Prodigy Math review

Prodigy Math is a role-playing game in which students explore a fantasy world, collect pets and battle creatures by answering math questions. It covers grades 1 to 8 and is made by Prodigy Education, a Canadian company. A sister game, Prodigy English, covers grades 1 to 6. Teachers use Prodigy for free. Students play for free too, but the game is paid for by memberships sold to families, and the way it sells them is the main thing a school should weigh before adopting it.

Who it’s for

Prodigy suits elementary and middle school teachers who want students to do extra fact and skill practice willingly, at school or at home. It works well as a reward activity, a station in a rotation, or a way to get reluctant students to answer more questions over a holiday. Teachers in schools with no budget for a paid practice platform use it because the teacher tools cost nothing.

It suits schools less well if they have firm rules about commercial messaging aimed at children, or if parents complain easily about pressure to buy.

What it does well

Engagement is real. Many children who resist worksheets will happily play Prodigy for half an hour, and some keep playing at home without being asked. For basic fact fluency and repeated practice of one skill, that willingness matters.

The teacher portal is free and has more in it than many teachers expect. Prodigy says teachers can assign work from over 1,500 math skills aligned to Common Core, TEKS and SOL, set a placement test to find each student’s starting grade level, and prepare students for tests with adaptive content. Reports show progress by class, strand and skill. Teachers can set class goals, such as 50 questions a week, and run challenges.

Rostering is quick. Prodigy supports one-click sign-in through Clever, ClassLink and Google Classroom, so a class can be playing within one lesson.

Where it falls short

The game sells memberships to children. Members get monthly in-game currency, rare pets, extra gear, a mount and members-only areas. Free players see these things in the game and are reminded that membership unlocks them. In 2021 a coalition of children’s advocacy groups led by Fairplay filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission, arguing that Prodigy told teachers and parents the game was free while marketing paid memberships to children inside it. Axios and MediaPost reported the complaint at the time. We could not find a public outcome. Some district technology directors moved Prodigy off their approved lists after the complaint. The membership model has not changed since, so expect some children to go home asking for a membership because a classmate’s character has better gear.

Math per minute is low. Students spend much of their time walking around, choosing spells and customizing characters. A ten-minute session might include far fewer questions than ten minutes on a plain practice site. If your goal is volume of practice, a tool like IXL or Khan Academy gets more done in the same time.

Prodigy does not teach new concepts well. Questions come with some help, but a student who does not understand fractions will mostly guess. It works best for practice after direct teaching.

The fantasy setting appeals most to younger students. Some seventh and eighth graders find it childish.

Pricing

Teachers pay nothing. Prodigy describes its teacher tools as “a completely free resource for teachers” and says all in-game math and English questions are free. Prodigy does not list a paid plan for schools or districts.

Families pay for memberships. When we checked Prodigy’s parent pricing page in November 2026, it listed Core at $9.95 a month or $58.95 a year, Plus (math and science) at $14.95 a month or $88.95 a year, and Ultra (both games and three subjects) at $19.95 a month or $118.95 a year, per child, with a discount for several children. Memberships renew automatically. Parents also get goal setting and progress reports with a paid plan.

Privacy and data

Prodigy says it holds iKeepSafe certifications for COPPA, FERPA and the California Student Privacy Certification, and has signed the Student Privacy Pledge. Its privacy policy shows a “Pass” rating from Common Sense Privacy. It says it does not sell, lease or trade student personal information, and does not use student information for targeted ads.

The policy does allow ad partners to collect identifiers from parent and teacher visitors on pages not aimed at students, for interest-based ads elsewhere. Prodigy says data may be stored in Canada, the United States or other countries where it or its processors work. Privacy compliance and commercial pressure are separate questions, so read our student data privacy checklist and decide how your school treats in-game selling.

Verdict

Prodigy gets children practicing math willingly, and the free teacher tools are better than its reputation suggests. The cost is a game built to make children want a paid membership, which lands on families who may not be able to afford it. Schools with strict rules on marketing to children, or teachers who want efficient practice, should look at the learning apps ranking for alternatives.

See the best Prodigy Math alternatives