Comparison

NeuroNation vs First Words ATF

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

Head to head
About

NeuroNation

Enhance your memory and cognitive abilities with science-backed exercises. This app offers personalized training programs, diverse games, and progress tracking to sharpen your mind and improve focus. Invest in your cognitive health with daily mental challenges.

Highlights
  • Scientifically proven techniques
  • Personalized training programs
  • Diverse range of brain games
  • Progress tracking and insights
  • Daily brain challenges
  • User-friendly interface
Features
Read full description

NeuroNation - Brain Training Exercise your mind & memory Enhance your memory with science-backed exercises used by millions of users globally! Unlock the full potential of your brain with NeuroNation, the scientifically-backed app designed to boost your cognitive abilities. Whether you’re looking to improve your focus, sharpen your mind, or simply have fun with challenging games, our app offers a comprehensive solution. Features: Scientifically Proven Techniques: Leverage exercises to enhance your memory, attention, concentration, and problem-solving skills. NeuroNation's brain training has been awarded the AOK Leonardo Health Prize for Digital Prevention sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Health. Personalised Training Programs: Tailor-made sessions adapt to your performance, ensuring optimal challenge and growth. NeuroNation performs a comprehensive analysis of your strengths and potential and creates a customised brain training plan that meets your needs. Diverse Range of Games: Enjoy a variety of brain-stimulating activities including puzzles, memory and speed games, and logic challenges. Increase your thinking speed and concentration and improve your everyday mental performance. Progress Tracking: Monitor your improvement over time with detailed insights. As you improve, the tasks can become more complex, promoting continuous cognitive growth without plateaus. You can follow your progress closely and benchmark it against your peer group. Daily Challenges: Engage with new and exciting challenges to keep your brain active daily through NeuroBoosters. User-Friendly Interface: Navigate easily with our intuitive design, suitable for all ages and skill levels. Why NeuroNation? Regular brain exercises help strengthen neural connections, leading to better memory. Daily mental exercises promote neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. NeuroNation combines fun and effectiveness, making it easy to incorporate brain training into your daily routine. By using our app, you’re not just playing games — you’re investing in your cognitive health. In several studies conducted by the Department of General Psychology at Freie Universität Berlin and the Medical School of Hamburg, the effectiveness of NeuroNation working memory training was proven. Learn more about the science behind NeuroNation: The science behind NeuroNation | NeuroNation How It Works: Our exercises are developed to target specific cognitive functions. Through consistent practice, users can experience improved memory recall, faster information processing, and better daily mental abilities. The app adjusts the difficulty level based on your progress, ensuring that you’re always challenged but never overwhelmed. NEURONATION PREMIUM With NeuroNation Premium, you have access to: Comprehensive cognitive training program with more than 30 motivating exercises Brain training customisation and in-depth performance insights Regular publication of new exercises and courses PRICING AND TERMS OF CONDITIONS NeuroNation Premium Membership is available via the following subscription plans: 3 months from 41.99 USD* (13.99 USD*/month) 12 months from 83.99 USD* ( 6.99 USD*/month) *Prices displayed are in USD. Actual charges might be converted to your local exchange currency depending on your country of residence. Payments will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Your Premium Membership (subscription) automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Our Terms of Use https://sso.neuronation.com/legals/tou Our Privacy policy: https://sso.neuronation.com/legals/dataprivacy The protection of your data is very important to us. We will never disclose information to third parties and will always treat your data with the strictest confidence.

About

First Words ATF

Features
Read full description

FIRST WORDS. This is a simple, easy to use, no frills app. It has been developed for convenience, aimed at casual use as well as for the classroom. However, unlike many early learning aids, this app is “age appropriate”, making it accessible to all and useful for those with additional learning needs. The app can be re-visited frequently for short, quick revisions and the counter can be used for setting personal goals. This app is a perfect assessment tool for teachers, parents and students. USING THIS APP 1. Select the number of ‘First Words’ you wish to practise. 2. Click the ‘play’ symbol to advance through the words. 3. The objective is to speed up random word recognition. 4. The counter can be used to create goals. Learning note: Advance to the next level at your leisure but be prepared to go back to re-enforce where necessary. SOCIAL WORDS This screen is aimed primarily at those with a learning disability, to enable them to learn to recognise words which will help them develop independence skills in a wider environment. This also gives the teacher/mentor an opportunity to teach the student the meaning of the words. PRACTISE MAKES PERFECT When teaching reading it may be that we do not put enough emphasis on “DATA OVERLOAD”. A pupil can struggle to read even though you are sure they know the word, purely because there are too many words in front of them. The greater the student’s ‘sight vocabulary’ the easier reading becomes, enabling a greater degree of comprehension. With practise, improvement in speed of neurological processing, anxiety in coping with more words per page is reduced, giving the student more confidence to try new words. As stated earlier, we have purposely randomised the words to avoid rote learning. However, due to this randomisation, words will occasionally appear consecutively, particularly in early stages. This is a progressive learning tool, therefore the first 12 words will appear within the first 45 words and so on. ACTIVE THERAPY FOUNDATION Active Therapy Foundation is a UK charity with aims of promoting social inclusion, providing innovative and dedicated coaching therapy programmes, making "Active therapy" available to all, thus developing skills and enabling individuals to participate more fully in society. Active therapy explores ways of developing higher achievement levels for people with disabilities. It pushes the boundaries of “accept and adapt” and has a direct approach to systematic problem solving. The programme is practically based, working on the principle of self-achievement. It is designed to explore ways of giving a feeling of achievement at ALL levels of ability, breaking down the skills sufficiently so that EVERYONE CAN SUCCEED.

Screenshots

NeuroNation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: NeuroNation at Free against First Words ATF's $1.99. NeuroNation also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and device support (4 vs 1). First Words ATF's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On iOS requirement 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

NeuroNation is free to download; First Words ATF costs $1.99 up front. NeuroNation sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $10.99 per 3 months. First Words ATF asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NeuroNation ships an update every 3 weeks, First Words ATF every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and May 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
NeuroNation versus First Words ATF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNeuroNationFirst Words ATF
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.7 (4.5K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4.5K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPad
Requires iOS15.014.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size233 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSynaptikon GmbHActive Therapy Development Limited

Bugs and requests

NeuroNation

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes or freezes on certain devices
  • Issues with color-based exercises due to color perception differences
  • Incorrect scoring or feedback on some exercises

Requested features

4 requests
  • More variety in exercise types
  • Ability to customize difficulty levels
  • Better progress tracking and performance analytics
  • Multilingual support

First Words ATF

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

NeuroNation

Subscriptions10
  • 3 Months - Subscription$10.993 Months
  • 6 Months - Subscription$10.996 Months
  • 3 Months - Subscription$13.993 Months
Show 7 more
  • NeuroNation Premium 1M plan$13.991 Month
  • 1 Month - Subscription App&Web$13.991 Month
  • 12 Months - Subscription$19.491 Year
  • 6 Months - Subscription$22.496 Months
  • 12 Months - Subscription$38.991 Year
  • NeuroNation Premium 12M plan$41.991 Year
  • Premium 12M plan+7D Free trial7 Days trial$57.991 Year
None

First Words ATF

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NeuroNation free?
NeuroNation is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is First Words ATF free?
First Words ATF costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do NeuroNation or First Words ATF have ads?
NeuroNation shows ads; First Words ATF does not.
Which is updated more often, NeuroNation or First Words ATF?
NeuroNation ships an update every 3 weeks, and First Words ATF every 2 months. Most recently, NeuroNation was updated on November 7, 2026 and First Words ATF on May 15, 2026.

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