Starfall vs Rugs alive™ Plus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Reading phonics and fluency
- Math concepts and operations
- Interactive games and songs
- Accessibility features
- Sequential learning objectives
- Holiday activities and sing-alongs
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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.
Rugs alive™ Plus
This app uses augmented reality to bring educational rugs to life in 3D. Students can interact with zoo animals, practice letter and animal identification, and engage in collaborative learning activities. It's designed to enhance classroom engagement and introduce early STEM concepts.
- 3D Augmented Reality animal animations
- Alphabet and animal identification
- Habitat matching games
- Virtual animal placement
- Photo capture of AR animals
- Supports collaboration and communication
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Our colorful and vibrant classroom alphabet/habitat rugs come to life in 3D Augmented Reality with help from the Rugs alive™ Plus mobile app. Not only are our rugs perfect for practicing upper and lowercase letters, animal identification, and animal/habitat matching, they also have 26 zoo animals that spring to life right in your classroom! Teachers and early learners love the interaction! Your students will be challenged to match a Habitat Card with an animal that lives there to be rewarded with that animal joining the class through the magic of 3D Augmented Reality. The Rugs alive Plus app allows placement of the animals virtually anywhere in your real world environment! Alive Studios’ rugs and the Rugs alive Plus app can also be utilized for increasing student collaboration, building relationships, and effective communication as well as early concepts of STEM and problem solving. The Rugs alive Plus app allows users to take photos of the zoo animals, which may or may not include other people. The photos taken are automatically saved locally into the device’s photo section, if permitted by the user. Rugs alive Plus does not require user accounts or logins, nor does it collect user data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Rugs alive™ Plus at 5.0 against Starfall's 4.1. Rugs alive™ Plus also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months). Starfall's advantage is ratings volume (4.4K vs 3). On price, ads 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. Starfall sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month. Rugs alive™ Plus asks for nothing beyond the download.
Rugs alive™ Plus holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall has 4.4K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Starfall's written reviews are positive against 100% of Rugs alive™ Plus's.
Starfall ships an update every 2 months, Rugs alive™ Plus every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Starfall | Rugs alive™ Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (4.4K ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 74.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.4K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 155 MB | 326 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Starfall Education Foundation | Alive Studios, LLC |
Customer experience
Starfall
Rugs alive™ Plus
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
Rugs alive™ Plus
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Starfall
- Starfall Monthly$5.991 Month
Rugs alive™ Plus
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Starfall free?
Is Rugs alive™ Plus free?
Which has better reviews, Starfall or Rugs alive™ Plus?
Do Starfall or Rugs alive™ Plus have ads?
Which is updated more often, Starfall or Rugs alive™ Plus?
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