Comparison

Spokane Historical vs The Great Courses

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

Head to head
About

Spokane Historical

Explore Spokane's past with an interactive map featuring historical sites, stories, images, and videos. Discover local history through expert research and oral histories. This app offers engaging content developed by university students and faculty.

Highlights
  • Interactive GPS-enabled map
  • Historical site information
  • Historic images
  • Documentary videos
  • Audio clips
  • Expert research and oral histories
Read full description

Find interesting people, places and events in Spokane’s history, and take historical tours of the city. Each point on the interactive GPS-enabled map is an interpretive story that includes historical information about the site along with historic images from various regional archives and historical publications. Many sites also include short documentary videos or audio clips based on expert research or oral history interviews. Spokane Historical is a collaborative project with interpretive stories developed by students and faculty in the Public History Program and Department of History at Eastern Washington University.

About

The Great Courses

Access thousands of educational videos taught by world-renowned professors. Explore diverse subjects like history, science, and philosophy with online and offline learning options. Enjoy a flexible learning experience at your own pace.

Highlights
  • Thousands of educational videos
  • Expert professors and specialists
  • Diverse subject matter
  • Online and offline access
  • Flexible learning pace
  • Free trial available
Features
Read full description

Unlock your potential with The Great Courses, the premier platform for online courses that offers a wealth of educational videos to help you explore, learn, and grow in a wide variety of subjects. The Great Courses specializes in courses taught by the world’s greatest professors and experts covering diverse topics such as history, science, math, philosophy, religion, literature, health, travel, personal & professional development, and more. It’s the place to experience the pure joy of learning—anytime, anywhere. The Great Courses ensures an engaging and enriching learning experience for all. Catering to learners of all skill levels and interests, our platform provides the flexibility to deep-dive into specific topics or explore a variety of subjects at your leisure. The Great Courses grants seamless online and offline access to our extensive library of online courses, empowering you to learn and grow at your own pace. Existing users can sign in to access their purchases and subscription content, while new users can register and subscribe directly within the app to access thousands of educational videos online and offline for one low price. Optimized for iOS 15 and higher, The Great Courses offers a variety of subscription plans, along with a Free Trial to start your educational journey. Payment Details: - Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless you cancel 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 - Subscriptions may be managed or canceled by accessing your Apple account - If you cancel during a Free Trial period, you will have access until the end of the trial period Privacy Policy: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/Privacy Terms of Service: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/TOS

Screenshots

Spokane Historical4 screens
The Great Courses4 screens

Verdict

The call

Spokane Historical and The Great Courses both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Spokane Historical's written reviews are positive against 40% of The Great Courses's. Spokane Historical also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3). The Great Courses's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (17K vs 9). On price, rating, ads 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

Both are free to download. The Great Courses sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Spokane Historical 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 Spokane Historical against 4.8 for The Great Courses. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Great Courses has 17K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Spokane Historical's written reviews are positive against 40% of The Great Courses's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spokane Historical ships an update every 6 months, The Great Courses fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Spokane Historical versus The Great Courses: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpokane HistoricalThe Great Courses
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (9 ratings) — better4.8 (17K ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better39.8% of reviews
Number of ratings917K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#110 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB120 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCuratescapeThe Great Courses

Customer experience

Spokane Historical

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

The Great Courses

All ratings17,175 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews314 reviews
Positive39.8%
Neutral13.7%
Negative46.5%

Bugs and requests

Spokane Historical

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

The Great Courses

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • Audio goes out of sync with video
  • App constantly logs users out
  • Downloading content doesn't work offline
Show 3 more
  • Playback issues when switching between audio and video
  • Inconsistent behavior when pausing/resuming playback
  • Poor navigation and course tracking

Requested features

8 requests
  • Can we get a ton of courses on AI please, it's a mite urgent
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
  • Allow audio-only downloads
  • Ability to download an entire course in one go
Show 3 more
  • Ability to browse other content while playing a lecture
  • Note-taking during content and live closed captioning
  • Ratings and reviews for content

In-app purchases

None

Spokane Historical

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

The Great Courses

Subscriptions3
  • TGCPlus Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Quarterly Subscription7 Days trial$44.993 Months
  • TGCPlus Annual Subscription7 Days trial$149.991 Year

Questions

Is Spokane Historical free?
Spokane Historical is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is The Great Courses free?
The Great Courses is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spokane Historical or The Great Courses?
Spokane Historical is rated higher. Spokane Historical averages 4.8 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while The Great Courses averages 4.8 from 17K ratings.
Do Spokane Historical or The Great Courses have ads?
Neither Spokane Historical nor The Great Courses shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spokane Historical or The Great Courses?
Spokane Historical ships an update every 6 months, and The Great Courses fortnightly. Most recently, Spokane Historical was updated on November 6, 2026 and The Great Courses on November 7, 2026.

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