Comparison

Rhode Tour vs The Great Courses

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

Head to head
About

Rhode Tour

Explore Rhode Island's rich heritage and culture through an interactive GPS-enabled map. Discover historical locations with detailed information, archival images, and media. Access content online or via the mobile app.

Highlights
  • Interactive GPS-enabled map
  • Historical location information
  • Archival images and media
  • Heritage and culture exploration
  • Coastal to coast coverage
Read full description

Rhode Tour places the heritage and culture of Rhode Island at your fingertips with this free Smartphone app. Known as the “Ocean State,” Rhode Island is filled with interesting stories, captivating places, and intriguing people from coast to coast. With a growing list of interpretive stories, each point on the interactive GPS-enabled map includes historical information about the location, along with historic images and media from archival collections and historical publications. The information on the app may also be accessed by visiting the project website at rhodetour.org. Rhode Tour is brought to you by the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.

About

The Great Courses

Access thousands of educational videos from world-renowned professors and experts. Explore a vast range of subjects, from history and science to personal development, with flexible learning options available online and offline. Start your learning journey with a free trial.

Highlights
  • Thousands of educational videos
  • Courses by world-class professors
  • Diverse subject matter
  • Online and offline access
  • Flexible learning pace
  • Free trial available
Features
Read full description

Unlock your potential with The Great Courses, the premier platform for online courses that offers a wealth of educational videos to help you explore, learn, and grow in a wide variety of subjects. The Great Courses specializes in courses taught by the world’s greatest professors and experts covering diverse topics such as history, science, math, philosophy, religion, literature, health, travel, personal & professional development, and more. It’s the place to experience the pure joy of learning—anytime, anywhere. The Great Courses ensures an engaging and enriching learning experience for all. Catering to learners of all skill levels and interests, our platform provides the flexibility to deep-dive into specific topics or explore a variety of subjects at your leisure. The Great Courses grants seamless online and offline access to our extensive library of online courses, empowering you to learn and grow at your own pace. Existing users can sign in to access their purchases and subscription content, while new users can register and subscribe directly within the app to access thousands of educational videos online and offline for one low price. Optimized for iOS 15 and higher, The Great Courses offers a variety of subscription plans, along with a Free Trial to start your educational journey. Payment Details: - Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period - Subscriptions may be managed or canceled by accessing your Apple account - If you cancel during a Free Trial period, you will have access until the end of the trial period Privacy Policy: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/Privacy Terms of Service: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/TOS

Screenshots

Rhode Tour4 screens
The Great Courses4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Rhode Tour at none against The Great Courses's 3. Rhode Tour also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). The Great Courses's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (17K vs 2). On price, ads, device support and 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

Both are free to download. The Great Courses sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Rhode Tour asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Rhode Tour holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Great Courses has 17K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rhode Tour ships an update every 4 months, The Great Courses fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Rhode Tour versus The Great Courses: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRhode TourThe Great Courses
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.8 (17K ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings217K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#95 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB120 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCleveland State University Research CorporationThe Great Courses

Customer experience

Rhode Tour

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

The Great Courses

All ratings17,169 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%

Bugs and requests

Rhode Tour

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

The Great Courses

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • Audio goes out of sync with video
  • App constantly logs users out
  • Downloading content doesn't work offline
Show 3 more
  • Playback issues when switching between audio and video
  • Inconsistent behavior when pausing/resuming playback
  • Poor navigation and course tracking

Requested features

8 requests
  • Can we get a ton of courses on AI please, it's a mite urgent
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
  • Allow audio-only downloads
  • Ability to download an entire course in one go
Show 3 more
  • Ability to browse other content while playing a lecture
  • Note-taking during content and live closed captioning
  • Ratings and reviews for content

In-app purchases

None

Rhode Tour

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

The Great Courses

Subscriptions3
  • TGCPlus Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Quarterly Subscription7 Days trial$44.993 Months
  • TGCPlus Annual Subscription7 Days trial$149.991 Year

Questions

Is Rhode Tour free?
Rhode Tour is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is The Great Courses free?
The Great Courses is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Rhode Tour or The Great Courses?
Rhode Tour is rated higher. Rhode Tour averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while The Great Courses averages 4.8 from 17K ratings.
Do Rhode Tour or The Great Courses have ads?
Neither Rhode Tour nor The Great Courses shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Rhode Tour or The Great Courses?
Rhode Tour ships an update every 4 months, and The Great Courses fortnightly. Most recently, Rhode Tour was updated on October 4, 2026 and The Great Courses on October 26, 2026.

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