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Compared
Dictionary apps without ads, and what each one costs.
Two dictionary apps on the iPhone carry no ads at any tier: Merriam-Webster Dictionary+ ($9.99, once) and Gloss (a membership after three free days); LookUp’s listing does not mention ads either. The rest are free with ads and sell their removal: $2.99 at Merriam-Webster, $5.99 at Farlex, $19.99 a year at Oxford. Dictionary.com stopped selling an ad-free version in July 2025. Here is the full list.
Why dictionary apps have ads
Because the dictionaries are free, and a free app with 300,000 ratings is an advertising business. That is not a complaint; it is what pays for the entries. But a dictionary is used in a particular way, in the middle of a sentence you were reading, and an interstitial at that moment costs more than it does in a game. The reviews say so: review-mining counts for Dictionary.com list “intrusive ads” first, with 45 mentions, Merriam-Webster’s list it first with 14, and one word-of-the-day app’s recent reviews describe 30-second ads whenever a word is opened. Economists have measured the cost: in a study of thousands of apps, in-app ads reduced demand by roughly what an 8% price increase would (Ghose and Han, Management Science, 2014). So the question for a reader is simple: what does it cost to make them stop.
| App | Price | Ads | Rating | Best for, and the catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merriam-Webster Dictionary | Free; Remove Ads $2.99; Premium $9.99 a year | Yes | 4.8 (330K) | The reference: every sense, usage notes, a word of the day with a podcastAds in the free app; the extras are paid |
| Merriam-Webster Dictionary+ | $9.99, once | No | 4.8 (22K) | The same dictionary with no ads, for one paymentOlder design; the Premium features are separate |
| Dictionary.com: English Words | Free | Yes | 4.8 (328K) | Dictionary, thesaurus and word of the day in one free appIn July 2025 it deleted every account and saved word list and removed its ad-free tier |
| Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus | Free; $19.99 a year; Premium $39.99, once | Yes | 4.6 (29K) | Etymology and offline use from a famous nameThe thesaurus and the audio sit behind Premium |
| Dictionary. by TheFreeDictionary | Free; ad-free $5.99 | Yes | 4.8 (15K) | Many dictionaries in one: medical, legal, idioms, a thesaurusCrowded; reviews call it overwhelming for a simple definition |
| LookUp: English Dictionary App | Free; LookUp+ $29.99 a year or $59.99, once | Not stated | 4.7 (3.1K) | A beautifully designed dictionary with a word of the day and a vocabulary builderThe good parts are in LookUp+ |
| Power Thesaurus | Free; PRO $29.99 a year | Yes | 4.8 (3.1K) | A crowd-built thesaurus with long synonym listsLists, not differences; ads in the free app |
| Vocabulary - Learn words daily | Free; $35.99–59.99 a year; $149.99, once | Yes | 4.8 (221K) | The word-of-the-day widget most people have, with gamesAds, and reviews about features moving behind the paywall |
| Word of the Day・Vocabulary | Free; $7.99 a week to $99.99 a year | Yes | 4.7 (38K) | A word a day, flashcards and word gamesAds; a weekly subscription option |
| Gloss | $39.99 a year after three days free; $5.99 a month; $129.99, once | No | New | Explains any word in the style you read: Plain, ADHD, Gen Z, Metaphor, Formal, or Like I’m 5; a word of the day chosen for your level; synonyms with the difference between them; games on spaced repetitionPaid after the trial; iPhone only; new, so few ratings yet |
The cheapest exits
Merriam-Webster, $2.99 once. The best deal on the list: the fullest dictionary there is, ads gone for the price of a coffee. Premium ($9.99 a year) adds specialist dictionaries you probably do not need. Farlex, $5.99 once for its everything-dictionary. Merriam-Webster Dictionary+, $9.99 once, if you would rather buy a separate app that was never built around ads.
The subscriptions
Oxford removes its ads with Premium, $19.99 a year or $39.99 once, which also opens the thesaurus and the audio; the free version is where the pop-ups live. LookUp does not mention ads in its listing, and its features are in LookUp+ at $29.99 a year or $59.99 once. Power Thesaurus PRO is $29.99 a year. Vocabulary by Monkey Taps runs $35.99 to $59.99 a year or $149.99 for life, and Vocabulous from $7.99 a week to $99.99 a year; both are free with ads otherwise, and both have reviews about features moving behind the paywall after the ads were removed.
The one with no exit
Dictionary.com used to sell Pro, an ad-free version. In July 2025 it removed it, deleted all user accounts and saved word lists, and offered no refunds (Ars Technica, via Slashdot, July 17, 2025). Today the free, ad-supported app is the only Dictionary.com app. If you want a dictionary with no ads, it is not on the list anymore.
Gloss: no ads, because you pay
Gloss is ours and it has no ads at any tier, for a plain reason: it is paid for by the people who use it ($39.99 a year after three free days, $5.99 a month, or $129.99 once). That also means no data is sold and nothing you type trains a model. It is not a free dictionary with the ads removed; it is a different kind of dictionary, one that writes the explanation in the style you read and then brings the word back until you keep it. If what you want is a reference without ads for a few dollars, buy Merriam-Webster’s Remove Ads. If what you want is to understand and keep the words you meet, try Gloss for three days.
The decision
- Under $5, once: Merriam-Webster Remove Ads ($2.99) or Farlex ($5.99).
- Never built around ads, once: Merriam-Webster Dictionary+ ($9.99), Gloss ($129.99 lifetime), AnkiMobile ($24.99, if you make your own cards).
- A subscription with more than ad removal: Oxford (thesaurus, audio), LookUp+ (collections, builder), Gloss (the explanations, the daily word, the games).
Questions people ask
Which dictionary app has no ads at all?
Merriam-Webster Dictionary+ ($9.99 once) and Gloss (paid after three free days) have no ads at any tier. Merriam-Webster, Oxford, Farlex and Power Thesaurus remove ads for a fee. Dictionary.com no longer offers an ad-free version.
How much does it cost to remove ads from Merriam-Webster?
$2.99, once, in the free Merriam-Webster Dictionary app. Premium is a separate $9.99-a-year tier with specialist dictionaries.
Does Dictionary.com have an ad-free version?
Not since July 2025, when it removed its Pro tier. It also deleted user accounts and saved word lists at the same time.
Is the iPhone’s built-in Look Up ad-free?
Yes. Select any word and tap Look Up. It is free, has no ads, and does not keep the words or help you learn them.
Facts about other apps were read from their US App Store listings on October 24, 2026: prices in US dollars, ratings and counts as the store showed them. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, write to us and we will fix it. Gloss is made by the people who wrote this page, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.
Sources
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