How alai compares with other note-taking and homework apps
Note-taking apps
alai is a note-taking app for iPad and the web with Ally, an adaptive AI tutor, built in. If you're choosing a notes app, or thinking of leaving the one you have, these pages compare the main options by what they're good at, where they run and what they cost:
- Note-taking apps for students, compared: handwriting apps, typed notes and lecture recorders, and which student each one suits.
- Goodnotes alternatives and Notability alternatives: what to pick for each reason people switch, and how to bring your notes with you.
Math homework apps: start with what you want back
Most math homework apps give you one of three things. Knowing which one you want makes the choice easier, and you might end up using more than one.
A full worked solution
You show the app a problem and it shows you a solution, step by step. Photomath works this way: you scan a problem with your phone and get the steps. Goodnotes has a Solve mode that does the same for a problem in your notes. A worked solution helps when you need to see how a kind of problem goes from start to finish.
A result for what you wrote
You write an expression and the app works out the answer next to it. Apple Math Notes does this when you write an equals sign on iPad, and Goodnotes Math Assist does it for equations in your Goodnotes notebook. This is quick for arithmetic and for checking a number, and Math Notes also converts units and draws graphs.
A question that gets you unstuck
You do the work, and the app asks a question that points you at the next step or at a slip. ChatGPT study mode and Khanmigo do this in a chat, and Goodnotes' Teach Me mode does it for a problem in your notes. alai, a notes app for iPad and the web, does it on the page: a tutor called Ally follows each step you write by hand and asks about the first one that goes wrong.
How these comparisons are written
alai's makers write these pages, and each one says so. Each page says what the other apps do well, who should pick them, and how they can work together. Every price and feature was checked against the company's own pages on the date the page gives, and each page links to them. Prices and features change, so the linked pages have the latest.
- Handwriting tutor appsAmend, Elara, EulerPad, Chalk, Goodnotes and alai all read math you write with Apple Pencil. What each one does with a wrong step, and what it costs.
- ChatGPT study modeChatGPT study mode guides you through a topic in a chat, while alai follows the math you write by hand on iPad and asks about the first wrong step.
- PhotomathPhotomath scans a problem and shows a full step-by-step solution, while alai reads the steps you write on iPad and asks about the first wrong one.
- Apple Math NotesApple Math Notes calculates what you write after an equals sign and graphs equations; alai follows your handwritten steps and asks about the first wrong one.
- Goodnotes Math AssistGoodnotes Math Assist solves equations you write and suggests next steps, while alai follows each handwritten step and asks about the first wrong one.
- KhanmigoKhanmigo is Khan Academy's chat tutor for its lessons and exercises, while alai follows the math you write by hand on iPad and asks about the first wrong step.
- Goodnotes alternativesApps to use instead of Goodnotes, sorted by why people leave: the price, a Windows laptop or Chromebook, audio, handwriting to text, free apps or a tutor.
- Notability alternativesWhat to use instead of Notability for handwriting on a Windows laptop or Chromebook, audio linked to your notes, a one-time price, a free app or a tutor.
- Note-taking appsGoodnotes, Notability, OneNote, Notion, Apple Notes, alai and more: what each note-taking app suits, where it runs and what it costs, checked in November 2026.