Comparison

PSTAR Prep vs PPL Prep

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

Head to head
About

PSTAR Prep

Prepare for Transport Canada's PSTAR Exam with interactive flashcards and practice tests. This app offers a personalized training program to focus on areas needing review, helping you learn faster and track your progress towards your student pilot permit.

Highlights
  • Interactive flashcards
  • Multiple choice questions
  • Personalized training program
  • Progress tracking scoreboard
  • Unlimited practice exams
  • Actual exam questions
Features
Read full description

Looking to ace Transport Canada's PSTAR Exam and get your student pilot permit faster? PSTAR Prep has got you covered. With interactive flash cards and multiple choice questions across all 14 exam topics, you'll test your knowledge, get instant scores and learn quicker. Save time with a personalized training program as PSTAR Prep tracks questions that need to be reviewed before writing the exam. Focus on what you need to learn and not the material you know well. Create your own score board with your practice exam results and track your learning progress as you prepare to write the Transport Canada exam. Features โ€ข No hidden fees, full access to all 14 topics and unlimited practice exams โ€ข Available in English and French โ€ข Actual Transport Canada PSTAR Exam questions โ€ข Questions arranged in 14 Topics such as Collision Avoidance, Visual Signals, and Communications โ€ข Unlimited practice exams of 50 randomly selected questions โ€ข Personalized training program to focus you on questions that need more work โ€ข Score board to track your progress โ€ข Always up to date with new questions After acing the PSTAR Exam, keep PSTAR Prep in your pocket to stay current as a Canadian pilot!

About

PPL Prep

Features
Read full description

Practise for the Canadian private pilot licence (aeroplane) written exam, PPAER, with 678 original questions and timed 100-question mock exams across Air Law, Navigation, Meteorology and General Knowledge. Free to try, offline, no account: 50 practice answers, one full mock exam and the whole Library, then Full Access, a one-time purchase, unlocks the rest. Scored against the real rule: 60% overall and 60% in each area. A new VFR nav log every session Every session plans a brand-new VFR cross-country between real Canadian aerodromes โ€” three legs, winds aloft, variation, true airspeed, fuel flow and a compass deviation card โ€” and asks the questions computed from that log: magnetic heading, groundspeed, time en route, ETA, minimum fuel, compass heading and endurance. Fresh numbers every time: you learn the method, not the answers. The PPAER question bank Every question draws on public sources: the Canadian Aviation Regulations, the aeronautical information manual and the study and reference guide. Each carries a full explanation and a source reference, so a wrong answer teaches you something. A full PPAER paper, timed 100 questions sampled to the exam's four-area blueprint, a 3-hour countdown, flagging, a question palette, and no feedback until you submit โ€” exactly like exam day. Results are scored by area and reported as the examiner does: pass, partial pass with the areas to rewrite named, or fail. Your first full mock is free; more mocks and the four supplementary papers (Air Law, Navigation, Meteorology, General Knowledge) need Full Access. Load, balance and weather drills A weight-and-balance trainer generates a loaded four-seat trainer and asks for take-off weight, centre of gravity, whether it is inside the envelope, the landing CG and the weight-shift fix. A weather trainer generates coherent METAR and TAF pairs and asks you to decode them and decide whether the flight is VFR, special VFR or neither. Drawn weather charts and CG graphs Read a freshly drawn graphical area forecast, surface analysis and prognostic chart the way the exam asks: cloud, icing, fronts and VFR conditions along a route. Loading sheets draw the CG envelope with your load plotted on it, and every PPAER mock carries a chart block. Flight-computer drills, worked Generated density altitude, TAS, time-speed-distance, fuel, time zone, 1-in-60, crosswind, stall-speed and glide problems, each with the full working. Review that brings back your misses Every answer is tracked. Missed questions come back on a spaced schedule until they stick, and the dashboard estimates your readiness against the pass mark by area and by topic, so the next study session chooses itself. The numbers to memorize One card per topic with the memorization core: VFR minima, fuel reserves, cruising altitudes, transponder codes, medical validity, ELT rules, METAR and TAF groups, V-speeds โ€” each with its reference. Always free to read. Try it free, unlock it once Free: 50 practice answers in any mode, one full 100-question PPAER mock and the whole Library. Full Access is one in-app purchase for unlimited practice and mocks, the four supplementary papers and every trainer. One-time, no subscription, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. If you downloaded PPL Prep before 1.3.0, everything stays free for you. Offline, on iPhone, iPad and Mac For iPhone and iPad on iOS 26 or later, laid out for the iPad, plus a Mac version. With a keyboard, Aโ€“D or 1โ€“4 choose, Return confirms, and the arrow keys move through a mock exam. Studying works offline, and your progress follows you between your devices through your own iCloud account. No account to create, no advertising, no analytics and no data collection: the developer never sees your progress. Questions reviewed by a Class 3 flight instructor. Independent study aid โ€” not affiliated with or endorsed by any regulator, and not a substitute for the current regulations and publications, which always take precedence.

Screenshots

PSTAR Prep4 screens
PPL Prep4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PPL Prep at Free against PSTAR Prep's $2.99. PPL Prep also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 29 months). PSTAR Prep's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

PPL Prep is free to download; PSTAR Prep costs $2.99 up front. PPL Prep sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PSTAR Prep asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PSTAR Prep ships an update every 29 months, PPL Prep every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 4 level
PSTAR Prep versus PPL Prep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPSTAR PrepPPL Prep
Price$2.99Free โ€” better
Positive reviews91.7% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 29 monthsEvery 5 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
MonetizationPaidโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size56 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaper Plane Ventures Inc.PATRICK ANTHONY RODRIGUES

In-app purchases

None

PSTAR Prep

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

PPL Prep

One-time1
  • Full Access$9.99

Questions

Is PSTAR Prep free?
PSTAR Prep costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PPL Prep free?
PPL Prep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PSTAR Prep or PPL Prep have ads?
Neither PSTAR Prep nor PPL Prep shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PSTAR Prep or PPL Prep?
PSTAR Prep ships an update every 29 months, and PPL Prep every 5 days. Most recently, PSTAR Prep was updated on November 3, 2026 and PPL Prep on October 31, 2026.

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