Is Khanmigo worth it in 2026?
The price is low and has not moved since 2024. The harder question is whether your child will actually use it, and a two-year school trial published in 2026 has data on exactly that.
The quick answer
Khanmigo costs $4 a month or $44 a year, plus sales tax, and one parent plan covers up to 10 children, which makes it one of the cheapest AI tutors you can buy. It coaches rather than hands over answers and works on top of Khan Academy’s free exercises. A 2026 randomized trial in 18 Tennessee middle schools found small math gains, similar to Khan Academy practice without AI, mainly because students rarely talked to the tutor. Worth it if your child already practices on Khan Academy; not if you hope the AI alone will create the habit.
Khanmigo costs $4 a month or $44 a year for a parent plan covering up to 10 children, but a two-year randomized trial published in August 2026 found the median student messaged it on only a third of practice days, and its math gains resembled Khan Academy practice without AI. At that price the money is not the risk; the risk is paying for a tutor your child never opens.
Khanmigo is Khan Academy’s AI tutor, built on OpenAI technology and set up to guide students with questions instead of giving answers. It runs inside Khan Academy’s math, science, writing and SAT content, and parents can see their children’s chat history. The verdict below turns on one thing: does your child already practice on Khan Academy?
Khanmigo plans at a glance, US pricing as of October 30, 2026
Sales tax is not included. Learner and parent plans require a US billing address.
| Feature | Teachers | Learners | Parents (families) | Districts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $4/month or $44/year | $4/month or $44/year | Request pricing |
| Who can sign up | US teachers and listed locales | Adults 18+ in the US | Parents in the US | School districts |
| Children covered | n/a | 1 learner | Up to 10 connected children | District students |
| Student tutoring | No (teacher tools only) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chat history and moderation alerts | Own history | Own history | Yes, for each child | District data |
| Lesson plans, rubrics, exit tickets | Yes | No | No, unless teacher role enabled | Yes |
What you get
- ✓$44 a year covers up to 10 children on one parent plan.
- ✓Price unchanged since at least May 2024.
- ✓Coaches instead of answering, built on Khan Academy’s free exercises.
- ✓Parent visibility: chat history and moderation alerts for each child.
- ✓Free for teachers in the US and listed locales.
The trade-offs
- ✕Low engagement: in a 2026 trial the median student messaged it on a third of practice days.
- ✕Small measured gains, similar to Khan Academy practice without AI.
- ✕US only for paid plans, and the account holder must be 18 or older.
- ✕Answer-seekers get frustrated by the hint-first design.
- ✕Sales tax extra, and cancelling on the renewal day may be too late.
Worth it if…
- →Families whose children already practice on Khan Academy several times a week.
- →Parents of several children who want one cheap plan with chat oversight.
- →Teachers, who get the teacher tools free.
Skip it if…
- →Your child does not use Khan Academy and you hope the AI will build the habit.
- →You live outside the US, where the paid plans are not sold.
- →Your teen studies independently and already uses a general chatbot well.
What does Khanmigo cost in 2026?
As of October 30, 2026, the Khanmigo pricing page lists the learner plan and the family plan at $4 a month or $44 a year, with sales tax on top. Paying yearly saves $4 against 12 monthly payments of $4 ($48), by our arithmetic. Teacher tools are free, and districts request a quote.
The family plan is the better deal for most homes. Khan Academy’s sign-up help article says a parent plan can have up to 10 connected child accounts. Three children on one $44 yearly plan works out to about $14.67 per child per year (our arithmetic). Paid plans need a billing address in the 50 states or DC and an account holder aged 18 or over.
To cancel, use the Khanmigo tab in account settings. The cancellation article warns that cancelling on the renewal date may be too late to avoid that charge, and access continues to the end of the billing period. Khan Academy explains the fee by the cost of the OpenAI models behind Khanmigo; the rest of Khan Academy stays free.
Has Khanmigo’s price changed?
No. The archive snapshot of 2024-05-06 shows the same $4 a month or $44 a year for learners and families, free teacher tools and quoted district pricing, and the snapshot of 2025-08-02 matches it word for word. The live page is unchanged in October 2026.
