Comparison

Starfall ABCs vs Count Sort

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

Head to head
About

Starfall ABCs

This app offers a free introduction to foundational reading skills, featuring interactive activities that engage children through sight, sound, and play. It's designed to help young learners recognize letters and develop essential reading abilities, with special considerations for English language learners and children with disabilities.

Highlights
  • Interactive letter and sound activities
  • Positive reinforcement and play-based learning
  • Develops letter recognition
  • Builds foundational reading skills
  • Accessible for children with impairments
Features
Read full description

Starfall® ABCs is the first step of Starfall’s Learn to Read phonics sequence, which teaches the foundational skills for learning to read. Step 1: ABCs Step 2: Learn to Read Step 3: It’s Fun to Read Step 4: I’m Reading! Starfall ABCs helps children master letter recognition in a stress-free environment through exploration, positive reinforcement, and play. Children delight as they see, hear, and interact with colorful imagery carefully matched to letters and sounds. By mastering these letter-sound relationships, they develop the skills they need to become confident, independent readers. Travel-ready. No internet connection required. Find Starfall ABCs, along with 700+ additional activities and counting across reading, math, music, and more in the Starfall app. The Starfall website and applications are program services of Starfall Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) publicly supported nonprofit organization. Starfall® and Starfall.com® are registered trademarks in the US, the European Union, and various other countries. Copyright © 2002–2026 by Starfall Education. All rights reserved. Starfall apps are inclusively designed to support all children, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Starfall also provides an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. For more information, please contact Customer Service at (+1) 303-417-6414.

About

Count Sort

This app introduces young children to basic number concepts and counting. It helps them understand one-to-one correspondence and early numeral recognition with adjustable counting targets. An iPad version offers 10 Frames for visual counting.

Highlights
  • One-to-one counting practice
  • Adjustable counting targets (up to 32)
  • Early numeral recognition
  • Number family recognition
  • 10 Frames option (iPad)
Features
Read full description

A very basic set of activities for children just beginning to learn about numbers. Using numbers up to 32, Count Sort helps children recognize that counting must be done in a “one-to-one” fashion. Options exist to limit the counting target to 10, 15, 20, 25, and 32 chips. The activities also develop early numeral recognition and early recognition of number “families.” The iPad version includes an option to display the chips in 10 Frames. Developed as part of the Number Sense Project at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.

Screenshots

Starfall ABCs4 screens
Count Sort4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Starfall ABCs at 4.2 against Count Sort's 1.0. Starfall ABCs also leads on ratings volume (472 vs 1) and review sentiment (60% vs 50%). Count Sort's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Starfall ABCs holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall ABCs has 472 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Starfall ABCs's written reviews are positive against 50% of Count Sort's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Starfall ABCs versus Count Sort: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall ABCsCount Sort
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (472 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews60.4% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings472 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationClassroom Focused Software

Customer experience

Starfall ABCs

All ratings472 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral7.8%
Negative15.3%
Written reviews182 reviews
Positive60.4%
Neutral6.0%
Negative33.5%

Count Sort

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Starfall ABCs

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Black screen issues
  • Repeated crashes and freezing
  • Incompatibility with latest iOS updates
  • Inability to exit app on certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Expand app to include more Starfall website features
  • Add more advanced learning content beyond just ABCs
  • Improve compatibility and stability across devices
  • Integrate voice assistant and accessibility features
  • Address gender representation issues in content

Count Sort

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall ABCs

No in-app purchases

None

Count Sort

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall ABCs free?
Starfall ABCs is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Count Sort free?
Count Sort is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall ABCs or Count Sort?
Starfall ABCs is rated higher. Starfall ABCs averages 4.2 out of 5 from 472 ratings, while Count Sort averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Starfall ABCs or Count Sort have ads?
Neither Starfall ABCs nor Count Sort shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall ABCs or Count Sort?
Starfall ABCs ships an update every 7 months, and Count Sort every 7 months. Most recently, Starfall ABCs was updated on October 17, 2026 and Count Sort on October 3, 2026.

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