Vellum vs Paladin

What is Paladin, and what is Vellum?

Paladin: Learn History is a mobile app from Deepstash SRL. It turns historical figures into short animated stories, about five minutes each, then a quiz. The App Store listing puts names like Cleopatra and Abraham Lincoln in front. The company's own site is blunt: "Every story is fact-checked by historians. Real events, real drama, zero fiction." It runs on iOS, App Store id 6511242367, and Android, package com.learnpaladin. You keep a streak, unlock characters, fight 1v1 knowledge battles, and walk a timeline. That is a real product, with real ratings, that you can download this afternoon.

Vellum is different in kind, not just in length. We post a free 90-second case every day on TikTok (@vellumstory) and Instagram (@vellum.story). Each case is a true power story: a con that worked, a debt a king erased by erasing the creditor, a board that fired its founder. On screen we flag the claims historians still fight over. Then we name the play, so you can retell it at dinner without fumbling the details.

We make Vellum. Keep that in mind as you read. The comparison below is sourced, and Paladin wins some of it on purpose.

Where does Paladin actually win?

On the thing that matters if you want an app tonight: Paladin exists. You can install it, finish a lesson, take the quiz, and keep a streak. Vellum cannot match that. Our native app is coming. It is not in the App Store or on Google Play yet. Against Paladin's 4.6-star, roughly 20,000-review record, we have no public rating to point to, because there is nothing to rate.

The quiz loop is the other honest win. Paladin is built as a habit machine. Lesson, quiz, badge, next figure. If that is how you learn, Vellum's current social posts will feel thin. We do not quiz you in the TikTok comment thread. A lot of people searching "Vellum vs Paladin" want exactly that loop, and Paladin already ships it.

Ratings are a Paladin win too. 4.6 from about 20,000 US App Store reviews is a serious score for a paid education app. Read past the average and a pattern shows up in reviews and in the Educational App Store write-up: typos, oversimplified or biased narratives, quizzes that ask about details the lesson never covered. Deepstash has said the library is updated regularly. That is a known quality problem, not a hidden one. It does not erase the rating, and I will not pretend it does.

Where does Vellum win?

Format, first. Ninety seconds is a different bet from five minutes. Paladin wants you inside the app. We want you to leave the video with one named model you can actually say out loud. Embarrassment lock. A debt is only as safe as the creditor is powerful. That is the dinner-party test. If you cannot retell it, it did not work.

Fact-flags are the second win, and the one I would not trade. Paladin's "zero fiction" line is a marketing claim. History is full of sources that disagree. Victor Lustig's second sale of the Eiffel Tower is one of those fights; we flag it on the case file. The Templar curse is legend; the debt relief is not. We mark that split on the Templars file. Paladin's pitch treats "fact-checked by historians" as a finished stamp. We treat it as a process you can see.

Price is the third. Vellum is free on social today. Paladin is free to download with a 7-day trial, then Pro, listed from $12.99 a month to $99.99 a year, with several yearly prices on the same App Store page. If you want more Paladin-shaped alternatives, we already ranked them in Apps like Paladin.

How much does each one cost?

Paladin is free to download and comes with a 7-day free trial. After that it needs a Pro subscription. The US App Store currently lists a monthly plan at $12.99 and yearly plans at several points, including $29.99, $59.99, $69.99, $79.99, $89.99, and $99.99, plus a three-month plan at $24.99. That scatter is a real complaint, not a nitpick. Check the in-app price before you subscribe, not a screenshot from last month's review.

Vellum is free on TikTok and Instagram. The waitlist for the app is open. The first 200 people to join get three months free when it ships, and we do not ask for a card today. Browse the case files in the meantime; they are the readable version of the same stories.

Which one should you pick?

If you want an installable history habit with quizzes, pick Paladin. It is the better product for that job, today. That is not a hedge. A live 4.6-star app with a quiz after every lesson beats a waitlist, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a slide.

If you want a 90-second power story you can retell, with the disputed parts marked on screen, pick Vellum. Start with a case, watch it on social, and join the waitlist if you want the app version when it ships.

You can use both. Paladin for the quiz streak. Vellum for the story you actually repeat at dinner. If you want the Vellum app when it ships, the waitlist is at vellumstory.com.

Quick answers

Is Vellum a Paladin alternative?
Yes, if what you want is short, true-story history. No, if what you want is an installable quiz app today. Paladin ships on iOS and Android. Vellum is free on TikTok and Instagram, with a native app coming. We make Vellum.

Does Paladin have better ratings than Vellum?
Paladin has a 4.6 out of 5 rating from about 20,000 US App Store reviews. Vellum has no public App Store rating yet, because the native app is not out. That is a Paladin win, and we say so.

Which is cheaper, Vellum or Paladin?
Vellum is free on social today. Paladin is free to download with a 7-day trial, then Pro from $12.99 a month to $99.99 a year on the US App Store, with several yearly prices listed. Check the current in-app price before you subscribe.

Does Vellum fact-check like Paladin claims to?
Paladin markets itself with "zero fiction" and historian fact-checking. Vellum puts fact-flags on screen when sources still disagree, and publishes a source note on each case file. We think you should see the fight, not a stamp.