Before a child can take on multi-step word problems, fractions or long division, the basics have to be sitting there, ready: 7 + 8, 13 − 6, 6 × 7. Teachers call this math fact fluency. It means knowing the answer without counting on your fingers. A child who has it can spend their attention on the problem in front of them. A child who doesn’t tends to run out of steam halfway through.
There is no shortage of math apps for kids, but they are built for very different jobs. Some try to teach the whole curriculum, some hide the math inside a video game, and only a few are made for this one task. We looked at six well-known options for children aged roughly 4 to 9: what each does well, what it costs, and where it falls short.
The six apps at a glance
| App | Best for | Price | Ads or upgrade prompts | Account needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. OwlyMath | Learning the basic facts, ages 4–9, then using them in word problems | Free for addition, subtraction and multiplication; optional one-time Plus for $6.99 on iPhone or $4.99 on Android, about the price of a coffee; free 7-day trial on iPhone and iPad | None | No |
| 2. Khan Academy / Khan Academy Kids | A free, complete curriculum for the long run | Free (nonprofit) | None | Yes, to save progress |
| 3. IXL | Grade-by-grade practice that follows the school syllabus | From $9.95 a month or $79 a year for one subject (US) | Asks you to subscribe after 10 free questions a day | Yes |
| 4. XtraMath | Free fact drills, often assigned by teachers | Free (nonprofit); optional Premium | None | Yes |
| 5. Prodigy Math | Kids who need a game to get them going | Free to play; memberships from about $59 a year | Daily limits and upgrade prompts in the free version | Yes |
| 6. Reflex | Schools running a fact-fluency program | Paid, by quote | n/a (paid) | Yes |
1. OwlyMath: an app that goes after the facts your child gets wrong
Many math apps, especially the game-style ones, decide what to ask next by level or by chance. A child who already knows 3 + 4 cold gets it again tomorrow, while the 7 × 8 they keep stumbling over comes up no more often than anything else. OwlyMath takes the opposite approach. It keeps a record of every single fact your child answers: whether they got it right, and how long it took. It then builds the next session around the handful they miss or hesitate on. New facts are mixed in along the way, so nothing gets skipped, but most of the practice time lands where it is actually needed.
It is a deliberately small app. There are no worlds to explore and no coins to collect, only short rounds of facts, and a round of five minutes or so is all it asks for. Getting one wrong doesn’t end anything: a “Show me!” button draws the sum out with blocks, and the child tries again.
Where it goes further than a flashcard app is word problems. They come on a ladder of ten levels, 200 problems in every language, with new numbers each time. The early ones lean on clue words like “altogether” and “left”. Later ones take those clues away, so the child has to picture what is actually happening, and the top levels need two or three steps. A read-aloud button helps children who can’t read the text comfortably yet.
Parents get a simple view of how things are going, including a grid of every fact shaded by recent mistakes. That makes it easy to see that, say, the sevens are the problem.
- What we like: practice aimed at each child’s weak spots; no sign-up of any kind; no ads, no subscription, and nothing that nags a child to buy things; works offline; available on Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac, in 37 languages.
- What to know: it only covers the four operations (times tables up to 10 × 10, division up to 100) and word problems, not fractions, geometry or measurement. Word problems, division and extra child profiles come with a one-time purchase, about the price of a coffee: $6.99 on iPhone and $4.99 on Android in the US. On iPhone and iPad, a free 7-day trial lets you try them first. There are no classroom or teacher features.
Who it suits: children from Pre-K to 3rd grade who are still slow on their facts, and parents who want something small that is easy to hand over.
2. Khan Academy: the Swiss Army knife
Khan Academy is a nonprofit, and everything it offers is free, with no ads. For the youngest children there is Khan Academy Kids (ages 2 to 8), which mixes math with reading, phonics and stories. Older children move on to the main Khan Academy site, which runs from arithmetic all the way to calculus, with a video and practice for nearly every topic.
