Apps Like Paladin: 5 Alternatives for Learning History

What is Paladin, exactly?

Paladin: Learn History is a mobile app from Deepstash SRL that turns historical figures into short animated, interactive stories, Cleopatra, Abraham Lincoln, Alan Turing, Nikola Tesla, Attila the Hun, Tiberius, and Marcus Aurelius among them, organized by period: Ancient Rome, Colonial America, WWII, and others. Each story takes about five minutes to finish.

Deepstash's own pitch is direct: "Every story is fact-checked by historians. Real events, real drama, zero fiction." After each lesson you take a quiz, and the app layers on 1v1 knowledge battles, character unlocks, streaks, badges across Essential, Rating, and Career tiers, themed paths, and occasional Deep Dives. It runs on iOS (App Store id6511242367) and Android (package com.learnpaladin). The pitch is squarely at people who want a habit, not a course: open the app, finish a story, take the quiz, keep a streak going, and move to the next figure on the timeline.

How much does Paladin cost, and is it worth it?

Paladin is free to download with a 7-day free trial, then a Pro subscription. The App Store listing shows prices from $12.99 a month up to $99.99 a year, though the exact price differs depending on which regional App Store listing you check. That inconsistency is a real complaint, not a minor one; people trying to figure out what they'll actually be charged run into different numbers depending on where they look.

The app has 4.6 out of 5 stars from about 20,000 ratings on the US App Store, a solid score for a subscription education app. Read the App Store reviews and press coverage past that average rating, and a pattern shows up: typos and grammatical errors, oversimplified or biased narratives, and quizzes that ask about details the preceding lesson never covered. Deepstash has acknowledged this publicly and says the content library is updated regularly, so it's a known problem the company is working on, not a hidden one.

What's the best free alternative to Paladin?

Khan Academy and Crash Course are both free with no subscription tier, which makes them the obvious first stop if Paladin's $12.99-and-up pricing is the sticking point. They're built for people who want real depth or exam prep, not a five-minute daily habit.

Khan Academy's World History Project AP course is aligned to the College Board's AP World History: Modern exam and built with the OER Project, with articles and videos written by historians and academics. It also runs a broader World History Project and a WHP Origins course for people who aren't taking the AP exam. The format is long articles, videos, and practice exercises, closer to a textbook than a game.

Crash Course took the opposite approach to depth: speed. John Green hosted the original World History series when the channel launched on January 26, 2012, and Hank Green co-founded it; PBS Digital Studios partnered with the channel starting in November 2014 and helped it expand into other subjects and hosts. It now has more than 17 million subscribers and 2.2 billion views. Episodes run 10 to 15 minutes, fast and often funny, with no quiz loop, no streaks, and no hearts pushing you back in. If Paladin's game layer is the reason you liked it in the first place, Crash Course won't replace that; it trades the game for a free lecture, nothing more.

What's the best alternative to Paladin for people who want more depth?

History Hit and The Great Courses Plus both trade Paladin's five-minute format for course-length or documentary-length content, at a real subscription price. Neither one is trying to be a quick daily habit; both assume you're sitting down for a while. History Hit leans toward documentary and podcast; The Great Courses Plus leans toward college lecture.

History Hit is a documentary and podcast subscription built around historian and broadcaster Dan Snow, with more than 1,000 on-demand programmes, new originals added weekly, offline downloads, and a podcast network featuring historians like Suzannah Lipscomb, Eleanor Janega, and James Holland. The UK App Store lists it at £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year, which works out to roughly four months free if you pay annually, and it has a 4.6/5 rating from 777 ratings on that listing.

The Great Courses Plus (branded as Wondrium from 2021 until June 2024) has more than 20,000 lectures overall, with 7,500+ concentrated in its Signature tier's core academic subjects, including history. These are traditional lecture-format videos, professors teaching structured courses, usually 30 to 45 minutes a session. It costs $20 a month, $45 a quarter, or $150 a year, with a 14-day free trial.

Is there an audio alternative to Paladin?

Noiser is the closest audio match to what Paladin is trying to do with serialized history storytelling, just much longer per episode and without visuals or quizzes. It's a podcast company, not an app, so there's no streak counter or badge tier, only episodes.

Founded in 2020 by TV producer Pascal Hughes, Noiser makes shows like Real Dictators, hosted by actor Paul McGann with input from historians and eyewitnesses, and Short History Of..., both distributed through Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which has a first-look deal with the network. The BBC started featuring several Noiser originals on BBC Sounds under a non-exclusive rights deal in 2024. A Noiser+ subscription through Apple Podcasts or Supporting Cast adds ad-free listening, early episode access, and bonus content. Episodes run 20 to 40-plus minutes, a commute-length listen rather than a five-minute break.

Where does Vellum fit as a Paladin alternative?

We make Vellum, one of the products on this list, so keep that in mind. Every fact above is sourced, and we've tried to be straight about where competitors are genuinely better. Vellum posts a free 90-second, fact-checked, serialized "case" about history's power plays daily on TikTok (@vellumstory) and Instagram (@vellum.story).

Each case covers something like an empire that collapsed, a con that worked, or a decision that changed everything. On screen, we flag contested historical claims instead of stating them as settled fact. That's the opposite of Paladin's "zero fiction" pitch, applied to disputes historians still argue about. Here's the honest limitation. Unlike Paladin, History Hit, or The Great Courses Plus, Vellum doesn't have an installable app yet. It's live on social now, with a native app for the App Store and Google Play coming later. Against Paladin's 4.6-star, 20,000-review track record, Vellum has no public rating or install count to point to, because there's no app yet to rate.

If you want the app version when it ships, the waitlist is open at vellumstory.com, and the first 200 people to join get three months free at launch.

Quick answers

Is Paladin free to use?
Paladin is free to download and comes with a 7-day free trial. After that it needs a Pro subscription, listed on the App Store from $12.99 a month up to $99.99 a year. The exact price differs by region, so check the current in-app price before you subscribe.

What's the best Paladin alternative for a student studying for an exam?
Khan Academy's World History Project AP course is the strongest fit. It's free, aligned to the College Board's AP World History: Modern exam, built with the OER Project, and written by historians and academics, which makes it closer to exam prep than a quiz-game habit like Paladin's.

Does Vellum have an app like Paladin's?
Not yet. Vellum currently posts a free daily 90-second history video on TikTok (@vellumstory) and Instagram (@vellum.story); a native app for the App Store and Google Play is coming but doesn't exist yet. That's a real gap next to Paladin's existing, installable app.