Subscriptions10
  • NZK 1 Month - 1 License7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • 1 Month - 2 Licenses7 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • NZK 1 Month - 3 Licenses7 Days trial$17.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • 1 Month - 4 Licenses7 Days trial$21.991 Month
  • 3 Months - 1 License7 Days trial$36.993 Months
  • 3 Months - 2 Licenses7 Days trial$49.993 Months
  • 3 Months - 3 Licenses7 Days trial$49.993 Months
  • Yearly - 1 License7 Days trial$118.991 Year
  • Yearly - 2 Licenses7 Days trial$154.991 Year
  • Yearly - 3 Licenses7 Days trial$154.991 Year

Questions

Is Times Alive free?
Times Alive costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Night Zookeeper free?
Night Zookeeper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Times Alive or Night Zookeeper?
Times Alive is rated higher. Times Alive averages 4.6 out of 5 from 153 ratings, while Night Zookeeper averages 4.6 from 621 ratings.
Do Times Alive or Night Zookeeper have ads?
Neither Times Alive nor Night Zookeeper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Times Alive or Night Zookeeper?
Times Alive ships an update every 13 months, and Night Zookeeper every 2 months. Most recently, Times Alive was updated on November 2, 2026 and Night Zookeeper on November 5, 2026.

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