Penwick vs Neat Hand
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Penwick
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Penwick teaches cursive / joined-up handwriting the way schools teach it: one letter family at a time, starting with how the letter is formed. Most handwriting apps look at the shape a child leaves behind. Penwick watches how they made it. Where the pen started, which way it travelled, whether it lifted in the middle of a letter, whether the exit came back down to the line. A tidy-looking "a" drawn backwards is still a backwards "a", and it causes trouble the moment your child tries to join it to something. WHAT YOUR CHILD DOES - Writes on a proper four-line stave, with a stylus or a finger - Works through the letter families in the order schools use them: the straight letters, the anti-clockwise family, the clockwise family, the diagonals - Moves on to joins, then words, then sentences and short stories - Earns their way through activity maps, two mini-games and an eight-land Story Quest ONE THING AT A TIME When a letter falls short, Penwick picks the single worst thing about it, replays the correct formation stroke by stroke, and says one sentence. Not a list of five corrections. A five-year-old reads none of a list. BUILT WITH A TEACHER Every lower-case letter, and the joins behind dozens of common words, was recorded stroke by stroke by a qualified primary teacher rather than pulled out of a font. It is why the joins move like handwriting instead of like letters pushed together. KEPT, MONTH BY MONTH Penwick keeps your child's actual writing, not just a score. Every month shows their real work oldest to newest, so you can see January against June, tap any piece to watch it redrawn stroke by stroke, and print a keepsake page. It stays on the device, for years. FOLLOWS THE CURRICULUM Letter families in Year 1, joins from Year 2, in line with the national curriculum for England. Useful anywhere cursive is taught. MADE FOR HOW CHILDREN ACTUALLY HOLD A TABLET One finger always writes. Scrolling is a side slider or two fingers, so a hand resting on the screen never sends the page flying. Five writing sizes, because a five-year-old and a nine-year-old do not need the same line. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No accounts and no adverts. Your child's writing, their scores and their profile stay on the device. Only three things ever leave it: referral codes if you share one, the weekly leaderboard, and anonymous usage counts. All three are switchable in Settings, and every detail is at penwick.app/privacy. FAMILY SUBSCRIPTION, FREE TO START The full lowercase alphabet, the assessment and 45 practice sittings are free, with no locks mid-alphabet, ever. A single family subscription unlocks every word, sentence, story and the Story Quest for everyone in the house, with 7 days free before anything is charged. Cancel any time in the App Store. Privacy policy: https://penwick.app/privacy/ Terms of use: https://penwick.app/terms/
Neat Hand
Improve your handwriting by tracing guide letters on your iPad. Turn any text into a practice worksheet and generate your own custom font from your writing. Track your progress and build a daily habit for better penmanship.
- Trace guide letters for handwriting practice
- Create custom worksheets from any text
- Generate a personal TTF font from your writing
- 14+ authentic paper templates
- Daily practice reminders and progress tracking
- PDF export for blank worksheets
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Better handwriting — just trace. Neat Hand does the rest. Neat Hand is a handwriting improvement app for iPad and Apple Pencil. Write over translucent guide letters, three minutes a day. ◆ Real paper workbook rulings Korean grid, 4-line notebook, 田字格, 米字格, マス目 — 14+ authentic paper templates. ◆ Any text becomes a worksheet Type or dictate any phrase — a favorite poem, a name, today's affirmation. Language is detected automatically. ◆ Guide peek Touch and hold to hide the guide and see only your writing. Double-tap a cell to retry just that letter. ◆ Your handwriting becomes a real font Write the alphabet once and get a standard TTF font file, generated entirely on your iPad. Practice against your own best handwriting. ◆ Built for daily habit A fresh practice arrives every day. Streaks, calendar heatmap, and side-by-side comparison with last month's writing. ◆ 500+ guide fonts / PDF export Print blank worksheets via PDF or AirPrint. ◆ No subscription. All guide fonts free. No ads while you write — the free version shows occasional ads; Lifetime Access has none. Try everything free, then unlock forever with a single lifetime purchase. No sign-up — your handwriting stays on your device. Contact: help@khonnect.io
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Penwick at none against Neat Hand's shown. Penwick also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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. Penwick sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Neat Hand sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Penwick | Neat Hand |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 2.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MyAutobot Ltd | Khonnect Studio |
In-app purchases
Penwick
- Founders Club Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Founders Club Monthly7 Days trial$4.491 Month
- Founders Club Monthly7 Days trial$5.991 Month
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- Penwick Monthly7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Founders Club Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Founders Club Yearly7 Days trial$44.991 Year
- Founders Club Yearly7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Penwick Yearly7 Days trial$69.991 Year
Neat Hand
- Lifetime$11.99









