Photomath alternative: the short answer
Photomath is the best tool for one job — showing you the steps to solve a maths problem you point your camera at. The limit is that seeing a worked solution isn’t the same as being able to produce it yourself under exam conditions. If you want an app that makes you practise maths and grades your working, Skoolskill is the alternative built for that.
Both are good. They just do different jobs: Photomath solves, Skoolskill teaches and tests.
What Photomath does well
Credit where it’s due — Photomath’s step-by-step solver is genuinely strong:
- Scan a printed or handwritten problem and get the full worked method.
- Animated steps explain each line of algebra or calculus.
- Covers arithmetic through calculus and graphing.
For “I’m stuck on this one problem and need to see how it’s done,” it’s hard to beat.
Where it stops, and Skoolskill starts
A solver answers your question. A tutor makes sure you can answer the next one alone. Skoolskill generates exam-style questions from your own notes and past papers, marks your answer the way the exam board does, and brings back topics you keep missing through spaced repetition — so the method moves from “I saw it” to “I can do it”.
A worked example of the difference
Say you photograph a quadratic equation. Photomath returns the factorised solution with each step animated — useful, and you understand it in the moment. A week later, in a test, the same type of question appears and you’ve forgotten the trigger for which method to use.
Skoolskill handles the same topic differently. From your notes it generates five quadratics of rising difficulty, asks you to show your working, and marks where you went wrong — for example, dropping a sign or skipping the discriminant check. It then re-surfaces quadratics two days later, and again a week after that, until your accuracy holds. The first approach explains; the second builds the muscle memory exams test.
Honest feature comparison
| Feature | Photomath | Skoolskill |
|---|---|---|
| Step-by-step solving | Yes — its strength | Not a pure solver |
| Generates practice from your notes | No | Yes (scan to quiz) |
| Marks your working (mark-scheme style) | No | Yes |
| Spaced repetition of weak topics | No | Yes |
| Subjects covered | Maths only | Maths + sciences, languages, humanities |
| Exam/past-paper-aware | No | Yes |
| Free tier | Yes (limited steps) | Yes |
| Paid plan (approx.) | ~$9.99/month (Plus) | ~£6.99/$6.99/month |
Prices are from each tool’s public pricing pages and can change.
Who should pick which
- Pick Photomath if you mainly want to see how individual maths problems are solved, fast, with no need for graded practice.
- Pick Skoolskill if you want to actually get better at maths (and other subjects) through daily 10–20 minute practice that’s marked like the exam.
- Use both if you like to see the method in Photomath, then drill it to mastery in Skoolskill.
When Photomath is the better choice
- You only need maths help and nothing else.
- You want an instant solution to a specific problem right now, not a practice session.
- You’re comfortable turning solutions into your own practice and just need the worked steps.
In those cases Photomath does exactly what you need. If your goal is to remember and apply the method in the exam, see our maths tutor online and homework help AI workflow.
Get started — free
- Create a free account — no credit card.
- Add maths (and any other subjects you take).
- Snap a photo of your notes or a past paper.
- Get marked practice in under three minutes.
Start free — free tier always available.