Khan Academy is live · free plan, paid from $44/yr · last verified 26 Oct 2026 · viability healthy
Khan Academy
Free K-12 learning platform with 10,000+ video lessons and the Khanmigo AI tutor for step-by-step guidance
Khan Academy is still the strongest free K-12 supplement you can hand a student, and the mastery learning system plus adaptive practice do real remediation work that a video library alone can't. Khanmigo is worth the $44/year subscription if you want an AI tutor that asks questions instead of dumping answers — that design choice is what separates it from a general chatbot. The gaps are structural: no accreditation, no live human instruction, and content that thins out past high school. If you need live tutoring with certification, look at outschool.com; for advanced professional coursework, Coursera covers ground Khan Academy doesn't.
Verdict generatedVerified 4d ago · liveness 94/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/khan-academy
- K-12 students seeking free math and science practice with AI tutoring
- Teachers supplementing classroom instruction with adaptive exercises and analytics
- Parents monitoring and supporting child's learning at home
- Self-learners preparing for SAT or standardized tests
- Learners needing formal accredited degrees or certifications
- Advanced professionals seeking specialized niche skills training
- Those preferring live human instruction or real-time feedback
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Skip Khan Academy if you need an accredited degree, live human tutoring, or college-level and professional coursework — its depth fades past high school and Khanmigo's AI tutoring is limited to certain countries including the US, Canada, and the UK.
Khanmigo is billed as a $44/year subscription and isn't part of the free tier, so the AI tutor and Writing Coach both sit behind that annual fee.
The core curriculum is free, which already undercuts paid edtech subscriptions at every stage. Khanmigo adds $44/year — far below the cost of private human tutoring, and in the same range as consumer edtech subscriptions, but with no per-seat enterprise contract. Teams comparing against paid classroom platforms should weigh that Khan Academy's paid piece is a single annual AI add-on, not a full per-seat license.
In short
Khan Academy — Free K-12 learning platform with 10,000+ video lessons and the Khanmigo AI tutor for step-by-step guidance. Best for K-12 students seeking free math and science practice with AI tutoring, Teachers supplementing classroom instruction with adaptive exercises and analytics, Parents monitoring and supporting child's learning at home. Free to start; paid plans from $44/yr.
What is Khan Academy?
Khan Academy — Free K-12 learning platform with 10,000+ video lessons and the Khanmigo AI tutor for step-by-step guidance. Best for K-12 students seeking free math and science practice with AI tutoring, Teachers supplementing classroom instruction with adaptive exercises and analytics, Parents monitoring and supporting child's learning at home. Free to start; paid plans from $44/yr.
Khan Academy is a non-profit education platform covering K-12 math, science, and humanities with a library of more than 10,000 video lessons, adaptive practice exercises, and a mastery learning system that keeps students on a topic until they demonstrate they've understood it. It is free to use, funded as a non-profit rather than by subscriptions for the core curriculum. The AI layer is Khanmigo, a tutor that works through problems with you step by step — asking probing questions and offering hints rather than handing over answers. Khanmigo also covers teacher-facing work such as lesson planning and classroom support, plus a Writing Coach that gives feedback on essays. Khan Academy Kids is a separate app for early learners. Students, teachers, and parents can all track progress, and the platform includes test prep for the SAT, MCAT, and other standardized exams. Mobile apps for iOS and Android let you practice away from a desktop. Khanmigo sits behind a paid subscription rather than the free tier, and its availability is limited to certain countries including the US, Canada, and the UK. Content depth thins out past high school, so college-level and niche professional training are outside its scope. Google Classroom, Clever, Edmodo, Canvas, and Schoology integrations let schools drop Khan Academy into existing workflows. Treat it as a supplement to formal instruction and a practice ground for fundamentals, not an accredited credential.
Key features
- Khanmigo AI tutor with step-by-step guidance and hints
- Over 10,000 video lessons
- Adaptive practice exercises with instant feedback
- Mastery learning system that gates advancement
- Interactive challenges and quizzes
- Progress tracking for students and parents
- K-12 math and science curriculum
- SAT and MCAT test prep
- Teacher dashboard for classroom management
- Parent tools for monitoring learning
- Writing Coach AI for essay feedback
- AI-powered lesson planning for teachers
- Khan Academy Kids app for early learners
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Google Classroom integration
Our long-form take written Jul 31, 2026 is more than 90 days old, so it is being re-reviewed against current data and is not shown.
