AI Tutor: 8 Tools Compared on Price and Age Rules (2026)

An AI tutor is software that teaches a subject step by step and checks that the learner understood before it moves on. That separates it from an answer app, which solves the problem you photograph, and from a general chatbot, which answers whatever you type. A good one asks questions back. Some also tell a parent what happened in the session.

Paying for one yourself, or for your child? The tools on this page cost from $0 to $200 a month, as of October 2026. Same category name. Very different products.

Price is rarely what rules a tool out. The age rule is. Khanmigo sells only to adults who live in the US. Aristotle markets itself from 6th grade while its own terms bar anyone under 13. Photomath and iTutor also start at 13, and Synthesis stops at 11.

So I read the terms pages as well as the pricing pages. This guide covers the tutor itself; for the rest of a student's kit, from research to drafting, see the best AI agents for students.

How I compared them

I read every pricing page, product page and terms page cited here on 8 October 2026, in both billing states where a page had a monthly and annual toggle. Quizlet was the exception: only its annual prices could be read that day. Five questions did the sorting:

• Does it teach? A tutor asks questions back and checks understanding.
• Who may use it, by its own terms? Marketing pages and legal pages do not always agree, so I quote both.
• What is actually free? Here "free" can mean a capped plan, a few sessions, a short trial or free for teachers only.
• What does a year cost, per child?
• What does a parent get to see? I counted it only where the vendor's own page described it.

What I did not do: open an account, sit a session or watch a child use any of these. Tutoring quality is yours to judge, and every tool here except Khanmigo offers a free plan, free sessions or a trial for exactly that. Duolingo Max is missing because duolingo.com/max redirected to Duolingo's homepage on 8 October 2026.

Quick comparison

Read on each vendor's own pricing, product and terms pages on 8 October 2026; all prices in US dollars. Gravity is listed for the admin around tutoring only.

Two tutors here price a whole household, which changes the math for anyone with more than one child. A year on each, as of October 2026:

• Khanmigo family plan: $44 a year for up to 10 children under 18, so $22 each with two. Paying monthly costs $48.
• Synthesis Tutor: $119 against $348 on monthly billing. Across the full 7 kids it is $17 a child (seven kids is a lot of kids).

Is it a tutor, an answer app or a chatbot study mode?

Three kinds of product put the word "tutor" on their homepages, and they do different jobs. Sort them before you compare prices.

A tutor teaches, asks questions back and keeps track of what the learner has mastered. Khanmigo says it "challenges you to think critically and solve problems without giving you direct answers." Aristotle says it looks for the misconception behind a mistake and works through questions and hints. Synthesis checks understanding with short assessments inside every lesson.

An answer app takes a photographed or typed problem and returns the solution with steps. Photomath is the clean example. Gauth, which calls itself "Your AI Homework Helper", is another, and its page showed no price on 8 October 2026. Brainly now pitches parents of 7th to 12th graders with AI homework help and an optional weekly human tutor; its price could not be read.

A chatbot study mode is a setting inside a general assistant. OpenAI introduced ChatGPT study mode on 29 July 2025 as "step by step guidance instead of quick answers", open at launch to logged-in users on Free, Plus, Pro and Team. Google's version is Guided Learning in Gemini.

Google announced Guided Learning on 6 August 2025. It runs on LearnLM, which Google calls "a family of models fine-tuned for learning", and it "encourages participation through probing and open-ended questions" while breaking problems into steps. On a computer, signed in, it sits under "More tools". I did not read its price, so I cannot say whether it costs anything.

What Khanmigo's family plan and Aristotle add is on the parent's side: child accounts under a parent, session summaries, history and moderation alerts. If a general chatbot is enough for your student, the AI study assistant guide prices the chatbots people use for studying.

1. Synthesis Tutor: elementary math for ages 5 to 11

Synthesis calls it "Your child's personal math tutor" and draws a hard line on age. The FAQ says it "currently covers elementary math for ages 5-11", and the terms require the account holder to be at least 18. For users under 7, all text and answer choices are read aloud, which matters for a child who cannot read fluently yet.

Is it ChatGPT in a costume? The company says no. Synthesis says it uses AI where appropriate and relies on its educators and neuroscientists for much of the teaching design: "In short, it is not Chat-GPT."

The annual plan costs about a third of the monthly one

As of October 2026, both plans cover up to 7 kids. Monthly is $29, which Synthesis itself prices at $348 a year. Annual is $119, or $9.92 a month. The hero line, "less than $1/day", holds even on the monthly plan ($29 over 30 days is about 97 cents); annual works out near 33 cents a day.

