Sutta 423 vs Plain Dharma
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sutta 423
This app delivers one verse from the Buddha's teachings each morning, focusing on mindfulness and meditation. It guides users through the Dhammapada slowly, one day at a time, with repeating verses to deepen understanding. Designed for a quiet, guilt-free daily practice.
- Daily Dhammapada verse
- Mindfulness and meditation focus
- Slow, gradual study of teachings
- Echoing verses for deeper understanding
- Guilt-free, no-streak practice
- Daily Buddhist reading
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One verse from the Dhammapada each morning, for 423 days. Read it. Sit with it. Return tomorrow. The Dhammapada is one of the best-known texts in the Pali Canon: 423 short verses, attributed to the Buddha, on heedfulness, craving, anger, joy, clarity and freedom. Sutta 423 walks you through it slowly, one day at a time. THE PRACTICE One verse appears each morning. Read it. Let it settle. Carry it into the day. A few minutes is enough. In 423 days, you'll have walked through the whole Dhammapada—not just read it, but lived with it. THE ECHO After a week, verses begin to return. What you read on Day 1 comes back on Day 8, then Day 15, then further out. Repetition deepens understanding, without turning practice into homework. NO STREAKS. NO GUILT. This isn't an app that wants more of your time. Miss a day? Your place will still be here. Come back when you're ready. A BOOK IN YOUR HAND Turn on the cloth cover, and today's verse waits inside a book. On iPhone Duo, folding the phone closes it. IN YOUR LANGUAGE Sutta 423 also reads in Spanish, Japanese, Arabic and 19 more languages. Each is translated from the Pali, in the same plain voice: nothing softened, nothing added. YOUR PLACE IS KEPT Sutta 423 asks you to sign in with Apple or Google. Your account keeps your place in the 423 days, so you can pick up where you left off, on this iPhone or the next. SUPPORTING SUTTA The daily verse is free. If Sutta 423 matters to you, you can become a supporter and pay what feels right, from Jasmine to Pu’er, weekly or monthly. Supporters can return to past verses in the Archive and save the ones they love. Supporter levels are subscriptions that renew until you cancel. The Dhammapada is just the beginning. More of the Buddha's teachings are coming. For now, begin here. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://sutta423.com/privacy/
Plain Dharma
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Plain Dharma offers the six foundational teachings of the Buddha in plain modern English — free, and dedicated to the public domain. These are the discourses at the root of the whole tradition: the first talk in the deer park, the teaching on not-self, the fire sermon, loving-kindness, the foundations of mindfulness, and how to decide what to believe. They're rendered for a first-time reader who'd rather understand than wade through footnotes — the structure, the repetitions, and the key images are kept; the archaic English is stripped away. • Read all six in about an hour • Listen to the narrated audiobook • Highlight passages and keep private notes — with an optional account to sync across your devices • Also available in Simplified Chinese • No ads, no tracking, nothing to buy Everything here — the text, the audio, and the art — is CC0 / public domain. Copy it, print it, translate it, remix it, share it freely. A small gift, offered in the spirit of the dharma.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Plain Dharma at none against Sutta 423's 10. Sutta 423's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads, device support 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
Both are free to download. Sutta 423 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Plain Dharma asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sutta 423 ships an update weekly, Plain Dharma every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sutta 423 | Plain Dharma |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (22 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 22 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Artisan Strategies | Flexbike, Inc. |
In-app purchases
Sutta 423
- Jasmine2 variants$3.991 Month
- Oolong2 variants$6.991 Month
- Dragon Well2 variants$9.997 Days
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- Silver Needle2 variants$29.997 Days
- Pu’er2 variants$99.991 Month
Plain Dharma
No in-app purchases







