Readpace vs Strobe
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Readpace
This app measures reading speed and comprehension by timing sessions, scanning pages, and asking questions based on the text. It provides detailed insights into reading habits, helping users find their optimal pace for retention.
- Timed reading sessions
- Page scanning for WPM calculation
- Comprehension testing
- Personalized speed-retention analysis
- Progress tracking and goal setting
- Book-specific reading insights
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Most reading apps count pages. ReadPace counts whether you actually understood them. Start a session, read the way you normally read, then scan the pages you finished. ReadPace turns that into a real words-per-minute number — not an estimate, not a guess. Then it asks you questions about what you just read, written from those exact pages. Speed means nothing if none of it stuck. ReadPace measures both. TIME IT. SCAN IT. KNOW IT. Hit start, read, hit "Finish & scan." Your session becomes a precise WPM number, logged against the book you're reading. No manual page counts, no stopwatch math. READ IT. THEN PROVE IT. Every session can end with a comprehension test built from the pages you just covered. Real questions about the actual ideas — not trivia. Not sure? Tap "No idea." Honest answers make your data honest. GET SCORED, THEN GET BETTER. See your comprehension percentage, your WPM, and how many you got right — side by side. Then review every question: what you answered, what was correct, and why. Misses get explained, so the test teaches you something too. FIND THE SPEED WHERE YOU REMEMBER MOST. This is the one no other reading app can tell you. ReadPace groups your tested sessions into speed bands and averages your recall in each, revealing your personal sweet spot — the pace where you're fast and you retain it. It also shows you where recall starts to fall off, so you know exactly when you're reading too fast to learn anything. WATCH THE LINE CLIMB. Your WPM trend over 7 days, 30 days, or all time, with your goal line drawn right across it. Weekly session goals, personal bests, and a running average that proves the last three months weren't your imagination. INSIGHTS THAT CHANGE HOW YOU READ. • Your most productive time of day — morning, afternoon, or evening • Which categories you read fastest, and which you remember best • Week-over-week change, personal best, total sessions at a glance EVERY BOOK ON YOUR SHELF, MEASURED. Your library tracks each title separately: lowest, average, and highest speed, average comprehension across every tested session, a speed curve across the whole book, and a full session log with words read, time spent, WPM, and recall score. WHO IT'S FOR Students who need it to stick. Professionals reading to stay sharp. Anyone with a shelf of non-fiction and a nagging suspicion they're not retaining much of it. And anyone who just wants to read faster — with proof they haven't sacrificed understanding to get there. Stop guessing how fast you read. Start knowing what you keep. Terms of Use (EULA): https://readpace.org/terms Privacy Policy: https://readpace.org/privacy Premium is an auto-renewing subscription (monthly or yearly). Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings.
Strobe
This app enhances reading speed and focus with a clean interface for PDFs and EPUBs. It offers customizable reading speeds, font choices, and smooth navigation to reduce eye fatigue and improve comprehension.
- RSVP reading interface
- PDF and EPUB import
- Adjustable reading speed (100-1000 WPM)
- Customizable text size and fonts
- Hold-to-read interaction
- Automatic progress saving
- Chapter navigation
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Speed read your own books and documents, one word at a time. No ads, no subscription, no account. Strobe is a speed reading app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It uses Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP): each word appears in the same spot on screen, so your eyes stay still instead of scanning across lines. Import a PDF, EPUB, plain-text, or Markdown file, or paste an article, then read at 100 to 1,000 words per minute. HOLD TO READ • Press and hold to read. Let go to pause. • Slide up or down while you read to change speed without losing your place. • Swipe sideways while paused to step word by word. • Prefer hands-free? Switch to tap to play. TIMING THAT FOLLOWS THE TEXT • Smart Timing keeps longer words on screen a little longer. • Punctuation Pauses slow down at sentence ends, commas, dashes, ellipses, and closing quotes, and you set the length of each. • Complexity Timing speeds up common words and slows down rare ones. • Acronyms and hyphenated words get extra time automatically. • Blank After Sentences adds an optional moment of empty screen between sentences. A FIXED POINT FOR YOUR EYES • Each word lines up on a red focus letter, its Optimal Recognition Point (ORP). • Show the previous and next words faintly on either side. • An open quote or parenthesis stays faintly above the word until it closes. YOUR LIBRARY • Every document gets a cover, and Continue Reading takes you back to your exact word. • EPUB tables of contents and PDF bookmarks become chapters, each with its reading time at your speed. • Open the full text with your place highlighted, search for any word or phrase, and tap a word to resume from there. • Page numbers, running headers, and footers are removed on import. • Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text is split into words, and Arabic keeps its connected letterforms. MAKE IT YOURS • Seven fonts, adjustable text size, and four text colors. • A true black background for OLED screens and reading in the dark. • Every document remembers its own speed. • Keyboard shortcuts on Mac and iPad: Space to read, arrow keys to step, ⌘N for new text, ⌘O to import. • Works with VoiceOver, Larger Text, and Reduced Motion. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your documents and reading progress stay on your device. Strobe needs no account and has no ads, analytics, or tracking. FREE AND OPEN SOURCE Strobe is free, with no subscription or in-app purchases. The source code is public on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. Strobe can't import DRM-protected EPUBs or password-protected PDFs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Strobe at weekly against Readpace's every 10 months. Strobe also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). Readpace's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Readpace against 4.9 for Strobe. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Strobe has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Readpace ships an update every 10 months, Strobe weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Readpace | Strobe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.9 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 101 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Dominik Mesek | Jaafar Abdeen |
Customer experience
Readpace
Strobe
In-app purchases
Readpace
No in-app purchases
Strobe
No in-app purchases









