Comparison

Top Hat vs Terrier Central

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
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

Terrier Central

Features
Read full description

Student Engagement app for Boston University's Student Leadership & Impact Center, Terrier Central or TC. For student organization leaders and campus partners hosting events and programs.

Screenshots

Top Hat4 screens
Terrier Central4 screens

Verdict

The call

Top Hat and Terrier Central are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Top Hat ships an update every 2 weeks, Terrier Central fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Top Hat versus Terrier Central: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTop HatTerrier Central
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (23K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews15.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings23K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB77 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperTop Hat MonocleBoston University

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

Terrier Central

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Top Hat

No in-app purchases

None

Terrier Central

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Top Hat free?
Top Hat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Terrier Central free?
Terrier Central is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Top Hat or Terrier Central have ads?
Neither Top Hat nor Terrier Central shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Top Hat or Terrier Central?
Top Hat ships an update every 2 weeks, and Terrier Central fortnightly. Most recently, Top Hat was updated on November 3, 2026 and Terrier Central on October 31, 2026.

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