Best Maths Apps for Kids UK (2026): 8 Apps Compared by a Parent

Quick Comparison: UK Maths Apps at a Glance

Before diving into individual reviews, here’s a side-by-side comparison. We rated each app on six criteria: curriculum alignment, adaptive learning, engagement, parent visibility, safety, and value for money.

Now let’s look at each app in detail.

DoodleMaths

DoodleMaths is the most well-known adaptive maths app for UK primary children. It builds a personalised daily programme based on your child’s strengths and gaps, using spaced repetition to revisit topics at optimal intervals. The parent dashboard is genuinely useful—you can see exactly which topics your child finds tricky and where they’re improving.

Pros:

• Excellent UK curriculum alignment (KS1 and KS2)
• Strong adaptive engine with spaced repetition
• Detailed parent dashboard with weekly progress emails
• Short daily sessions (10–15 minutes) encourage consistency

Cons:

• Can feel repetitive over time—limited variety in question presentation
• No narrative or story-based motivation; relies on stars and streaks
• At £7.99/month, it’s the priciest option in this list

Best for: Children who will practise daily with gentle encouragement, and parents who want granular progress data.

Price: £7.99/month or £79.99/year (7-day free trial).

Mathletics

Mathletics has been around for over a decade and offers the broadest curriculum coverage of any app on this list. It supports UK, Australian, and US curricula, with activities spanning Reception through Year 9. Live Mathletics (real-time challenges against other students) adds a competitive element that some children love.

Pros:

• Comprehensive coverage across all year groups and topics
• Multi-region curriculum support (UK National Curriculum included)
• Live challenges add competitive motivation
• Printable worksheets and teacher-style resources for parents

Cons:

• Interface feels dated compared to newer apps
• Some children find it too “schooly”—lacks game-based engagement
• Adaptive features are less sophisticated than DoodleMaths

Best for: Families wanting a single app that covers everything from Reception to secondary, with structured activities and printable resources.

Price: ~£59/year (one child). Family plans available.

Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS)

TTRS is brilliantly focused: it does one thing—times tables—and does it exceptionally well. Children adopt a rock star avatar, compete in class battles, and race against the clock. Many UK schools provide free access, making it the most widely used maths app in British primary schools. If your child needs to build rapid recall for the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check, TTRS is hard to beat.

Pros:

• Laser focus on times tables fluency—extremely effective
• Competitive leaderboards and class battles drive engagement
• Often provided free through schools
• Aligned to UK curriculum expectations for rapid recall

Cons:

• Times tables only—doesn’t cover fractions, geometry, problem-solving, or anything else
• Some children find the time pressure stressful rather than motivating
• Individual subscriptions (£39.99/year) are poor value compared to school-provided access

Best for: Building rapid times tables recall, especially before the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check. Best used alongside a broader maths app.

Price: Free via school; £3.33/month (£39.99/year) for individual subscriptions.

Prodigy

Prodigy is a full RPG maths game with monster battles, quests, and a social world. Children love it. The engagement is genuine—many children choose to play Prodigy over other games. However, for UK families there’s a significant problem: Prodigy follows the US Common Core curriculum. Different terminology (“regrouping” instead of “exchanging”), different methods, and different topic sequencing can confuse children who are learning UK methods at school.

Pros:

• Strongest RPG engagement of any maths app—children genuinely want to play
• Free tier is generous (full maths content; premium is cosmetic only)
• Covers a wide age range with adaptive difficulty

Cons:

• US Common Core curriculum—not aligned to UK National Curriculum
• US terminology and methods cause confusion for UK learners
• Aggressive in-app upselling of premium cosmetics to children

Best for: Engagement-focused families where curriculum alignment is not a priority. Less suitable for UK children who need practice that reinforces school methods.

Price: Free (with ads and cosmetic upsells); premium membership £7.99/month.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a remarkable free resource. The maths content is comprehensive, the video explanations are clear, and the adaptive practice engine works well. The catch for UK families: content is structured around the US curriculum. Topics, sequencing, and some methods differ from UK teaching. That said, for older children (Year 7+) where maths concepts are more universal, Khan Academy is an excellent free supplement.

Pros:

• Completely free—no ads, no premium tier, no catches
• Comprehensive coverage from early years through to A-level equivalent
• Excellent video explanations for self-directed learners
• Strong adaptive practice with mastery-based progression

Cons:

• US-leaning curriculum structure and terminology
• Interface feels more like school than a game—limited engagement features
• Younger children (KS1/KS2) may struggle without parent guidance

Best for: Families on a budget who want comprehensive, high-quality maths content. Particularly good for older children (Year 7+) and self-motivated learners.

Price: Completely free.

