Comparison

GoTalk® Start vs Expressive Go

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

Head to head
About

GoTalk® Start

This communication app assists individuals with speaking difficulties by providing customizable pages for recorded messages, text-to-speech, and visual aids. Users can create communication books with various layouts and integrate images, videos, and music.

Highlights
  • Adjustable page layouts
  • Customizable navigation
  • Recorded and text-to-speech capabilities
  • Included symbol set
  • Multiple communication page styles
  • Internet image search
Features
Read full description

Attainment has been making augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools for 25 years. Our experience is front and center in GoTalk Start, a flexible, easy-to-use, yet powerful communication app for people who have difficulty speaking. As the name implies, GoTalk Start is a great way to start using your iPad for AAC. Built on the framework of Attainment’s full-featured GoTalk NOW, GoTalk Start has all the essentials of an effective AAC app, like adjustable page layouts, customizable navigation, recorded and text-to-speech capabilities, and an included symbol set. Choose from over 60 ready-to-use, high quality text-to-speech voices in 30 languages! So why is GoTalk Start less expensive than GoTalk NOW? Because GoTalk Start is limited to five Communication Pages and doesn’t offer the sharing capabilities of GoTalk NOW. If you need more Communication Pages or the ability to share, simply upgrade your GoTalk Start to full GoTalk NOW Features via an in-app purchase. The new Start offers three styles of communication pages: Standard, Express, and Scene. In Standard pages, the action occurs when the location is pressed. In Express pages, recorded or text-to-speech messages build in a speech bar and play in sequence when the bar is pressed. Scene pages are built around a single photo or image. When you arrange invisible hotspots over people or objects in the photo, the hotspots play speech, music, or videos! Feel free to mix and match pages within a communication book. Create a communication book with unique settings and up to 5 pages in length. Envision the impact of blending video, music, and jump to actions among your pages. How cool is it to have access to 30 different text-to-speech voices, in a variety of different languages! Plus, GoTalk Start is a full-feature scanning app! Features: • Choose 1, 2, 4, 9, 16, or 25 locations per page. • Ability to create multiple books with unlimited pages via in-app purchase. • Use images from your iPad camera, photo library, or the Imagine Symbol set. • Search the Internet in-app for the perfect image or icon. • Purchase SymbolStix or Widgit Symbols libraries in-app. • Crop, scale, or rotate an image using your fingers. • Combine multiple images in a single communication location. • Color pages, borders, and text with any hue. • Move and size text with your fingers so it feels just right. • Record your voice or use our free text-to-speech voice. • Access 30 different text-to-speech voices, in an assortment of different languages. • Add spoken labels (auditory cues) to any button. Great for scanning, guiding visually impaired users, and identifying any new or difficult vocabulary. • Trim videos in-app, and play them from any communication location. • Select our alternate video interface to pause or exit the video easily. • Link songs from your playlist to any communication location and control them with Pause/Play, Next, and Previous. • Include a core vocabulary button for extra quick access to important messages. • Create multimedia social stories and step-by-step instruction layouts by linking pages with an after action. •In-app purchase allows for back up of communication books via Dropbox or to any Mac or PC for safekeeping. • Store and share interactive templates (each including speech, video, text, and jump to links) on our online gallery via in-app purchase. • Download and edit premade templates from Attainment’s collection on the public gallery available via in-app purchase. • Print and save communication book layouts via PDFs. • Access Start with single or two-switch scanning. GoTalk Start participates in Apple's Volume Purchasing Program for Education in the United States. Attainment is well known for top-notch customer service. Email us with questions or comments and check our website for free webinars. And yes, we're happy to talk to you on the telephone!

About

Expressive Go

This app provides an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) solution with advanced grammar and conjugation features. It empowers users to communicate fluently and clearly through an intuitive, visually rich platform with extensive customization options.

