Khan Academy Kids Alternatives: Free and Paid Learning Apps Compared

Let's start with the honest part: Khan Academy Kids is one of the best things you can give a young child. It's free, it has no ads, it's run by a nonprofit, and it covers reading, maths and much more for ages 2 to 8. If it works for your family, keep it.

People look for alternatives for good reasons, though. It's an app for phones, tablets and Chromebooks, so it doesn't run in a web browser on a laptop or a desktop computer. It asks for a parent's email at setup. Some children want more of one thing, usually reading, or simply something new. This page compares the alternatives on the things parents ask about most. It's written by the dad who makes Tiny Hands, so read it knowing that; I've tried to be fair, and several of these are free too.

The short version

Details are from each app's own website and its US App Store and Google Play pages, checked on 1 November 2026. Prices change and vary by country.

The free alternatives

Starfall is the closest in spirit: a nonprofit, online since 2002, with a learn-to-read program that is free for every child and opens in a browser with no sign-in. It teaches systematic phonics, starting with short words like cat. A Home Membership ($35 a year) unlocks the rest, including maths.

PBS KIDS Games has more than 280 free games with characters from the PBS shows, in English and Spanish, and no account is needed. It's broad rather than step by step, so it's a good companion to a reading program rather than a replacement.

Teach Your Monster to Read comes from the Usborne Foundation, a charity, and was built with the University of Roehampton. It's free on computers and teaches phonics through a game where your child's monster goes on a journey. The apps are a one-off $8.99, and the company has said new app users will move to a subscription; the web version stays free.

Duolingo ABC teaches letters, phonics and first words for free, with no ads. The Android app is still updated; the iPhone version hasn't been updated since 2023.

Where Tiny Hands fits

Tiny Hands Learn is free for every family, and it will stay that way: it's kept going by donations, not subscriptions, because we believe every child, wherever they're born and whatever their family can afford, deserves the same start. It also runs in any web browser, and for us that matters as much as the price. Khan Academy Kids has to be installed on a phone or a tablet (or a Chromebook), and not every family has a tablet; a phone is a small screen for a child and a grown-up to share. Tiny Hands works on the laptop or desktop computer a family already has, or on one at the library or at school, on a big screen with nothing to install. To truly level the playing field, every barrier counts: the price, the ads and the device you need.

It's much smaller than Khan Academy Kids. Today it is one program, reading and writing, for ages 2 to 7: Bubba the whale teaches every letter by its sound, then blending, writing and little stories, all said out loud. Numbers, music and money are on the way. Where it differs is focus and age: it starts at two, with sounds, and goes step by step. A grown-up makes a free account first, so each child's progress is kept.

Alongside Learn there are free games that need no account, Tiny Hands Feel for calm-downs and Tiny Hands Move for movement breaks.

The paid alternatives

ABCmouse has a full curriculum and more than 13,000 activities. Its free Basic tier gives 10 activities a day with no account; Premium is $14.99 a month or $79.99 a year on its website. Our ABCmouse alternatives page goes deeper.

Lingokids mixes maths, reading, science and English, with content from partners like Oxford University Press. Basic gives 10 games a day; Plus is $13.49 a month or $161.88 a year on its website, often discounted. It runs on phones and tablets only. See our Lingokids alternatives.

Which should you pick?

• You're happy with Khan Academy Kids: keep it. Add something only if your child wants more of one skill.
• You only have a laptop or desktop computer, or want a bigger screen: Starfall, PBS KIDS, Teach Your Monster to Read on a computer, or Tiny Hands Learn, all in a browser with nothing to install.
• You want more reading: Starfall's free learn-to-read, Teach Your Monster to Read, or Tiny Hands Learn: Reading. Our reading apps compared page has all of them side by side.
• You want no account at all: PBS KIDS, Starfall's free part, or the Tiny Hands games.
• Your child is two: look for voice-led apps with nothing to read. Khan Academy Kids and Tiny Hands Learn both start at two.

Most families end up using two or three of these. Our guide to free educational apps with no ads lists every free option in one place.