Plusy vs Prodigy Math: which one fits your child?

Pick Prodigy Math if your child needs a whole game world to want to practice, or if the school already uses it: its math questions are free. Pick Plusy if you want practice on this week's actual homework, one $29 payment instead of a membership, and nothing sold to your child while they play.

10 minute read · Updated October 9, 2026

Plusy is our app, so read this with that in mind. Prodigy does several things Plusy does not, and this page says so plainly. Everything about Prodigy below is as listed on its own site or App Store page on 5 October 2026.

At a glance

What is the difference between Plusy and Prodigy Math?

Prodigy Math is a game first: a child explores a fantasy world and answers curriculum questions to win battles. Plusy is practice first: short rounds of arithmetic on a road, or on the questions from your child's own worksheet. Prodigy covers far more math. Plusy goes deeper on arithmetic and on what happens after a mistake.

Prodigy describes itself on its parents page as covering math standards for grades 1 to 8, with a second game for English. Its App Store page describes wizard characters, battles against monsters or other players, and an adaptive algorithm that chooses the questions.

Plusy has five roads (addition, subtraction, times tables, division and fractions) and nothing else. Fractions go up to mixed numbers, with no multiplying or dividing fractions, and there are no decimals or geometry. What it adds is the written method: carrying, borrowing, long multiplication and long division are set out in columns the way they are written on paper, and your child fills in the boxes. See column questions.

Is Prodigy free?

Yes, the math is free. Prodigy's parents page says its in-game educational questions are free, and a parent account shows your child's progress. Paid memberships add in-game extras and more parent tools. As listed on its site on 5 October 2026, they start at $9.95 a month or $74.95 a year.

That is a real strength and worth saying clearly: a child can answer Prodigy's math questions for years without a parent paying anything. What a membership changes is mostly the game around the questions, such as pets, gear and the in-game currency, plus tools for parents like goals and printable practice sheets.

Plusy is also free to start, with a different kind of limit. Every road, world and game is open on a free account. A round uses one heart, wrong answers cost nothing extra, and hearts come back on their own over time and with a new day. Tests, replays and the matching game use no heart. How hearts work.

What does each cost over a year?

Plusy costs $0, or $29 once if you choose to unlock it, with no renewal. Prodigy costs $0 for the math questions. A Prodigy membership bought on its website costs $74.95 to $134.95 for a year paid annually, or $9.95 to $19.95 a month, as listed on its site on 5 October 2026.

Twelve monthly payments of $9.95 come to $119.40, so the yearly Core plan is the cheaper way to buy Prodigy. Prices inside the App Store version of Prodigy are listed separately on its App Store page and can differ from the website.

Plusy's unlock is called Unlock Plusy. It is one payment with nothing to cancel. It removes the heart limit and gives up to 50 worksheet scans and 50 AI lists a month. It opens no extra content, because nothing is locked on a free account. What the unlock gives.

Does Prodigy show ads or ask children to buy a membership?

Third-party ads are not listed on Prodigy's site. What some parents report, in reviews on Common Sense Media and the App Store, is frequent prompting to buy a membership and items that are locked for children who play free. Many families also say their child enjoys Prodigy and practices more because of it.

Common Sense Media's review rates Prodigy for ages 7 and up. It praises the adaptive practice and the parent dashboard, and it criticizes how often the game encourages a paid membership. In February 2021 an advocacy group, then called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and now Fairplay, filed a complaint about Prodigy's membership advertising with the US Federal Trade Commission, joined by 21 other groups. That is an advocacy group's complaint, not a finding by the regulator, and it is several years old.

Plusy has no ads, and no third-party analytics. The one thing it sells is the unlock, and a child meets it in two places: when hearts run out, and in the Shop. There are no tiers, no coin packs and no items that only paying children can have.

Can either app practice my child's own homework?

Plusy can. A grown-up takes a photo of the worksheet, types the questions, or describes the topic, and Plusy turns it into a practice list and works out every answer itself. A way to practice a child's own worksheet is not listed on Prodigy's site. Prodigy members can set goals and print custom practice sheets from Prodigy's own questions.

