Competitor-published review, evidence labeled

Paladin: Learn History review — what a competitor can verify in 2026

By William Souef · Published September 1, 2026

What Paladin is

Paladin: Learn History is a story-driven history app sold by DEEPSTASH SRL, the company behind the Deepstash microlearning app. It is available on iOS and Android. The pitch on its official site is “Learn history the fun way — bite-sized stories, real history, five minutes per day,” with chronological exploration across periods such as Ancient Rome, Colonial America, and the Second World War, and figures from Tiberius to Alan Turing.

The format, per the official listing and site: short animated lessons built around individual people and pivotal moments, quizzes after lessons, characters you unlock and collect, and daily streaks. The publisher describes the content as historian fact-checked with “zero fiction.” The US listing carries a 12+ age rating with descriptors for cartoon and realistic violence — unsurprising for a war-heavy catalog.

Pricing: read the yearly offers carefully

The download is free, and Paladin's terms of service describe a limited free version. Full access is a “Pro” subscription. Here is the complete in-app purchase list from the US App Store on September 1, 2026:

Six yearly price points in one listing is a strong signal that the yearly offer is assigned during onboarding — likely varying by promotion, cohort, or discount screen. That is a common pattern in consumer subscription apps, not a Paladin-specific fault, but the practical advice is the same: do not accept the first yearly price you see without checking the purchase screen amount, and know that a $29.99 yearly SKU exists in the same listing as a $99.99 one.

In our August 2026 public-web check for the history app comparison, Paladin's web onboarding asked for an email address or Apple sign-in before showing a lesson or a final price. The native app's assigned paywall remains untested by us.

What we could verify — and what we could not

Who Paladin fits

Paladin vs Histia, stated fairly

Both apps sell short, story-first history for busy adults, so the honest comparison is about emphasis. Paladin's documented strengths are animation and game mechanics: collectibles, battles, and a strongly gamified loop. Histia's documented strengths are its interactive map and timeline spanning 3000 BCE to 2025 CE and its synchronized audio-and-text stories. On price, Histia's US listing shows $3.99 weekly, $7.99 monthly, and a $69.99 lifetime option; Paladin sells monthly, three-month, and yearly subscriptions with no lifetime SKU listed.

Histia's limitations, so you have both sides: it is iPhone-and-iPad only and requires iOS 18 or later — Paladin also ships on Android — and quiz questions on all but a handful of Histia stories are currently generic rather than story-specific. If Android or heavier gamification matters to you, Paladin is the better-documented fit; if map-based, chronological exploration matters more, Histia is.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Paladin history app free?

Paladin is free to download, and its terms of service describe a limited free version. Full access is sold as a Pro subscription: the US App Store listing shows $12.99 monthly, $24.99 for three months, and yearly prices ranging from $29.99 to $99.99. Which yearly offer you see likely depends on your onboarding path, so confirm the amount on the purchase screen.

Is Paladin good for learning history as an adult?

Its official materials target exactly that use: five-minute animated story lessons, quizzes, collectible characters, and streaks, with content the publisher describes as historian fact-checked. Its US listing shows a 4.6-star average across about 20,000 ratings. We have not tested the native lessons ourselves, so we cannot vouch for lesson quality first-hand.

Who makes the Paladin app?

The US App Store lists DEEPSTASH SRL as the seller — the company behind the Deepstash microlearning app. Paladin is available on both iOS and Android.

What is the best alternative to Paladin?

It depends on what you want to change. For history-only short stories with a map and timeline on iOS, Histia — our own app — is the closest documented fit. For a free structured curriculum, Khan Academy. For narrated stories with a genuinely free daily tier, Chunks. Our Paladin alternatives guide compares seven options with sources.