Comparison

Starfall vs Learn to Read

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

Head to head
About

Starfall

This app offers engaging reading and math activities for children from preschool to 5th grade. It features games, songs, and interactive lessons designed by educators to support early literacy and numeracy skills. The platform also includes accessibility features for children with impairments.

Highlights
  • Reading phonics and fluency
  • Math concepts and operations
  • Interactive games and songs
  • Accessibility features
  • Sequential learning objectives
  • Holiday activities and sing-alongs
Features
Read full description

Starfall® fun activities, games, and songs includes reading, math, music, and more – read, learn, and play preschool to fifth grade. Includes free and subscriber content. Starfall provides an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. For more information, please contact Customer Service at (+1) 303-417-6414. Join Zac the Rat® and his friends on an exciting learning journey, starting with the ABCs and 123s and advancing up to grade 5 grammar and mathematics. Starfall's playful open format intuitively guides children through sequential learning objectives for reading, math, art, music, and social subjects like kindness and caring. *Highlights* *Reading (phonics, fluency, grammar) -- ABCs, Learn to Read, I’m Reading, Talking Library, Punctuation, Parts of Speech *Math -- Numbers, Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, Geometry and Measurement, Fractions *More -- Holiday Activities, Nursery Rhymes, Sing-Alongs, Interactive Calendar *Why Starfall* *Research based, teacher tested, child approved. The Starfall® systematic approach was created by experienced educators using time-tested instructional methods. *Try it for free. All of the basics for learning how to read are available to everyone. *No advertisements. Whether a free user or subscriber, you won’t see any ads. *Pass it forward! Subscribers gain access to hundreds of additional activities and support the free sections for others to enjoy. *What people are saying about Starfall* Listed on PC Magazine’s “15 best Online Learning Services for Kids,” Think Five’s “Top 5 Most Used Apps by Elementary Teachers,” and as one Parent's Magazine's "70 Best Apps for Families." "Kids can learn about letter recognition, phonics, and reading. Skill acquisition is appropriately gradual... Starfall does an excellent job of offering clear and intriguing early literacy lessons." —Common Sense Media “I truly believe that Starfall set the foundation for my future.” —Sarah, undergraduate at Stanford University *Subscription information* If you choose to purchase a Starfall subscription, a $5.99 (USD) payment will be applied to your Apple ID account upon confirmation of purchase and monthly after that. Your subscription will automatically renew unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. This subscription is valid only for home use. It can be used on devices signed in with your Apple ID, as well as any associated Family Sharing devices. *Additional Info* This app requires an internet connection and is intended for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grades 1-5. It also supports English language development, special education, and homeschool environments. Privacy Policy: https://teach.starfall.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://teach.starfall.com/terms The Starfall website and applications are program services of Starfall Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) publicly supported nonprofit. Copyright © 2002–2024 by Starfall Education and its licensors. All rights reserved. Starfall® and Starfall.com® are registered trademarks in the U.S., the European Union, and various other countries.

About

Learn to Read

This app provides interactive stories and over 700 hands-on lessons designed to help children from preschool to second grade learn to read. It focuses on phonics, sight words, and vocabulary through engaging, multi-sensory activities and mini-games, all in a kid-safe, ad-free environment.

Highlights
  • Interactive stories
  • Over 700 hands-on lessons
  • Phonics and sight word learning
  • Vocabulary building
  • Multi-sensory activities
  • Mini-games and rewards
  • Offline learning
Currently charting
Read full description

