Comparison

Top Hat vs Revel by Pearson

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

Head to head
About

Top Hat

Enhance your learning experience with interactive resources, in-class participation tools, and dynamic digital textbooks. Engage with professors and peers, and test your knowledge with quizzes and polls to improve comprehension and retention.

Highlights
  • Follow lecture slides on your device
  • In-class response system
  • In-app discussions with peers and professors
  • Dynamic, interactive digital textbooks
  • Take polls and quizzes
  • Access graded and non-graded homework
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Top Hat is the perfect companion app to our comprehensive assessment platform that helps you learn better before, during and after class. Top Hat makes learning fun and engaging (seriously!) and sets you up for success, helping you connect with your professors, your peers and the content you’re learning in and out of the classroom. Here’s what Top Hat offers you: Compelling resources, delivered on your smartphone or laptop: • Follow your prof’s lecture slides on your own device • Contribute in class with an easy-to-use response system that’s always with you • Participate with your profs and peers using in-app discussions Content tailored to your course: • Experience dynamic, interactive textbooks loaded up with images, videos, audio clips and more • Read your digital materials from anywhere and keep them forever Quizzes, tests and polls that improve learning comprehension: • Challenge yourself by taking polls and quizzes on your own devices • Improve your knowledge retention with interactive assessment elements • Check for gaps in your understanding with graded and non-graded homework and short quizzes Thanks for using Top Hat. As you experience the app, we’d love to get your feedback: support@tophat.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook @TopHat

About

Revel by Pearson

Access interactive course materials offline and online, with progress syncing across devices. Listen to audio versions of texts, complete quizzes, and set reminders to stay on track with deadlines.

Highlights
  • Offline course material access
  • Cross-device progress syncing
  • Audio playback of texts
  • In-app quizzes
  • Customizable reminders and notifications
  • Highlighting and note-taking
Features
Read full description

With the Revel app from Pearson, you can read, practice, and study anytime and anywhere—and set notifications so you never miss a due date again. The Revel app lets you access your interactive course materials on your tablet or mobile phone, offline and online. Your progress automatically syncs across all devices (including your laptop or desktop computer), so you can learn as you move throughout your day—on the train, on the bus, or whenever you have a moment—without breaking stride. Check out some of the ways the Revel app lets you learn where you want to, when you want to. - Download course materials to your devices and read, practice, and study even when you're offline - Listen and learn as you go with full audio of your text (available for most courses) - Complete assigned quizzes on your device to prep for class whenever you have a moment - Set your own reminders and notifications so you never miss a deadline again - Highlight key passages and take notes at your convenience

Screenshots

Top Hat4 screens
Revel by Pearson4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Top Hat at every 2 weeks against Revel by Pearson's every 3 months. Top Hat also leads on chart position (#204 vs unranked). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Top Hat against 4.7 for Revel by Pearson. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 23K and 8.9K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 15% of Top Hat's written reviews are positive against 12% of Revel by Pearson's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Top Hat ships an update every 2 weeks, Revel by Pearson every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Top Hat versus Revel by Pearson: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTop HatRevel by Pearson
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (23K ratings)4.7 (8.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews15.1% of reviews — better12.4% of reviews
Number of ratings23K — better8.9K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#204 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB261 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTop Hat MonoclePearson Education, Inc.

Customer experience

Top Hat

All ratings23,095 ratings
Positive93.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews199 reviews
Positive15.1%
Neutral8.5%
Negative76.4%

Revel by Pearson

All ratings8,881 ratings
Positive93.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews177 reviews
Positive12.4%
Neutral16.9%
Negative70.6%

User reviews

Top Hat

From 23K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth and intuitive interface
  • 👍 Useful for attendance and in-class quizzes
  • 💡 Potential for interactive learning

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 💰 Expensive subscription fees
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns with location tracking

Revel by Pearson

From 8.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Convenient app for accessing textbook
  • 👍 Good learning tool with interactive features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Poor user experience and interface
  • 🔇 Audio playback issues
  • 📱 Not optimized for mobile devices
  • 💾 Unreliable sync and data saving

Bugs and requests

Top Hat

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Answers not registering correctly
  • Slides not loading properly on mobile devices
  • Inconsistent performance across platforms

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add page numbers and search functionality to ebooks
  • Improve syncing between mobile and web versions
  • Allow more flexible location settings for attendance

Revel by Pearson

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Orientation issues when switching between pages
  • Highlighting and text selection problems
  • Inconsistent audio playback controls
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add portrait mode and zoom options
  • Improve highlighting and note-taking features
  • Implement bookmark/progress saving
  • Allow offline access to textbook content

In-app purchases

None

Top Hat

No in-app purchases

None

Revel by Pearson

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Top Hat free?
Top Hat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Revel by Pearson free?
Revel by Pearson is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Top Hat or Revel by Pearson?
Revel by Pearson is rated higher. Top Hat averages 4.6 out of 5 from 23K ratings, while Revel by Pearson averages 4.7 from 8.9K ratings.
Do Top Hat or Revel by Pearson have ads?
Neither Top Hat nor Revel by Pearson shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Top Hat or Revel by Pearson?
Top Hat ships an update every 2 weeks, and Revel by Pearson every 3 months. Most recently, Top Hat was updated on October 28, 2026 and Revel by Pearson on October 26, 2026.

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