Comparison

Starfall ABCs vs Monkey Math

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

Monkey Math

Embark on a math-fueled adventure to defeat an evil monkey and recover stolen treasures. Solve equations in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division across 65 engaging levels. This game makes learning math fun for all ages with vibrant graphics and progressive challenges.

Highlights
  • 65 levels of arithmetic practice
  • Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
  • Progressive difficulty
  • Collectible coins for power-ups
  • Vibrant graphics and animations
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Your mission: beat the evil rogue, Mean Monkey, to Banana Cradle and return the stolen ancient treasures to their rightful place. You are embarking on a dangerous journey and only your math skills can save you from the nasty obstacles that lie in your way. Use numbers as your ammo - but you must be quick! Travel to the enchanted islands of arithmetics and test your skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Every equation you solve brings you closer to victory. Making math fun for kids and grownups alike, Monkey Math - Jetpack Adventure features: - 65 levels across addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division - Conquer new obstacles in every level - Collect coins to buy additional outfits with special powers - Heaps of unique background sceneries, in beautiful and vibrant graphics - Animated comic strip at the end of each stage - Correct answer is revealed after multiple failed attempts - Levels become progressively harder so players advance at their own pace Download Monkey Math - Jetpack Adventure once and play it on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Available in multiple languages, including: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Swedish, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian and Danish. -------------- Connect with us! Visit us: http://www.GiggleUp.com Like us: facebook.com/GiggleUpApps Follow us: twitter.com/GiggleUpApps Email us: Support@GiggleUp.com Brought to you by GiggleUp, creators of the award-winning Interactive Telling Time and other educational apps for kids. Our goal is to promote learning through play with the purpose of helping children develop useful learning skills. Our apps have been enjoyed by children and used in classrooms all around the world!

Screenshots

Starfall ABCs4 screens
Monkey Math4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Starfall ABCs at Free against Monkey Math's $2.99. Starfall ABCs also leads on ratings volume (472 vs 20). Monkey Math's advantage is review sentiment (89% vs 60%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On rating, 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

Starfall ABCs is free to download; Monkey Math costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Starfall ABCs against 4.2 for Monkey Math. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall ABCs has 472 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 60% of Starfall ABCs's written reviews are positive against 89% of Monkey Math's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall ABCs ships an update every 7 months, Monkey Math every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Starfall ABCs versus Monkey Math: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall ABCsMonkey Math
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.2 (472 ratings)4.2 (20 ratings)
Positive reviews60.4% of reviews88.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings472 — better20
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 5 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB97 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationGiggleUp Kids Apps And Educational Games Pty Ltd

Customer experience

Starfall ABCs

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

Monkey Math

All ratings20 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews35 reviews
Positive88.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.4%

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

Monkey Math

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall ABCs

No in-app purchases

None

Monkey Math

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall ABCs free?
Starfall ABCs is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Monkey Math free?
Monkey Math costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall ABCs or Monkey Math?
Starfall ABCs and Monkey Math are both rated 4.2 out of 5 on the App Store, from 472 and 20 ratings respectively.
Do Starfall ABCs or Monkey Math have ads?
Neither Starfall ABCs nor Monkey Math shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall ABCs or Monkey Math?
Starfall ABCs ships an update every 7 months, and Monkey Math every 5 months. Most recently, Starfall ABCs was updated on October 17, 2026 and Monkey Math on October 11, 2026.

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