Comparison

Nerdish vs Nova

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

Head to head
About

Nerdish

Expand your general knowledge with concise, engaging articles on diverse topics like science, history, and art. Designed for busy adults, this app delivers quick, fact-checked reads in 5-10 minutes daily to foster lifelong learning and personal growth.

Highlights
  • Concise articles on science, history, art, and more
  • Daily 5-10 minute learning sessions
  • Fact-checked and well-structured content
  • Connects key ideas for deeper understanding
  • Topics include psychology, technology, and daily life
Features
Read full description

Nerdish is a learning app that helps you grow your general knowledge. The articles inside are our own — written to show you things you'd never thought to look up, feed your curiosity, and help you learn more about the world. You can read them or listen to them, and most take about ten minutes: why people like spicy food, what Nefertiti actually looked like, how the internet crosses oceans. What's inside: - Articles we write ourselves. Each one starts with a question our editors find interesting, and gets researched properly before it's written. - Topics from the life around you. Sleep, coffee, déjà vu, the internet, Nefertiti — things you pass by every day without wondering about them. - Our own writing framework. It keeps every article interesting and concise, but still genuinely educational — a lot of thought went into getting all three at once. - Built as microlearning for adults. Short chapters of a couple of minutes each, designed to fit a phone screen and a busy day. - Audio for everything. Read it, listen to it, or follow the text while it plays. - Historical photographs, archive material and artwork alongside the text, with facts and details in the margins. - A wide range of subjects, from the human body to ancient history — and the connections between them. We built Nerdish for people who: - would rather spend phone time on something better than socials. Same ten minutes, different outcome. - enjoy learning random things for no particular reason. Curiosity doesn't need a goal attached to it. - want to stay mentally sharp. Reading something unfamiliar is a small habit that keeps the mind working. - want to find their way back to reading. Short pieces are easier to start with than a book you've been meaning to open for months. - want to have more to say — about art, history, or why the sky is blue. Why it works: There's no way to measure general knowledge and no point where you have enough. But it's what you're using when you read the news, or decide whether something sounds true, or find a solution that came from somewhere unrelated. Hardly any of us sets out to work on our knowledge. Nobody ever taught us how — there's no course in general knowledge, nowhere obvious to begin. So it stays on the list of things you'd like to do. Nerdish works because the mechanism is already there. Curiosity is what built your general knowledge in the first place, and it doesn't need much — an interesting question and ten minutes. And knowledge doesn't stay in separate piles. We write science with its history in it, history with its culture, and culture with the people behind it — nothing is only about one thing. Pick a topic, read or listen, learn something you'd never thought to look up. That's how general knowledge grows. Learn with us about: - Health and the human body: sleep, memory, ageing, and how the body actually works. - History: ancient empires, revolutions, great discoveries, and the people who changed things. - Science and technology: space, evolution, physics, AI, inventions, and everyday phenomena explained properly. - Daily things: why déjà vu happens, how coffee was discovered, where common ideas come from. - Art and culture: painting, music, architecture, design, literature, and the movements behind them. - Food: where dishes come from and why we like what we like. - Famous people: the lives behind the names. Welcome to being Nerdish with us! Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Nova

Build a consistent learning habit with short, engaging daily lessons. Complex topics are simplified into easy-to-understand chapters, making progress effortless. Reinforce knowledge with quizzes and track your journey with personalized streaks.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized lessons
  • 10+ learning topics
  • Quizzes for retention
  • Streak tracking
  • Daily reminders
  • Offline access
Features
Read full description

Learn something new in just 5 minutes a day. Nova is a microlearning app designed to help you build a consistent learning habit through short, engaging lessons. With Nova, complex topics are broken down into simple, easy-to-understand chapters — making it easier to stay focused and make daily progress. Choose from over 10 categories, including Personal Growth, Psychology, Science, History, Art, and more. Discover lessons like: • Atomic Habits Simplified • The Rise and Fall of Rome • Why We Procrastinate • The Biology of Happiness • Impressionism and Modern Art • Dark Matter & the Big Bang • How to Read a Room • What Is Stoicism? …and much more! Each lesson ends with a brief quiz to reinforce key ideas and improve retention. Track your progress with a daily streak, set custom reminders, and save lessons to revisit any time — even offline. Features: • 100+ bite-sized lessons across 10+ topics • Quizzes after each lesson to review and retain knowledge • Personalized streak tracking • Daily reminder system to build consistent habits • Offline access — learn anytime, anywhere Whether you’re looking to grow personally, expand your knowledge, or simply replace mindless scrolling — Nova makes learning a part of your everyday life. Download Nova and start your journey today. -- Privacy policy: https://positive-mindset.net/privacy/ Terms of use: https://positive-mindset.net/terms/

Screenshots

Nerdish4 screens
Nova4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Nerdish at 60% against Nova's 0%. Nerdish also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (2.7K vs 2). Nova's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Nerdish sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Nova sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $19.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Nova holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nerdish has 2.7K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of Nerdish's written reviews are positive against 0% of Nova's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nerdish ships an update every 5 days, Nova every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Nerdish versus Nova: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNerdishNova
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (2.7K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2.7K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#88 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB57 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperNerdish OUPositive Mindset sp. z o. o.

Customer experience

Nerdish

All ratings2,667 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral12.4%
Negative27.6%

Nova

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Nerdish

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incomplete articles with missing content
  • Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • Subscription issues and billing problems

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add audio narration option
  • Implement bookmarking and note-taking features
  • Improve search and filtering capabilities
  • Provide more free content without ads

Nova

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Nerdish

Subscriptions5
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Nerdish Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Easy Quarterly Plan$11.993 Months
Show 2 more
  • Nerdish Annual Special$29.991 Year
  • Nerdish Premium Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
1 purchases

Nova

Subscriptions1
  • Nova Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Nerdish free?
Nerdish is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Nova free?
Nova is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Nerdish or Nova?
Nova is rated higher. Nerdish averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2.7K ratings, while Nova averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Nerdish or Nova have ads?
Neither Nerdish nor Nova shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nerdish or Nova?
Nerdish ships an update every 5 days, and Nova every 3 months. Most recently, Nerdish was updated on October 25, 2026 and Nova on October 24, 2026.

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