BrainPOP vs IXL
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BrainPOP
This app offers award-winning animated educational videos, interactive activities, and quizzes designed by educators. It aims to transform passive screen time into active, enriched learning experiences for children in grades 3-8 across all subjects.
- Animated educational movies
- Interactive activities
- Quizzes
- Content for grades 3-8
- All subjects covered
- Research-backed learning platform
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Access BrainPOP’s award-winning animated movies, activities and quizzes made by educators and replace your kids’ passive screen time with active, enriched learning. Start your free trial today to access content for grades 3-8 across all subjects. BrainPOP is a research-backed learning platform created by educators that know how kids learn best, and perfect for age-appropriate, independent learning. Start watching, learning, playing and growing with us! Terms of Use: https://www.brainpop.com/about/terms_of_use/ Privacy Policy: https://www.brainpop.com/about/privacy_policy/ User Agreement: https://www.brainpop.com/about/user_agreement/
IXL
Personalized learning for K-12 students across math, English, science, social studies, and Spanish. Offers adaptive practice, immediate feedback, and engaging games to accelerate achievement and build confidence.
- Personalized K-12 curriculum
- Adaptive skill-building
- Immediate feedback and explanations
- Interactive math and English games
- Video tutorials
- Real-time diagnostic assessments
- Handwriting recognition
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IXL is personalized learning! Trusted by over 1 million educators and parents, IXL is proven to accelerate student achievement. And with the award-winning IXL app, students can master skills anytime, anywhere! See how IXL meets the unique needs of over 17 million learners (and counting!): SUPERIOR SKILL-BUILDING With IXL’s full curriculum of over 20,000 skills, students of all levels can learn the exact topics they need, whether they’re reviewing past concepts or exploring new territory. Immediate feedback and step-by-step answer explanations help students work through their mistakes and make lasting progress. Plus, question difficulty adapts to challenge students at just the right level and help them grow. MATH MASTERY With IXL’s preK-12 curriculum, every learner can excel in math! From skip-counting with pictures to graphing quadratic functions, students interact with dynamic problem types that bring each concept to life. And with unlimited questions to explore, students can practice as much as they need to master each skill, and never see the same problem twice. ENGLISH LEARNING IXL’s preK-12 curriculum helps build strong readers and writers! From comprehension to composition, IXL breaks down each concept into highly targeted skills that help students grow from where they are. Fun and relevant questions engage students as they learn new vocabulary, correct grammar mistakes, analyze text, strengthen writing skills, and more. SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND SPANISH Build knowledge across all core subjects! With comprehensive curriculum in kindergarten through high school biology, chemistry, physics, civics, and U.S. history, students can learn exciting and relevant concepts about the world around them. And with foundational Spanish, students can get started on the path toward Spanish fluency! VIDEO TUTORIALS IXL's video tutorials help bring math and English concepts to life. Access 4,500+ videos for preK-12 math, as well as Pre-K through 8th grade English language arts skills. GAMES IXL’s interactive learning games make math and English fun! With 400+ educational games for pre-K through 5th grade, kids can explore reading, writing, grammar, spelling, math facts, counting, money, multiplication, and more. Through play-based learning, each game brings lessons to life with colorful worlds, animated characters, and hands-on practice—helping children build skills, confidence, and a lifelong love of learning. REAL-TIME DIAGNOSTIC IXL’s Real-Time Diagnostic pinpoints each student’s current knowledge level in math and English language arts. As students answer questions, they’ll discover more about themselves, and reveal personalized recommendations on the best skills to learn next! IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE Interactive features, from drag-and-drop questions to graphing tools, allow students to engage with the material in new ways. With handwriting recognition, students can easily write in math answers with their fingertips. On iPad, students can work through each problem by writing on their screen—no scrap paper needed! Plus, colorful awards highlight students’ accomplishments and make learning fun! PROVEN RESULTS Research has shown that IXL improves student outcomes more than any other product or method. IXL is trusted by over 1 million teachers worldwide! ACTIONABLE ANALYTICS View reports on all progress on our website! Tackle any trouble spots with specific insights and clear next steps. And celebrate reaching each new milestone with an official certificate! Practice 10 questions each day for free. Become an IXL member to get access to a fully personalized learning experience with comprehensive curriculum, meaningful guidance, progress tracking, fun awards, and more! IXL is kidSAFE certified and COPPA-compliant. For more information, please visit: Privacy Policy: https://www.ixl.com/privacypolicy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: BrainPOP at 93% against IXL's 39%. BrainPOP also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.3). IXL's advantage is chart position (#52 vs unranked) and ratings volume (205K vs 34K). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. BrainPOP sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and IXL sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
BrainPOP holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: IXL has 205K ratings behind it against 34K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of BrainPOP's written reviews are positive against 39% of IXL's.
BrainPOP ships an update every 2 months, IXL every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | BrainPOP | IXL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (34K ratings) — better | 4.3 (205K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 92.7% of reviews — better | 39.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 34K | 205K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #52 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 175 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BrainPOP® | IXL Learning |
Customer experience
BrainPOP
IXL
User reviews
BrainPOP
From 34K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and educational
- 🚀 Helpful for learning
- 👍 Great for kids
- 👍 Funny and entertaining
- 👍 Informative videos
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 💰 Limited free content
- 🙄 Biased or one-sided content
- 🙄 Lacks detail in some topics
IXL
From 205K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Comprehensive learning content
- 🚀 Wide range of skills covered
- 👍 Personalized learning experience
- 👍 Interactive and engaging questions
- 👍 Detailed step-by-step explanations
Room to improve
- 🔻 Harsh point deduction system
- 🔻 Lack of background knowledge support
- 🔻 Monotonous and demotivating
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches in the app
- 🔻 Frustrating for students with learning disabilities
Bugs and requests
BrainPOP
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login issues
- Playback problems
- Syncing issues across devices
Requested features
5 requests- More topics and content
- Lower subscription cost
- Better organization of content
- More character diversity
- Support for older devices
IXL
Reported bugs
5 issues- Incorrect marking of right answers as wrong
- Inconsistent point deduction for mistakes
- Synchronization issues with student accounts
- Laggy performance and crashes
- Inaccurate time tracking
Requested features
5 requests- Revamp the point system to be less harsh
- Provide more engaging and interactive learning experiences
- Improve the quality and clarity of explanations
- Introduce more motivational features like rewards and bonuses
- Optimize the app to reduce bugs and glitches
In-app purchases
BrainPOP
- BrainPOP Explorer Subscription$3.991 Month
- BrainPOP Full Access14 Days trial$15.991 Month
- BrainPOP Combo Monthly14 Days trial$19.991 Month
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- BrainPOP Full Access Yearly14 Days trial$129.991 Year
- BrainPOP Combo Yearly14 Days trial$159.991 Year
IXL
- IXL - Math, English, and Science$19.991 Month
- IXL - Math and English$19.991 Month
- IXL - All Access$23.951 Month