Models under the hood
as of 2026-10-23
Limitations
- Khanmigo AI tutoring is currently available only in certain countries (US, Canada, UK).
- Content depth fades for advanced topics beyond high school, so it's not suited for college-level or niche professional training.
- There is no live human instruction; if you need real-time feedback from a tutor, this platform won't deliver it.
- The free tier lacks the AI tutor and Writing Coach, which require a $44/year subscription.
- Video lessons need a stable internet connection, and offline learning is not supported.
as of 2026-10-01
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Is Khan Academy still active?
Khan Academy is live · free plan, paid from $44/yr · last verified 26 Oct 2026 · viability healthy.
Viability score
How well maintained and how widely used is Khan Academy? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →What do users say about Khan Academy?
What people actually say about Khan Academy — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
Researched77 mentions across 5 sources (Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt, App Store, Lemmy) · researched Oct 13, 2026.
Weighted by the 93 posts each of 5 sources contributed.
- +Genuinely free core curriculum with no subscription required for K-12 content
- +Over 10,000 video lessons spanning math, science, and humanities
- +Mastery learning lets students repeat topics until they demonstrate understanding
- +Strong for special education and self-paced repetition, per teacher feedback
- +Breadth of academic coverage praised repeatedly in 5-star App Store reviews
- −Too few practice questions per segment, with identical questions on retakes
- −Hint scaffolding widely described as weak and not genuinely instructive
- −Khanmigo is paywalled and unavailable outside select countries
- −Mobile Khanmigo chat forces users out of the conversation to read or type
- −Some users report quiz content that feels off-topic versus the video
- • Khanmigo subscription is required to access any AI tutoring, which many users assume is part of the free product
- • Geo-restrictions mean some paying-intent users outside the US, Canada, and UK cannot access Khanmigo at all
- • No hidden platform fees, but the free tier's limitations on question volume push some learners to paid supplements elsewhere
How we verified this
Every listed fact about Khan Academy— pricing, features, links, status — is re-read from the vendor's own pages by our verification pipeline and each change is logged with a date; the last pass ran on 26 Oct 2026. Pages mix model-assisted synthesis with human review; see how we verify.
Verification history
We have re-verified Khan Academy 23 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — changed SSL certificate
- — changed switching out, hidden costs, summary, pricing fit, features, setup time, description, who should skip it, switching in, our verdict
- — changed domain expiry
- — changed use cases, description, our verdict, features, hidden costs, limitations, switching in, switching out, who should skip it, pricing fit, setup time, summary, who it suits, SSL certificate
- — changed pricing page
Showing the 5 most recent of 23 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
How much does Khan Academy cost in 2026?
Khan Academy: Free to start; paid plans from $44/yr. Pricing last verified 26 Oct 2026.
Plans compared
Every published Khan Academy tier, its price as the vendor publishes it, who it fits, and what it adds over the tier below. The 12-month cost projection follows.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | — | K-12 students, teachers, and parents who want the full video library, adaptive practice, and mastery learning at no cost.Adds: Starting tier — free access to 10,000+ video lessons, adaptive exercises, mastery learning, test prep, teacher dashboard, parent tools, mobile apps, and Khan Academy Kids; it does not include the AI tutor. |
| Khanmigo | $44/yrVendor: “$44/year” | yearly | Students and teachers who want an AI tutor that guides step by step, plus Writing Coach feedback and AI-assisted lesson planning.Adds: Adds Khanmigo AI tutoring, personalized hints and feedback, Writing Coach AI, and AI-powered tutoring for teachers for $44/year — availability is limited to certain countries including the US, Canada, and the UK. |
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Khan Academy's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
The core curriculum is free, which already undercuts paid edtech subscriptions at every stage. Khanmigo adds $44/year — far below the cost of private human tutoring, and in the same range as consumer edtech subscriptions, but with no per-seat enterprise contract. Teams comparing against paid classroom platforms should weigh that Khan Academy's paid piece is a single annual AI add-on, not a full per-seat license.
Has Khan Academy's pricing changed?
No plan price for Khan Academy has moved since we began logging in Aug 2026; the pricing page is re-read on every verification pass.