SplashLearn

SplashLearn is a colourful, visual maths app aimed at younger children. The animations are engaging and the early years content is well-designed. However, it follows the US curriculum and the free tier is very limited—most useful content sits behind the paywall. For UK families with children in Reception or Year 1, it can be a fun supplement, but it shouldn’t be your primary maths practice tool.

Pros:

• Excellent visual design for early years (ages 3–7)
• Strong on foundational number sense and counting
• Child-friendly interface with engaging animations

Cons:

• US curriculum—not aligned to UK National Curriculum
• Free tier is very limited; paid version is ~£6/month
• Limited value beyond early years (content quality drops for older children)

Best for: Early years supplement for foundational number skills. Not recommended as a primary maths app for UK KS1/KS2 children.

Price: Free (limited); ~£6/month for full access.

BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is the gold standard for free, UK curriculum-aligned educational content. The maths section covers KS1 through GCSE with clear video explanations, interactive quizzes, and revision guides. It’s not an “app” in the gamified sense—it’s more of a structured learning resource. But it’s completely free, reliably accurate, and perfectly aligned to UK teaching methods.

Pros:

• Completely free with no ads, no data harvesting, no upselling
• Perfectly aligned to the UK National Curriculum
• Clear, well-produced video explanations
• Covers KS1 through GCSE—enormous breadth

Cons:

• No adaptive engine—doesn’t adjust to your child’s level
• No gamification or engagement features—feels like revision, not play
• No progress tracking or parent dashboard

Best for: Free revision and explanation alongside another practice app. Brilliant for “how does this method work?” moments, but not designed for daily practice.

Price: Completely free.

MathCraft

Full disclosure: this is our app. We built MathCraft because our own child refused to engage with traditional maths practice. It’s an RPG where children raise a companion creature, build an island, and complete quests—all powered by White Rose Maths curriculum questions. The adaptive engine uses spaced repetition and lowest-mastery-first selection. It’s newer and less established than DoodleMaths or Mathletics, and we’re honest about that.

Pros:

• White Rose Maths aligned—matches UK school teaching methods exactly
• Genuine RPG gameplay: companion raising, island building, narrative quests
• Adaptive engine with spaced repetition and mastery tracking
• No ads, no data selling, GDPR compliant, parent dashboard included

Cons:

• Newer app—less established track record than DoodleMaths or Mathletics
• Smaller question bank than longer-running competitors (growing weekly)
• Currently covers Year 1–9; some year groups have deeper content than others

Best for: Children who refuse to do traditional maths practice and respond to game-based motivation. Particularly effective for children who say they “hate maths”.

Price: Free during beta; £4.99/month after launch. No card required to start.

Which App Is Best for Your Child?

There is no single “best” maths app. The right choice depends on your child’s age, attitude, and what you need the app to do. Here’s a quick-reference guide:

Many families use two apps together—for example, TTRS for times tables plus DoodleMaths or MathCraft for broader practice. This is a perfectly sensible approach as long as total screen time stays around 15–20 minutes daily. For a deeper look at what makes an app worth paying for, see our guide on whether maths apps are worth the money.

Do Maths Apps Actually Work?

The short answer: yes, when used correctly. The Education Endowment Foundation found that well-designed adaptive digital learning can add up to +4 months’ progress per year. That’s a meaningful boost—roughly equivalent to several weeks of additional teaching time.

The research is clear on what makes apps effective: they need to be curriculum-aligned, adaptive, and used for short daily sessions (10–15 minutes) rather than occasional long marathons. Apps work best alongside school teaching, not as a replacement for it. A child who practises for 10 minutes every day will outperform one who does an hour on Sunday evening. For a deeper look at the evidence, see our article on gamification in maths learning.

Where apps fall short is in teaching brand-new concepts and diagnosing deep misconceptions. If your child fundamentally misunderstands place value, an app will keep flagging errors but may not explain why they’re getting it wrong in the way a teacher or tutor could. The best approach is apps for daily practice and fluency, combined with school instruction for conceptual understanding. Our piece on educational games vs homework explores this balance further.

How We Tested

We tested each app for a minimum of two weeks with real children aged 7–11 in a UK school setting. Our evaluation criteria covered six areas: curriculum alignment to the UK National Curriculum and White Rose Maths, adaptive learning quality, engagement and motivation features, parent visibility and reporting, data privacy and child safety, and overall value for money. We checked pricing in February 2026 and verified curriculum claims against actual content. Where an app claimed UK alignment, we cross-referenced question styles and methods with White Rose and NCETM guidance. Ratings reflect how well each app serves UK families specifically—an app can be excellent globally but score lower here if it doesn’t match UK teaching methods.