Comparison

Merriam vs Advanced Dictionary

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

Head to head
About

Merriam

Access America's leading dictionary with over 15,000 extra entries for people and places. Enjoy offline access, voice search, and daily vocabulary builders. This app offers expert word guidance with a thesaurus and example sentences.

Highlights
  • Ad-free experience
  • 15,000+ premium entries
  • Offline dictionary access
  • Voice search functionality
  • Daily Word of the Day
  • Vocabulary-building word games
  • Integrated thesaurus
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Get America's most useful and respected dictionary, optimized for your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Continuously updated with the newest words and meanings, this is the premier iOS app for English language reference, education, and vocabulary building. Key Features: * No ads! * Premium Content: Over 15,000 additional entries covering people and places * Offline access: Complete access to definitions and synonyms whether or not you're connected * Voice Search: look up a word without having to spell it * Word of the Day: learn a new word every day * Word Games: fun, fast quizzes to test your vocabulary * Favorite Words and Search History: keep track of the words that are most important to you * Favorite Word Syncing Through iCloud: share your favorites between devices and on the Web * For Tablets: browse the entire dictionary with a scrolling index * Apple Watch Extension: see the Word of the Day and find watch-sized definitions with voice search Expert Word Guidance: * Integrated Thesaurus: more than 200,000 word choices with examples of their use * Example Sentences: understand how a word is used in context * Audio Pronunciations: voiced by real English speakers, not text-to-speech robots Terms of Use: https://www.merriam-webster.com/terms-of-use

About

Advanced Dictionary

Enhance your English with a comprehensive vocabulary and grammar resource. Access over 150,000 examples, learn key word lists, and improve pronunciation with British and American English audio. Write and speak more fluently with integrated thesaurus and collocation tools.

Highlights
  • Complete vocabulary and grammar resource
  • 150,000+ corpus-based examples
  • Communication 9000 and top word lists
  • British and American English pronunciation
  • Integrated Thesaurus and Collocations Dictionary
  • Offline access after initial setup
Features
Read full description

Advanced Dictionary LDOCE 6th is the best Dictionary free app with complete vocabulary and grammar resource that will enhance your learning of English. ● Support for iPhone, iPod and iPad. ● Require iOS 13.0 above - Improve your English with the full content of the dictionary at your fingertips, with integrated Grammar, Thesaurus, and Collocations Dictionary. - Over 150,000 corpus-based examples of natural English show words in context and how English is really used. - The Communication 9000 – helps you learn them first. - Top 3000 spoken words. - Top 3000 written words. ● Write and speak fluently - Learn word combinations to use the correct words together. - Helps you improve your writing by using more precise and high level words. ● Improve your grammar - Avoid making common mistakes and get extra help with grammar patterns and using the correct tenses. ● Improve your pronunciation - All headwords pronounced in both British and American English Main Features: ● Support full content of word. ● Search engine very fast and suggested words ● Write your note on the word ● Creat new group for words ● Speech in search helps you with spelling as you look for words ● History to help you find recently viewed for words ● Bookmark your favorite words ● Word-of-the-Day update everyday ● Easy to use and easy to understand ● Can use offline after remove ads and has loaded content before.

Screenshots

Merriam4 screens
Advanced Dictionary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Merriam at none against Advanced Dictionary's 1. Merriam also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (22K vs 25). Advanced Dictionary's advantage is review sentiment (91% vs 82%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On rating, update cadence 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

Merriam costs $9.99 and Advanced Dictionary $14.99 up front. Advanced Dictionary sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Merriam asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Merriam against 4.9 for Advanced Dictionary. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Merriam has 22K ratings behind it against 25, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Merriam's written reviews are positive against 91% of Advanced Dictionary's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Merriam ships an update every 5 months, Advanced Dictionary every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Merriam versus Advanced Dictionary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMerriamAdvanced Dictionary
Price$9.99 — better$14.99
Rating4.8 (22K ratings)4.9 (25 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.0% of reviews90.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings22K — better25
Update frequencyEvery 5 months — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
Best chart rank#13 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size238 MB379 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperMerriam-Webster, Inc.Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu

Customer experience

Merriam

All ratings22,135 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews517 reviews
Positive82.0%
Neutral6.2%
Negative11.8%

Advanced Dictionary

All ratings25 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive90.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.1%

Bugs and requests

Merriam

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App freezes and crashes on launch
  • Audio pronunciations not working in some cases
  • Inconsistent performance across iOS versions
  • Syncing issues between devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved search with spell-check and suggestions
  • Ability to mark and review words
  • Integration with system search and Siri
  • Support for landscape mode and dark mode
  • Expanded word coverage and more detailed definitions

Advanced Dictionary

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Merriam

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Advanced Dictionary

One-time1
  • Offline and Remove Ads$8.99

Questions

Is Merriam free?
Merriam costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Advanced Dictionary free?
Advanced Dictionary costs $14.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Merriam or Advanced Dictionary?
Advanced Dictionary is rated higher. Merriam averages 4.8 out of 5 from 22K ratings, while Advanced Dictionary averages 4.9 from 25 ratings.
Do Merriam or Advanced Dictionary have ads?
Advanced Dictionary shows ads; Merriam does not.
Which is updated more often, Merriam or Advanced Dictionary?
Merriam ships an update every 5 months, and Advanced Dictionary every 6 months. Most recently, Merriam was updated on October 29, 2026 and Advanced Dictionary on October 24, 2026.

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