LittleActivity vs Beast Academy
Comic-book maths from Art of Problem Solving, aimed at ages 6 to 13, sold online and as printed books.
Last updated: 23 August 2026
Beast Academy is the hardest maths in this list and the best written. For a child who finds ordinary maths trivially easy it is not really comparable to anything else here, including us. It is maths only, it is deliberately difficult, and it keeps no records. LittleActivity is the whole school day at a normal level of challenge.
Which one is right for you
Choose Beast Academy if
A child who is genuinely ahead in maths and bored by grade-level work.
Choose LittleActivity if
A family covering every subject at grade level, who needs the day planned and the records kept.
What each one actually is
What is Beast Academy?
Also known as: Beast Academy Online, Art of Problem Solving, AoPS Beast Academy
Beast Academy is comic-book maths from Art of Problem Solving, aimed at ages 6 to 13, sold online and as printed books.
Related: Adaptive practice and skills · K-12 education · Homeschool resources
What is LittleActivity?
Also known as: Little Activity, littleactivity.com
LittleActivity is a free educational platform for children from Pre-K to Grade 10, combining sequenced lessons in ten subjects, thousands of printable worksheets, games, and a homeschool system whose attendance, report cards, portfolio and transcript build themselves from the work a child actually completes.
Related: Homeschool curriculum · Printable worksheets · K-12 education · Common Core Standards
Beast Academy vs LittleActivity, feature by feature
Twenty-four features in five groups. A dash means we have not established that row from their own public pages — it is not a “no”, and we would rather show the gap than guess at it.
Getting started and cost
What it takes to see the thing before you pay for it.
| Feature | Beast Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Usable free, with no accountCan a parent open it and use real content without signing up? | No | Yes |
| Card required to startA card taken up front turns a trial into an opt-out subscription. | Not established | No |
| Price published on their own siteA price you have to reach checkout to see is a price you cannot compare. | Not established | Yes |
| Charged per childDecides whether a second or third child doubles the bill. | Yes | No |
| Adverts shown to childrenIncluding house ads and upsell interstitials mid-activity. | No | No |
What it covers
How far it goes before your child ages out of it.
| Feature | Beast Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Grade rangeThe span the vendor claims on its own site. | Roughly ages 6 to 13 | Pre-K to Grade 10 |
| SubjectsWhat is actually taught, not what is mentioned. | Maths only | Maths, reading, writing, science, social studies, art, music, coding, languages, critical thinking, money |
| Real Pre-K contentActivities a child who cannot yet read can do alone. | No | Yes |
| Grade 6 and aboveThe point most early-learning products stop. | Up to about Grade 5 level, at high difficulty | Yes |
| Standards alignment publishedMatters for reporting in most US states. | No | Yes |
How it teaches
Whether it decides what happens today, or hands you a catalogue.
| Feature | Beast Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Plans the school day for youThe difference between a curriculum and a content library. | No | Yes |
| Sequenced, not browse-it-yourselfLessons that build on each other in a fixed order. | Yes | Yes |
| Per-subject placementA child ahead in reading and behind in maths is the normal case. | Yes | Yes |
| Video instructionA person explaining, rather than a screen of practice items. | Not established | No |
| Live human teachingScheduled classes with a real teacher. | No | No |
Off the screen
What is left on the days the tablet is not the answer.
| Feature | Beast Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Printable worksheetsReal PDFs, not a web page you send to a printer. | Printed books, sold separately | 5,947 free PDFs |
| Off-screen work for every school dayAn authored task per day, not an occasional printable. | No | 2,160 authored days |
| Printable wall chartsReference material for the wall behind the desk. | No | 600 wall charts |
| A full day can run on paperFor a broken tablet, a car journey, or a screen-time limit. | With the printed books | Yes |
Records and classroom
The paperwork, and whether it writes itself.
| Feature | Beast Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance logRequired by law in a number of US states. | No | Yes |
| Report cardsGenerated from work done, not typed by a parent. | No | Yes |
| Portfolio of workFor states that require an annual review. | No | Yes |
| High-school transcriptThe document a college admissions office asks for. | No | Yes |
| Run a class with no student accountsNo roster upload, no email address per child. | No | Yes |
What Beast Academy does better, and what we do instead
Beast Academy against LittleActivity
Pros
- The most rigorous primary maths curriculum available to a family, by a clear margin
- Genuinely excellent writing — the comic format is not a gimmick, it carries the mathematics
- Printed books that stand alone without a subscription, which almost nothing else here offers
- A direct path into Art of Problem Solving's later courses for a child who stays with it
Cons
- Every subject to Grade 10, not maths to age 13
- Grade-level pacing that suits the child who is not ahead
- The day planned across six strands, with an off-screen task for each
- Records that satisfy a state review without a spreadsheet
- Free access with no account for the games, printables and lessons
The left column is what Beast Academy is genuinely better at. The right column is not a list of their faults — it is what we do that they do not attempt. A product is allowed to not do something.