It runs on iPad, Android tablets and computers including Chromebooks, and there is a Spanish version. Synthesis has no free plan, only a 7-day trial.

2. Khanmigo: the $4 tutor, if you are a US adult

Khanmigo comes from Khan Academy, which describes it as "an AI-powered personal tutor and teaching assistant." It covers elementary school through college and "almost any academic subject, including math, science, coding, history, and humanities."

It is also the cheapest paid tutor here. As of October 2026, the "For you" and "For families" plans both cost $4 a month or $44 a year, before sales tax. The family plan lets a parent add children, view the history of their interactions and get moderation alerts. Teachers sign up free.

Khanmigo's eligibility rule decides who can buy it

The FAQ is blunt. To use Khanmigo as a parent or learner you must pay, "be 18 years or older, live in the United States, and have a billing address in the U.S." A teenager cannot sign up alone: "If you are under 18 years old, your parent or guardian needs to sign up in order for you to gain access." Teachers cannot grant student access either; classrooms get it only through a school or district.

Outside the US, it is off your list. Inside it, $44 a year for the whole family is hard to argue with.

Best for

A US family with more than one child in school.

Free tier

None for learners or parents; free for teachers.

Why it charges

Khan Academy says it is a small nonprofit funded by donations, and that its content library and learning platform will always stay free.

3. Aristotle: a voice tutor for middle and high school

Aristotle is built around talking. Its homepage says you can "Ask questions out loud, hear explanations in Aristotle's voice, and interrupt whenever you need to," and it draws steps, diagrams and images as it explains. It covers middle- and high-school core subjects, deepest in math and science.

Aristotle reports to parents after every session, and the FAQ says parents can see which skills their child has worked on, what they have mastered and where they are still stuck. Serious concerns are flagged for review by Aristotle's team. Voice recordings are not stored, and transcripts are kept for quality and research.

The pricing page says grade 6, the terms say age 13

Aristotle's pricing FAQ says it serves learners "from 6th grade through 12th grade." Its terms, last updated 20 June 2026, say the service is "intended only for individuals who are at least 13 years old." Plenty of sixth graders are 11 or 12. If yours is, ask Aristotle before you pay. Teens from 13 to 17 join through a student profile on a parent's account or, where the law allows, a free account of their own.

As of October 2026, the Intro plan is free for three one-hour sessions. Scholar is $49 a month for 8 sessions, two a week, with a parent dashboard, about $6.13 a session. Infinite is $199 a month for unlimited sessions. At Scholar's rate, Infinite only pays off above about 32 sessions a month, more than one a day on average. Both are monthly and cancel any time.

4. iTutor: a free tutor built from your own textbook

iTutor works from what you give it. Upload a textbook or notes and it builds flashcards, quizzes, exam simulators, mind maps, study guides and a study plan, and it "answers from the pages you upload." Voice tutoring works in 12 languages, free tier included.

The free plan has no end date and needs no card: 30 tutor messages a month, plus flashcards, mind maps and practice exams within monthly limits. Because of that, iTutor offers no trial period. As of October 2026, Basic is $4.99 a month or $53.89 a year, and Premium is $9.99 or $107.89. Pro, at $19.99 or $215.89, adds video analysis. Enterprise is $200 a month. The yearly toggle is labeled "-10%", and every card matches it. Its terms set the minimum age at 13, with parental consent required under 18.

5. AI Tutor: custom courses for adults and lifelong learners

The site that ranked first in a US Google search for "ai tutor" on 8 October 2026 belongs to a product with that exact name: AI Tutor, at ai-tutor.ai, run by Lumination AI Ltd in London. It builds a "custom learning pathway to help you achieve more in school, work, and life," and its FAQ says it suits all ages, "from elementary school to college and adult learners." I could not check that against its terms, because ai-tutor.ai/terms returned a 404 on 8 October 2026.

The yearly discount is smaller than the banner says

The pricing page opens on yearly billing under a "Saves upto 30%" banner. The cards tell a smaller story. As of October 2026, Mentor is $13.33 a month billed yearly against $16 monthly, and Genius is $17.50 against $21, so both save about 17%. Mentor includes 150 tool uses a month; Genius allows 1,500 with unlimited history. Academy, with white-label branding and bulk seats, starts at $95 a month.

The Mentor and Genius cards carry a "Start Free Trial" button, and the page does not print the trial length. Check it before you start.

