LessonNote vs Monster Phonics
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LessonNote
This tool helps educators document classroom lessons by tracking student interactions, capturing notes, and recording time spent in various learning modalities. It facilitates data-driven conversations to improve teaching and learning outcomes.
- Track student interactions and conversation duration
- Record handwritten notes and observations
- Capture photos of student work
- Measure time spent in different learning modalities
- Review data for student-focused discussions
- Ideal for peer observation and coaching
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LessonNote is an innovative classroom observation tool for documenting the flow of a lesson and its impact on students. Capture both quantitative and qualitative data: • Track who is talking to whom, when, and for how long. • Jot handwritten, time-stamped notes about what is being said and what students are doing. • Take photos of student work. • Capture time spent in different modalities: whole-class, individual work, group work. Begin by creating a seating chart with icons representing the teacher, students, groups, and display areas such as blackboards or projection screens. Record observations by selecting an icon, or linking two icons for a note about an interaction. Take photos of student work. After a lesson, efficiently review your data for a student-focused conversation that improves teaching and learning. A small seating chart shows exactly who or what a note is about, so you don't need to know the names of the students. A timeline shows how much time was spent in whole-class lecture or discussion, individual work time, and group work time. LessonNote helps you create a fact-based and non-judgemental record of the lesson and its impact on students. LessonNote is ideal for peer observation, coaching, instructional rounds, and of course for Lesson Study. For administrators, LessonNote improves on simple checklists or rating scales by helping document how lessons affect students—which is, ultimately, what teaching is all about. Work with your colleagues and use LessonNote to improve teaching and learning! Read the Terms of Service at: https://LSAlliance.org/LessonNote/terms-of-service.html.
Monster Phonics
This app uses a multi-sensory approach with character phoneme cues and color coding to teach reading and spelling of high-frequency words. It aims to accelerate learning progress for young children by simplifying "tricky" words.
- Multi-sensory phonics learning
- Character phoneme cues
- Color coding for sounds
- Teaches first 100 high-frequency words
- Supports reading and spelling
- Handwriting and letter formation
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Monster Phonics products are already listed as highly effective multi-sensory phonics resources by the Department for Education, UK (2014). Monster Phonics has also been selected by BETT futures as one of the top 20 most inspiring new ed-tech ideas in the UK. This app supports the reading and spelling of the first 100 high frequency words and is part of a wider phonics scheme that supports the New Curriculum for Spelling (KS1) and phonics in Reception. Monster Phonics is a synthetic phonics scheme. It is unique in that it uses character (monster) phoneme cues and colour coding to represent the sounds A, E, I, O, U, oo, ow, silent letters and tricky letters. Each monster and its corresponding colour is linked to a specific set of graphemes that makes the particular phoneme. Monster Phonics Apps have been developed specifically to make phonics more accessible for all learners. The revolutionary use of colour coding and characterisation has been proven to dramatically accelerate progress in reading. Monster Phonics also teaches handwriting and the correct letter formation for the first 100 words. This Monster Phonics APP show how the first 100 words are more accessible to children because of the use of colour. The number of “tricky” words is reduced considerably with the colour coding system. There will be 2 Monster Phonics APPs covering the first 300 words. Once learned these words stay with children forever. The first 300 words make up 65% of all reading texts. Learning these words quickly is incredibly important for all children. Selected to be in the BETT Futures Cohort - January 2015!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: LessonNote at Free against Monster Phonics's $2.99. LessonNote also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (10 vs 1). Monster Phonics's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On review sentiment, ads 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
LessonNote is free to download; Monster Phonics costs $2.99 up front. LessonNote sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per 3 months. Monster Phonics asks for nothing beyond the download.
Monster Phonics holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LessonNote has 10 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of LessonNote's written reviews are positive against 73% of Monster Phonics's.
LessonNote ships an update monthly, Monster Phonics every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LessonNote | Monster Phonics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (10 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 65.2% of reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 784 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lesson Study Alliance | Ingrid Connors |
Customer experience
LessonNote
Monster Phonics
In-app purchases
LessonNote
- 3 Months of Pro$29.993 Months
- 6 Months of Pro$44.996 Months
- 1 Year Pro$64.991 Year
- 6-month LessonNote Pro subscription$89.99
- 1-year LessonNote Pro subscription$149.99
- 2-year LessonNote Pro subscription$249.99
Monster Phonics
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LessonNote free?
Is Monster Phonics free?
Which has better reviews, LessonNote or Monster Phonics?
Do LessonNote or Monster Phonics have ads?
Which is updated more often, LessonNote or Monster Phonics?
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