Comparison

dhammapada vs Plain Dharma

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

Head to head
About

dhammapada

Features
Read full description

Dhammapada Comics brings the Buddha's most beloved teachings to life through hand-illustrated artwork. The Dhammapada is a collection of 423 short verses traditionally attributed to the Buddha — one of the most widely read Buddhist texts in the world. This app pairs each verse with a comic illustration to make ancient wisdom approachable, beautiful, and easy to reflect on. WHAT'S INSIDE • 423 verses across 26 chapters of the Dhammapada • Original Pali source text and English translation for every verse • Traditional commentaries and stories (Atthakatha) explaining the context behind each teaching • Hand-illustrated comic for each verse • Pinch-to-zoom comic viewer for detailed reading • Smooth chapter and verse navigation THOUGHTFUL DESIGN • Clean, distraction-free reading experience • Light and dark mode support • Optimized for both iPhone and iPad • No accounts, no tracking, no ads CONTENT CREDIT Verse translations and accompanying stories are sourced from tipitaka.net, with deep gratitude to the volunteers who maintain that resource. Whether you're new to Buddhist philosophy or a longtime student, Dhammapada Comics offers a peaceful daily companion for reflection on the path of mindfulness, ethics, and wisdom.

About

Plain Dharma

Features
Read full description

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

dhammapada4 screens
Plain Dharma4 screens

Verdict

The call

dhammapada and Plain Dharma are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
dhammapada versus Plain Dharma: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterdhammapadaPlain Dharma
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Every 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size113 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDhawal GajweFlexbike, Inc.

In-app purchases

None

dhammapada

No in-app purchases

None

Plain Dharma

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is dhammapada free?
dhammapada is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Plain Dharma free?
Plain Dharma is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do dhammapada or Plain Dharma have ads?
Neither dhammapada nor Plain Dharma shows ads.

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