Like a Swiss Army knife, it does almost everything, and that is both its strength and its weakness. Fact practice is one small tool among many, and a young child can easily spend a session on something other than the facts they need. Where Khan Academy really earns its reputation is later on: place value, fractions, decimals and everything beyond, explained patiently and for free.
- What we like: free, no ads, enormous range, and excellent explanations.
- What to know: you need an account to keep progress, and basic fact fluency isn’t its focus.
3. IXL: the complete syllabus, for a monthly fee
IXL is common in schools, and it shows. It has thousands of practice skills, organized by grade and matched to school standards, plus detailed reports for parents and teachers. Its practice adapts within each skill, and if you want your child’s home practice to follow the school year closely, it is hard to beat.
The catch is the price. Membership starts at $9.95 a month or $79 a year for one subject in the US, with more for extra subjects or children. Without it, a child can answer only 10 questions a day. Because IXL covers so much, rapid fact recall is only a small corner of it.
4. XtraMath: free and focused, but mostly a website
XtraMath is another nonprofit, built around a few minutes of fact practice a day. It is free, carries no ads, and many teachers assign it, which makes it the default for a lot of families.
It is mainly used in a web browser rather than as a phone or tablet app, and you need an account to start. Some parents also feel the default setup is hard on younger children: a timer bar races across the screen with every question, and a 6-year-old who is still counting can find that more stressful than helpful. There are no word problems, and some family features, such as reports and practice outside school hours, sit in an optional Premium plan.
5. Prodigy Math: the video game
Prodigy puts math questions inside a fantasy role-playing game: answer correctly to win battles, explore new areas and collect pets. For a child who groans at the word “practice”, that can be exactly what gets them started.
The trade-off is that a fair share of screen time goes to the game rather than the math. The free version also has daily limits and regular prompts to buy a membership, from about $59 a year, so it is worth keeping an eye on.
6. Reflex: a serious fluency program, made for schools
Reflex, from ExploreLearning, is an adaptive fact-fluency program with game-style practice and reports for teachers. It is well regarded. It is also sold mainly to schools and districts, with prices by quote, so for most families it is the app they use if their school already pays for it.
So which one?
These apps aren’t really competing for the same job. They belong to different stages, and the order matters more than the brand:
- Make the facts automatic. A few minutes most days with something that concentrates on the facts your child actually gets wrong, until addition, subtraction and the times tables come without counting.
- Put them to work. Word problems show whether a child can use the facts, not just recite them.
- Then broaden out. Move to a full curriculum such as Khan Academy (free) or IXL (paid) for place value, fractions, measurement and what comes after.
If your child’s school already uses XtraMath, Reflex or IXL, go with what the teacher uses, and add something at home only if the facts are still slow.
Questions parents ask
Is there a free math facts app with no ads?
Yes, several. OwlyMath, Khan Academy Kids and XtraMath are all free to use and show no ads. Of the three, OwlyMath is the only one that needs no account, and it works fully offline. Its addition, subtraction and multiplication practice is free for one child, and the rest is a one-time purchase of about the price of a coffee.
How long should my child practice math facts each day?
Less than you might think. Two short sessions of about five minutes, on most days, usually do more than an hour at the weekend, because each short session brings back the facts that were starting to slip.
Is IXL or Khan Academy better for math facts?
Neither is built mainly for that. Both are full-curriculum programs, and fact practice is a small part of each. Plenty of families use a focused app for the facts and Khan Academy or IXL for everything else.
When do kids start learning math facts?
Adding and taking away within 10 usually begins around ages 4 to 6, in Pre-K and kindergarten. Facts to 20 follow in 1st and 2nd grade, and the times tables in 2nd and 3rd.
OwlyMath is free to download on Google Play and the App Store. There’s more about how it works on the OwlyMath page.
OwlyMath is our app. We’ve tried to be fair to the others, including where they do more than we do. Prices are as listed by each company in September 2026.
Written by Boris Vidolov, Founder/CEO of Escaped Intelligence and proud parent of 2 kids.