Highlights
  • Spontaneous Novel Utterance Generation (SNUG)
  • Intelligent Conjugation (Time Shift)
  • Automatic Pluralization
  • Perfect Articles (A vs. An)
  • Fitzgerald Key Color Coding
  • Touchless "Show Big" display
  • Integrated Sharing
  • Customizable Grid Size and Fonts
Features
Read full description

Download Expressive Go and discover an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) solution designed for fluency, clarity, and inclusion. This app empowers children, families, and educators to communicate effortlessly with an intuitive, visually rich platform. The Smartest Language Engine on iOS Expressive Go moves beyond static phrase books, enabling true Spontaneous Novel Utterance Generation (SNUG) with grammar and morphology built-in. Intelligent Conjugation (Time Shift): Take control of narratives and planning. Use the new Time Button (Calendar Clock icon) to instantly shift the context of your speech. Tapping a verb in Past Tense Mode instantly produces the correct past conjugation (e.g., "I eat" → "I ate"), while Future Tense Mode sets up phrases like "will go." Automatic Pluralization: Eliminate grammatical errors automatically. When you select a number or quantifier (like "many" or "several"), the next Noun or People symbol you tap is instantly pluralized (e.g., "2 cookie" → "2 cookies"). This is essential for grammatically correct output. Perfect Articles (A vs. An): Our engine automatically corrects articles based on the following word's sound (e.g., "A hour" → "An hour"), ensuring the synthetic speech is always accurate and natural. Color Coding: The interface uses the Fitzgerald Key color standard to visually reinforce grammar. Folders and item borders are color-coded (Orange for Nouns, Green for Verbs, Yellow for People/Pronouns) to guide word selection and language development. Core Accessibility & Workflow Expressive Go is designed for fast, practical use in daily life. Touchless "Show Big": Quickly display your constructed message to a communication partner in a massive, high-contrast, scrollable text and image view. Simply Press and Hold the message window (sentence strip) to activate. Integrated Sharing: From the "Show Big" screen, tap the Share Button to send your message as both text and a high-resolution image of the symbols, ensuring the recipient understands the visual context. Ultimate Customization: Adjust Grid Size (from simple starter boards to complex communicative boards), customize Fonts (like AtlNile-Bold), and secure your configurations instantly using the built-in Lock Feature. Multimodal Input: Supports both Symbol Tapping and direct Typing with automatic speech feedback (speak-per-word/letter settings). Download Expressive Go today and experience the next level of intuitive, grammatically smart AAC.

Screenshots

Expressive Go3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Expressive Go at Free against GoTalk® Start's $19.99. Expressive Go also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). GoTalk® Start's advantage is review sentiment (33% vs 0%). On ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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

Expressive Go is free to download; GoTalk® Start costs $19.99 up front. GoTalk® Start sells 13 one-off in-app purchases and Expressive Go sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GoTalk® Start ships an update every 6 weeks, Expressive Go fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
GoTalk® Start versus Expressive Go: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoTalk® StartExpressive Go
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating—3.0 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—7 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size235 MB700 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAttainment CompanySmarty Ears

Customer experience

GoTalk® Start

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Expressive Go

All ratings7 ratings
Positive42.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative57.1%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

13 purchases

GoTalk® Start

One-time13
  • Vidhi$0.99
  • Ella$11.99
  • Josh$11.99
Show 10 more
  • Carmen$11.99
  • Vidhi English$11.99
  • Ready-Set-Communicate$19.99
  • Talk All Day$19.99
  • Core! Start NOW$39.99
  • SymbolStix$49.99
  • METACOM (German Keywords)$55.99
  • AAC2go (Girl 3-10)$79.99
  • Upgrade to GoTalk NOW Features$104.99
  • ZAK Kommunikationsbuch für Kinder$199.99
4 purchases

Expressive Go

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$8.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription2 variants$49.991 Year
One-time2
  • One-Time Unlock OLDFree
  • Full Access (One-Time Fee)$49.99

Questions

Is GoTalk® Start free?
GoTalk® Start costs $19.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Expressive Go free?
Expressive Go is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do GoTalk® Start or Expressive Go have ads?
Neither GoTalk® Start nor Expressive Go shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GoTalk® Start or Expressive Go?
GoTalk® Start ships an update every 6 weeks, and Expressive Go fortnightly. Most recently, GoTalk® Start was updated on October 7, 2026 and Expressive Go on October 11, 2026.

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