If you have searched for a maths app for a primary-age child in the UK, DoodleMaths was probably near the top of the results. It is one of the best-known names in the category, many schools use it, and plenty of families are happy with it. Arithmetix is a smaller app that covers the primary years with a different set of trade-offs: no account, no subscription, and a strong focus on times tables.
We make Arithmetix, so we are not neutral. We have tried to be fair anyway, because the right answer depends on your child, your school and your budget. The details about DoodleMaths below come from its App Store listing and website in September 2026. Prices change, so check them before you buy.
DoodleMaths is built around short daily practice, with the familiar suggestion of about ten minutes a day. A placement check sets a starting point, and the app then builds a personalised programme that adapts as your child answers. The content is written by teachers and tutors, and the company describes it as aligned with White Rose Maths, the scheme many English primary schools follow.
Its range is wide. The DoodleMaths website lists year groups from Early Years through to Year 9, so it can carry on into the first years of secondary school. It sits inside a larger family of apps, including DoodleEnglish, DoodleSpell and DoodleTables, with bundles that cover more than one subject. Children earn stars and rewards, parents can follow progress in a companion app, and the app works offline on phones and tablets. It runs on both Apple and Android devices.
DoodleMaths is a subscription. On the UK App Store in September 2026, a single-child plan cost £7.99 a month or £69.99 a year, and a family plan for up to five children cost £12.99 a month or £119.99 a year, each with a seven-day free trial. Many schools also buy licences, so your child may already have free access.
Arithmetix covers Reception to Year 6 and stops there. Within that range it has more than 50 topics, from counting and number bonds through place value, the four operations, fractions, measurement, geometry and statistics, each matched to a child's year group. Younger children get picture-based activities and large answer buttons. Older children get an on-screen scratch pad, hints, and visual questions with real bar charts, pictograms and clock faces.
Each day the app suggests a short plan that mixes new topics with reviews. Difficulty follows how the last few sessions went, and topics a child has not yet secured come back for review after a day or up to a week. Around that core sit several ways to practise: a 50-level Wonder Trail, a 60-second Sprint, and four challenge modes (Speed Rush, Flawless Run, Combo Blitz and Boss Battle) with bronze, silver and gold tiers.
Times tables get their own area. Children practise each table from 2 to 12, earn stars per table, race the clock in Table Race, and can try Ready Mode: 25 questions with six seconds each, weighted towards the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 tables in the style of the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check.
Motivation comes from a small pixel-art pet. Practice earns coins, coins buy food and care for the pet, and a missed day costs a heart, which gives children a gentle reason to come back tomorrow. They can also personalise an avatar and collect badges.
Arithmetix runs on iPhone and iPad, and the app is in English. There is no account: child profiles, answers and progress stay on the device, and a Parent PIN protects settings and purchases. It is free for seven days, then a single in-app purchase unlocks everything for every child profile on the device. At the time of writing, that purchase cost £3.99 on the UK App Store.
| DoodleMaths | Arithmetix | |
|---|---|---|
| Year groups | Early Years to Year 9 | Reception to Year 6 |
| How practice is chosen | Personalised programme after a placement check | Daily plan by year group, difficulty from recent sessions, spaced review |
| Times tables | Within the programme, plus the separate DoodleTables app | Own area for 2 to 12, Table Race and MTC-style Ready Mode |
| Motivation | Stars and rewards | Pet care, coins, avatar, badges and challenge medals |
| Parent view | Companion parent app | Parent area on the same device, with insights and a times-table heat map |
| Account | Parent account | No account; data stays on the device |
| Devices | Apple and Android | iPhone and iPad; progress does not sync between devices |
| Schools | Widely licensed by schools, with teacher tools | Made for home use |
| Price (UK, September 2026) | £7.99 a month or £69.99 a year per child; family plan £119.99 a year | Free for 7 days, then one purchase (£3.99) |
Your school already provides it. If your child has a school login, homework may be set through it and progress may be visible to the teacher. That link between home and class is valuable, and it costs you nothing. Start there.
Your child is about to start secondary school. DoodleMaths continues into Key Stage 3. Arithmetix stops at Year 6, so it has a short shelf life for a child who is nearly finished with primary school.
You want one account across several devices. Because DoodleMaths is account-based, progress follows your child between a tablet at home and a phone elsewhere, including Android devices. Arithmetix keeps progress on each device separately.
You want English and spelling too. The Doodle family covers more than maths, and bundles make it simple to run several subjects under one subscription.
A long track record matters to you. DoodleMaths has thousands of App Store ratings and years of teacher feedback behind it.
You want to pay once. A subscription is a decision you make again every month. Arithmetix asks for one purchase after the free week, and that purchase covers every child profile on the device.
Times tables are the priority. With its own area, per-table stars, a heat map for parents, Table Race and a Ready Mode that follows the MTC format, Arithmetix treats multiplication fluency as a main feature rather than one strand among many.
Variety keeps your child going. Some children tire of a single stream of questions. The mix of daily plan, trail, sprint and challenge modes gives them a different way in on different days.
You would rather not create an account. There is no email address or password to set up, and nothing about your child's practice is sent to us. For some families that settles it.
You want to see how your child approaches questions. The parent area looks for patterns such as low accuracy, repeated mistakes, rushed guesses or a falling trend on a topic, and the next day's plan leans towards the topics that need it.
Costs add up differently. At £69.99 a year, a single-child DoodleMaths plan from Year 3 to the end of Year 6 comes to roughly £280, or about £480 on the family plan over the same four years. If your school pays, the cost to you is nothing, which beats any purchase. If you are paying yourself, a one-off purchase removes the monthly question entirely, although you are also buying a narrower app.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Plenty of families use DoodleMaths because school provides it and add a second app at home for times tables in Years 3 and 4, or for arithmetic practice before the KS2 SATs in Year 6.
DoodleMaths is a well-established, broad programme with strong school links, cross-device accounts and a range that runs into secondary school. Arithmetix is a focused primary app with no account, no subscription, a pet that brings children back, and unusually deep times-tables practice. Whichever you choose, consistency matters more than the app: ten minutes on most days, little and often, beats a long session once a week.