Comparison

Syntax City vs Little Stories Pro

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

Head to head
About

Syntax City

This interactive app makes learning English grammar and syntax an adventure for elementary and middle school students. It features themed locations, animations, and play-based learning designed by a speech-language pathologist. The app offers detailed progress tracking and positive reinforcement to motivate practice.

Highlights
  • 8 grammar-focused locations
  • 415 questions across multiple difficulty levels
  • Evidence-based learning by a speech-language pathologist
  • Record and playback for self-correction
  • Collectible rewards and trophy case
  • Detailed progress tracking for individual players
  • Supports 1-5 players per session
Features
Read full description

Syntax City – Where Grammar Comes to Life Welcome to Syntax City! As the mayor of this great city, I must warn you — we take our syntax very seriously here. When Syntax City was founded, our mission was to create a place where verbs agree with their subjects, tenses are always correct, and pronouns live in perfect harmony. Now, you and your students are invited to explore the city — where learning grammar becomes an adventure! Syntax City is an interactive, evidence-based app designed by speech-language pathologist Barbara Fernandes, M.S., CCC-SLP. Created for children in elementary and middle school, the app teaches English grammar and syntax through themed locations, animations, and play-based learning — perfect for speech therapy or classroom use. Explore 8 Grammar-Focused Locations Each area of the city targets a specific grammatical goal, with 415 questions across multiple levels of difficulty: • Gym: Do / Does (3 levels, 50 questions) • Beach: Third Person Singular (1 level, 50 questions) • Bakery: Was / Were (3 levels, 52 questions) • Ski Resort: He / She (2 levels, 50 questions) • Farm: Irregular Past Tense (2 levels, 59 questions) • Grocery Store: Has / Have (1 level, 51 questions) • Park: Is / Are (1 level, 50 questions) • Zoo: Regular and Irregular Plurals (3 levels, 54 questions) Each phrase is professionally narrated and paired with high-quality visuals that support comprehension and engagement. Engaging, Evidence-Based Learning • Multiple levels of difficulty adapt to each student’s learning pace • Visual cues reinforce comprehension and grammar recognition • Record and playback feature helps children hear and self-correct syntax • Positive reinforcement with animations, coins, and treasures • 127 collectible rewards across all locations motivate consistent practice After 10 gold coins, students unlock a treasure — each themed to the location they’re practicing. All earned treasures are stored in the player’s personal trophy case, which can be shared via email or printed. Built for Therapy and Classrooms Syntax City supports 1–5 players per session, allowing flexibility for individual or group practice. Students can work on one or multiple grammar targets at a time — creating nearly endless session combinations. Use two-finger zoom gestures to navigate the city map and assign players to specific locations. Each player’s goals, scores, and rewards are tracked individually. Powerful Data Tracking Just like all Smarty Ears apps, Syntax City offers detailed progress tracking: • Tracks accuracy, goals, and performance for each student • Provides color-coded graphs for visual progress review • Displays session summaries and goal mastery trends

About

Little Stories Pro

This app uses short, engaging stories to foster language and literacy development in children. It offers interactive features, beautiful illustrations, and audio recordings to support learning. Parents and educators can track progress and utilize curriculum-based activities for targeted speech practice.

Highlights
  • 100-word engaging stories
  • Full-color illustrations
  • Personable audio recordings
  • Story-talk activities
  • Reading fluency tools
  • Speech error assessment
  • Progress tracking and reporting
Read full description

A child’s language and literacy development is a big deal—for all of us! So why do we start with something as small as a 100-word story? As Aesop said: “Good things come in Little Story packages.” Okay, so maybe he said something more like small packages, but we do believe Aesop would love what our Little Stories can do. After all, he believed in the power of a very short story. And so do we. Why 100 words? For one thing, it keeps a story simple and manageable. A child quickly reaches “the end” and feels a sense of accomplishment right away. But it’s more than that. When we kept a story small, we realized that structures stood out and speech practice focused. Little felt so very big! So, we created 82 engaging stories and combined them with incredible illustrations—that’s what your young user will notice. But, you will notice that we are so much more than a good read. Each story is a package—a package bursting with supporting curriculum. We promise to teach you how to teach with story as you push those buttons and swipe away! Yes. You will see how a carefully crafted story is loaded with potentials for learning. But when you are sitting side by side with your young user, you will feel how a small story can be both wonder-filled and fun. Here is the package that will impress your child or student: • A variety of entertaining characters in all kinds of story situations. • Beautiful, full-color illustrations. • Personable audio recordings that allow a child to explore the stories independently. • Wonderful story-talk activities that help turn the reading experience into a mini book club. • Fun activities such as tongue twisters and coloring pages. Here is the package that is filled to the brim for you: • Sound-saturated stories to tune a child’s ears to phonemes. • Reading fluency tools that track, graph, and show reading progress. • A practical assessment feature that allows you to mark a child’s reading, vocabulary, and speech errors and convert them into flash cards for practice. • The capability to highlight specific word groups (sight words, phonemic target words, and challenge words) in the story text or to pull them into flash cards. • WH Questions and Let’s Talk activities that cultivate comprehension and conversation. • Sequencing practice that subtly guides a child in narrative structuring. • A retelling activity that is reinforced by a straightforward narrative model—a tool that can help a child understand story structure better than many adults. • Story data including verb tense and point of view to help guide language practice. • Story sorting to help you locate stories by title, theme, reading level, and sound. • An emphasis on the R, L, S, and Th sounds (the most difficult sounds to master in speech). • Scoring and reporting features to monitor and share user progress. • And more… Children have taught us that potential matters so much more than size. In fact, small has its very own kind of power. That has been our mindset throughout the development of our Little Stories—the power of children and the power of small stories. That mindset has made all the difference. For professional teachers and speech-language pathologists: Our curriculum specifically supports reading fluency and comprehension as well as receptive and expressive language objectives. READING AND LITERACY • Reading fluency • Reading comprehension • Story structure awareness • Story tradition and genre exploration RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS • Attention and listening • Vocabulary acquisition • Story structure and comprehension • Question processing EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS • Speech production • Phonemic awareness • Story sequencing • Story retelling • Question answering We are confident you will enjoy sharing our Little Stories. More important, you will love watching your young learner make big leaps in language and literacy development!

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Syntax City at $24.99 against Little Stories Pro's $59.99. Little Stories Pro's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 3.5) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 11 months). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Syntax City costs $24.99 and Little Stories Pro $59.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Little Stories Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 11 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Syntax City's written reviews are positive against 89% of Little Stories Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Syntax City ships an update every 11 months, Little Stories Pro every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Syntax City versus Little Stories Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSyntax CityLittle Stories Pro
Price$24.99 — better$59.99
Rating3.5 (4 ratings)4.6 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews88.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings411 — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size139 MB188 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmarty EarsLittle Bee Speech

Customer experience

Syntax City

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral27.3%
Negative0.0%

Little Stories Pro

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Syntax City

No in-app purchases

None

Little Stories Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Syntax City free?
Syntax City costs $24.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Little Stories Pro free?
Little Stories Pro costs $59.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Syntax City or Little Stories Pro?
Little Stories Pro is rated higher. Syntax City averages 3.5 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Little Stories Pro averages 4.6 from 11 ratings.
Do Syntax City or Little Stories Pro have ads?
Neither Syntax City nor Little Stories Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Syntax City or Little Stories Pro?
Syntax City ships an update every 11 months, and Little Stories Pro every 2 months. Most recently, Syntax City was updated on November 1, 2026 and Little Stories Pro on November 4, 2026.

Other comparisons