Comparison

Shakespeare Pro vs PlusPortals

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

Head to head
About

Shakespeare Pro

Access the complete works of Shakespeare, including plays, sonnets, and poems. Features include a searchable concordance, integrated glossary, note-taking and sharing capabilities, and customizable reading options. Explore character details, historical context, and original spellings.

Highlights
  • Complete works of Shakespeare
  • Searchable concordance
  • Integrated glossary with definitions
  • Add and share personal notes
  • Customizable reading experience
  • Character descriptions and arcs
  • Original First Folios and Quartos
Features
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“It’s really great!” —Kenneth Branagh, actor and director “I can't remember a time it wasn't on my iPhone. So feature rich!" —Stephen Fry, actor and writer “‘The app’s the thing.’ Hamlet was almost right. Great to see Shakespeare Pro superplaying with Shakespeare’s plays.” —David Crystal, linguist and author of Shakespeare's Words “The Shakespeare Pro app is simply terrific and filled with loads of wonderful information!” —Ken Ludwig, Tony and Olivier Award Winning Playwright Shakespeare Pro® includes the complete works of Shakespeare (41 plays, 154 sonnets and 6 poems, including apocrypha) and search the concordance to find the exact word or phrase you’re looking for (with “relaxed” searching to find words close to your search term). Shakespeare Pro is packed with these impressive features: ••• QUALITY TEXTS are a top priority and our team spent years compiling and editing the best references available. In the updated editions, the text is even more clear and each individual character is uniquely identified. ••• FIRST FOLIOS AND QUARTOS in original spelling show the works as they were originally published in Shakespeare’s time. ••• AN INTEGRATED GLOSSARY, based on the bestselling lexicon by David & Ben Crystal, Shakespeare’s Words™ is included. Simply tapping on a word will display its definition in context (not just a general definition). ••• ADD YOUR OWN NOTES AND SHARE THEM with your students, classmates, friends, and colleagues. Organize your notes into notebooks for use in the classroom, theatre, or just to remember key facts. Then share them via email or AirDrop. ••• POWER SEARCH THE WORKS by customizing multiple parameters like gender, genre, work, language, line form, soliloquies, and more. ••• CUSTOMIZE YOUR READING EXPERIENCE by choosing from a variety of color themes, change the font family and size, display long or short character names, jump around to different scenes, and view line numbers (*read the note below about line numbering). ••• BOOKMARK YOUR FAVORITE PARTS in addition to remembering the last page you viewed. Even copy/paste that great line. ••• DETAILED SCENE BREAKDOWNS give you an overview of the scenes within each play, their locations, and the characters present in each. ••• CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS help you better understand the actions and motivations of every character—all 1,155 of them. ••• MODERN TRANSLATIONS and lexicons to help you better understand Elizabethan English (extra add-ons). ••• GET THE FACTS by reading up on Shakespeare’s life, view data and chronology about his works, and an overview of scansion terminology or rhetoric. Character Arc Visualizers show individual character arcs or allow for comparison of multiple characters. ••• SHAKE YOUR DEVICE for Shakespeare himself to display a random memorable quote or insult. Or get a new random quote every day. ••• BROWSE THE GALLERY of famous Shakespeare portraits. ••• TEACHER CURRICULUM makes it easy for teachers to introduce students to Shakespeare's works. ••• COMPLETE APOCRYPHA is the most comprehensive breakdown of 14 plays Shakespeare may have had a hand in. ••• BARDFIND™ is the easiest way to find a Shakespeare theatre or venue anywhere in the world. These are just a few highlights of the great things in Shakespeare Pro. If you’re a student, professor, actor, or just plain love the Bard, this must-have app ensures you have the complete works at your fingertips. Like the new features? Having trouble and need support? Let us know at support@playshakespeare.com or at http://support.playshakespeare.com.

About

PlusPortals

Access school information securely on your mobile device. View combined feeds, calendars, scores, assignments, and more. Stay connected with your school for enhanced learning and success.

Highlights
  • Secure mobile access
  • Combined Feeds
  • Calendar view
  • Recent Scores
  • Missing Work
  • Assignments
  • Attendance tracking
Features
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The PlusPortals Mobile App offers parents and students secure mobile access to view information from their school's PlusPortals account. The app showcases Combined Feeds to easily review important information in one location, as well as views for Calendar, Recent Scores, Missing Work, and Assignments. Schools can also choose to share Attendance, Report Card Grades, Schedules, Incidents, Demographics, Classroom Progress, and more! The PlusPortals Mobile App creates a stronger connection between the school, parent, and students by sharing information that is critical for success and learning.

