A comparison written by one of the two

Clareza Academy vs Starfall

We make one of these, so read this the way you would read any comparison written by a seller. What we can do is be specific about our own product, accurate about the shape of theirs, and honest about where they are the better answer. Their current price is on their site, not on this page, and the reason is at the bottom.

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What Starfall is

Starfall is a long-running website and app for early learners, best known for phonics and early reading activities, with math and more for the youngest grades. Many activities are free, with a membership for the rest.

The pricing difference that actually decides it

Free activities plus a paid membership. Check their site for what is free today.

Clareza is $29 a month for every child in the household, month to month, with no per-child seats and no course limits. That is $348 a year whether you have one child or four, or $290 a year on the annual plan. The first 30 days are free, a card is taken and nothing is charged until day 30, and cancelling before then costs nothing.

The comparison to run is the same either way: monthly price, times the number of children, times twelve.

Check Starfall's current pricing on their own site →

When Starfall is the better choice

  • You want to start for free. Much of Starfall costs nothing. Clareza is $29 a month after 30 free days.
  • You want light, playful practice to go with what you already teach.

Where Clareza is different

Clara does the talking part

Clara, the teacher built into every lesson, says each sound, plays the blending and sound games out loud, and responds to what your child answers. She is an AI and can be wrong, so stay close by.

A course in order, not a collection

Learning to Read is one sequence: 36 weeks from four letter sounds to reading a real book, with each lesson building on the sounds before it.

Every practice word is one they can sound out

Learning to Read starts with four sounds, s, a, t and p, and your child blends their first word, at, in week one. Every practice word, and every wrong choice beside it, is checked to use only sounds already taught.

One price for the household

$29 a month covers every child in the family and every course from kindergarten to Grade 12, so the reading course is not a separate purchase.

Start 30 days free

Or read all 71 courses first and compare the actual sequences. That door needs nothing from you at all.

Look inside all 71 courses firstEvery unit, every skill, every objective. No account, no card.

or start now

What grade(s)? (optional)

Free for 30 days. We take a card now and charge nothing until then. $29 a month after that, for every child in the family. Cancel anytime in a couple of taps. Cancel before day 30 and you pay nothing at all.

Before your child starts: what we collect and why

We collect only what it takes to teach your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers and progress, and their chat with Clara (written by Anthropic's AI, read aloud by OpenAI). Nobody trains AI on it or sells it, and you can see or delete it any time. You create your child's account yourself. Paying by card is how you give consent.

Read what we collect and why

Your consent is needed before we collect anything from your child, and we collect nothing without it. You create your child's account yourself; they never sign up alone.

  • What we collect from your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers, time on lessons and progress, and their chat with Clara. Used to run the lessons, build their transcript and show you how they are doing.
  • Who else handles it: Anthropic (an AI company) receives the chat text and the lesson, with your child's first name but no last name or account details, to write Clara's replies. That is how Clara works, so it is part of the service. If you switch on answering out loud for a child, their voice is turned into text on our own server and then discarded; it is never sent to another company. OpenAI turns lesson text and Clara's replies (which can include your child's first name) into the read-aloud voice. Our email provider sends you reports about your child. Nobody trains AI on your child's data, and nobody sells it.
  • Your rights: see everything collected from your child, have it deleted, or stop further collection at any time, from your account or by emailingour support address. If you refuse the AI sharing above, Clara cannot teach, so the service cannot run. Chats are deleted after 30 days.
  • Safety: if your child writes something suggesting they may be hurt or in danger, we email you and Clareza's owner the same day.

Paying by card is how you give consent. Full details, including how long we keep each thing: Privacy Policy (version 2026-10-05).

By continuing you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

Rather see it first? Try a full lesson free

Questions parents ask

Is Starfall enough to teach reading?

Many families use it, and it is a fair question for them to judge. Clareza is built as a full taught course, which is the main difference.

Is Clareza free?

No. The first 30 days are free, a card is taken, and nothing is charged until day 30. After that it is $29 a month for the family.

Other comparisons

Clareza vs Time4Learning →Clareza vs Miacademy →Clareza vs Power Homeschool →Clareza vs Khan Academy →Clareza vs The Good and the Beautiful →Clareza vs Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool →Clareza vs Teaching Textbooks →Clareza vs CTC Math →Clareza vs IXL →Clareza vs BJU Press Homeschool →Clareza vs Abeka →Clareza vs Sonlight →Clareza vs Math-U-See →Clareza vs Beast Academy →Clareza vs Outschool →Clareza vs Singapore Math →Clareza vs Calvert →Clareza vs K12 (Stride) →Clareza vs Connections Academy →Clareza vs Monarch →Clareza vs Bridgeway Academy →Clareza vs Oak Meadow →Clareza vs Master Books →Clareza vs BookShark →Clareza vs Moving Beyond the Page →Clareza vs Build Your Library →Clareza vs Blossom and Root →Clareza vs Torchlight →Clareza vs Saxon Math →Clareza vs Math Mammoth →Clareza vs RightStart Math →Clareza vs Art of Problem Solving →Clareza vs Zearn →Clareza vs Prodigy →Clareza vs All About Reading →Clareza vs Logic of English →Clareza vs Hooked on Phonics →Clareza vs Reading Eggs →Clareza vs ABCmouse →Clareza vs Brave Writer →Clareza vs IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) →Clareza vs Adventure Academy →Clareza vs Duolingo →Clareza vs Kumon →Clareza vs Acellus Academy →

Why there is no price for Starfall on this page

We checked in September 2026 and the sources contradicted each other, including the companies' own pages against the review sites. Publishing a competitor's price that turns out to be wrong is unfair to them and useless to you, and any figure here would be out of date within a month anyway. Ours is above, because it is ours and we can stand behind it. Theirs is one click away, on their site, where it is current.