Top Hat vs Macmillan Learning eBook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Macmillan Learning eBook
Access and study digital textbooks on your iPad or iPhone with a comprehensive, digital-first experience. Download books for offline reading, customize your study tools with notes and flashcards, and personalize the reading environment for easier learning.
- Offline reading
- Note-taking and highlighting
- Flashcard creation
- Customizable reading settings
- Read Aloud feature
- Cross-device syncing
- Accessibility features
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Use Macmillan® Learning eBook to enjoy a digital-first, comprehensive study experience from the convenience of your iPad or iPhone. Download and access digital textbooks to study anytime, anywhere. Features: • Download books to your iOS device for 100% offline reading. • Customize highlighters and add notes for a rich study experience. • Create flashcards with text and images to learn concepts faster. • Personalize font, font size, and background colors to make reading easier. • Listen to your books and learn on the go with Read Aloud. • Sync your current reading position and all your work across devices so you can easily pick up where you left off. • Built with accessibility in mind.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Top Hat at 4.6 against Macmillan Learning eBook's 4.3. Top Hat also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (23K vs 2.2K). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Top Hat holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Top Hat has 23K ratings behind it against 2.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 15% of Top Hat's written reviews are positive against 11% of Macmillan Learning eBook's.
Top Hat ships an update every 2 weeks, Macmillan Learning eBook every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Top Hat | Macmillan Learning eBook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (23K ratings) — better | 4.3 (2.2K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 14.6% of reviews — better | 11.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 23K — better | 2.2K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #188 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 152 MB | 183 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Top Hat Monocle | HPHLP |
Customer experience
Top Hat
Macmillan Learning eBook
User reviews
Top Hat
From 23K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Macmillan Learning eBook
From 2.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Easy access to textbooks
- 🔊 Useful read-aloud feature
- 💻 Works well on desktop
Room to improve
- 🔑 Login issues across devices
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable app
- 💾 Disappearing or lost content
- 🔍 Poor search and navigation
- 📝 Limited annotation and note-taking
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
Macmillan Learning eBook
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login credentials not recognized
- Frequent app crashes
- Textbooks disappearing from library
Requested features
3 requests- Integrate with popular reading apps
- Improve annotation and note-taking tools
- Provide a universal e-reader option
In-app purchases
Top Hat
No in-app purchases
Macmillan Learning eBook
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Top Hat free?
Is Macmillan Learning eBook free?
Which has better reviews, Top Hat or Macmillan Learning eBook?
Do Top Hat or Macmillan Learning eBook have ads?
Which is updated more often, Top Hat or Macmillan Learning eBook?
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