MathCal vs Other Ways to Practice Mental Math
Hiroki Obara · DeveloperMathCalComparison
A parent of an elementary school child who wants steady calculation practice has more choices than ever. There are paper workbooks at every bookstore, classes that meet once or twice a week, free websites, and many math apps. MathCal is one of those apps, and I made it. This post lays out where it fits and where something else is the better choice.
First, what MathCal is. It is a math practice app for iPhone and iPad where the child writes every answer by hand on the screen. It has 22 drill sets, from single-digit math and column math to fractions, decimals and geometry, and 59 interactive Montessori lessons in which the child moves things on the screen to see how the math works. Four of them, for the four operations, use beads. The others use a ruler, a balance, a hundred grid, unit cubes and other materials. Today’s Drill, Today’s Challenge and Today’s Lesson are free every day, and they match the child’s school grade once a birth year and month are set. The rest of the drills and lessons open with a one-time purchase (¥1,500 on the Japanese App Store), not a subscription. There are no ads, no data tracking and no account, and it works offline once the handwriting model has been downloaded on first use.
Below are five alternatives to it.
Paper Calculation Workbooks
A workbook and a pencil is still the most common way to practice calculation, and it has real strengths. It costs the price of the book. There is no screen at all. The child writes on paper, which is the same thing they do in a school test. A parent can glance at a finished page and see every answer at once.
The differences are practical. Someone has to mark the page, and a workbook has a fixed number of problems, so once it is finished you need another one. A child also gets no answer until someone checks. MathCal checks each handwritten answer as soon as the child writes it (column drills have a check button), generates the next problem, and lets you set a drill anywhere from 10 to 300 questions, so the length of a session is a setting rather than a page count.
A Math Class or a Worksheet-Based Learning Center
An in-person class or learning center gives a child something no app has: a person who watches how they work, notices a misunderstanding, and explains it in a new way. Many centers also build a routine around daily worksheets, which is close to what MathCal tries to support.
The difference is mostly cost, time and travel. Fees and schedules vary by provider. MathCal cannot explain a mistake the way a teacher can. What it can do is run a short handwritten session at home every day, including days when nobody can drive anywhere.
Game-Style Math Apps
Some math apps wrap questions in a larger game. Prodigy Math Game is a well-known example. According to its App Store page, it covers math practice for grades 1 to 8, uses an adaptive algorithm to set difficulty, and has children answer questions to progress through a fantasy adventure, with battles against other players. The core game is free, and optional paid memberships add parent tools and extra game features (as of September 2026). Each player creates a character to begin.
For a child who needs a story to sit down at all, that design can be the thing that works. MathCal goes the other way. There is no character and no world map. The screen is a problem and the child’s own handwriting, and the reward is a stamp on a calendar. That quieter design can suit a child who already likes numbers, or one who gets pulled away by everything that is not the math. It is less likely to hold a child who wants an adventure.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a nonprofit, and its courses are free. It offers videos, practice exercises and learning paths for kindergarten through early college, across many subjects. For younger children there is a separate free app, Khan Academy Kids, for ages 2 to 8.
If you want a full curriculum with explanations of every topic, Khan Academy covers far more than MathCal and costs nothing. MathCal is narrower on purpose. It is a daily calculation practice tool with handwritten input, and its lessons are hands-on lessons rather than videos. The two can sit side by side without any trouble: a video when a topic is new, a short handwritten drill for the practice that comes after.
Physical Montessori Bead Materials
Montessori classrooms use real bead materials: single beads, bars of ten, squares of a hundred, cubes of a thousand. A child can hold a thousand in two hands and feel that it is heavier than a hundred. No screen can give that.
MathCal borrows the same idea on a screen, but only part of it uses beads. The four lessons for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division have the child move beads under a finger. The other 55 lessons use other materials, such as a ruler, a balance, a hundred grid or unit cubes, and run through fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement. None of that is the same as holding real beads. It does mean a family without the materials, or without the space for them, can still try the concrete step before the drill.
A Plain Comparison
| MathCal | Paper workbook | Class or learning center | Game-style app (e.g. Prodigy) | Khan Academy | Physical beads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child writes answers by hand | Yes, on screen | Yes, on paper | Varies | Varies | Varies | Not applicable |
| Answers checked right away | Yes | No, someone marks it | By a teacher | Yes | Yes | Not applicable |
| Explains concepts | 59 hands-on lessons (4 with beads) | Varies by book | Yes, a teacher | Hints in questions | Videos and exercises | Hands-on, with a guide |
| Cost | Daily picks free, one-time purchase for the rest | Price of the book | Varies by provider | Free core, optional memberships | Free | One-time, varies |
| Ads | None | None | None | Varies | Varies | None |
| Account needed | No | No | Enrollment | Yes, a player character | Varies | No |
| Works offline | Yes, after the first download of the handwriting model | Yes | Not applicable | Varies | Varies | Yes |
When Another Option Is the Better Choice
Something else may be the better choice in these cases.
If your child is stuck on an idea and needs someone to explain it, a teacher, a class or a patient parent will do more than any drill app, MathCal included.
If you want a free, complete curriculum with a video for every topic, Khan Academy is the more complete choice.
If your child only practices when there is a story and characters, a game-style app like Prodigy may keep them coming back where MathCal would not.
If you want a completely screen-free routine, or practice that looks exactly like a school test, a paper workbook is simpler and cheaper.
If your home or school already has Montessori bead materials, use the real beads. MathCal’s lessons are a stand-in for them, not an improvement on them.
MathCal fits best when you want short, daily calculation practice that your child writes by hand and can run on their own, with no ads and no account, and with a hands-on lesson available when a topic is new.
Where to Go Next
The MathCal page has screenshots and the full feature list. Getting Started with MathCal walks through a first session, Ideas for Getting More out of MathCal collects practical suggestions, and Who Is MathCal For? may help you decide.
Today’s three free picks are the simplest way to find out whether it suits your child.