Screenshots

Shakespeare Pro4 screens
PlusPortals4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Shakespeare Pro at 87% against PlusPortals's 9%. Shakespeare Pro also leads on rating (4.8 vs 1.4) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 149). PlusPortals's advantage is price (Free vs $12.99) and in-app purchases (none vs 25). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

PlusPortals is free to download; Shakespeare Pro costs $12.99 up front. Shakespeare Pro sells 24 one-off in-app purchases. PlusPortals asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shakespeare Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 1.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shakespeare Pro has 1.7K ratings behind it against 149, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Shakespeare Pro's written reviews are positive against 9% of PlusPortals's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shakespeare Pro ships an update every 3 weeks, PlusPortals monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Shakespeare Pro versus PlusPortals: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShakespeare ProPlusPortals
Price$12.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.7K ratings) — better1.4 (149 ratings)
Positive reviews87.0% of reviews — better9.1% of reviews
Number of ratings1.7K — better149
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size416 MB92 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPlayShakespeare.comRediker Software, Inc.

Customer experience

Shakespeare Pro

All ratings1,662 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral1.4%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews355 reviews
Positive87.0%
Neutral6.5%
Negative6.5%

PlusPortals

All ratings142 ratings
Positive10.6%
Neutral0.7%
Negative88.7%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive9.1%
Neutral1.3%
Negative89.6%

User reviews

Shakespeare Pro

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Comprehensive Shakespeare collection
  • 📚 Helpful features like glossary, character summaries, and search
  • 💻 Convenient to have all works in one app
  • 🎨 Well-designed and easy to use
  • 🤓 Invaluable resource for students and Shakespeare enthusiasts

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Difficulty searching Folio texts
  • 📝 Lack of note-taking functionality
  • 🔔 Persistent requests for reviews can be annoying
  • 🔤 Some inaccuracies in modern language translations

PlusPortals

From 149 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Faster than old version
  • 💡 Good for students

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Login issues
  • 🐛 Crashes at login
  • 🐛 Doesn't work
  • 🐛 Difficult to navigate
  • 🐛 Outdated interface

Bugs and requests

Shakespeare Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes on launch after recent update
  • Glossary feature not working as expected
  • Quote of the day widget not functioning properly
  • Formatting issues when reading in certain orientations

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to take notes and highlight text
  • Improve search functionality, especially for Folio texts
  • Provide more detailed character and plot summaries
  • Include links to video/audio performances of the plays
  • Offer more language options (e.g., original spelling, modern translations)

PlusPortals

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login screen not working
  • Unexpected errors
  • Can't send messages to support

Requested features

3 requests
  • Bring back lesson plans
  • Allow filtering by student
  • Improve calendar view

In-app purchases

24 purchases

Shakespeare Pro

One-time24
  • Modern translation: AYLI$1.99
  • Modern Translation (M4M)$1.99
  • Modern Translation (Much Ado)$1.99
Show 21 more
  • Modern Translation (Tempest)$1.99
  • Modern Translation (2GV)$1.99
  • Modern translation: A&C$1.99
  • Modern Translation (Henry 5)$1.99
  • Modern Translation (JC)$1.99
  • Modern translation: COE$1.99
  • Modern Translation (Pericles)$1.99
  • Modern Translation (Othello)$1.99
  • Modern Translation (TN)$1.99
  • Modern Translation (Macbeth)$2.99
  • Modern Translation (RJ)$2.99
  • Modern Translation (Hamlet)$2.99
  • Schmidt's Lexicon$3.99
  • Glossary by C. T. Onions$3.99
  • Glossary by Alexander Dyce$3.99
  • All Apocrypha Plays$7.99
  • All Lexicons$9.99
  • Course: Intro to Shakespeare$9.99
  • Course: Shakespeare for Kids$9.99
  • Modern Translation (All)$17.99
  • Shakespeare Ultimate$49.99
None

PlusPortals

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Shakespeare Pro free?
Shakespeare Pro costs $12.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is PlusPortals free?
PlusPortals is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Shakespeare Pro or PlusPortals?
Shakespeare Pro is rated higher. Shakespeare Pro averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while PlusPortals averages 1.4 from 149 ratings.
Do Shakespeare Pro or PlusPortals have ads?
Neither Shakespeare Pro nor PlusPortals shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shakespeare Pro or PlusPortals?
Shakespeare Pro ships an update every 3 weeks, and PlusPortals monthly. Most recently, Shakespeare Pro was updated on October 27, 2026 and PlusPortals on October 24, 2026.

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