Comparison

Pictello Visual Stories vs GoTalk® Start

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

Head to head
About

Pictello Visual Stories

Create engaging visual stories and social schedules with photos, videos, and text. Supports literacy development through features like word-by-word highlighting and text-to-speech. Easily share your creations with others or export them for wider distribution.

Highlights
  • Create visual stories with photos and videos
  • Text-to-speech and voice recording
  • Word-by-word text highlighting
  • Built-in word prediction
  • Import books from Tar Heel Reader
  • Share stories via server or Dropbox
  • Export to PDF or print
Currently charting
Read full description

Everyone loves to tell fun, engaging, and imaginative stories. Go ahead and make a social story or visual schedule for a child with autism or a slide show of holiday pictures for your friends - Pictello makes it a breeze to create and share! Whether you use the included natural-sounding Text to Speech voices, or record your own voice, Pictello is the perfect tool for visual storytelling. Each page in a Pictello story consists of a photo or video and some text, which can be read aloud by a Text to Speech voice or your own recorded audio. Develop literacy skills - Support reading with word-by-word text highlighting - Develop writing and spelling with built-in word prediction and Speak as You Type - Create stories to teach academic and social skills - Import free early literacy and adapted academic books from Tar Heel Reader Create and playback with ease - Let students use the wizard to create stories - Play stories page by page or as a slideshow - Use Text to Speech voices to read the story - Turn on switch access for story playback Integrate multimedia - Add your own photos - Include short video clips - Record your own voice or sound Share your stories - Share with other Pictello users through our free sharing server - Use Dropbox to exchange stories - Export to PDF or print to share with non-Pictello users Speak your language - Pick English, Spanish, German, French, Italian or Dutch for the user interface - Select from over 110 free Text to Speech voices in 29 languages - Use genuine American, British, Australian, American-Spanish, Swedish, French, Italian, German, Norwegian and Swedish children's voices - Create interest with fun character and specialty voices Customize to fit your needs - Pick between Wizard or Expert creation modes - Swipe or automatically turn pages - Adjust speech rate and pronunciations Read more at www.assistiveware.com/products/pictello Additional Note: Educational institutions can get a 50% discount if they purchase 20 or more licenses through Apple’s Volume Licensing Program for Education.

About

GoTalk® Start

This communication app assists individuals with speaking difficulties by providing customizable pages for recorded messages, text-to-speech, and visual aids. Users can create communication books with various layouts and integrate images, videos, and music.

Highlights
  • Adjustable page layouts
  • Customizable navigation
  • Recorded and text-to-speech capabilities
  • Included symbol set
  • Multiple communication page styles
  • Internet image search
Features
Read full description

Attainment has been making augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools for 25 years. Our experience is front and center in GoTalk Start, a flexible, easy-to-use, yet powerful communication app for people who have difficulty speaking. As the name implies, GoTalk Start is a great way to start using your iPad for AAC. Built on the framework of Attainment’s full-featured GoTalk NOW, GoTalk Start has all the essentials of an effective AAC app, like adjustable page layouts, customizable navigation, recorded and text-to-speech capabilities, and an included symbol set. Choose from over 60 ready-to-use, high quality text-to-speech voices in 30 languages! So why is GoTalk Start less expensive than GoTalk NOW? Because GoTalk Start is limited to five Communication Pages and doesn’t offer the sharing capabilities of GoTalk NOW. If you need more Communication Pages or the ability to share, simply upgrade your GoTalk Start to full GoTalk NOW Features via an in-app purchase. The new Start offers three styles of communication pages: Standard, Express, and Scene. In Standard pages, the action occurs when the location is pressed. In Express pages, recorded or text-to-speech messages build in a speech bar and play in sequence when the bar is pressed. Scene pages are built around a single photo or image. When you arrange invisible hotspots over people or objects in the photo, the hotspots play speech, music, or videos! Feel free to mix and match pages within a communication book. Create a communication book with unique settings and up to 5 pages in length. Envision the impact of blending video, music, and jump to actions among your pages. How cool is it to have access to 30 different text-to-speech voices, in a variety of different languages! Plus, GoTalk Start is a full-feature scanning app! Features: • Choose 1, 2, 4, 9, 16, or 25 locations per page. • Ability to create multiple books with unlimited pages via in-app purchase. • Use images from your iPad camera, photo library, or the Imagine Symbol set. • Search the Internet in-app for the perfect image or icon. • Purchase SymbolStix or Widgit Symbols libraries in-app. • Crop, scale, or rotate an image using your fingers. • Combine multiple images in a single communication location. • Color pages, borders, and text with any hue. • Move and size text with your fingers so it feels just right. • Record your voice or use our free text-to-speech voice. • Access 30 different text-to-speech voices, in an assortment of different languages. • Add spoken labels (auditory cues) to any button. Great for scanning, guiding visually impaired users, and identifying any new or difficult vocabulary. • Trim videos in-app, and play them from any communication location. • Select our alternate video interface to pause or exit the video easily. • Link songs from your playlist to any communication location and control them with Pause/Play, Next, and Previous. • Include a core vocabulary button for extra quick access to important messages. • Create multimedia social stories and step-by-step instruction layouts by linking pages with an after action. •In-app purchase allows for back up of communication books via Dropbox or to any Mac or PC for safekeeping. • Store and share interactive templates (each including speech, video, text, and jump to links) on our online gallery via in-app purchase. • Download and edit premade templates from Attainment’s collection on the public gallery available via in-app purchase. • Print and save communication book layouts via PDFs. • Access Start with single or two-switch scanning. GoTalk Start participates in Apple's Volume Purchasing Program for Education in the United States. Attainment is well known for top-notch customer service. Email us with questions or comments and check our website for free webinars. And yes, we're happy to talk to you on the telephone!

Screenshots

Pictello Visual Stories4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: GoTalk® Start at $9.99 against Pictello Visual Stories's $19.99. GoTalk® Start also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Pictello Visual Stories's advantage is review sentiment (71% vs 33%) and in-app purchases (none vs 13). 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

Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99 and GoTalk® Start $9.99 up front. GoTalk® Start sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. Pictello Visual Stories asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 7 months, GoTalk® Start every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Pictello Visual Stories versus GoTalk® Start: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPictello Visual StoriesGoTalk® Start
Price$19.99$9.99 — better
Rating4.1 (33 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings33 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#100 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size660 MB235 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAssistiveWareAttainment Company

Customer experience

Pictello Visual Stories

All ratings33 ratings
Positive78.8%
Neutral3.0%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral6.3%
Negative22.2%

GoTalk® Start

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

None

Pictello Visual Stories

No in-app purchases

13 purchases

GoTalk® Start

One-time13
  • Vidhi$0.99
  • Ella$11.99
  • Josh$11.99
Show 10 more
  • Carmen$11.99
  • Vidhi English$11.99
  • Ready-Set-Communicate$19.99
  • Talk All Day$19.99
  • Core! Start NOW$39.99
  • SymbolStix$49.99
  • METACOM (German Keywords)$55.99
  • AAC2go (Girl 3-10)$79.99
  • Upgrade to GoTalk NOW Features$104.99
  • ZAK Kommunikationsbuch für Kinder$199.99

Questions

Is Pictello Visual Stories free?
Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is GoTalk® Start free?
GoTalk® Start costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Do Pictello Visual Stories or GoTalk® Start have ads?
Neither Pictello Visual Stories nor GoTalk® Start shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pictello Visual Stories or GoTalk® Start?
Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 7 months, and GoTalk® Start every 6 weeks. Most recently, Pictello Visual Stories was updated on October 24, 2026 and GoTalk® Start on October 23, 2026.

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