Comparison

Puppet Pals vs Counting Board

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

Head to head
About

Puppet Pals

Bring your stories to life by creating animated shows in real time. Choose actors and backdrops, then record your movements and voice to produce unique performances. Unleash your creativity with endless storytelling possibilities.

Highlights
  • Real-time animation recording
  • Create actors from photos
  • Use photos as backdrops
  • Zoom and rotate characters
  • Downloadable creative characters
  • Director's Pass for all content
Read full description

Create your own animated shows in real time! Pick your actors and backdrops, drag them onto the stage, and tap record. Your movements and voice are captured live, ready to play back, save, and watch again. Act out a pirate adventure on the high seas, a spooky monster showdown, or a Wild West escape — and mix any characters and scenes however you like. Your shows are only limited by your imagination. FREE FEATURES - A stage full of characters and backdrops to perform with - Turn a photo into a character or a backdrop - Record shows with live animation and audio - Zoom, rotate, and flip characters as you perform - Save shows and watch them anytime CREATIVE CLUB (optional subscription) Join the Creative Club to unlock the full show: - Imagine any character or backdrop, describe it, and watch AI bring it to life - Every character and scene pack included - Record shows up to 10 minutes long - Draw your own characters and backdrops - Export your shows as videos - Widescreen stage and full control over the end-of-show outro Choose your plan, monthly or annual: - Essentials — includes 40 AI creations per month - Unlimited — includes up to 1,000 AI creations per month SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://www.polishedplay.com/puppetpals1/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Puppet Pals is fully usable without a subscription — the Creative Club just adds more magic.

About

Counting Board

This educational tool helps young children aged 2-4 learn basic counting, addition, and subtraction through interactive tapping and audio pronunciation. It also includes a drawing feature to encourage creativity.

Highlights
  • Learn to count 1-100 with audio
  • Interactive addition lessons
  • Interactive subtraction lessons
  • Drawing and creativity tool
  • Suitable for ages 2-4
Features
Read full description

Over 900,000 downloads. Kids just love it. This is a colorful teaching tool for your kids to learn the basic of numbers. It suitable for age from 2 to 4. Features: 1. Teach your children to count from 1 to 100 by tapping the numbers one by one and read it loudly. Automatic pronounce function included. 2. Learn add method: e.g. Learn 5 + 2 = 7. First tap 5, and then tap next 2 blocks, count the blocks from 1 to 2 while tapping. The answer will be 7. 3. Learn minus method: e.g. 16 - 4 = 5, First tap 16, and then tap previous 4 blocks, count the blocks from 1 to 4 while taping, The answer will be 11 4. Let your kids to use their imagination to draw a picture.

Screenshots

Puppet Pals4 screens
Counting Board4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Puppet Pals at Free against Counting Board's $0.99. Puppet Pals also leads on ratings volume (50 vs 2) and review sentiment (71% vs 57%). Counting Board's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). On 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

Puppet Pals is free to download; Counting Board costs $0.99 up front. Puppet Pals sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Counting Board asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Counting Board holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Puppet Pals has 50 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 71% of Puppet Pals's written reviews are positive against 57% of Counting Board's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Puppet Pals ships an update every 6 months, Counting Board every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Puppet Pals versus Counting Board: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppet PalsCounting Board
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating3.8 (50 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.0% of reviews — better57.1% of reviews
Number of ratings50 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 15 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size77 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPolished Play, LLCEverQuiz

Customer experience

Puppet Pals

All ratings50 ratings
Positive68.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative24.0%
Written reviews210 reviews
Positive71.0%
Neutral7.6%
Negative21.4%

Counting Board

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral28.6%
Negative14.3%

Bugs and requests

Puppet Pals

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when trying to export videos
  • Saved videos not playing back properly
  • Issues with using own photos and characters

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more characters, backgrounds, and themes
  • Allow exporting and sharing of videos
  • Improve video editing and recording features
  • Add sound effects and background music options

Counting Board

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Puppet Pals

One-time10
  • Wild West$0.99
  • Political Par-tay$0.99
  • Monsters$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Talk Shows$0.99
  • Pirates$0.99
  • Fairytale$0.99
  • Zombie Attack$0.99
  • On the Farm$0.99
  • Christmas$0.99
  • Director's Pass$3.99
None

Counting Board

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Puppet Pals free?
Puppet Pals is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Counting Board free?
Counting Board costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Puppet Pals or Counting Board?
Counting Board is rated higher. Puppet Pals averages 3.8 out of 5 from 50 ratings, while Counting Board averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Puppet Pals or Counting Board have ads?
Neither Puppet Pals nor Counting Board shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Puppet Pals or Counting Board?
Puppet Pals ships an update every 6 months, and Counting Board every 15 months. Most recently, Puppet Pals was updated on October 6, 2026 and Counting Board on September 30, 2026.

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