Comparison

Starfall ABCs vs SHA School

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

SHA School

Access high-quality online education and connect with experts and a global community. Download content for offline learning and accelerate your path to certification. Become an in-demand professional with this comprehensive educational platform.

Highlights
  • Expert-led education
  • Global community access
  • Offline content download
  • Certification path acceleration
  • Anytime, anywhere access
Read full description

The SHA App connects you with leading experts, high quality education, and a global community, so you can become an in-demand professional! - Access your online education anywhere, anytime - Download select content for offline learning - Speed up your path to Certification

Screenshots

Starfall ABCs4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: SHA School at 5.0 against Starfall ABCs's 4.2. Starfall ABCs's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (477 vs 1). On price, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. SHA School sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Starfall ABCs asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SHA School holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall ABCs has 477 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Starfall ABCs versus SHA School: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall ABCsSHA School
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (477 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings477 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 7 months—
AdsNo—
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — better—
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.2
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB104 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationSHAlliance LLC

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

SHA School

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall ABCs

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

SHA School

One-time1
  • Add On: Dual Certification$1000.00

Questions

Is Starfall ABCs free?
Starfall ABCs is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SHA School free?
SHA School is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Starfall ABCs or SHA School?
SHA School is rated higher. Starfall ABCs averages 4.2 out of 5 from 477 ratings, while SHA School averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.

Other comparisons