6. Speak: a language tutor you talk to, priced inside the app

Speak teaches languages by talking, through "A real back-and-forth with the Speak Tutor." You create the account on speak.com, then the lessons happen in the iOS or Android app.

Languages

Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Simplified Chinese, per its FAQ.

Price, as of October 2026

Not published on the website. The FAQ says pricing "varies by plan, region, and any current promotions" and that the most accurate price is in the app.

Plans

Speak Premium, and Speak Premium Plus with unlimited personalized lessons and the full Speak Tutor experience.

Free option

A 7-day free trial, then a paid subscription.

Age

Minors need a parent or legal guardian's approval, and that parent becomes responsible for the minor's activity.

7. Photomath: worked steps for math homework

Photomath is the clearest answer app here. Scan a problem, word problems included, or type it into the smart calculator, and it shows the solution with steps, for math from elementary school through college. It is good for checking work and risky as a replacement for doing it.

As of October 2026, Basic is $0 with step-by-step explanations. On the plan cards, Basic's "Custom visual aids" and "Extra 'how' and 'why' tips" are struck through; those come with the paid plan at $9.99 billed monthly or $69.99 billed annually, against $119.88 for twelve monthly payments. The cards print no plan name and no trial length.

Photomath's terms close it to anyone under 13

The terms say the service is "intended solely for persons who are 13 years of age or older." For a child aged 5 to 11, Synthesis is the math option built for that age; at 12, neither tool's terms fit.

8. Quizlet: flashcards and practice tests, priced by the year

Quizlet is a study platform built on flashcards, Learn rounds, practice tests and textbook solutions. Its upgrade page sells practice and revision, and none of the features on it is labeled an AI tutor.

The upgrade page put up a bot check, and only its annual view could be read on 8 October 2026. As of October 2026, Quizlet Plus is $35.99 a year, shown as $2.99 a month, with 3 practice tests a month. Plus Unlimited is $44.99 a year, shown as $3.75 a month, with unlimited Learn rounds and what Quizlet calls millions of textbook solutions. Quizlet Family is $83.99 a year for up to 5 accounts, behind a "Get limited-time offer" button, so treat that price as promotional.

The 7-day trial applies to annual plans only, and an annual plan renews unless you cancel.

What the research says about AI tutors

The one controlled study this guide relies on is a randomized trial by Kestin, Miller, Klales, Milbourne and Ponti, published in Scientific Reports on 3 June 2025. It ran in fall 2023 in Physical Sciences 2, "Harvard's largest physics class (N = 233)", with 194 students eligible, across two lessons in a crossover design.

The authors found that "students learn significantly more in less time when using the AI tutor, compared with the in-class active learning." Median post-test scores were 4.5 for the AI group against 3.5 in class, and median learning gains were more than double. Median time on task was 49 minutes, against a 60-minute class.

The authors name the limits themselves

The course's instructors built the tutor on GPT-4 with "expert-crafted, question-specific prompts," for students meeting the material for the first time. The authors "do not presume that structured AI tutoring will always outperform in-class active learning in all contexts, for example, those requiring complex synthesis of multiple concepts and higher-order critical thinking." The trial covered one college physics course and two lessons. None of the eight tools here took part, so the study says more about how a tutor is designed than about any app you can buy.

Which one should you choose?

Start with two facts: how old the learner is and which country you live in. The subject comes after that. Prices below are as of October 2026.

Ages 5 to 11, learning math: Synthesis Tutor on the annual plan, $119 a year for up to 7 kids, after the 7-day trial.

School or college age, most academic subjects, in the US: Khanmigo at $44 a year, on the family plan if you have more than one child. A parent signs up for anyone under 18.

A learner in grades 6 to 12 who learns by talking: Aristotle. Use the three free sessions before Scholar at $49 a month; if your sixth grader is under 13, ask Aristotle first, because its terms say 13 and over.

A high schooler or college student with no budget: iTutor's free plan, then Basic at $4.99 a month once 30 messages stop being enough.

An adult learning a skill or a language: AI Tutor's Mentor plan at $13.33 a month billed yearly, or Speak with the price checked in the app.

Checking math homework: Photomath Basic is free for 13 and over. If the goal is learning the method, pair it with one of the tutors above.

Already using ChatGPT or Gemini: try study mode or Guided Learning first, and move to a dedicated tutor when you want a parent's view of progress. Teachers comparing their own options can start with what AI agents take off a teacher's plate.

FAQ

Sources