Who should pick Khan Academy?
Pick Khan Academy if you are K-12 students seeking free math and science practice with AI tutoring, Teachers supplementing classroom instruction with adaptive exercises and analytics, Parents monitoring and supporting child's learning at home, Self-learners preparing for SAT or standardized tests.
Look elsewhere if you are Learners needing formal accredited degrees or certifications, Advanced professionals seeking specialized niche skills training, Those preferring live human instruction or real-time feedback, Students looking for project-based or hands-on learning.
Skip it if Skip Khan Academy if you need an accredited degree, live human tutoring, or college-level and professional coursework — its depth fades past high school and Khanmigo's AI tutoring is limited to certain countries including the US, Canada, and the UK.
GeneratedReal-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Khan Academy actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You open a math unit, work through adaptive practice exercises, and use Khanmigo hints when you get stuck instead of jumping to the answer.
Outcome: You stay on the topic until the mastery learning system confirms you're ready to advance, and progress tracking shows your parent where you stand.
You connect your Google Classroom roster, assign Khan Academy exercises as homework, and use the teacher dashboard to see which students are stuck on which skill.
Outcome: You get per-student progress without grading by hand, and Khanmigo's lesson planning support cuts prep time.
You set up your child's account, monitor progress through the parent dashboard, and subscribe to Khanmigo for the $44/year AI tutor and Writing Coach.
Outcome: You can see what your child is actually working on and where they need help, without needing to reteach the material yourself.
Use cases
- Self-paced math practice with AI hints from Khanmigo
- Teacher assigns Khan Academy as homework tutor for students
- Parent monitors child's progress via the dashboard
- Student prepares for SAT with personalized exercises
- Adult learner reviews high school math concepts
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Khan Academy — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Students: a few minutes to create an account and pick a course. Teachers: under an hour to connect Google Classroom, Clever, Canvas, or Schoology and assign first exercises. Parents: about 10 minutes to create a child account and review the dashboard. Adding Khanmigo means a separate $44/year subscription step.
Switching to or from Khan Academy
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From outschool.com: move self-paced practice to Khan Academy's free exercises and keep outschool.com for live human instruction.
- →From a paid test-prep course: use Khan Academy's SAT and MCAT prep as free reinforcement alongside your paid materials.
- →From printed workbooks: replace drill pages with adaptive exercises that adjust difficulty automatically.
- ↗To outschool.com: move to live human tutoring when you need real-time feedback or certification.
- ↗To Coursera: move to accredited and professional coursework once you're past high school level.
- ↗To a school LMS: export assignment structure and rebuild it in Canvas or Schoology if you need deeper course management.
Integrations
Resources & guides
- Resourcekhanacademy.org
Khan Academy
Helpful link from khanacademy.org
- Resourcekhanacademy.org
Khan Academy
Helpful link from khanacademy.org
- Quickstartkhanacademy.org
Khan Academy
Get up and running fast from khanacademy.org
- Resourcesupport.khanacademy.org
support.khanacademy.org
Helpful link from support.khanacademy.org
Tutorials & Learning
What are the best Khan Academy alternatives?
The closest alternatives to Khan Academy we list are Raena AI, Mindgrasp and Coddy. Ranked by direct product-type match, not category overlap.
| Alternative | Pricing | Starts at | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raena AI | Freemium | Pricing not published | — |
| Mindgrasp | Paid | Pricing not published | — |
| Coddy | Freemium | Pricing not published | — |
Alternatives to Khan Academy
View all
Tools that pair well with Khan Academy
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Khan Academy, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Raena AI
Raena AI turns your PDFs, slides, photos and lecture recordings into step-by-step lessons with quizzes, flashcards, podcasts and short-form videos.
Mindgrasp
AI study system that turns your lectures, PDFs, videos, and links into notes, flashcards, quizzes, and a 24/7 tutor.
Coddy
Learn to code in the browser with interactive lessons, in-browser code editor, and Bugsy, the AI tutor that hints instead of answering.
Khan Academy vs its closest rival
Khan Academy's closest head-to-head is with Coursera.
Our Khan Academy vs Coursera verdict written May 12, 2026 is more than 90 days old, so it is being re-reviewed against current data and is not shown.
Head-to-head comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Topics
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