Pricing
We have not been able to read Beast Academy’s current pricing from their live pages, so we are not going to quote it — see their own page. Ours is on our pricing page, before you sign up for anything.
Stay with Beast Academy if…
Your child is ahead in maths and enjoys being stretched. Nothing in this list replaces Beast Academy for that child.
Move to LittleActivity if…
The difficulty is producing tears rather than interest, or you need the other subjects and the paperwork.
The one structural difference
Most families run a content product, a separate planner, and a spreadsheet for records, and nothing in that stack is the system of record. LittleActivity is one system: the same work that teaches your child produces the attendance, the report card, the portfolio and the transcript, and every school day has an authored off-screen task so a broken tablet does not end the day.
In numbers: 5,947 free printable PDFs and 2,160 authored off-screen school days, both counted from the catalogues themselves and checked in our build rather than written by hand.
How this comparison was made
- Their claims are theirs. Grade range, subjects and product shape are taken from what Beast Academy says about itself on its own public pages, linked above.
- Prices are gated. A price appears only with the date a person read it on the vendor’s own page. Most pricing pages in this market render client-side and cannot be checked automatically, so most of these comparisons quote no price at all rather than repeat one that may be a year old.
- Our numbers are generated. Printable, poster and school-day counts come from the catalogues they describe and are verified in our build, so a marketing round number cannot creep in.
- A dash is not a cross. Where we have not established a row, the table shows a dash. We do not score a competitor down for something we did not check.
- We are not neutral. This page is written by one of the two products. That is why it leads with what Beast Academy does better and names who should stay with it — judge the page on whether those sections are real.
LittleActivity vs Beast Academy: common questions
Is LittleActivity's maths harder or easier than Beast Academy's?
Easier, deliberately. Beast Academy is built to stretch a child who is already ahead; our maths is grade-level work designed to be completed by a child at that grade. For a mathematically gifted child, Beast Academy is the better answer and we would say so.
Can I use Beast Academy alongside LittleActivity?
Yes, and it is a common combination. Run the school day and the records here, and let Beast Academy carry maths at a higher level. The day plan lets you mark a subject as covered externally.
Does Beast Academy produce homeschool records?
No. It reports progress through its own maths sequence. Attendance, report cards, portfolios and transcripts are outside its scope, so a homeschooling family keeps those elsewhere.
Beast Academy has printed books — does LittleActivity?
We have thousands of free printable PDFs, printable wall charts, and an authored off-screen task for every school day of the year, all printed at home rather than bought as books. Beast Academy's printed books are professionally produced and stand alone without a subscription, which is a different and in some ways better thing.
Should I choose LittleActivity or Beast Academy?
Choose Beast Academy if: A child who is genuinely ahead in maths and bored by grade-level work. Choose LittleActivity if: A family covering every subject at grade level, who needs the day planned and the records kept. Both are real answers — the deciding question is usually whether you want one subject or one tool done well, or the whole school day planned, printed and recorded.
How much does Beast Academy cost compared with LittleActivity?
We have not been able to read Beast Academy's current pricing from their live pages and check it, so we do not quote a figure — see their own site for it. LittleActivity's price is published on our pricing page before you sign up, it is one family price rather than a charge per child, and the games, printables and lessons are free with no account.
Other comparisons
Same category first — people comparing Beast Academy are usually comparing its neighbours too.
- LittleActivity vs IXLAdaptive practice with a continuous diagnostic across maths, English, science, social studies and Spanish.
- LittleActivity vs SplashLearnGame-led maths and early reading practice, free for teachers and sold to families.
- LittleActivity vs ProdigyA role-playing game wrapped around curriculum-aligned maths and English practice, free to play with an optional paid membership.
- LittleActivity vs ZearnA non-profit K–8 maths curriculum with paired digital lessons, free for teachers and families.
- LittleActivity vs Khan AcademyFree video lessons and practice from a non-profit, spanning school subjects into college level.
- LittleActivity vs Time4LearningA full online curriculum with automated grading and parent reporting, running Preschool to Grade 12.
- LittleActivity vs Power HomeschoolVideo-led courses with automated grading, run by the Acellus organisation and priced per student per month.
- LittleActivity vs Acellus AcademyAn accredited online private school delivering video courses, with enrolment, grading and an official transcript.