Khan Academy Review: Everything You Need to Know About the Platform

Khan Academy’s Courses

One of the questions our readers ask is, “Is Khan Academy worth it?” The answer is yes. If you’re a high school or a first-year college student, you are guaranteed to find relevant courses at Khan Academy. They will help you understand the basics of every subject (with a few exceptions, such as language learning) and get ready for the more complicated materials and courses you will have to deal with down the road as a college student.

However, remember that Khan Academy was initially developed for K-12 students (meaning primary school, middle school, and high school students). For the most part, that’s still the case. This means that while you can find lessons in almost every subject on the platform, they are all very introductory. Regardless of your interest in biology or microeconomics, you will not gain in-depth knowledge if you only use Khan Academy. You will need to rely on other resources as well.

Also, if you hope to use Khan Academy to learn foreign languages, you will be disappointed. Music and foreign languages are the two knowledge areas you won’t find there. So, if that’s what you’re after, you’re better off with a different platform.

Khan Academy’s Customer Support Team

Is Khan Academy good at communicating with learners? In our experience, not really. The platform has a Help Center page where you can submit a request and have it reviewed by members of Khan Academy’s customer support team. However, if your issue is urgent, don’t bother. The response will likely take a few hours—if not days—so don’t expect your issue to be resolved quickly.

In fact, when you receive a response from Khan Academy’s support, it’s not always what you’re hoping for. We’ve submitted three different requests to test the platform’s responsiveness, and the answers to two of those were basically links to Khan Academy’s Support Community. None of the links had the answer to the question we were asking.

At the same time, as Khan Academy is a free platform, it would be naive to expect it to be as user-friendly as for-profit learning platforms are. Its resources are limited, so we can understand the reluctance to overinvest in customer support. Also, as Khan Academy is very popular, you can always ask your questions to fellow users on Reddit or Quora.

How Easy Is Khan Academy to Navigate?

If you’ve never used the platform before and want to understand its mission and workings, we encourage you to start with the Khan Academy About page. It will answer some of your questions and help you understand the platform’s mission and work.

There are many misconceptions about it (for example, some first-time users seem to believe that they can hire a tutor at Khan Academy, which isn’t the case). It’s always a good idea to learn about the platform first to decide if that’s what you’re looking for.

The truth is, Khan Academy is pretty easy to navigate once you understand how it works and how to search for the courses and lessons you need. We recommend you browse a bit. Khan Academy’s website could use some work, especially regarding user-friendliness.

How Much Does Khan Academy Cost?

"How much is Khan Academy worth?” doesn’t have a clear answer as it depends on how useful the available materials are for you. We’d say it’s worth a lot because it gives a learner instant access to an enormous knowledge base. However, if the price is what you’re concerned about, don’t be. Unlike most of its competitors, Khan Academy is completely free. There’s no subscription cost, and you don’t have to pay for any materials you can find there.

Most first-time users find this confusing, which is perfectly understandable. We are used to paying for services, including learning resources, so it doesn’t seem to make sense that there’s no Khan tutorial cost. However, unlike most competitors, Khan Academy doesn’t offer completed assignments or one-on-one tutoring. It’s an interactive library, which is part of the reason why it’s free. Also, it exists on contributors’ donations. You’re welcome to make one to support Khan Academy’s cost, but you don’t have to.

Can You Trust Study Materials on Khan Academy?

Is Khan Academy a reliable source?—Yes. Khan Academy’s materials are carefully fact-checked and regularly updated. You can use them to expand your general knowledge, get introduced to the college courses you’re about to take or refresh your knowledge of the high school curriculum. Don’t bother to double-check every date or number you see in Khan Academy’s materials. Professionals have already done it for you, and while mistakes do happen, they are very rare.

At the same time, we would advise against using Khan Academy as the sole source of knowledge. While the information you can see is accurate, it barely scratches the surface. If you want to expand your knowledge, consider different perspectives, and critically engage with the material you’re studying, using different platforms and learning resources is always better. Use Khan Academy in addition to a few textbooks, YouTube tutorials, Google Scholar, and other materials.

What Is Khan Academy Best for?

If you’ve researched Khan Academy a bit, you’ve probably seen multiple articles titled Khan Academy Math Review or Khan Academy Science Review. Most of the questions people ask about Khan Academy on platforms like Quora or Reffit are also about math or science. Why is this the case? Khan Academy was first created as a platform for K-12 students struggling with math and science (as those are notoriously difficult, especially for learners better at humanities).

Over time, Khan Academy’s focus has expanded, and it is no longer just for math or science learning. Still, those are subjects that students—particularly middle and high school students—use the platform for the most. If you struggle with STEM subjects or want to refresh your high school math courses before taking advanced economics or statistics courses as a college student, Khan Academy might be a perfect fit for you.

Alternatives to Khan Academy

As you can see, the answer to “How Good is Khan Academy?” is “Pretty good, especially considering that it’s free.” However, if you’re looking for better alternatives and don’t mind paying, here are a few options:

Coursehero. Coursehero can help you with homework assignments, as it has an enormous database of completed homework for different courses.
Quizlet. Khan Academy has quizzes, but Quizlet’s are much better, and there are more of them. They are very helpful for refreshing your knowledge and checking your memory.
Chegg. Chegg is similar to Coursehero. You can find completed homework there; the quality is generally higher than on Coursehero.
Studypool. Studypool is one of the best platforms for finding qualified tutors. Their services aren’t free, but the results are much more impressive than what you can expect if you only use Khan Academy.
The best approach is to use a few of these platforms simultaneously.

Khan Academy Pros and Cons

Overall, Khan Academy is a great database with lessons in almost every subject imaginable. Its number one benefit is that it’s free, so there’s no harm in giving it a chance. That being said, Khan Academy has much room for improvement. Let’s look at where the platform is already great versus where it could use some work.

Pros:

✅ Khan Academy is completely free ✅ The platform has lessons and entire courses in almost every subject ✅ Besides standard learning materials, Khan Academy has fun interactive quizzes that help you memorize what you’re learning

Cons:

❌ You can’t hire a tutor at Khan Academy, so there’s no one to guide you through the material you’re studying ❌ Khan Academy’s customer support is very slow and inefficient ❌ The website isn’t the easiest to navigate ❌ Khan Academy’s courses are mostly designed for middle and high school students; they are too surface-level for college students