Khan Academy vs Math Mammoth

The sharpest difference is screen time: Khan Academy is fully digital, Math Mammoth is fully offline. Four more separate them, so this is not a close pairing.

At a glance

Khan Academy

Grades K-12

Owners report it suits

Advanced/gifted

Math Mammoth

Grades 1-8

Owners report it suits

Multi-age familiesMath-anxious parents

Both are reported to suit Independent workers.

Skip to who fits

Where they differ

Attribute Khan Academy Math Mammoth
Screen time
?

How much daily work is on a device. Where a program lands on the 1 to 5 scale:

  1. 1fully offline
  2. 2mostly offline
  3. 3blended
  4. 4mostly digital
  5. 5fully digital
Read the screen time guide
Independence
?

How much the child can do alone. Where a program lands on the 1 to 5 scale:

  1. 1adult-led
  2. 2guided
  3. 3semi-independent
  4. 4mostly independent
  5. 5fully independent
Read the independence guide
Approach Spiral Mastery
Format Online Workbook
Used as Spine or supplement Spine
Best for Tags show where owners consistently report a good fit. They are not exclusions. Advanced/giftedIndependent workers Independent workersMulti-age familiesMath-anxious parents
Method TraditionalVideo-led/self-pacedAdaptive online TraditionalConcrete-Pictorial-Abstract
Grades K-12 1-8

Solid tags are unique to that program. Muted tags are carried by both.

Where they match

How each one plays by grade

Khan Academy runs 4 grades further than Math Mammoth. If you want one program to carry the subject for the long haul, plan on leaving Math Mammoth around grade 8 and choosing again.

Khan Academy

Grades K-12

Khan Academy Kids (ages 2-8) is the free early-grades app. The K-8 grade courses work well from about 3rd up, and the 8th-grade course reaches into Algebra 1 and high school geometry.

Math Mammoth

Grades 1-8

Independence is gated by reading, not by math. Grades 1 and 2 are parent-led in practice despite the text being written to the student, and owners are blunt that the self-teaching framing oversells it for weak readers. Grade 4 is a difficulty spike. Grade 7 is a standalone pre-algebra course and grade 8 covers only part of Algebra 1, so families bridge to a different publisher for high school.

Cost

Cost item Khan Academy Math Mammoth
Price Free $42.50/grade digital, $225 for grades 1-8
Consumable No Partial
Per child / year $0 ~$42, or ~$28 buying the full bundle

Where to buy

What parents report

Khan Academy

Consistently praised

  • It is completely free
  • Videos are short and clear
  • Great for catching up or filling gaps
  • Bright kids can race ahead
  • Sequence runs all the way to calculus

Reported as challenges

  • Light on practice and review
  • No built-in schedule or pacing
  • Early grades move too fast for K-1
  • Some kids do not retain without more repetition

Math Mammoth

Consistently praised

  • About forty dollars a grade
  • Kids read the lesson and go
  • Visual models explain the why
  • Reprint pages for every sibling
  • No teacher manual to manage

Reported as challenges

  • Pages look busy and text heavy
  • Too many problems per page, so parents curate
  • Light on built-in review compared to spiral programs
  • Stops at grade 8 with no high school path

Who Khan Academy fits

Self-motivated kids who learn from video, and families who want a free option either as a full spine or as backup explanations alongside another program. Families who need heavy practice, built-in review, or a done-for-you daily plan should look at a spine like Teaching Textbooks or Math Mammoth and lean on Khan for the videos.

Read the full Khan Academy entry Check price Khan Academy

Who Math Mammoth fits

Fits budget-minded families with several kids, parents who want math off their plate without a screen, and fluent readers who can absorb a written explanation and get to work. Families who want video instruction, scripted teaching, or a program that carries them through high school won't find it here, and neither will anyone whose child isn't reading well yet.

Read the full Math Mammoth entry Check price Math Mammoth

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes how a curriculum is described or scored.

Still deciding?

Descriptions aggregate what homeschool parents consistently report across public community sources together with each publisher's own materials. Prices and editions change over time. Both entries last reviewed July 2026.