Comparison

New Humanist vs The Tablet

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

Head to head
About

New Humanist

This app offers a quarterly journal of ideas, science, and culture from a skeptical perspective. It provides witty, incisive commentary and argument, featuring contemporary writing from notable contributors. Access selected pages or subscribe for full access to every issue and a searchable archive.

Highlights
  • Witty and incisive commentary
  • Quarterly journal of ideas
  • Features contemporary writing
  • Searchable archive of issues
  • Offline reading of back issues
  • Zoom and page navigation
  • Link to external websites
Features
Read full description

At a time of rising religious extremism and irrational nonsense New Humanist magazine provides the antidote: witty, incisive and original comment and argument from a sceptical perspective. Relaunched as a quarterly journal of ideas, science and culture in 2013, New Humanist is elegant, independent-minded and provocative. Drawing on a freethinking tradition stretching back more than 120 years but dedicated to the best contemporary writing, New Humanist is a lively and compelling guide to contemporary thought and culture, and an essential voice of reason. Contributors include Suzanne Moore, Philip Pullman, Will Self, Natalie Haynes, Jonathan Rée, Claire Tomalin, Stewart Lee, Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, Stephanie Merritt, Martin Rowson, Brenda Maddox, Robin Ince, AL Kennedy, Stuart Hall, Francis Wheen, Laurie Taylor and Christopher Hitchens. New Humanist is published by the Rationalist Association, a 125-year-old charity devoted to reason, science and secularism. To visit our website go here: http://rationalist.org.uk/ The iPad/iPhone edition brings you selected pages from the latest issue as soon as it is published. You can subscribe within the application for full access, which brings you every page of the issue and a searchable archive back to 1884. Issues are not sold individually - for the duration of your subscription you have access to every issue in this archive. During your subscription you can sync back issues to your device. These will remain in place if your subscription expires, unless your device removes them (for example when running low on disk space). Re-downloading issues requires a current subscription. • Swipe or tap the page edges to flip to next/previous page. • Use the animated thumbnail view to flick through the pages. • Pinch or double-tap pages to zoom. • Switch between single or double-page view. • Search the current issue or the archive. • Tap any page links to web sites, email addresses, phone numbers or maps. • Tap contents-page links to jump to a particular article. • Sync back issues to your device for offline reading (requires wi-fi). • Network connection required otherwise. We recommend first running the app within a wi-fi area so it can sync the latest issue to your device - after that you can use it anywhere. Subscribers will receive new issues automatically via Newsstand. Subscriptions are available within the app at the following prices: £3.99 Quarterly £12.99 Annually In addition, please note the following standard features of auto-renewable subscriptions: • Your payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. • Subscriptions will renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. • You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Apple Account Settings after purchase. • No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. You can find our privacy policy here: exacteditions.com/about/privacy and our terms of service here: exacteditions.com/about/tos

About

The Tablet

This weekly Catholic journal offers in-depth coverage of religion, politics, arts, and current affairs with global contributors. Access selected pages from the latest issue or subscribe for full access to every page and a searchable archive dating back to 2011.

Highlights
  • International religious and political coverage
  • In-depth articles and balanced reporting
  • Global contributor network
  • Searchable archive of past issues
  • Offline reading of synced issues
  • Interactive page navigation and zoom
Features
Read full description

Unique in its international coverage of religion, current affairs, politics, social issues and the arts, The Tablet is a weekly Catholic journal which has been reporting on events of significance for over 170 years. Every week The Tablet provides in-depth and balanced coverage on a wide range of subjects and its contribution to topical issues is strengthened by its contributors: each issue contains the work of writers drawn from all over the world, whose names are familiar in their particular field of experience. The Church in the World section reports on events within the Church internationally, covering Europe, Rome, Asia, the Pacific, Africa and the Americas. The Home News section reports on news within UK churches, both Catholic and other Christian. In addition the latest church documents are analysed and discussed The Notebook section gives a light-hearted round-up of recent events, often with a humorous tone and the Letters section offers lively and intelligent debate from readers worldwide. No mention of The Tablet would be complete without reference to the widely respected Books section. Its detailed reviews are comprehensive, across a wide variety of subjects from philosophy to film appreciation and Christian apologetics to crime fiction. And the Arts section includes reviews of galleries and exhibitions, theatre, cinema, television, radio, music and opera. The iPad/iPhone edition brings you selected pages from the latest issue as soon as it is published. You can subscribe within the application for full access, which brings you every page of the issue and a searchable archive back to 26 November 2011. Issues are not sold individually - for the duration of your subscription you have access to every issue in this archive. During your subscription you can sync back issues to your device. These will remain in place if your subscription expires, unless your device removes them (for example when running low on disk space). Re-downloading issues requires a current subscription. • Swipe or tap the page edges to flip to next/previous page. • Use the animated thumbnail view to flick through the pages. • Pinch or double-tap pages to zoom. • Switch between single or double-page view. • Search the current issue or the archive. • Tap any page links to web sites, email addresses, phone numbers or maps. • Tap contents-page links to jump to a particular article. • Sync back issues to your device for offline reading (requires wi-fi). • Network connection required otherwise. We recommend first running the app within a wi-fi area so it can sync the latest issue to your device - after that you can use it anywhere. Subscribers will receive new issues automatically. Subscriptions are available within the app at the following prices: £8.49 per month £80.99 per year In addition, please note the following standard features of auto-renewable subscriptions: • Your payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. • Subscriptions will renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. • You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Apple Account settings after purchase. • No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. You can find our privacy policy here: https://exacteditions.com/about/privacy and our terms of service here: https://exacteditions.com/about/tos

Screenshots

New Humanist4 screens
The Tablet4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: New Humanist at 3.3 against The Tablet's 2.3. The Tablet's advantage is review sentiment (53% vs 33%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

Both are free to download. New Humanist sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 3 months and The Tablet sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

New Humanist holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 7 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 33% of New Humanist's written reviews are positive against 53% of The Tablet's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

New Humanist ships an update every 5 months, The Tablet every 4 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
New Humanist versus The Tablet: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNew HumanistThe Tablet
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (4 ratings) — better2.3 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews53.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings47 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.616.6
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB4 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperThe Rationalist AssociationThe Tablet Publishing Company Limited

Customer experience

New Humanist

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

The Tablet

All ratings7 ratings
Positive28.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative71.4%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive53.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative46.7%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

New Humanist

Subscriptions2
  • New Humanist$5.993 Months
  • New Humanist$24.991 Year
2 purchases

The Tablet

Subscriptions2
  • The Tablet$9.491 Month
  • The Tablet$99.991 Year

Questions

Is New Humanist free?
New Humanist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is The Tablet free?
The Tablet is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, New Humanist or The Tablet?
New Humanist is rated higher. New Humanist averages 3.3 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while The Tablet averages 2.3 from 7 ratings.
Do New Humanist or The Tablet have ads?
Neither New Humanist nor The Tablet shows ads.
Which is updated more often, New Humanist or The Tablet?
New Humanist ships an update every 5 months, and The Tablet every 4 months. Most recently, New Humanist was updated on October 23, 2026 and The Tablet on October 23, 2026.

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