From the creators behind Duolingo, the world’s #1 education app, comes Duolingo ABC! Duolingo ABC is the fun, hands-on way for your child to learn to read! From preschool to second grade, engage kids with interactive stories and over 700 hands-on lessons. Duolingo ABC offers bite-sized lessons to help kids learn the alphabet, phonics, sight words, vocabulary, and more! Lessons also include multi-sensory activities, such as tracing, drag-and-drop prompts and more. Interactive stories will teach kids to read and build fluency. Delightful stories include engaging imagery while reading words aloud to kids and highlighting each word spoken. This utilizes multi-sensory learning, and can help your child learn to read independently. Fun mini games and rewards work in tandem with the bite-sized lessons, keeping kids motivated to learn while building their confidence. Duolingo ABC helps kids have fun while they sound out words, practice reading and writing in English, and build reading literacy skills for a lifetime!! DUOLINGO ABC FEATURES: Lessons & Stories: - Engage kids in hands-on learning they will love! - New lessons are added often, so there is always something new to discover! - Bite-sized lessons help kids learn phonics, sight words & vocabulary - Enjoy fun activities like letter tracing and interactive stories, suitable for even the youngest learners - Kids will love, play and learn from Duolingo ABC’s cast of characters! Designed For Kids, By Experts: - Designed by literacy & early-education experts to develop kids’ skills in phonics, sight words, reading & more - Lessons are built to feel like a game, mixing learning with fun! - Get children excited to learn with mini games & rewards to stay motivated and keep going - Thoughtfully designed learning sequences will build confidence in your kids with each success! Kid-Safe & Ad-Free - Rest easy, parents: There are no ads or in-app purchases to worry about - Age appropriate content: content is focused on preschool, kindergarten and first and second grade level lessons Offline Learning - On a plane? At a restaurant? Duolingo ABC can be used anytime, anywhere - Enjoy playing and learning offline - so kids can learn wherever you go Duolingo ABC is an educational learning app that offers immersive lessons to teach preschool to second grade kids reading fundamentals. -- Privacy Policy: https://www.duolingo.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://www.duolingo.com/terms

Screenshots

Starfall4 screens
Learn to Read4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Learn to Read at none against Starfall's 1. Learn to Read also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months) and chart position (#196 vs unranked). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Starfall sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month. Learn to Read asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Learn to Read holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.4K and 3.8K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 74% of Starfall's written reviews are positive against 67% of Learn to Read's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall ships an update every 2 months, Learn to Read every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Starfall versus Learn to Read: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfallLearn to Read
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (4.4K ratings)4.3 (3.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.1% of reviews — better67.4% of reviews
Number of ratings4.4K — better3.8K
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank—#196 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size155 MB212 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationDuolingo, Inc

Customer experience

Starfall

All ratings4,374 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral6.5%
Negative18.5%
Written reviews274 reviews
Positive74.1%
Neutral7.7%
Negative18.2%

Learn to Read

All ratings3,753 ratings
Positive79.6%
Neutral6.1%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews733 reviews
Positive67.4%
Neutral12.6%
Negative20.1%

User reviews

Starfall

From 4.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy and fun learning
  • 🎨 Engaging activities and games
  • 🧠 Helps with reading, math, and more
  • 🌟 Nostalgic childhood memories
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Great for kids of all ages

Room to improve

  • 💰 Limited free content, requires subscription
  • 🔒 Difficulty managing parental controls
  • 🐛 Technical issues like crashes and freezes
  • 📱 Compatibility problems on mobile devices
  • 🔍 Repetitive content and lack of updates

Learn to Read

From 3.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for kids with autism
  • 👍 Engaging and fun for young learners
  • 👍 Helps with speech and language development
  • 👍 Effective for teaching reading and writing
  • 👍 Free and ad-free app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent voice recognition
  • 🐛 Allows incorrect answers to be marked as correct
  • 🐛 Levels can get repetitive
  • 🐛 Difficulty settings not customizable
  • 🐛 Progress not saved properly

Bugs and requests

Starfall

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Subscription issues and trouble logging in
  • Freezing and crashing on certain devices
  • Glitches in specific games and activities
  • Compatibility problems with newer OS versions
  • Incorrect pronunciation of numbers and dates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more advanced content for older kids
  • Improve accessibility for visually impaired users
  • Provide offline mode for use without internet
  • Allow customization of character and settings
  • Integrate with other educational platforms

Learn to Read

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Levels getting stuck on certain content
  • App crashing or freezing
  • Login/password reset issues
  • Incorrect information in some stories

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more languages beyond English
  • Introduce British English accent option
  • Provide progress tracking and analytics for parents
  • Offer more advanced content for older kids
  • Add math and other subject areas

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Starfall

Subscriptions1
  • Starfall Monthly$5.991 Month
None

Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall free?
Starfall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Learn to Read free?
Learn to Read is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall or Learn to Read?
Learn to Read is rated higher. Starfall averages 4.1 out of 5 from 4.4K ratings, while Learn to Read averages 4.3 from 3.8K ratings.
Do Starfall or Learn to Read have ads?
Neither Starfall nor Learn to Read shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall or Learn to Read?
Starfall ships an update every 2 months, and Learn to Read every 10 days. Most recently, Starfall was updated on October 24, 2026 and Learn to Read on October 24, 2026.

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