Stella* vs Peapod
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Stella*
This app is a user-oriented information gathering tool that optimizes web content for easy reading on any device. It offers customizable appearance, intuitive navigation, and offline reading capabilities, allowing users to control their information sources without relying on external services.
- Optimized web content rendering
- Customizable font sizes and themes
- Intuitive and animated UI
- Offline article storage
- Extensible information sources
- One-handed operation support
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Stella News Reader is a new generation information-gathering tool that is designed to be completely "User-Oriented". Often the information you get from the web can get easily lost in annoying noise, with the character size lacking consistency from site to site and it being difficult to identify important sections, so finding what is truly necessary can be a struggle. This app is equipped with a powerful embedded optimize engine, and publicly published html contents are automatically converted to the display most appropriate for each device, to make, as it were, one unified application UI. Freed from the need to load unnecessary elements, the app operates at high speeds and as the user can freely change the outer appearance and choose the format that the user feels easiest for them to read, the focus can be purely on the content. Users completely take the initiative in relation to the information with unlimited sources of information and the user can expand the source by adding feeds in the same way as with normal readers. Moreover, the UI has been designed carefully in order to enable optimization of screen sizes and rotations for each device, and through extensive use of animation, operation is highly intuitive. Stella is a completely stand alone reader, and can be used without reliance on external services or accounts. You can use the app without divulging your personal information, receiving junk mails or being faced with the possibility of the providers stopping the service. Key Features: - iPhone 6/6 Plus & iOS 8 are fully supported. - All webpages are concurrently parsed by the app's machine learning engine and, rendered as in human-readable appearance form. - Font sizes and themes are customizable for easy reading. You can also select the same appearance as Safari. - Intuitive & animated UI. You can always keep one-handed operation even on landscape mode of iPhone 6 Plus. - No setup is required. In its initial state, the app shows news that is buzzed on major social media. - Sources are extensible as in the manner you like. The app can also be used as an ordinary RSS reader. - Article storing functionality gives you the ability for offline reading. If original pages are deleted from the net, you can keep them forever. - Folders to classify for later reading. Future Updates: We'll work on diversification of available sources and improvements of the app's in-depth customizability, etc.
Peapod
A podcast player designed for simplicity and reliability, focusing on your subscribed content. It offers a clean interface and automatic queue updates, with optional premium features for enhanced listening.
- Streamlined library
- Smart queue updates
- Clean interface
- Listening statistics
- Customization options
- Custom playback speeds
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Peapod is a tiny podcast app with no algorithms, no social graph, and no features powered by AI. - New episodes are automatically added to the queue - All data is automatically synced across devices using the same Apple ID - Built for iOS and macOS, with CarPlay For a small fee you can unlock some extras - Listening activity - Custom app icons Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Peapod at 5.0 against Stella*'s 3.5. Peapod also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 64%) and update cadence (every 11 days vs every 5 weeks). Stella*'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (18 vs 2). 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. Peapod sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Stella* asks for nothing beyond the download.
Peapod holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Stella* has 18 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Stella*'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Peapod's.
Stella* ships an update every 5 weeks, Peapod every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on August 31, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Stella* | Peapod |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (18 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 64.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 18 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | OwletLabs LLC | Brady Valentino |
Customer experience
Stella*
Peapod
In-app purchases
Stella*
No in-app purchases
Peapod
- Peapod+ Monthly$2.991 Month
- Peapod+ Lifetime$99.99









