Brilliant alternatives, sorted by why you're leaving

By the edgi team Facts checked September 30, 2026

If Brilliant costs too much, switch to Khan Academy: it's free, and it's the better app for serious math practice. If the problem is that Brilliant only teaches math and code, or that its free plan makes you take lessons in order, two a day, try edgi: it's free, it covers every subject in 60-second Lessons, and you pick what comes next.

For harder math, try Art of Problem Solving; for math as a game, Duolingo; for more code, Codecademy; for a syllabus in other subjects, Kinnu. We make edgi, which is why it's in the table twice. Weigh this accordingly.

Prices are from each app's US App Store listing or its own pricing page, checked September 30, 2026. Platforms are the ones we confirmed.

Why people leave Brilliant

All three reasons are on Brilliant's own pages.

The price moves. We loaded Brilliant's pricing page several times on September 30, 2026, and it showed the same Individual plan at $240, $270 or $360 a year, or $30, $45 or $60 month to month.

The subject list is math and code, with some science. Brilliant's sitemap lists 68 course pages, from pre-algebra to neural networks and quantum computing. Not one is on history, art or psychology, and biology shows up only in a set of science puzzles.

The order is fixed unless you pay. The free plan gives you two "keys" a day, each good for one lesson or practice set, and you must "work through courses sequentially." Premium is what lets you jump to "any lesson in any course."

Brilliant's own comparison pages are against Khan Academy, IXL, Art of Problem Solving and Prodigy Math. All four teach math. That's a fine list for the first reason and no help with the other two.

Too expensive: Khan Academy, or Duolingo

For math practice, Khan Academy beats Brilliant's free plan, and it beats edgi. A nonprofit runs it and it costs nothing. The math goes from arithmetic to differential equations and linear algebra, with exercises that give "instant feedback and step-by-step hints."

It also undercuts Brilliant on the thing Brilliant leads with. Brilliant's App Store listing calls it a tutor for math and coding, and sells "Brilliant Premium with Tutor" at $191.99. Khanmigo, Khan Academy's tutor, is $4 a month or $44 a year for US learners and parents, and free for teachers.

Duolingo, the language app, has a Math course for elementary through high school, which it says "makes math feel like a game." It's free with ads, and Super Duolingo is $9.99 to $119.99 on the App Store. It's school math, so it fixes the price and not the subject list.

Only math and code, or two a day: edgi

About 3,600 of edgi's 44,000 Lessons are math or computer science. More than 13,000 are history and about 7,300 are biology. There's one on why red wine dries your mouth, and one on why a slot machine has picked your result before the first reel moves. A Lesson takes about 60 seconds and ends with a question or two that make you use the idea. Finish it, and the idea becomes a card on your Map, next to the ideas it connects to.

There's no daily limit on Lessons and no course to follow. You lead, and the Map suggests where to go next, across 104,000 ideas joined by 296,000 connections.

A fixed order suits algebra, where fractions come before equations. It doesn't suit a question like why old buildings look better built than new ones, which you want answered today.

Here's the Lesson that answers it, with some math inside. You decide where to armor a World War II bomber, drag a street from 1900 forward to today, then open five weeks of perfect stock tips from a stranger who knew nothing about stocks. He had told half his list the price would go up and half it would go down. It's one of edgi's interactive Lessons, so it runs a few minutes instead of one.

Survivorship Bias Survivorship bias occurs when we evaluate only surviving entities and overlook failures, leading to false conclusions and inflated success rates.

60-second Lesson

Survivorship Bias

A stranger's five stock tips all came true. He had mailed 32 people and kept writing only to the half he got right.

Play it here Read about survivorship bias

On edgi's Map, survivorship bias sits next to Bayes' theorem and sampling bias, so the next Lesson can be the statistics underneath the trick. It also sits next to confirmation bias, if you'd rather follow the people who fell for it.

Other subjects with a syllabus: Kinnu

Kinnu is the other free pick, and the better one if you want a syllabus. Its 100 pathways run across seven categories from history to technology, with a built-in review feature called Memory Shield. It fixes Brilliant's subject list and keeps Brilliant's order: you pick a pathway, and Kinnu decides what comes next. Its homepage leads with exam prep these days. The general-knowledge app is still free.

Too easy: Art of Problem Solving

Art of Problem Solving teaches math to grades 5 to 12. Its free practice system, Alcumus, is aimed at "high-performing math students." Its live online classes are not free: an introductory algebra class is $495 for 16 weekly 90-minute sessions.

You want to write code: Codecademy

If code was the part of Brilliant you liked, Codecademy is built around it, with courses from Python to SQL. Basic is free, and Plus is $14.99 a month billed yearly or $29.99 month to month. The courses are on the web; its phone app is for review and practice.

When to keep Brilliant

Keep it if you want to get good at math or code and you'll pay for that. Brilliant teaches by making you solve interactive problems in steps, and it does that well. Koji, its tutor, walks you through a problem without giving you the answer. edgi explains an idea and asks you a question or two, and that isn't practice.

Keep it, too, if you're on Android. Brilliant has an Android app, and so do Khan Academy and Duolingo. edgi runs on iPhone and in a browser.

FAQ

What's the best free alternative to Brilliant? Khan Academy, if you want math practice: it's free and goes from arithmetic to linear algebra. edgi, if you want anything outside math and code: it's free too, with 60-second Lessons on every subject and no daily limit.

Is Brilliant free? Only in part. The free plan allows two lessons or practice sets a day, taken in course order, with occasional ads. Premium lifts the cap and lets you jump to any lesson.

How much does Brilliant cost? Brilliant's own pricing page gave us three answers on September 30, 2026: $240, $270 or $360 a year. Its App Store listing has Premium purchases from $19.99 to $191.99, the top one bundled with a tutor.

Is there an app like Brilliant for subjects besides math? edgi, with free 60-second Lessons on every subject. Kinnu, whose free pathways cover subjects like psychology and history. Neither teaches through problem sets the way Brilliant does.

Is Khan Academy better than Brilliant? For math practice at no cost, yes. Khan Academy's videos and exercises are free; Khanmigo, its tutor, is $4 a month. Brilliant's interactive problems are the better-built lessons, and you pay for them.

Is edgi free? Yes. Lessons, cards and the Map are free. A few Sets are open from the start, and the rest unlock with coins you earn by learning. An optional Pro subscription opens two Sets a day without coins, raises the limits on making your own Lessons and adds offline access.

Does edgi teach math? A little. About 3,600 of its 44,000 Lessons are math or computer science, from the Monty Hall problem to survivorship bias. It won't drill you on algebra; Khan Academy will, for free.