Comparison

LessonNote vs Monster Phonics

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

LessonNote4 screens
Monster Phonics4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LessonNote ships an update monthly, Monster Phonics every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
LessonNote versus Monster Phonics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLessonNoteMonster Phonics
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.7 (10 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews65.2% of reviews72.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10 — better1
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB784 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLesson Study AllianceIngrid Connors

Customer experience

LessonNote

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive65.2%
Neutral17.4%
Negative17.4%

Monster Phonics

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative27.3%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

LessonNote

Subscriptions3
  • 3 Months of Pro$29.993 Months
  • 6 Months of Pro$44.996 Months
  • 1 Year Pro$64.991 Year
One-time3
  • 6-month LessonNote Pro subscription$89.99
  • 1-year LessonNote Pro subscription$149.99
  • 2-year LessonNote Pro subscription$249.99
None

Monster Phonics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is LessonNote free?
LessonNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Monster Phonics free?
Monster Phonics costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, LessonNote or Monster Phonics?
Monster Phonics is rated higher. LessonNote averages 4.7 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Monster Phonics averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do LessonNote or Monster Phonics have ads?
Neither LessonNote nor Monster Phonics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LessonNote or Monster Phonics?
LessonNote ships an update monthly, and Monster Phonics every 9 months. Most recently, LessonNote was updated on September 13, 2026 and Monster Phonics on September 25, 2026.

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