Khanmigo

★

Khan Academy's AI tutor — Socratic, never gives away the answer, free for teachers.

Freemium · Tutors & Study Companions · 4.5 / 5 · Last verified: May 2, 2026

Teachers Students Parents

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khanmigo.ai · Screenshot pending — we add real captures as we re-test each tool.

Khanmigo coaching a student through a 7th-grade algebra word problem with leading questions instead of the answer.

Khanmigo coaches with leading questions — students solve it themselves, and the chat log is visible to parents and teachers.

TL;DR

Khanmigo is the only mainstream AI tutor designed not to give away the answer. The Socratic prompting style is the right pedagogy for homework help, and it's free for any US K-12 teacher who wants it.

Recommend it if

You're a teacher who wants every student to have a tutor that won't do the homework for them, or a parent who wants help that builds skill instead of bypassing it.

Skip it if

You teach outside the US and the per-learner pricing is a non-starter, or your students need help with content outside Khan Academy's catalogue.

Quick facts

Platforms: WebiOSAndroid
Languages: EnglishSpanish
School fit: K-5 6-8 9-12
Subjects: MathScienceELAHistoryCoding
Time to first output: < 3 min
Learning curve: Easy
Setup: Sign in with Khan Academy account; teacher dashboard adds class roster
Works offline: —

Real-world use cases

How a teacher, student or parent actually puts this tool to work.

Who	Scenario	Time	Output
Teachers	Assign a 6th-grade ratios unit on Khan, then watch the dashboard for kids whose Khanmigo conversations stall — a leading indicator they're stuck before the quiz.	5 min/day	Per-student stuck-points list
Students	Stuck on a calculus optimization problem at 10 PM — Khanmigo asks "what variable changes when x changes?" instead of solving it for you.	15 min	Solved problem, learned method
Parents	Open the parent portal to see exactly what your 4th grader and the AI talked about — verify nothing weird, see what they're stuck on.	2 min	Conversation review

Teachers
Assign a 6th-grade ratios unit on Khan, then watch the dashboard for kids whose Khanmigo conversations stall — a leading indicator they're stuck before the quiz.

Time

5 min/day

Output

Per-student stuck-points list
Students
Stuck on a calculus optimization problem at 10 PM — Khanmigo asks "what variable changes when x changes?" instead of solving it for you.

Time

15 min

Output

Solved problem, learned method
Parents
Open the parent portal to see exactly what your 4th grader and the AI talked about — verify nothing weird, see what they're stuck on.

Time

2 min

Output

Conversation review

Khanmigo is the only mainstream AI tutor that refuses to give away the answer. The system prompt is co-designed by Khan Academy and OpenAI to keep every conversation Socratic — it asks leading questions until the learner solves it themselves.

Why teachers like it

Free for any US K-12 teacher (district or individual)
Class dashboard shows every conversation — useful for catching stuck students
Built-in lesson planner, rubric writer, IEP-draft helper

Why parents like it

Parent portal shows the full chat history — no black-box tutor
Won’t write the essay; it coaches revision instead
Pairs naturally with Khan Academy’s free practice library

What we like

+ Refuses to give away answers — coaches the student through it
+ Free for US K-12 teachers (district & individual)
+ Tightly integrated with the entire Khan Academy library
+ Built-in writing coach, debate partner and lesson-plan helper

Heads up

− Outside the US, pricing jumps to $4/mo per learner
− Math/science strongest; humanities feedback feels generic
− No notebooks / file uploads — it teaches Khan's curriculum, not your PDFs

Pricing breakdown

Pricing

Verified directly on the vendor site. We re-check every quarter.

Teachers (US)

Most useful

$0 forever

· Free for any US K-12 teacher with a verified Khan account
· Lesson-plan helper, rubric writer, IEP draft helper
· Class dashboard with student conversation visibility
· All Khanmigo tutor features for personal use

Learners

$4 /mo (or $44/yr)

· Unlimited tutor conversations
· Subject coaches across all Khan Academy subjects
· Writing coach, debate partner, college counsellor
· Parent visibility into chat history

Districts

Contact per district

· District-wide rollout via Khan Academy Districts program
· SSO, rostering, FERPA-aligned DPA
· Free for US Title I schools through 2026
· Admin analytics across all schools

Privacy & compliance

What we found in the vendor's terms, DPA, and trust center. Verify with your district before deploying.

FERPA: Compliant
SOC 2: Compliant
COPPA: Compliant
GDPR: Partial
Trains on your data: No
Data retention: Conversations retained per account; teacher and parent visibility built in.
Hosting regions: US · EU

Khanmigo is built on a non-profit model. Khan Academy does not use student conversations to train models. COPPA-compliant on under-13 accounts via parent consent flow.

Works with

Khan Academy library
Google Classroom (rostering)
Clever (rostering)

Frequently asked questions

Is it really free for teachers?

Yes — any US K-12 teacher can verify their .edu/school email and get full Khanmigo for Teachers free, including the lesson-planning tools and class dashboard. Learner accounts (the homework-helper side) are $4/mo unless your district is in the free Title I program.

Why doesn't it just give the answer?

That's the design choice. Khan and OpenAI co-designed the system prompt to keep Khanmigo Socratic — it asks leading questions until the student figures it out. If the kid asks "just tell me the answer", it gently refuses.

Can my kid talk to it about anything?

Conversations are scoped to academic topics. Off-topic prompts are gently redirected; flagged conversations surface to teachers and parents in the dashboard.

Does it work on the SAT / AP exams?

Khanmigo plus Khan's Official SAT Prep is currently the most polished AI test-prep workflow we've tested. AP support is per-subject; AP Bio and AP US History are strongest.

How is this different from ChatGPT for homework help?

ChatGPT will write the essay or solve the problem if asked. Khanmigo refuses by design and is grounded in Khan's curriculum library, so the explanations match what the teacher is teaching.