The bigger change was for teachers: in May 2024, THE Journal reported a Microsoft and Khan Academy partnership to make the Khanmigo teaching tool free, the free teacher tier the pricing page shows today.
What did the two-year school trial find?
The strongest independent evidence is a randomized trial by Philip Oreopoulos and Nina Low, “One Click Away,” EdWorkingPaper 26-1551 (August 2026). Students in 18 Tennessee middle schools were randomly assigned to use Khan Academy with Khanmigo, set to coach rather than answer, during daily remedial math sessions.
Assignment raised math achievement by 1.3 national percentile ranks per term, about 0.06 to 0.08 standard deviations over a school year, with an implied 0.14 for a full year of active participation. The authors note these gains “resemble those from Khan Academy practice without AI assistance.”
The reason is usage. 96% of students tried Khanmigo at least once, but the median student messaged it on only a third of practice days, and in only 17% of exercise sessions where they made a mistake. Most messages were bare answers or clicks on suggested prompts. The authors conclude that “the binding constraint appears to be engagement.” That was a school setting with scheduled practice time; at home, with no teacher in the room, engagement is unlikely to be higher.
What do reviewers and teachers say?
Early coverage was sharper. A Wall Street Journal test from February 2024 ran under the headline that the tutor “Struggled With Basic Math.” The models behind Khanmigo have changed since, so treat that as a dated snapshot rather than today’s accuracy.
Math educator Dan Meyer, writing in “Khanmigo Doesn’t Love Kids” (February 2024), showed the tutor giving the same generic opening question to a near-correct answer as to gibberish, ignoring what the student got right. Fixed scripts like that are one plausible reason students disengage, which the 2026 trial’s low message rates also suggest.
The design choice parents like, refusing to hand over answers, is also the main friction: a child who wants the answer fast will close the chat. Parents can read each child’s chat history and receive moderation alerts.
Khanmigo vs a general chatbot for homework help
A general assistant can also be told to tutor rather than answer. Our Claude homework prompts and Claude tutor prompts set up a Socratic, hint-first session, and our ChatGPT Plus review covers what the paid tier adds. What a chatbot lacks is Khan Academy’s exercise library underneath, a child-safe setup, and a parent dashboard.
So the comparison is not really about price. It is a cheap tutor tied to structured practice against a powerful general tool your child can also use to skip the thinking. For an older teen who studies independently, a chatbot with good study prompts may do more. For a younger child already on Khan Academy, Khanmigo is the safer fit.
Academy data: of the 9 homework, tutoring and study prompt packs in our library, none names Khanmigo, counted on October 30, 2026.
The verdict
Worth $44 a year if your child already practices on Khan Academy; not worth it as a motivation fix. The price is low, stable and covers up to 10 children, so the cost of trying is small. The 2026 trial shows the limit: students who were given Khanmigo mostly did not talk to it, and learning gains matched Khan Academy practice alone.
Start with a month at $4, sit with your child for the first few sessions, and check the chat history after two weeks. If the history is empty or full of one-word answers, cancel before the renewal date. If your child is asking real questions, switch to the $44 yearly plan.
Better alternatives?
If it is not the right fit, these are worth a look.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Khanmigo cost?▾
As of October 30, 2026, learner and parent plans are $4 a month or $44 a year, plus sales tax. Teacher tools are free and districts request pricing.
How many children does a Khanmigo parent plan cover?▾
Khan Academy’s help center says a parent plan can have up to 10 connected child accounts.
Is Khanmigo available outside the US?▾
Paid learner and parent plans need a billing address in the 50 US states or DC. Free teacher tools are available in the US and some listed locales.
Does Khanmigo improve grades?▾
A 2026 randomized trial in 18 Tennessee middle schools found math gains of 1.3 national percentile ranks per term, similar to Khan Academy practice without AI, largely because students used the tutor infrequently.
Does Khanmigo give students the answers?▾
It is designed to coach with questions and hints rather than hand over answers, and parents can review their children’s chat history.