Comparison

Starfall Gingerbread vs First Words Professional

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

Head to head
About

Starfall Gingerbread

Children learn 2D and 3D shapes by creating and decorating virtual gingerbread cookies. They can then navigate a maze, following specific shapes or patterns, with a new maze generated each time they play.

Highlights
  • Create and decorate virtual gingerbread cookies
  • Learn 2D and 3D shapes
  • Engage in shape-following mazes
  • Randomly generated maze challenges
  • Color recognition activities
Features
Read full description

The Starfall Gingerbread app is a delicious way to learn 2D and 3D shapes. Children create their own cookies, decorating them as they learn more shapes and colors. In this app edition, create a tray of gingerbread cookies, and choose a favorite cookie to run through a maze following shapes or shape patterns. Run the maze again and again, it’s different every time!

About

First Words Professional

This app helps children develop early reading and language skills through interactive word and letter recognition. It offers extensive customization for educators and parents, including word selection, category management, and language options.

Highlights
  • Over 350 words in 12 categories
  • Six language options
  • Phonics or letter name spelling
  • Customizable word categories
  • Customizable word lists
  • Develops fine motor control and letter recognition
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Thousands of schools use First Words to help their students develop pre-reading, early reading, and language skills. Now there’s a version of First Words specifically for educators and speech language pathologists. Of course, it's great for kids at home, too! First Words Professional has the same child-friendly design and uncluttered interface that made First Words one of the all-time best selling lines of educational apps for iOS. The new additional features make it the ideal choice for individual, institutional and professional use: * More Words --- Over 350 words in 12 categories, including shapes, numbers, food, feelings, clothes, animals, and more. * Six Languages --- Options include American English, British English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. * Phonics -- English word lists includes options for spelling with phonics or letter names. * Category Management --- Choose which categories of words are shown to students. Hide word lists that you don't want them to see. * Word Management --- Choose which words to include in each category. Focus on shorter words, longer words, or words with particular letter combinations. Hide words that your child finds particularly distracting. First Words Professional uses the same intuitive interface that is so easy for preschoolers, kindergartners, and kids with special needs to use. They'll giggle with delight at the beautifully drawn pictures and entertaining sounds, all the while learning how letters correspond to sounds and how letters sounds form words. First Words Professional helps kids develop: * Fine Motor Control * Letter Recognition * Phonemic Awareness * Word Recognition First Words Professional includes a large number options: * Phonics or Letter Names * Uppercase, Lowercase, or Capitalized Words * Spell Words Slowly or Quickly * Serif or Sans-Serif font Here's what educators and reviewers have said about earlier versions First Words: “First Words is an app that teaches letters and words in fun and interactive way. Very easy to use these apps will help support your little ones learning with great illustrations and bright colors. Each app supports kids learning and encourages kids to explore and discover by revealing, rewarding and teaching.” -- Fun Educational Apps “Excellent - As a teacher, I love this game! Just what technology was meant to do!” -- iTunes Review “This app has great settings that let you control the level of difficulty for the child – either with lots of hints or almost none at all. The letters slide nicely into each word and when completed the child is rewarded by having the pictured animal enlarge and animate briefly.” --Carisa Kluver at Digital Stortyime “First Words Deluxe is a very straightforward word-building game. Words are either said letter by letter as they are dragged into the appropriate gray boxes or, if chosen in the settings, a smaller set of words can be sounded out with phonics. This makes this game a treat for both pre-readers and early spellers.” --Common Sense Media “Looking to guide your toddler towards recognizing letters and how to spell words up to eight letters long? Then First Words Deluxe might be just what you are looking for. This pre-reader and spelling application encourages vocabulary development in a wide range of categories such as: vehicles, animals, at home, colors, and shapes.” --Andrea Gardner at Applicable2u "First Words is a great app -- as I said at the time, 'Leo loves First Words because it's fun and easy. I love it because he's learning to spell words, and the interface makes that learning error-free.'" ---Shannon Des Roches Rosa at Squidalicious

Screenshots

Starfall Gingerbread4 screens
First Words Professional4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: First Words Professional at 4.2 against Starfall Gingerbread's 2.4. First Words Professional also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 44%) and chart position (#181 vs unranked). Starfall Gingerbread's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $9.99). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 Gingerbread costs $0.99 and First Words Professional $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

First Words Professional holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 2.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 39 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of Starfall Gingerbread's written reviews are positive against 77% of First Words Professional's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Gingerbread ships an update every 12 months, First Words Professional every 16 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Starfall Gingerbread versus First Words Professional: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall GingerbreadFirst Words Professional
Price$0.99 — better$9.99
Rating2.4 (12 ratings)4.2 (39 ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.8% of reviews77.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1239 — better
Update frequencyEvery 12 months — betterEvery 16 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#181 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better12.2
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB103 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationLearning Touch LLC

Customer experience

Starfall Gingerbread

All ratings12 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative58.3%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive43.8%
Neutral18.8%
Negative37.5%

First Words Professional

All ratings39 ratings
Positive79.5%
Neutral5.1%
Negative15.4%
Written reviews31 reviews
Positive77.4%
Neutral3.2%
Negative19.4%

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Gingerbread

No in-app purchases

None

First Words Professional

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall Gingerbread free?
Starfall Gingerbread costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is First Words Professional free?
First Words Professional costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall Gingerbread or First Words Professional?
First Words Professional is rated higher. Starfall Gingerbread averages 2.4 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while First Words Professional averages 4.2 from 39 ratings.
Do Starfall Gingerbread or First Words Professional have ads?
Neither Starfall Gingerbread nor First Words Professional shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Gingerbread or First Words Professional?
Starfall Gingerbread ships an update every 12 months, and First Words Professional every 16 months. Most recently, Starfall Gingerbread was updated on October 21, 2026 and First Words Professional on October 15, 2026.

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