LittleActivity vs Khan Academy
Free video lessons and practice from a non-profit, spanning school subjects into college level.
Last updated: 23 August 2026
Khan Academy is free, permanently, with no catch, and its high-school maths is better than ours. What it does not do is decide what your child should do today, print anything, or keep the records a homeschooling family needs. If budget is the binding constraint, use Khan Academy — we would rather say that than sell around it.
Which one is right for you
Choose Khan Academy if
Any family where cost is the deciding factor, and any student who needs deep maths instruction at high-school level.
Choose LittleActivity if
A family that wants the day decided and the paperwork produced, and needs the Pre-K to Grade 2 end to actually work.
What each one actually is
What is Khan Academy?
Also known as: KhanAcademy, khanacademy.org, Khan
Khan Academy is free video lessons and practice from a non-profit, spanning school subjects into college level.
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
Khan 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 | Khan Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Usable free, with no accountCan a parent open it and use real content without signing up? | Content browsable; progress needs an account | Yes |
| Card required to startA card taken up front turns a trial into an opt-out subscription. | No | No |
| Price published on their own siteA price you have to reach checkout to see is a price you cannot compare. | Free, stated on their site | Yes |
| Charged per childDecides whether a second or third child doubles the bill. | No | 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 | Khan Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Grade rangeThe span the vendor claims on its own site. | Pre-K to Grade 12 and beyond | Pre-K to Grade 10 |
| SubjectsWhat is actually taught, not what is mentioned. | Maths, science, economics, humanities, computing, test prep | 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. | Via the separate Khan Academy Kids app | Yes |
| Grade 6 and aboveThe point most early-learning products stop. | Yes | Yes |
| Standards alignment publishedMatters for reporting in most US states. | Yes | Yes |
How it teaches
Whether it decides what happens today, or hands you a catalogue.
| Feature | Khan 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. | Yes | 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 | Khan Academy | LittleActivity |
|---|---|---|
| Printable worksheetsReal PDFs, not a web page you send to a printer. | No | 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. | No | Yes |
Records and classroom
The paperwork, and whether it writes itself.
| Feature | Khan 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 Khan Academy does better, and what we do instead
Khan Academy against LittleActivity
Pros
- Free, permanently, with no catch and no upsell — a non-profit with no paid tier at all
- Deep maths content, especially at high-school and early-college level, beyond our Grade 10 ceiling
- Test prep, including SAT, built with the test's own publisher
- Enormous back-catalogue depth in science and economics at secondary level
- A recognised name that a sceptical grandparent will already trust
Cons
- A day plan, so nobody has to decide what to do each morning
- Records: attendance, report cards, portfolio and a Grade 9–10 transcript
- The print half — thousands of free PDFs, wall charts and off-screen tasks
- Real Pre-K to Grade 2 content that a non-reader can do alone
- Per-subject placement rather than a single skill tree
The left column is what Khan 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
Free. Khan Academy is a non-profit and does not charge learners — there is no paid tier to compare against.
Read from their own pricing page on 22 August 2026. Grade range: Pre-K through Grade 12 and beyond.
Stay with Khan Academy if…
Budget is the binding constraint. Khan Academy is free and it is good, and no comparison page should tell you otherwise.
Move to LittleActivity if…
You are spending your evenings deciding what tomorrow looks like, or you need records a state reviewer will accept.
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 Khan 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 Khan Academy does better and names who should stay with it — judge the page on whether those sections are real.
LittleActivity vs Khan Academy: common questions
Why would I pay for LittleActivity when Khan Academy is free?
For most families, you would not need to. Our games, printables and lessons are also free with no account. The membership buys the parts Khan Academy does not attempt: a planned school day across six strands, an authored off-screen task for every day of the year, and attendance, report cards, a portfolio and a transcript that build themselves. If you do not need those, Khan Academy is an excellent free answer.
Is Khan Academy's maths better than LittleActivity's?
At high-school level, yes — clearly. Khan Academy goes past our Grade 10 ceiling into calculus and beyond, with better instruction at that level. At Pre-K to Grade 2 the position reverses, because that content lives in their separate Kids app and ours is built for non-readers on the main site.
Does Khan Academy keep homeschool records?
It tracks progress through its own skill tree and offers a parent and teacher view of that. It does not produce attendance logs, report cards, a portfolio or a transcript, so homeschooling families using Khan Academy keep those separately.
Can I use Khan Academy and LittleActivity together?
Yes, and for a family with a maths-strong teenager it is the sensible stack: our day plan and records for the week, Khan Academy for high-school maths. Mark maths as covered externally in the plan and the records still add up.
Should I choose LittleActivity or Khan Academy?
Choose Khan Academy if: Any family where cost is the deciding factor, and any student who needs deep maths instruction at high-school level. Choose LittleActivity if: A family that wants the day decided and the paperwork produced, and needs the Pre-K to Grade 2 end to actually work. 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 Khan Academy cost compared with LittleActivity?
Free. Khan Academy is a non-profit and does not charge learners — there is no paid tier to compare against. That was read from their own pricing page on 22 August 2026. LittleActivity publishes its price on its pricing page before signup, charges one family price rather than per child, and the games, printables and lessons are free with no account at all.
Other comparisons
Same category first — people comparing Khan 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 Beast AcademyComic-book maths from Art of Problem Solving, aimed at ages 6 to 13, sold online and as printed books.
- 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.