The Student Room vs LabPal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Student Room
Connect with the UK's largest student community for advice on exams, university applications, and student life. Get anonymous help and personalized recommendations from an AI uni coach.
- Student community discussions
- AI university coach
- Personalized course and university suggestions
- Anonymous posting
- Study help for various qualifications
- University application advice
- Career planning and job search tips
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The Student Room is the UK’s largest online student community. Join millions of discussions on GCSEs, A-levels, UCAS, apprenticeships and university life. Post anonymously and get quick, helpful answers from students like you. New in the app: Diggory, our AI uni coach. Powered by official data and real student insights, Diggory suggests courses and universities that fit you — and helps you draft clearer posts so you get better answers from real students and official university reps. ► STUDYING HELP - Qualifications including A-levels, GCSEs, International Baccalaureate, Scottish Qualifications, Btec and T-levels. - Subjects including maths, English, physics, biology, chemistry, science, computer science, Spanish, French, German, geography, history, religious studies, psychology, business, law, politics and sociology. ► UNIVERSITY - Topics covering personal statements, undergraduate application help, student finance, university life, mature students, disabled students, postgraduate study and more. - University discussion on courses including medicine, law, English, maths, economics, engineering, finance, geography, healthcare, nursing, midwifery, biology, chemistry, physics, pharmacy, optometry, psychology, dentistry, social work, history, veterinary science, sports science, media, computer science, accounting, physiotherapy, politics, PPE and business. ► RANDOM CHAT - Talk about anything you like, or join in with the forum games. ► RELATIONSHIPS & HEALTH - Find conversation about relationships and life in general. Significant others, sexuality, soulmates. Friends, family, colleagues. - Discuss sexual health, mental health, general health and fitness. ► ENTERTAINMENT - Whatever you're into, you’ll find someone talking about it. TV shows, movies, music, gaming, books, sport, cars, tech… ► NEWS - Discussion on current affairs. Debate the key topics around society, history, religion, philosophy, politics and education. ► CAREERS - Plan your next move. Graduate schemes, apprenticeships, part-time jobs, volunteering, CV writing and advice on applying for jobs. - Careers discussion on sectors including HR, marketing, management, consultancy, teaching, finance, investment banking, accountancy, law, armed forces, medicine, healthcare, civil service and more. ===================== Get the best from The Student Room on our unique app. ► FIND - Personalise your home feed with relevant discussions. - Build watchlists of your favourite discussions. - Get notifications when someone mentions, tags, replies, likes or sends you a message. ► POST - Ask: get help from our community with any question. - Discuss: post a reply or start your own chat - Stay anonymous when you post. - Send messages to friends and other students. - Help others by replying to their questions. ===================== “So happy with this app! The notifications are really useful to keep up to date with discussions.” Maxi98887 “Great help in helping me choose which unis to apply to.” Vadermonk ===================== Community guidelines: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/help/the-student-room-community-guidelines
LabPal
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LabPal puts a complete science toolkit in your pocket. Whether you're a university student, researcher, or lab professional, LabPal gives you instant access to the reference data, calculators, and organisational tools you actually need at the bench. REFERENCE • Interactive periodic table with full element details and side-by-side comparison • Emission spectra visualisation for every element • Amino acid properties, pKa values, and codons • Interactive mRNA codon chart • GHS hazard symbol guide • Chemical compatibility database • Common buffer recipes CALCULATE • Molarity, dilution (C1V1 = C2V2), and percent-solution calculators • Formula weight from any chemical formula • Acid/base molarity from concentrated stock solutions • Serial dilution planner with volumes • RPM ⇄ RCF centrifuge converter • Beer-Lambert absorbance calculator • Hemocytometer cell counting with seeding calculator • Reconstitution calculator • Unit converter for common lab units • Data plotter with best-fit lines, equations, and statistics • Custom solution recipe builder – save and scale your own recipes TRACK • Lab timers with colour-coded cards and progress rings • Reusable timer presets for one-tap start • Step-by-step protocol checklists • To-do lists to stay on top of tasks • Experiment log with status tracking NOTES & PROJECTS • Rich-text lab notebook with photo attachments • Organise notes, to-dos, and protocols into projects • Export notes and project reports as PDF or CSV • Pin important notes for quick access APPLE WATCH • Monitor and control your lab timers from your wrist WORKS EVERYWHERE • Native on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch • Designed for iOS 17+ with modern SwiftUI interface LabPal is free to download with a generous set of core tools. Upgrade to LabPal Pro with a single lifetime purchase to unlock every calculator, reference table, and workflow feature – no subscriptions, no recurring fees.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: The Student Room at none against LabPal's 1. The Student Room also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). LabPal's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 8 days vs monthly). On price 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
Both are free to download. LabPal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. The Student Room asks for nothing beyond the download.
The Student Room ships an update monthly, LabPal every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Student Room | LabPal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (16 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 21.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Acumen Professional Intelligence Ltd | Joseph Morton |
In-app purchases
The Student Room
No in-app purchases
LabPal
- LabPal Pro Lifetime$2.99
Questions
Is The Student Room free?
Is LabPal free?
Do The Student Room or LabPal have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Student Room or LabPal?
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