Comparison

Book Creator for iPad vs Number Frames, by MLC

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

Head to head
About

Book Creator for iPad

Easily create and publish your own beautiful ebooks directly on your iPad. Add text, photos, videos, and drawings to make picture books, comics, journals, and more. Share your creations via email, cloud services, or even publish to the Apple Books Store.

Highlights
  • Add text with 50+ fonts
  • Incorporate photos and images
  • Resize, rotate, and position content
  • Add video, music, and voice recordings
  • Draw and annotate with pen tool
  • Comic templates and stickers
  • Publish to Apple Books Store
Features
Read full description

Book Creator is the simplest way for students to show what they know. Make your own ebooks, comics, journals, and portfolios on iPad, then share them as an ePub, PDF, or video. Works fully offline. Book Creator is now part of the Kami family. Together, our products make learning visible, accessible, and meaningful. ** OVER 250 million books have been made in Book Creator since 2011 ** BUILT FOR CLASSROOMS WITHOUT WIFI The iPad app runs entirely on the device, with no account and no internet connection needed. That makes it a good fit for schools with limited connectivity, one-to-one iPad programs, and students working away from the classroom. Books stay on the device rather than in an account, so there's no login for students to remember. WHAT STUDENTS CAN MAKE Picture books, comics, poetry, science journals, how-to guides, reading portfolios, class newsletters, and anything else worth keeping. Book Creator works across every subject and every age group. * Write with over 50 fonts, in portrait, landscape, or square * Add photos from the camera or camera roll * Record voice, music, and video straight onto the page * Draw and annotate with the pen tool * Build comics with templates, panels, speech bubbles, and stickers * Resize, rotate, and position everything with snap guides WAYS TO SHARE * Read the finished book in Apple Books * Export as an ePub, a PDF, or a video file * Send by email, AirDrop, or a cloud service such as Google Drive or iCloud Drive * Print with AirPrint * Publish a book online to share with families MADE FOR EVERY LEARNER Students who find writing difficult can record their voice instead. Students learning a new language can pair images with words. Students who need more time can keep adding to a book across a whole term. Book Creator has always been built so that every learner can take part in the same task, in their own way. A NOTE ON FIXED LAYOUT BOOKS Book Creator uses the international ePub standard and supports fixed layout books, including double page spreads and soundtracks. Fixed layout isn't suited to long novels where text reflows from page to page, and you can't paste in large amounts of text from other documents. BOOK CREATOR FOR THE WHOLE CLASS Book Creator online is a separate product available for teachers who want live access to student work. Teachers set up class libraries, view every book as students write, give feedback in place, and choose from hundreds of ready-made templates. Student accounts are free. The two products work independently and don't sync with each other. See app.bookcreator.com to compare them. SUPPORT The app includes a Getting Started manual. For help articles and email support, see bookcreator.com/support.

About

Number Frames, by MLC

This app provides virtual number frames to help elementary students visualize and manipulate numbers up to one hundred. It supports counting, comparing, and computing, aiding the transition from one-by-one counting to more efficient strategies. Custom frames can be created for advanced visualization of factors and fractions.

Highlights
  • Standard and custom number frames
  • Variety of counters and colors
  • 5s grid for grouping emphasis
  • Resizable covers for problem modeling
  • Drawing and annotation tools
  • Math text and writing tools
  • Shareable work via image or code
Features
Read full description

Number Frames help students structure numbers to five, ten, twenty, and one hundred. Students use the frames to count, represent, compare, and compute with numbers in a particular range. The frames allow students see quantities as equal groups of other quantities and in relation to benchmark quantities. This helps primary students move away from one-by-one counting toward more efficient ways of counting and computing. As students advance, custom frames can be constructed to help visualize factors, products, fractional parts and more. These virtual versions of number frames are open-ended educational tools, ideal for elementary classrooms and other learning environments that use iPads. Number frames are a key model used in Bridges in Mathematics, second edition. Online preview available at: www.mathlearningcenter.org/bridges FEATURES: • Use standard 5-, 10-, 20-, and 100-frames, or create custom frames up to 12 x 12. • Choose from a variety of counters and colors. Drag single counters — or stacks of 5 and 10 — into frames or on to the workspace. • Apply a 5s grid to frames to emphasize every 5th line and reinforce grouping by five. • Hide and reveal counters with resizable covers to create your own problems and model strategies. • Use the drawing tools to annotate work and show understanding. • Add equations, expressions, and descriptions with the math text and writing tools. • Share your work by saving an image or providing a share code to others. MORE APPS For more Number Line resources and other apps, visit: www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps LEARN MORE To learn about Bridges in Mathematics, an elementary curriculum that employs visual models like number line, visit: www.mathlearningcenter.org/bridges/overview ABOUT US This resource is brought to you by The Math Learning Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to K-12 education since 1976. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This app was crafted by Clarity Innovations. We help improve teaching and learning by creating solutions that match promising technologies with the needs of education. Visit us: www.clarity-innovations.com

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Number Frames, by MLC at Free against Book Creator for iPad's $3.99. Number Frames, by MLC also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 74%). Book Creator for iPad's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (211 vs 7). On rating, 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

Number Frames, by MLC is free to download; Book Creator for iPad costs $3.99 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 — 4.1 for Book Creator for iPad against 4.0 for Number Frames, by MLC. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Book Creator for iPad has 211 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Book Creator for iPad's written reviews are positive against 89% of Number Frames, by MLC's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Book Creator for iPad ships an update every 2 months, Number Frames, by MLC every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Book Creator for iPad versus Number Frames, by MLC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBook Creator for iPadNumber Frames, by MLC
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.1 (211 ratings) — better4.0 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews73.8% of reviews88.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings211 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.4
Further details — not scored
Size179 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTools for Schools LimitedThe Math Learning Center

Customer experience

Book Creator for iPad

All ratings211 ratings
Positive76.8%
Neutral6.6%
Negative16.6%
Written reviews263 reviews
Positive73.8%
Neutral7.6%
Negative18.6%

Number Frames, by MLC

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%

Bugs and requests

Book Creator for iPad

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Glitches with text input and formatting
  • Issues with loading and saving books
  • Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
  • Bugs with audio recording and playback

Requested features

7 requests
  • Ability to delete pages and books
  • More font and formatting options
  • Ability to import and edit images
  • Improved text flow and layout controls
  • Integration with cloud storage and sharing
Show 2 more
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Ability to create table of contents

Number Frames, by MLC

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Book Creator for iPad

No in-app purchases

None

Number Frames, by MLC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Book Creator for iPad free?
Book Creator for iPad costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Number Frames, by MLC free?
Number Frames, by MLC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Book Creator for iPad or Number Frames, by MLC?
Book Creator for iPad is rated higher. Book Creator for iPad averages 4.1 out of 5 from 211 ratings, while Number Frames, by MLC averages 4.0 from 7 ratings.
Do Book Creator for iPad or Number Frames, by MLC have ads?
Neither Book Creator for iPad nor Number Frames, by MLC shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Book Creator for iPad or Number Frames, by MLC?
Book Creator for iPad ships an update every 2 months, and Number Frames, by MLC every 13 months. Most recently, Book Creator for iPad was updated on October 13, 2026 and Number Frames, by MLC on October 3, 2026.

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