Comparison

Learn to Read 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

Learn to Read

This app offers a guided, co-play experience for parents and children aged 3-8 to learn reading skills. It uses research-backed phonics lessons, interactive storybooks, videos, and games to build foundational reading abilities.

Highlights
  • 99 step-by-step phonics lessons
  • 67 interactive digital storybooks
  • 42 educational videos
  • 3 expert-designed reading games
  • Printable offline activities
  • Family subscription with 3 profiles
  • Ad-free experience
Features
Read full description

Teach your child how to read! Ages 3-8. Reading.com is a fun, co-play experience designed by education experts for you to teach your child to read — with the love, care, and joy only a parent and child can share. RESEARCH-BACKED No cape? No problem. Our program gives you supercharged superparent powers! Reading.com’s research-backed, phonics-based lessons are fully scripted so they don’t require any special training or knowledge for you to become the most powerful teacher your child will ever have. FROM LETTER RECOGNITION TO CONFIDENT READING As your child masters more letters, sounds, and words, they'll unlock a playful world of reading activities including interactive storybooks, videos, digital games, and printable activities. THE MOST MEANINGFUL (TEAM)WORK OF YOUR LIFE Each lesson takes just 15 - 20 minutes to complete and they’re designed for you and your child to go at your own pace. Lessons cover letters, letter blends, long vowel sounds, and digraphs, taking your child from basic alphabetic knowledge to reading at a late 1st grade level. This is the easiest head start you’ll ever give your child! KEY FEATURES - 120 step-by-step phonics lessons for a grownup & child to do together - 84 interactive, decodable, digital storybooks - 42 videos featuring letters, letter sounds, and an exclusive alphabet song - 5 expertly-designed reading games for independent play that practice skills in: letter recognition, letter-phoneme correlation, beginning sounds, vocabulary, letter-writing, spelling - Access to printable games & activities for fun offline reinforcement - One subscription for the whole family with up to 3 profiles - Ad-free Download the app today, help your child learn to read and join other parents raising readers! Privacy Policy: https://www.reading.com/privacy-policy/ Terms and Conditions: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

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

Learn to Read4 screens
Read with Ello4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Learn to Read at free with in-app purchases against Read with Ello's subscription. Learn to Read also leads on ratings volume (71K vs 2.8K) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Learn to Read sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $12.49 per month and Read with Ello sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Learn to Read against 4.8 for Read with Ello. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Learn to Read has 71K ratings behind it against 2.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 78% of Read with Ello's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Learn to Read ships an update every 5 days, Read with Ello every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Learn to Read versus Read with Ello: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLearn to ReadRead with Ello
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (71K ratings)4.8 (2.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.0% of reviews — better78.0% of reviews
Number of ratings71K — better2.8K
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#13 — better#195
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size252 MB639 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTeaching.comEllo Technology, Inc.

Customer experience

Learn to Read

All ratings70,642 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews704 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral3.7%
Negative15.3%

Read with Ello

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

User reviews

Learn to Read

From 71K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging and fun for kids
  • 🚀 Effective at teaching reading skills
  • 💡 Structured, step-by-step approach
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Promotes parent-child bonding
  • 🎨 Colorful and visually appealing

Room to improve

  • 🤑 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐢 Slow progression for more advanced learners
  • 🤖 Lack of flexibility to customize or skip lessons
  • 🤔 Placement assessment not accurate for all levels
  • 🤯 Frustrating when app crashes or logs out

Read with Ello

From 2.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Helps with reading progress
  • 👍 Engaging and fun for kids
  • 👍 Builds reading confidence
  • 👍 Customized book selection
  • 👍 Motivates kids to read

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Voice recognition issues
  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 🔒 Concerns about subscription model and pricing

Bugs and requests

Learn to Read

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional app crashes or freezes
  • User data loss after app updates
  • Inability to redeem promo codes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to learn cursive writing
  • More independent practice games and activities
  • Ability to jump to appropriate lesson level
  • Support for multiple languages or accents
  • Printable resources like flashcards or worksheets

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

9 purchases

Learn to Read

Subscriptions9
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial5 variants$12.491 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)2 variants$12.491 Month
  • Monthly (With Free Trial)$12.491 Month
Show 6 more
  • Monthly Subscription$12.491 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • Learn to Read (Yearly)7 Days trial$66.991 Year
  • Learn to Read (Yearly)7 Days trial2 variants$74.991 Year
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 Learn to Read free?
Learn to Read is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Read with Ello free?
Read with Ello is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Learn to Read or Read with Ello?
Read with Ello is rated higher. Learn to Read averages 4.7 out of 5 from 71K ratings, while Read with Ello averages 4.8 from 2.8K ratings.
Do Learn to Read or Read with Ello have ads?
Neither Learn to Read nor Read with Ello shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Learn to Read or Read with Ello?
Learn to Read ships an update every 5 days, and Read with Ello every 2 weeks. Most recently, Learn to Read was updated on September 24, 2026 and Read with Ello on September 23, 2026.
Which is more popular, Learn to Read or Read with Ello?
Learn to Read currently peaks at #13 in the App Store charts, and Read with Ello at #195. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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