Comparison

Pelican+ vs Upon A Time

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

Upon A Time

This app creates personalized illustrated storybooks for children, allowing them to star in their own adventures. It adapts to various reading levels and incorporates phonics highlighting and read-to-me narration to build reading skills.

Highlights
  • Personalized story creation
  • Adaptive reading levels
  • Phonics highlighting
  • Read-to-me narration
  • Customizable characters
  • Offline story access
Features
Read full description

Once upon a time, your child asked for a story about a dinosaur who lost his roar — and got a whole illustrated book about it, starring them. Then they read it aloud, all by themselves. Upon A Time creates personalized picture books that teach young children to read. Tell it who your little one is, pick a story idea together, and in about a minute the app writes, illustrates, and binds a brand-new book onto your family's shelf — written at exactly the level your child can decode. BUILT TO GROW READERS • Choose a reading level from first-words to confident reader; stories are written with the rhythm, repetition, and refrains that early-reader books use to make reading click • Phonics highlighting colors the sound patterns inside words • Tap any word to hear it spoken — curiosity becomes practice • Read to Me: a warm storyteller voice reads each page while every word lights up in turn, connecting sound to print THE WHOLE FAMILY CAN STAR • Build a cast: your child, siblings, grandparents — even the family dog • Add a photo or a short description so each character looks like themselves on every page, in every book • Stories weave in each character's name, age, and the things they love • Every book gets its own cover art and ends with a classic "The End" A REAL BOOK FEEL • Page-curl turns, two-page spreads in landscape, illustrations painted right into the page • Pages never turn by themselves; little hands stay in charge BUILT FOR FAMILIES • Your first 2 stories are free; a Story Pack adds 10 more with a simple one-time purchase — no subscription • Books live on your iPad or iPhone and work offline once created; narration is saved on-device, so favorite books replay instantly • Watch new books being made right on the shelf, and keep reading while you wait • No ads, no links, nothing to wander into — and it works with Guided Access, so story time stays story time Five minutes to a new book. A shelf full of stories where your child is the hero. A little reader who can't wait for the next page.

Screenshots

Pelican+4 screens
Upon A Time4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Upon A Time at free with in-app purchases against Pelican+'s subscription. Upon A Time also leads on update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months). Pelican+'s advantage is ratings volume (32 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pelican+ sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Upon A Time sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 5.0 for Upon A Time. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pelican+ has 32 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pelican+ ships an update every 2 months, Upon A Time every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pelican+ versus Upon A Time: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPelican+Upon A Time
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (32 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews84.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings32 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPious Pelican Media, LLCMidhun Harikumar

Customer experience

Pelican+

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

Upon A Time

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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
1 purchases

Upon A Time

One-time1
  • Story Pack — 10 Stories$4.99

Questions

Is Pelican+ free?
Pelican+ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Upon A Time free?
Upon A Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pelican+ or Upon A Time?
Upon A Time is rated higher. Pelican+ averages 4.9 out of 5 from 32 ratings, while Upon A Time averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Pelican+ or Upon A Time have ads?
Neither Pelican+ nor Upon A Time shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pelican+ or Upon A Time?
Pelican+ ships an update every 2 months, and Upon A Time every 11 days. Most recently, Pelican+ was updated on November 5, 2026 and Upon A Time on November 6, 2026.

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