Comparison

Spell vs Developing Sentence Strips

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

Head to head
About

Spell

An early academic program designed for learners of all levels to practice letter identification, spelling, and word recognition. It supports external keyboards and offers special feedback for blind learners, utilizing an errorless learning method with embedded scaffolding.

Highlights
  • Errorless learning method
  • Supports external keyboards
  • Scaffolding for cognitive challenges
  • Customizable word lists
  • Feedback for blind learners
  • Early academic program
Features
Read full description

This large-print, early academic program is for beginning to advanced letter users. It uses an errorless learning method. Spell-A-Word works on identification, spelling, & word recognition (for reading). WORKS WITH EXTERNAL KEYBOARD, such as our Colored-Rows BigKeys, or any Bluetooth keyboard (or *any* USB keyboard)! Or choose from the regular iOS keyboard, or Spell-A-Word's own 1-row-at-a-time one). Scaffolding (as much help as needed but as little as possible) is embedded so as to help those with significant cognitive challenges. This program is designed for you to easily enter lists of spelling words/phrases for the learner to practice and be tested on. WordLists consisting of hundreds of words/sounds/pictures are available from the developer's website at no charge. Spell-A-Word even has special feedback for blind learners.

About

Developing Sentence Strips

Features
Read full description

As you work with learners to broaden their reading/sight word volcabulary, helping them see the words used in context is an important tool. Buying commercial sentence strips or preparing them in advance can certainly be helpful, but we wanted a way to tap into the context of the moment as we worked with learners. Writing out a sentence and then cutting out each word is time consuming and cumbersome while working one-on-one or in small groups with learners. Our goal for this app was to provide a tool to quickly enter a sentence given by a learner, break that sentence into individual words, and scatter them on the "table" for them to reconstruct their sentence. We also included a way to easily add/remove punctuation and add/delete words one at a time.

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Developing Sentence Strips at Free against Spell's $1.99. Developing Sentence Strips also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support 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

Developing Sentence Strips is free to download; Spell costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spell ships an update every 4 months, Developing Sentence Strips fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 3, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Spell versus Developing Sentence Strips: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpellDeveloping Sentence Strips
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS11.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRJ Cooper & Associates, Inc.Classroom Focused Software

In-app purchases

None

Spell

No in-app purchases

None

Developing Sentence Strips

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spell free?
Spell costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Developing Sentence Strips free?
Developing Sentence Strips is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Spell or Developing Sentence Strips have ads?
Neither Spell nor Developing Sentence Strips shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spell or Developing Sentence Strips?
Spell ships an update every 4 months, and Developing Sentence Strips fortnightly. Most recently, Spell was updated on October 3, 2026 and Developing Sentence Strips on October 3, 2026.

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