Khan Academy review

Khan Academy is a nonprofit learning site with video lessons and practice exercises, best known for math. A student can watch a short video on adding fractions, then work through practice problems that check each answer straight away and offer hints. Teachers can set up a class, assign practice, and see who has mastered which skill. Khan Academy describes itself as free for learners, teachers and parents, with no paywalls and no ads. It also sells a paid plan to schools and districts that adds admin reporting, rostering support and Khanmigo, its AI tutor, for students.

Who it’s for

Khan Academy suits teachers from upper elementary through high school who want extra practice that grades itself. Math teachers get the most from it, because the math courses are the deepest and each practice set targets a specific skill. A seventh grade teacher can assign a set on ratios after a lesson, and by the next morning the dashboard shows which students got it and which need a small group.

It also works for independent study. Students who missed a unit, or who are ready to move ahead, can work through a course at their own pace. Parents can use it at home at no cost. For children aged two to eight, Khan Academy runs a separate app, Khan Academy Kids.

What it does well

The practice is the strong point. Exercises give immediate feedback, hints and a worked solution, and the mastery system moves each skill up through levels, from “attempted” to “mastered”, as a student keeps answering correctly over time. That means a student can’t rush through one good session and call a topic done.

The teacher tools are free and simple. You create a class, add students with a class code or by importing a Google Classroom roster, choose a course, and assign exercises, videos or unit tests with a due date. Khan Academy’s help center says a Google Classroom import doesn’t assign anything by itself, so you stay in control of what students see. Results show up per student and per skill, which saves time when you plan the next lesson or a reteach group. Our article on how to cut marking time with apps covers how to fit this kind of auto-graded practice into a weekly routine.

Khan Academy’s teacher page now includes AI tools to help plan, give feedback and track progress, and it presents them as free for teachers. For a teacher writing a lesson hook or a set of exit questions at 9 p.m., that is useful at no cost. Read the output before you use it, as you would with any AI tool, and check your school’s AI policy first.

Where it falls short

Coverage is uneven. Math is deep and well organized, and science and test prep are solid. Other subjects, such as reading, writing and humanities, have fewer interactive exercises, so a history teacher will find good videos but less practice to assign.

Most practice is short answer or multiple choice. That is fine for fluency and procedures, but it can’t show you how a student reasons through a multi-step problem or writes an argument. Treat Khan Academy as practice and diagnosis, not as a whole course.

Videos also don’t suit every student. Some teenagers will play a ten-minute video in the background and skip to the questions. Short, specific assignments work better than “do unit 4 this week.”

The AI tutor for students is not part of the free offer. Khan Academy’s pricing page lists Khanmigo for students inside its paid school plans, so a teacher can’t switch it on for a class alone.

Pricing

Khan Academy is free for independent learners, teachers and parents. For schools, its pricing page listed two paid plans when we checked in November 2026. Enterprise Starter cost $10 per student per year for up to 1,000 student licenses, paid online by credit card, and includes Khanmigo AI tools, admin reporting, single sign-on and teacher-directed rostering. Enterprise, for larger districts, has no published price and adds live professional learning, implementation support and automated rostering through Clever or ClassLink. We list it as Freemium because the paid tier exists, but most teachers will never need it.

Privacy and data

Khan Academy says it shows no ads. Common Sense Privacy’s evaluation of its policies says personal information is not sold or rented to third parties, and Khan Academy is a signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge. Teachers can create accounts for students under 13. Khan Academy’s help center says that for US students under 13 it assumes the teacher has permission from a parent or guardian, so check your school’s consent process before you create accounts for a class. The paid school plans list single sign-on and student privacy protections.

Verdict

Khan Academy is the first free practice tool most math and science teachers should try, and the class tools cost nothing. Use it for skill practice and quick diagnosis, alongside your own teaching. Teachers who need interactive practice in languages should look at Duolingo, and those who want live, game-style review in class should compare the tools in our learning apps rankings.

See the best Khan Academy alternatives