Comparison

Pelican+ vs Refugia

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

Head to head
About

Pelican+

A faith-safe digital sanctuary for Traditional Catholic families, offering a personalized content library with e-books, audiobooks, and podcasts. It supports Catholic creators and provides trusted media for prayer, learning, and devotion, free from secular ads.

Highlights
  • Personalized content library
  • Cross-device progress syncing
  • E-book highlighting and note-taking
  • Premium podcasts, video blogs, ebooks, audiobooks, articles
  • Content for prayer, learning, and devotion
  • Films, documentaries, and children's programming (coming soon)
Features
Read full description

Pelican+ is a faith-safe digital sanctuary for Traditional Catholic families. Subscribe to get access to account-based features such as a personalized content library, picking up where you left off across devices, and e-book highlighting and note-taking as well as premium media such as podcasts, video blogs, ebooks, audiobooks, and articles to inspire prayer, learning, and devotion. Rooted in Sacred Tradition and free from secular ads or distractions, Pelican+ supports Catholic creators while providing content families can trust. With films, documentaries, and children’s programming coming soon, Pelican+ is growing into the most complete Catholic media experience—bringing beauty, reverence, and truth to your daily life. Terms of service: https://app.pelicanplus.com/legal/terms-of-service Privacy policy: https://app.pelicanplus.com/legal/privacy-policy

About

Refugia

This app guides users through Marian devotion and Catholic prayer, offering tools for praying the Holy Rosary, accessing a collection of Marian prayers, and exploring faith-based courses and media. It also provides notifications for Marian feast days and custom prayer reminders.

Highlights
  • Guided Holy Rosary prayer
  • Collection of Marian prayers
  • Faith-based courses and media
  • Marian feast day notifications
  • Custom prayer reminders
  • Spiritual content
Features
Read full description

Pray, read, listen, and research the Catholic faith in one beautifully designed app. REFUGIA SCHOLAR Go beyond a list of search results. Research Catholic doctrine across Scripture, the Church Fathers, councils, papal documents, the Doctors of the Church, and St. Thomas Aquinas. • Search the Bible, the Fathers, both together, or St. Thomas • Read sources in context through linked citations • Compare Scripture passages across Bible translations • Explore historically ordered primary sources • Generate source-linked research articles and save them for later • Build guided reading plans, track progress, and resume where you stopped • Copy, share, or export your research with citations • Report irrelevant results so research quality keeps improving PRAYER AND DAILY DEVOTION • Pray all four sets of Rosary mysteries with guided meditations • Build a personal Rule of Life for prayer, Scripture, and spiritual reading • Follow novenas and traditional Catholic prayers with optional reminders • Keep a prayer streak and see your progress across home and Lock Screen widgets • Practice prayers with interactive memorization activities SCRIPTURE, CLASSICS, AND AUDIO • Read the Bible and compare multiple translations • Read the Church Fathers, councils, papal writings, and spiritual classics • Listen with text-to-speech or available recorded audio • Create custom audio playlists and continue across chapters • Follow focused reading challenges and daily plans Refugia is free to begin. Refugia Premium unlocks the complete library and additional prayer, media, and listening features. Scholar subscriptions unlock the full research workspace and their included monthly research credits. Available features and pricing are shown clearly before purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled and can be managed through your Apple account. Privacy Policy: https://refugia.download/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Pelican+4 screens
Refugia4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Refugia at freemium against Pelican+'s subscription. Refugia also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (93% vs 85%). Pelican+'s advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Pelican+ sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Refugia sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Pelican+ against 4.9 for Refugia. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 32 and 35 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Pelican+'s written reviews are positive against 93% of Refugia's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pelican+ ships an update every 2 months, Refugia every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pelican+ versus Refugia: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPelican+Refugia
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (32 ratings)4.9 (35 ratings)
Positive reviews84.6% of reviews92.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3235 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPious Pelican Media, LLCAdrian Lawson

Customer experience

Pelican+

All ratings32 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.4%

Refugia

All ratings35 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Pelican+

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Basic Subscription7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly$19.991 Month
  • Basic Yearly7 Days trial$99.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Yearly$199.991 Year
5 purchases

Refugia

Subscriptions5
  • Refugia Premium$4.991 Month
  • Scholar$9.991 Month
  • Scholar Plus$14.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Refugia Premium$39.991 Year
  • Scholar Max$49.991 Month

Questions

Is Pelican+ free?
Pelican+ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Refugia free?
Refugia is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pelican+ or Refugia?
Pelican+ and Refugia are both rated 4.9 out of 5 on the App Store, from 32 and 35 ratings respectively.
Do Pelican+ or Refugia have ads?
Neither Pelican+ nor Refugia shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pelican+ or Refugia?
Pelican+ ships an update every 2 months, and Refugia every 3 days. Most recently, Pelican+ was updated on September 18, 2026 and Refugia on September 19, 2026.

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