In Plusy this lives in My lists. Scan a worksheet reads printed or handwritten questions from a photo, and the photo is never stored. A free account gets one scan and one AI list a day; typing a list and Make a list have no daily limit. A list can be marked for a test with a countdown to the day. See scan a worksheet.

A limit to know: Plusy lists hold one-step questions on whole numbers, and fraction questions up to mixed numbers. A decimal, a word problem or a question that multiplies or divides fractions is skipped, and the screen says why.

What does each app do after a wrong answer?

Plusy shows the right answer, one line on what went wrong when it recognizes the slip, and a trick to remember. The missed question then comes back once later in the same round. Prodigy's App Store page says its questions include hints to help with tough concepts. Further detail is not listed on the pages we read.

On a column question, Plusy reads your child's own working and names the slip in one sentence, such as a forgotten carry or a borrow that was missed. Walk me through it then steps through the question on the same grid, starting from the digits your child already got right. What happens after a wrong answer.

Which is better for times tables?

For choosing exactly what to practice, Plusy. Its times tables road takes one table at a time from 1 to 12, in the order schools usually teach them, with a test at the end of each. Prodigy picks questions with its adaptive algorithm across all of grades 1 to 8, which suits broad practice more than one chosen table.

What Prodigy does better

• It makes children want to play. A world to explore, characters, pets and battles are a strong pull, and its App Store page shows a 4.8 rating from about 248,000 ratings. Plusy has one bird character and nothing to collect.
• It covers far more math. Grades 1 to 8 across the curriculum, as listed on its site. Plusy stops at whole-number arithmetic and fractions up to mixed numbers.
• The math questions are free with no heart limit. A free Plusy account practices within its hearts.
• It reports to parents. Its parents page describes a parent account with progress data and a monthly skill-by-skill report. Plusy's grown-ups area shows one line naming the kind of mistake your child is practicing, and no report.
• Schools use it. Prodigy says it is trusted by more than 3 million teachers. Plusy has no classes and no teacher dashboard.
• It runs on Android. Plusy has no Android app, although it works in the browser on an Android phone or tablet.
• Children can play with or against other players. Plusy has no multiplayer and no leaderboards.

What Plusy does better

• This week's homework becomes the practice. Scan, type or describe the worksheet. See make a list.
• One price, once. $29, no membership, no renewal, nothing to cancel.
• Nothing is sold to your child during practice. No ads, no tiers, no items reserved for paying players.
• Mistakes are explained and brought back. A line on what went wrong, a trick, and the question returns before the round ends.
• Written methods are practiced the way they are written. Carrying, borrowing, long multiplication and long division in columns, with help one step at a time.
• The time goes on math. A round is questions from start to finish, with no map to cross between them.

Who should pick which?

• Your child will only practice if it feels like a video game: Prodigy.
• The teacher assigns Prodigy, or classmates play it: Prodigy.
• You want math beyond arithmetic and fractions, such as decimals or geometry: Prodigy.
• You want free math questions without a heart limit: Prodigy.
• You want tonight's worksheet turned into practice: Plusy.
• You would rather pay once than keep a membership: Plusy.
• Membership prompts and locked items upset your child: Plusy.
• Your child is stuck on carrying, borrowing or long division: Plusy.
• You need more than one child on one account: Prodigy. A Plusy account holds one child.

Can you use both?

Yes, and for many families that is the sensible answer. Prodigy's math questions are free, so it can stay as the game your child plays for fun or for school. Plusy can be the ten minutes before a test, on the exact questions the teacher sent home, or the place to fix one written method.

Plusy is free to start in any browser, so trying it costs nothing: Start free. If Prodigy alone is not the right fit, our guide to math apps for kids and the list of math apps without a subscription cover other options.

Plusy is not affiliated with Prodigy Math or its maker. Product names belong to their owners. Prices and features were checked on 5 October 2026 and change, so check each app's own site before you buy.

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