Comparison

Top Hat vs UTRGV

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

UTRGV

Manage your academic life and connect with your university community. Stay organized with event and assignment tracking, access academic tools, and discover campus resources. Get important notifications and find your way around campus.

Highlights
  • Academic tools access
  • Class and assignment management
  • Event discovery and reminders
  • Campus community interaction
  • Campus services information
  • Push notifications for alerts
  • Campus map navigation
Features
Read full description

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley App brings campus to your fingertips and enables you to connect with the UTRGV community: Stay on top of your events, classes, and assignments with the built in calendar function, and get notified of important dates, deadlines & security announcements. Make friends, ask questions, and access campus resources at any time! Some other exciting features include: + ACADEMICS: real-time access to all of the critical academic tools. + DEADLINES: Stay on top of multiple deadlines with push-notifications, students receive reminders, alerts and critical notifications. + CLASSES: Manage classes, create to-dos & reminders, and stay on top of assignments. + EVENTS: Discover campus events, set reminders, and track your attendance + FEATURED ACTIVITIES: Orientation, programming, etc. + CAMPUS COMMUNITY: Meet friends, ask questions, and keep up with what's happening on the campus wall. + GROUPS & CLUBS: Get involved with campus organizations and meet people with similar interests + CAMPUS SERVICES: Learn about services offered, such as Academic Advising, Financial Aid & Counseling. + PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: Receive important campus notifications and emergency alerts. + CAMPUS MAP: Find the quickest route to classes, events, and offices.

Screenshots

Top Hat4 screens
UTRGV4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: UTRGV at 93% against Top Hat's 14%. UTRGV also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Top Hat's advantage is ratings volume (23K vs 717) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). 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

UTRGV holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Top Hat has 23K ratings behind it against 717, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 14% of Top Hat's written reviews are positive against 93% of UTRGV's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Top Hat ships an update fortnightly, UTRGV every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Top Hat versus UTRGV: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTop HatUTRGV
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (23K ratings)4.8 (717 ratings) — better
Positive reviews14.4% of reviews93.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings23K — better717
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#141 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size162 MB61 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTop Hat MonocleThe University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Customer experience

Top Hat

All ratings22,776 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral3.3%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews195 reviews
Positive14.4%
Neutral8.2%
Negative77.4%

UTRGV

All ratings717 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.4%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews74 reviews
Positive93.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.8%

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

UTRGV

From 717 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Helpful features
  • 🤩 Great university app
  • 🤟 Awesome experience
  • 💯 Excellent resources

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Frequent sign-in required
  • 🗺️ Lacking navigation features
  • 🐛 Occasional glitches

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

UTRGV

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Login issues for some users
  • Slow performance on older devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Integrated campus map
  • Single sign-on for all services
  • Improved password management

In-app purchases

None

Top Hat

No in-app purchases

None

UTRGV

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Top Hat free?
Top Hat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is UTRGV free?
UTRGV is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Top Hat or UTRGV?
UTRGV is rated higher. Top Hat averages 4.6 out of 5 from 23K ratings, while UTRGV averages 4.8 from 717 ratings.
Do Top Hat or UTRGV have ads?
Neither Top Hat nor UTRGV shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Top Hat or UTRGV?
Top Hat ships an update fortnightly, and UTRGV every 6 weeks. Most recently, Top Hat was updated on September 24, 2026 and UTRGV on September 15, 2026.

Other comparisons