Comparison

VoiceTra vs Pie VAT

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

Head to head
About

VoiceTra

This app translates spoken words into multiple languages, offering both voice and text input. It's designed to facilitate communication for travelers and visitors, with features like instant translation direction switching and a user-friendly interface.

Highlights
  • Speech-to-speech translation
  • Supports 33 languages
  • Text input option
  • Instant translation direction switch
  • High-precision speech recognition
  • User-friendly interface
Read full description

VoiceTra is a speech translation app that translates your speech into different languages. VoiceTra supports 33 languages and can be downloaded and used for free. With an easy-to-use interface, you can also check if the translation results are correct. VoiceTra, whether to enhance your travel experience or to welcome visitors to Japan, will definitely come in handy as your personal speech translator. ■Features: VoiceTra utilizes high-precision speech recognition, translation, and speech synthesis technologies developed by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). It translates your spoken words into different languages and outputs the results in a synthesized voice. The translation direction can be instantly switched, allowing 2 people that speak different languages to communicate using a single device. Text input is available for languages that do not support speech input. VoiceTra is best suited for travel-related conversations and is recommended for situations and places such as below: ・Transportation: Bus, train, rent-a-car, taxi, airport, transit ・Shopping: Restaurant, shopping, payment ・Hotel: Check-in, check out, cancellation ・Sightseeing: Overseas travel, serving and supporting foreign customers *VoiceTra has also been introduced as a disaster-prevention, disaster-related app. While VoiceTra can be used as a dictionary to look up words, it is recommended to input sentences as it interprets the meaning from the context to output the translation results. ■Supported languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean, Thai, French, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Myanmar, Arabic, Italian, Ukrainian, Urdu, Dutch, Khmer, Sinhala, Tamil, Danish, German, Turkish, Nepali, Hungarian, Hindi, Filipino, Bengali, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Malay, Mongolian, Lao, and Russian ■Restrictions, etc.: Internet connection is required. It may take a while to display the translation results depending on the network connectivity. Languages available for text input are those that the OS keyboard supports. The characters may not be displayed properly if the appropriate font is not installed on your device. Please note that some of the functions or the application itself may be disabled when the server is down. Users are responsible for the communication fees incurred to use the application. Please be aware that international data roaming charges can be expensive. This application was developed for research purposes; targeting individuals to test it out when traveling, and uses servers that are also setup for research purposes. The data recorded on the server will be utilized to make improvements in speech translation technologies. You may test out the app for businesses, etc., but please consider using private services that we have licensed our technology to for continuous use. Please refer to our "Terms of Use" for further details → https://voicetra.nict.go.jp/en/attention.html

About

Pie VAT

This app simplifies claiming VAT refunds for travelers. It eliminates paperwork and long waits, allowing users to easily shop tax-free and track their refund status. Enjoy faster and larger refunds with multiple payout options.

Highlights
  • Digital VAT refund claims
  • Find partner stores
  • Track refund status
  • Multiple payout methods
  • In-app live help
  • Secure account protection
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Pie VAT is the next generation tax free solution. It is the first digital tax free shopping app that enables travelers to easily claim their VAT refunds when traveling abroad. We have eliminated excessive paper forms, long waits in line, high fees; all that’s left is a quick and easy way to shop tax free. SHOP AT OUR PARTNER STORES Find, browse, and explore our local partner stores in the app. We have 1000+ PIE partner stores. Find yours today! QUICK AND EASY: Request your VAT Refund in a matter of seconds. Clear and concise directions in our app will guide you every step of the way for your VAT refund. STAY ON TOP OF IT ALL Easily track your refund requests and their status. Keep up with the entire process and where your funds are. BIGGER & FASTER PIE works to get you more of your VAT refund back as fast as possible! We support multiple payout methods, including bank transfers, credit cards, and more. YOUR SECURITY IS OUR PRIORITY Pie VAT makes VAT refunds easy and quick, and we take the protection of your account very seriously. We utilize industry standard security measures to help protect your account information. =================== How Pie VAT works: 1. After you checkout in store, ask to do a refund via PIE. The store will send you your claim information to start our VAT refund process. 2. Claim your refund on the PIE app, follow the easy steps and submit your request. 3. Enjoy your VAT refund - maybe buy some pie. Need help? We’re two taps away via live help in-app!

Screenshots

VoiceTra3 screens
Pie VAT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pie VAT at every 6 days against VoiceTra's every 4 months. Pie VAT also leads on ratings volume (9.1K vs 204) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). VoiceTra's advantage is review sentiment (79% vs 65%). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pie VAT holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pie VAT has 9.1K ratings behind it against 204, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of VoiceTra's written reviews are positive against 65% of Pie VAT's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

VoiceTra ships an update every 4 months, Pie VAT every 6 days. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
VoiceTra versus Pie VAT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVoiceTraPie VAT
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (204 ratings)4.8 (9.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.9% of reviews — better65.3% of reviews
Number of ratings2049.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#192 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size69 MB118 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNICTPieSystems

Customer experience

VoiceTra

All ratings200 ratings
Positive89.0%
Neutral2.0%
Negative9.0%
Written reviews180 reviews
Positive78.9%
Neutral7.2%
Negative13.9%

Pie VAT

All ratings9,016 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral1.3%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews447 reviews
Positive65.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative31.8%

Bugs and requests

VoiceTra

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Pie VAT

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App crashes when loading documents
  • Issues with photo uploads and login

Requested features

2 requests
  • More transparent fee structure
  • Compatibility with more countries and merchants

In-app purchases

None

VoiceTra

No in-app purchases

None

Pie VAT

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is VoiceTra free?
VoiceTra is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pie VAT free?
Pie VAT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, VoiceTra or Pie VAT?
Pie VAT is rated higher. VoiceTra averages 4.6 out of 5 from 204 ratings, while Pie VAT averages 4.8 from 9.1K ratings.
Do VoiceTra or Pie VAT have ads?
Neither VoiceTra nor Pie VAT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, VoiceTra or Pie VAT?
VoiceTra ships an update every 4 months, and Pie VAT every 6 days. Most recently, VoiceTra was updated on November 10, 2026 and Pie VAT on November 10, 2026.

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