Level Up puts the interest in the math, not around it.
Prodigy wraps practice inside a fantasy game, where the coins, pets and gear are what pull a child back. Level Up makes the work itself the thing worth doing, and counts a skill only when your child has proven it on the harder versions.
Level Up meets all twelve. Prodigy Math meets one, and is partway on six.
Twelve things to check in any K-8 math program
| What decides whether it works | Level Up | Prodigy Math |
|---|---|---|
| Try it before you paySee the whole thing, and your child’s report, while you can still change your mind | Every plan opens with 7 days free, then stays refundable in full for 30 days after the first charge.You read the report, and watch the first skills clear, with the decision still open. | The game is free to play, so your child can start today. There is no parent-facing report of where they actually stand. |
| Names the missing skills | The report names them, one by one, in plain language. A grade level is not a diagnosis: the children we assess are missing about 200 specific skills on average. | The game adapts as your child plays, but nothing hands you a list of what is missing. |
| Goes back to earlier gradesGoes back to earlier grades on its own when the gap is older | When your child keeps getting stuck on a skill, practice steps back to the earlier skill it builds on.A 5th grader stuck on fractions is often missing a piece of 3rd grade. The assessment finds those earlier skills and puts them on your child’s board, with no “remedial” label, and during practice Level Up opens the earlier skill with a worked example and works on that foundation first. | Difficulty adapts inside the game, but it does not stop and rebuild a foundation that was never laid. |
| Proven, not counted | A skill clears only when your child has solved the harder versions too, consistently. Proven, not counted, so it does not come undone in November. | Progress is a game level. There is no skill-mastery gate to clear at all. |
| Progress never taken away | Progress only moves forward. A wrong answer is information about what to practice next, never a penalty, and missing a day costs nothing. | Game progress is kept, though losing a battle resets the encounter and sends your child back to try it again. |
| Brings skills back before they fade | Everything not revisited is forgotten. Level Up resurfaces a skill on the day it is most likely to slip, and stretches the gap wider as it gets solid. | Questions recur as the game serves them up, not on a schedule built around when a child forgets. |
| No points, streaks, leaderboards | None of it. No leaderboards, no points, no comparison with other children. The only comparison is to where your child was last week. | The entire progression is a game: coins, pets, gear and treasure multipliers. |
| A goal and a reward at homeA goal your child chose, and a reward that means something at home | You and your child agree a Quest: a size, from about two weeks to a school-year milestone, and a real reward you both name.Level Up sizes the target from what your child can actually reach, progress counts only skills genuinely mastered, and you both sign it. | Members can “Set Goals for your child, send in-game Cheers”, in Prodigy’s own words. The goal is real. The reward is coins, pets and gear inside the game. |
| Covers all of K-8 | Every Common Core standard from kindergarten through 8th grade, and one subscription covers the whole range. | Prodigy Math is grades 1 to 8. There is no kindergarten. |
| Works without you beside them | Yes. The next session is already built from the last one, so there is nothing for you to set up, choose or supervise. | Yes. Children will open it without being asked, which is the thing Prodigy is genuinely best at. |
| See every problem attempted | Every problem attempted, solved or not, how long each one took, and what was mastered this week against last. Evidence of learning, not minutes logged. | A parent dashboard exists, though it reports game activity more readily than evidence of learning. |
| A dose you can sustain | About 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for one monthly price no matter how much your child uses it. | Children will happily play every day. How much of that time is math is the open question. |
| Level Up is ahead on eleven of the twelve, level on one (works without you beside them). | ||
What each one costs
A month of Level Up costs about what one hour of private tutoring does.
Level Up$49 / monthThe first 7 days are free, assessment and report included.
Prodigy MathFree, memberships from $9.95The math is free. Paid tiers buy coins, pets and gear, not more math.
How the free trial works
- 7 days free. A card is collected at signup and nothing is charged that day.
- The assessment and your child’s report both happen inside those 7 days.
- When the trial ends the plan starts at $49 a month, $196 every 6 months, or $294 a year, unless you cancel first.
- $29 a month for each additional child ($116 every 6 months, $174 a year). One trial covers every child on the account.
- 30-day money-back guarantee on your first charge, on any plan.
See the report before you pay
This is what you get on day one, before any charge.
The assessment happens inside the 7 free days. When it finishes, a report like this is built for your child. This one is real, with the child’s name changed.
Scrolls inside the frame. The full report opens below.
From Level Up families
Math became much less of a struggle.
Level Up parentThey want to do math almost every day because they want to make progress toward their quest rewards. I can see that they are learning and becoming more confident, but also that doing math has become much less of a struggle. For me, that’s probably the biggest thing.
LauraMother of a fourth and an eighth grader, American International School
Straight answer
Prodigy Math may be better if your child...
- Your child flatly refuses to do math, and a game is the only way they will start at all.
- You want something free, and Prodigy’s math content genuinely is.
Otherwise, Level Up is ahead of Prodigy Math on 11 of the 12 areas that help kids become proficient in math, and level on the one Prodigy Math meets.
Ready when you areFind the gap today.