Reading Apps for Kids Compared: The Free and Paid Learn-to-Read Apps, by Age

There are more reading apps than any parent has time to try. The good news: the best-known ones all teach reading the same way schools do, through phonics. The real differences are price, the age they start at, whether they run in a browser, and how much else comes with them.

This page compares them all on those things, and ends with what to look for in any reading app. It's written by the dad who makes Tiny Hands Learn: Reading, which is free, so read it knowing that. I've tried to be fair: several of these are free too, and some are better than ours for older children.

The comparison

Details are from each app's own website and its US App Store and Google Play pages, checked on 1 November 2026. Prices change and vary by country.

The best by age

Two to three: sounds and stories. At this age a child can't read instructions, so pick an app that says everything out loud, with big pictures and nothing to read. Khan Academy Kids and Tiny Hands Learn: Reading both start at two. Keep sessions to a few minutes, and keep reading aloud together.

Three to five: first letter sounds and blending. This is where phonics apps shine. Free: Starfall, Teach Your Monster to Read (on a computer), Duolingo ABC, Tiny Hands Learn. Paid: Reading Eggs, HOMER, Hooked on Phonics. Our guide when can a child start learning to read? has the signs your child is ready.

Five to seven: reading real books. Once a child can blend, they need lots of easy books. Starfall's membership, Reading Eggs and Hooked on Phonics go further than the free apps here, and Epic is a big library of books for children who can already read a little.

Where Tiny Hands fits

Tiny Hands Learn: Reading is free for every family, for good: no subscription, no ads, kept going by donations. We believe every child, wherever they're born and whatever their family can afford, deserves an early start on reading.

It teaches the way schools do: every letter by its sound, in the usual phonics order, then blending, writing and little stories. Bubba the whale says everything out loud, so a two-year-old can start before they can read a word. It runs in any browser, so a family with only a laptop or a desktop computer can use it too: not every family has a tablet. A grown-up makes a free account first, so each child's progress is kept. It covers the early years best; for children already reading books, the paid apps above go further.

What to look for in a reading app

1. Phonics, in order. Sounds first, a few at a time, then blending them into words. Avoid apps that only teach letter names or whole words to memorise.
2. Clean sounds. /m/, not "muh". Listen to a few. Our guide on how to teach letter sounds explains why.
3. Everything said out loud for children who can't read yet.
4. Short sessions that end on their own, so stopping isn't a fight.
5. No ads. A young child can't tell an ad from the game. Every app above says it has none, except Hooked on Phonics, which doesn't say either way.
6. Writing too. Tracing and writing letters helps the sounds stick.

And whatever app you choose, keep reading together every day. Our guide on how to teach your child to read and write at home shows how.

More comparisons

• Reading Eggs alternatives
• Khan Academy Kids alternatives
• ABCmouse alternatives
• Free educational apps with no ads