Comparison

Read Live vs Pearson TELL

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

Head to head
About

Read Live

This app provides a structured, audio-supported system to improve reading fluency, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension for learners of all ages. It offers access to four distinct curriculum options, including support for Spanish readers, and tracks student progress across devices. A Read Live account is required to use the program.

Highlights
  • Four curriculum options
  • Audio-supported system
  • Develops reading fluency
  • Improves comprehension
  • Tracks student progress
  • Spanish reading support
Read full description

Read Live delivers measurable results for struggling and developing readers of all ages. With this app, your students can access their Read Live student stories and exercises in an experience designed to take advantage of the iPad’s capabilities. Improve fluency and phonics skills while supporting vocabulary and comprehension development with Read Naturally Live. Build mastery and automaticity in phonics and decoding with systematic phonics instruction with Word Warm-ups Live. Enable structured, engaging, and independent reading practice with One Minute Reader Live. Help native Spanish speakers or others to learn to read Spanish text fluently with Read Naturally Live–Español. Visit our website to learn more about Read Live: readnaturally.com/go-read-live *** A Read Live account and internet connection are required to use this app. Don’t have an account yet? Don't worry: you can create a free account and start using the program within 1 business day! Read Live was designed by teachers for use in schools. Here's what some teachers are saying: “A great program. Kids enjoy using it. They see their progress in fluency and comprehension skills.” – Special Education Teacher, VT “Love, Love, Love this program to help build our students' fluency. All of the stories are engaging for the students. The technology is easy for both students and teachers to use.” – First-Grade Teacher, WI “This program has dramatically increased the fluency, comprehension and writing abilities of my ELL students. Their MAP scores have risen as much as 15 points in a trimester. It provides great individualization.” – ELL/ESL Teacher, IL KEY FEATURES • Full access to all four curriculum options: Read Naturally Live, Word Warm-ups Live, One Minute Reader Live, and Read Naturally Live–Español. • Structured, audio-supported system keeps students motivated and holds them accountable for their own success. • Develops reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and phonics. • Excellent for Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). • Student progress syncs across computer and iPad. • Free iPad app for Read Live account holders. ________________________________________ Need support? We’re here to help. Email us at support@readnaturally.com *** IMPORTANT!! You must have a Read Live account to use this app.

About

Pearson TELL

This app offers a self-administered online language proficiency assessment for K-12 students. It includes various tests to monitor progress and provide schools with insights into students' language skills, informing instructional decisions. Results are available quickly thanks to innovative speech and writing evaluation technology.

Highlights
  • K-12 language proficiency assessment
  • Screener, diagnostic, and progress monitoring tests
  • Measures listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills
  • Innovative speech and writing evaluation technology
  • Fast, reliable scored results
  • Detailed reporting for schools and districts
Read full description

Pearson’s TELL is a self-delivered online language proficiency assessment for students in grades K-12. TELL consists of a single screener, two diagnostic, and eight progress monitoring assessments that are administered throughout the course of an academic school year. The results from TELL provide schools and districts with a complete understanding of their students’ current language proficiency and allows them to measure their progression. This robust reporting that also helps inform instructional decisions. With minimal set-up time, students can begin testing. During test administration, students watch video clips and interact with pictures and words on a tablet, then answer questions out loud. They listen, write, read, and speak—all with no mark-ups or grading by teachers. Short, effective testing allows users to monitor student progress on the development of core English language skills necessary for learning academic content. TELL’s unique items types allow for measuring multiple skills in a single item. TELL’s innovative speech recognition and writing evaluation technology yields highly reliable scored but also means that results are available in minutes! TELL scores are provided at the Overall level, for the four foundational skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking), and for the following sub-skills : pronunciation, fluency, grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, reading rate, expressiveness, and pre-literacy.

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pearson TELL at 100% against Read Live's 29%. Pearson TELL also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 14.3). Read Live's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Read Live holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 29% of Read Live's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pearson TELL's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Read Live ships an update every 4 months, Pearson TELL every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Read Live versus Pearson TELL: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRead LivePearson TELL
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews28.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS14.311.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRead Naturally, Inc.Pearson Education, Inc.

Customer experience

Read Live

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive28.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative71.4%

Pearson TELL

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Read Live

No in-app purchases

None

Pearson TELL

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Read Live free?
Read Live is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pearson TELL free?
Pearson TELL is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Read Live or Pearson TELL?
Read Live is rated higher. Read Live averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Pearson TELL averages 4.7 from 3 ratings.
Do Read Live or Pearson TELL have ads?
Neither Read Live nor Pearson TELL shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Read Live or Pearson TELL?
Read Live ships an update every 4 months, and Pearson TELL every 3 months. Most recently, Read Live was updated on October 23, 2026 and Pearson TELL on October 29, 2026.

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