ELSB Lite vs Clicker Writer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ELSB Lite
This app provides systematic instruction for print and phonemic awareness, featuring seven levels and ongoing assessments for personalized student progress. Research supports its effectiveness as a literacy program.
- Systematic print and phonemic awareness instruction
- Seven distinct learning levels
- Ongoing student assessments
- Personalized progress tracking
- Research-backed effectiveness
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The Early Literacy Skills Builder app incorporates systematic instruction to teach both print and phonemic awareness. ELSB is a multi-year program with seven distinct levels and ongoing assessments so students progress at their own pace. Note: This free version comes with level 1 - Lesson 1 and Level 5 - lesson 1. Full levels can be purchased from the in-app store. Five years of solid research have been completed through the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, proving ELSB to be a highly effective literacy program and more effective than a sight-word only program. ELSB is based upon the principles of systematic and direct instruction. It incorporates scripted lessons, least-prompt strategies, teachable objectives, built-in lesson repetition, and ongoing assessments. The seven ELSB levels contain five structured lessons each. All students begin at Level 1. Instruction is one-on-one or in small groups. Teach scripted lessons daily in two 30-minute sessions. On the completion of each level, formal assessments are given. ELSB includes everything you need to implement a multi-year literacy curriculum.
Clicker Writer
This writing tool supports students of all abilities, from ages 5-11, to build confidence and improve their writing skills. It offers features like speech feedback, word prediction, and customizable grids with pictures to aid sentence construction and vocabulary development.
- Speech feedback for reviewing writing
- Clicker Grids for sentence building
- Picture-enhanced word banks
- Intelligent word prediction
- Voice notes for prompts
- SuperKeys for accessibility
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THE WRITING TOOL FOR SCHOOLS Develop students’ writing skills and build struggling writers’ confidence with Clicker Writer - the writing tool that provides differentiated support for students of all abilities. Continuously developed by Crick Software for over 30 years, the Clicker product range is used in thousands of schools around the world. REVIEW WRITING WITH CLEAR SPEECH Students use the child-friendly keyboard to type into the simple word processor, and a range of speech options encourages them to review what they have written. This helps students find and correct errors for themselves, enabling them to become more independent writers. BUILD WRITING CONFIDENCE WITH CLICKER GRIDS Clicker Grids provide students with point and click access to whole words and phrases. Beginner writers build sentences word-by-word, while developing writers use topic-based word banks to complement their keyboard writing. Browse LearningGrids directly from the app to access hundreds of free sets of Clicker Grids on a wide range of topics - or use the built-in editor (which now includes Cai, our amazing AI assistant) to create your own in seconds! USE SYMBOLS AND PICTURES FOR EXTRA SUPPORT Clicker Writer’s Picturize tool makes it easy to add symbols or pictures to support understanding and writing across Clicker Grids, the spell checker, the word predictor, and your document. It includes 10,000 Widgit symbols and 4,500 curriculum pictures, and you can also add your own images. DEVELOP VOCABULARY AND SPELLING WITH WORD PREDICTION The intelligent word predictor suggests words that fit the context of students’ writing, helping them to use good vocabulary and create flowing text with accurate spelling. CHECK WORDS BEFORE THEY ARE USED Learners can listen to words before they write them, helping them to find the word they want and achieve writing success. Any word in a Clicker Grid or the predictor can be heard before it is used by using our unique Sound Shift tool. ADD VOICE NOTES Voice Notes are a simple yet highly effective way for students to add their own prompts, so they don’t forget their train of thought – add them to the document at any time. WRITING TO BE PROUD OF The child-friendly Sassoon font included in the app makes Clicker documents look great. Save and print your documents directly on your device, or share them with Clicker Writer on your PC, Mac or Chromebook via Google Drive or OneDrive. Whatever your students’ current level, you’ll watch their confidence grow and their motivation soar as they experience writing success! ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL To make access easier for those with physical challenges, the unique SuperKeys option groups the letter keys into clusters, creating just six large areas to target. Just select the cluster containing the letter you want, then choose the letter in the enlarged cluster. Colors and font sizes can be customized for enhanced visibility. ORGANIZE IDEAS WITH CLICKER BOARD Organizing ideas is an important first step in the writing process, and one that many learners struggle with. Clicker Board is a child-friendly mind mapping area that makes it easy to capture and organize thoughts using words, Voice Notes, and pictures.
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Clicker Writer at free against ELSB Lite's free with in-app purchases. ELSB Lite's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. ELSB Lite sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Clicker Writer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ELSB Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of ELSB Lite's written reviews are positive against 43% of Clicker Writer's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ELSB Lite | Clicker Writer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better | 4.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 42.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 236 MB | 174 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Attainment Company | Crick Software |
Customer experience
ELSB Lite
Clicker Writer
In-app purchases
ELSB Lite
- Level 1$21.99
- Level 2$21.99
- Level 3$21.99
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- Level 4$21.99
- Level 5$21.99
- Level 6$21.99
- Level 7$21.99
Clicker Writer
- Clicker Writer In-App Purchase$350.00









