Learning app (subscription) · Updated September 4, 2026

Kindy vs ABCmouse

ABCmouse is a subscription learning app for ages 2 to 8 with more than 13,000 activities that a child works through on a screen along a step-by-step path. Kindy is a $9.99 a month parent-led preschool curriculum in which the child is never on a screen: a free readiness check places the child by ability and the parent gets one 10 to 15 minute hands-on activity a day. Choose ABCmouse for a large, self-directed digital library. Choose Kindy if you want to be the one teaching and want to know it is working.

Choose Kindy if

You want to teach your child yourself for 10 to 15 minutes a day, screen-free
You want the plan to start from what your child can do, not from a level you pick
Social, self-help and listening skills matter as much as letters and numbers
You want to cancel in one tap and keep your child's results either way

Choose ABCmouse if

You want a huge library your child can explore on their own for years
Your child is 2 or under 3, or you want one product through second grade
You value science, social studies, art and music content in one app
You have up to three children and want them all on one subscription

At a glance

Kindy and ABCmouse at a glance. Facts checked September 4, 2026; sources at the end of the page.
	Kindy	ABCmouse
Price	$9.99 per month, $4.99 per month for each additional child, cancel anytime in the app	$14.99/month with a 30-day trial, or $45 first year then $59.99/year
Free option or trial	Free readiness assessment with full results kept in the account; no card needed; subscribe only if you want the daily curriculum	30-day free trial, monthly plan only, purchased directly through abcmouse.com; not available to prior account holders or third-party (app store) signups
Ages	3-5 (the two to three years before kindergarten); placement is by ability, not age	2-8
Who is on the screen	The parent only	The child
Format	web app for the parent (installable on a phone); activities are done hands-on, off screen	app + web
Time per day	One 10 to 15 minute activity a day; the app offers more on energetic days	Not published
How it adapts to the child	Every activity ends with one tap on how it went (Nailed it, Almost, Not yet). Three Nailed it ratings mark a skill mastered and it leaves the rotation; mastered letters and skills circle back for quick reviews so they stick. The next day's activity is chosen from the child's current level across all areas.	Personalized Step-by-Step Learning Path: 850+ lessons across 10 Learning Levels, sequenced by curriculum experts; families choose a starting Academic Level for the child's avatar and can personalize/adjust the level; supports both Guided Learning (sequenced path) and free Exploration of the app
How the child is placed	By a readiness assessment	By level chosen in the product
Skills covered	literacy (letters, sounds, print awareness), early math (counting, number sense, shapes), language (vocabulary, storytelling, listening), thinking (problem solving, memory), social-emotional (sharing, manners, separation, feelings), fine motor (pencil grip, scissors, self-help), focus and self-control	reading/phonics/language arts, math, science, social studies, art, music
Secular or faith-based	secular	secular
What the parent does	The parent reads today's activity on their phone and does it with the child using things at home; the app tells them what to do and what to say. The child never uses the app.	Sets up a Caregiver/Parent account and selects the child's starting Academic Level; can monitor progress via a graph-format progress tracker in the parent area; not required to sit with the child during activities

What each one actually is

ABCmouse, made by Age of Learning, is the best-known paid early-learning app in the United States. A subscription costs $14.99 a month with a 30-day free trial on the monthly plan, or $45 for the first year renewing at $59.99, and covers up to three child profiles. The child moves through a Step-by-Step Learning Path of more than 850 lessons across ten levels, plus a library of games, books, puzzles and songs in reading, math, science, social studies, art and music. The parent picks the starting level and can watch progress in a tracker; the app is designed so the parent does not need to sit with the child.

Kindy works the other way round. The parent takes a free five-minute readiness check about what the child can already do. Kindy builds a curriculum from that, across literacy, early math, language, thinking, social-emotional and fine motor skills, and each day hands the parent one 10 to 15 minute activity with what to do and say. The parent taps how it went, and the next day adjusts. It costs $9.99 a month, cancel anytime in the app.

Screen time and who is in the loop

ABCmouse is ad-free and kidSAFE certified, and for a family that already allows a daily screen slot it is a well-built way to fill it. It is still screen time, counted toward the hour a day pediatric guidance suggests for ages 2 to 5. Kindy adds none, because the app is for the parent and every activity happens with real objects.

The other difference is what adapts. ABCmouse's path is sequenced by curriculum experts and the parent chooses a starting level, then the child works forward through it. Kindy places the child by an assessment of what they can already do, then re-evaluates from every activity's rating. If your child already knows their letters, Kindy will not spend weeks on them.

Billing history, stated plainly

Because parents ask: in September 2020 Age of Learning paid $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it did not clearly disclose that memberships would auto-renew and made cancellation difficult, and in April 2021 the FTC sent more than $9.7 million in refunds to affected consumers. The settlement requires clear disclosure and a simple cancellation mechanism. Today's terms state that subscriptions are prepaid, non-refundable and renew until cancelled, and that the free trial is available only on the monthly plan bought directly from abcmouse.com. Read those terms before you start a trial.

