AI Tutoring vs Khan Academy for KS3: Which Suits Your Child?

AI tutoring and Khan Academy both give KS3 students access to learning support outside school, at no or low cost. They take fundamentally different approaches: Khan Academy offers structured video lessons and exercises aligned to a curriculum; AI tutors offer real-time, interactive dialogue that adapts to the student's responses. Which you choose depends on what your child needs most.

What is Khan Academy and how does it work?

Khan Academy is a free, non-profit online learning platform founded in the United States in 2006. It offers video explanations, written articles, and practice exercises across maths, science, English, history, and other subjects. Students watch a video, then complete exercises to check their understanding. The platform tracks their progress and unlocks harder content as they demonstrate mastery.

Khan Academy is well-established and widely used in UK secondary schools. It has a specific UK-mapped section and covers content relevant to KS3 and GCSE, particularly in maths.

Strengths of Khan Academy:

Free, with no subscription required

Clear, well-structured video explanations

Progress tracking for parents and students

Strong maths coverage, including detailed worked examples

Available at any time, on any device

Limitations of Khan Academy:

Primarily one-directional: the student watches and practises, but cannot ask follow-up questions

UK curriculum mapping is better for maths than for science, English or humanities

Videos do not adapt to the individual — the same explanation is delivered to every student

Does not provide real-time feedback on why an answer is wrong, only whether it is right

What is AI tutoring and how is it different?

AI tutoring is real-time, interactive learning with an AI that adapts to what the student says and does. A Socratic AI tutor does not deliver a lecture — it asks questions, evaluates responses, provides specific hints, and adjusts what comes next based on how the student is engaging.

The critical difference from Khan Academy is the loop: AI tutoring is a conversation, not a broadcast. When a student makes an error, the AI can ask "what were you thinking here?" and address the specific misconception, rather than simply marking it wrong and showing the correct answer.

Strengths of AI tutoring:

Real-time, adaptive interaction — the session changes based on what the student does

Can probe why a student is wrong, not just that they are wrong

Socratic approach (guiding to the answer rather than giving it) builds understanding, not dependence

Can adapt tone and pacing to different learner types

Available at any time

Limitations of AI tutoring:

Quality varies significantly between products

A good AI tutor typically costs £10–£20 per month (though some free options exist)

Less structured than Khan Academy — better for active practice than first introduction to a topic

Requires the student to engage actively; passive use produces weak results

Side-by-side comparison

Criterion | Khan Academy | AI tutoring
Cost | Free | Free to £10–£20/month depending on provider
Teaching style | Video + exercise; one-directional | Interactive dialogue; adaptive
First introduction to a topic | Excellent (clear video explanations) | Variable — some AI tutors explain well, others push straight to questions
Deepening understanding | Limited — cannot address individual misconceptions | Strong — can probe and redirect based on responses
Maths coverage for KS3 | Very strong; well mapped | Depends on provider
Science, English, Humanities | Good for science; less strong for English | Varies; subject-specialist AI tutors cover these well
UK curriculum alignment | Strong, especially for maths | Varies by provider — check before subscribing
Adapts to learner type | No | Partially — better AI tutors adjust pace and tone
Progress tracking for parents | Yes | Varies by provider
Safe for children | Yes | Check: look for safeguarding responses and clear data policy

Which does the evidence suggest is more effective?

The Education Endowment Foundation's review of digital technology in education notes that the impact of edtech tools varies considerably and depends heavily on how they are used. Passive consumption of video explanations produces weaker learning gains than active, practice-based methods. This is a point in favour of AI tutoring's interactive model — but only when the AI genuinely engages the student in retrieval and reasoning, not when it simply answers their questions for them.

Khan Academy's exercise system does involve active practice (answering questions, not just watching), which is why it outperforms passive video content alone. A well-designed AI tutor takes this further by making the dialogue itself the retrieval event, and by addressing the specific thinking behind errors.

When to use Khan Academy

Khan Academy works best when:

A student needs a clear first explanation of a topic they have not encountered before

They want to work through structured practice at their own pace

The family is looking for a free, reliable, low-barrier option

The subject is maths, where Khan Academy's UK curriculum mapping is strongest

A parent wants visibility of progress without real-time involvement

When to use AI tutoring

AI tutoring works best when:

A student understands the basics but keeps making the same mistakes

They need someone (or something) to ask "but why?" rather than just confirm they are right

The topic requires reasoning and application, not just recall

The student is preparing for GCSE and needs to practise applying knowledge in novel ways

A human tutor is not affordable or not available at the right time

Can you use both?

Yes — and many families do. A practical approach for KS3 is to use Khan Academy when a student needs to meet a topic for the first time (watch the video, then do the exercises), and to use an AI tutor when they need to deepen their understanding or practise for an assessment. The two tools complement each other well.

Frequently asked questions

Is Khan Academy free?

Yes. Khan Academy is entirely free to use, funded as a non-profit by donations and grants. There is no subscription, no premium tier, and no charge to UK users.

Does Khan Academy cover the UK KS3 curriculum?

Partially. Khan Academy has a specific UK section and maps well to the KS3 maths curriculum, including Number, Algebra, Ratio and Statistics. Coverage of KS3 science, English and humanities is thinner and does not always align to UK exam-board specifications. For subjects beyond maths, check how well the content maps to your child's school's topics before relying on it exclusively.

Are AI tutors better than Khan Academy?

Neither is categorically better — they serve different purposes. Khan Academy is strong for structured first exposure to a topic and free, at-your-own-pace practice. AI tutoring is stronger for interactive, adaptive practice that addresses specific misunderstandings. For deep learning, an AI tutor that asks rather than tells typically produces better outcomes than a video that explains and a quiz that marks; but Khan Academy is the better starting point for an unfamiliar topic.

How much does a good AI tutor cost for KS3?

Costs in 2026 typically range from free for general-purpose AI tools to around £10–£20 per month for purpose-built tutoring products with KS3 curriculum alignment. Compare this with a human tutor at £30–£60 per hour — even a £15/month AI tutor costs less than one human session per month and is available every day.

For a Socratic AI tutor aligned to the UK KS3 curriculum across maths, science, English and humanities, see aitutors.me.