Where ABCmouse is the better choice

Breadth and independence. Thirteen thousand activities, six subject areas, ten levels from preschool to second grade, three child profiles, and a child who can use it alone. If you want one digital product for several children across several years, ABCmouse is the larger thing.

Subjects Kindy does not teach. Science, social studies, art and music are part of ABCmouse's path. Kindy focuses on the readiness skills kindergarten looks for and leaves the rest to your ordinary family life.

Where Kindy is the better choice

Placement by ability and a daily plan. Kindy starts from a readiness check and tells the parent exactly what to do today; ABCmouse starts from a level the parent guesses and offers a library. For a parent whose real question is 'what should we work on', Kindy answers it every morning.

No screen for the child, and the skills a screen cannot teach. Waiting a turn, managing a goodbye, following a two-step direction, holding scissors: Kindy practises these with you. It costs less, $9.99 a month against $14.99, and cancellation is one tap in the app with results kept free.

Questions parents ask

How much does ABCmouse cost in 2026?

$14.99 a month with a 30-day free trial on the monthly plan bought at abcmouse.com, or $45 for the first year renewing at $59.99 a year. A six-month plan at $29.99 is billed immediately with no trial. Subscriptions are prepaid and non-refundable.

How much does Kindy cost?

$9.99 a month for the first child and $4.99 a month for each additional child, cancel anytime in the app. The readiness check and its results are free and stay in your account whether or not you subscribe.

Is ABCmouse screen time?

Yes. The child uses the app on a tablet, phone or computer. It is ad-free and kidSAFE certified. Kindy is used by the parent only; the child's activities are hands-on.

Which one adapts to my child?

ABCmouse lets you choose and adjust a starting level, then the child moves through a fixed sequence. Kindy places the child by a readiness assessment and re-evaluates after every activity rating, so the sequence is different for every child.

Can I use both?

Yes. Kindy for the daily 10 to 15 minutes together and ABCmouse for independent screen time. Kindy lets you log activities from other sources so they count toward progress.

Sources

Facts about ABCmouse:

How Much Does ABCmouse Cost? Subscription plan overview (accessed 2026-09-04, used for price, trial, auto-renewal, ages, subjects, activity count, Step-by-Step Learning Path, child profiles)
Subscription Pricing Options for ABCmouse (accessed 2026-09-04, used for pricing (search-indexed; direct fetch returned 403))
ABCmouse: Kids Learning Games - App Store (Apple) (accessed 2026-09-04, used for age rating, ages, platforms, subjects, activity count, in-app pricing tiers, ad policy, COPPA/kidSAFE+)
Children's Online Learning Program ABCmouse to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Charges of Illegal Marketing and Billing Practices (accessed 2026-09-04, used for 2020 FTC settlement details)
FTC Sends Refunds to Consumers Unfairly Billed for ABCmouse Memberships (accessed 2026-09-04, used for FTC refund follow-up, April 2021)
ABCMouse Review: Everything This Kid-Friendly App Has to Offer (accessed 2026-09-04, used for dated third-party review (published June 4, 2025): pricing, pros/cons, parent role, ad-free confirmation, activity/lesson counts, scale claims)
Can I use the ABCmouse 2 app offline? (accessed 2026-09-04, used for offline mode (search-indexed; direct fetch returned 403))
What is the curriculum for ABCmouse? (accessed 2026-09-04, used for curriculum subject list, including social-emotional/fine-motor mentions (search-indexed; direct fetch returned 403, lower confidence))
Step-by-Step Learning Path (search aggregation of abcmouse.com/support.abcmouse.com pages) (accessed 2026-09-04, used for Step-by-Step Learning Path structure (850+ lessons, 10 levels))

Facts about Kindy:

Kindy landing page (accessed 2026-09-04)

Note: ABCmouse now operates two related products: 'ABCmouse' (abcmouse.com, the long-running Classic curriculum referenced by most pricing/curriculum pages) and a newer 'ABCmouse 2' app; some support articles and pricing differ slightly between them (e.g. ABCmouse 2 support pages quote separate 'Assessments' add-on pricing of $3.99/month or $39.99/year seen on the Apple App Store listing). This file reports the Classic/abcmouse.com terms as the primary product since that is what the main abcmouse.com marketing and support pricing pages describe. Session length is not published on the pages checked. Social-emotional and fine-motor/self-help skills are described in third-party curriculum summaries (search results referencing ABCmouse's Kindergarten program) but could not be independently confirmed against the primary abcmouse.com curriculum page, which returned a 403 error on direct fetch; treat that specific claim as lower confidence. The 'What is the curriculum for ABCmouse' and offline-mode support pages both returned HTTP 403 on direct WebFetch, so those facts are sourced via search-engine summaries of their content rather than direct page reads.