A calculus app gives you formulas, practice problems, a full course or step-by-step solutions on your phone, whether you're taking AP Calculus or a first college course. Formula apps help you remember, practice apps help you do and solvers show worked answers. Nine apps follow, in no particular order.
Calculus is where looking things up stops being enough. You can know the chain rule by heart and still freeze on a related rates question, because knowing a formula and knowing when to use it are two different skills.
These nine apps are in alphabetical order, and each description comes from its App Store listing. For study habits that hold up through a long course, my guide to ChatGPT prompts for studying effectively is a useful companion.
Calculus apps at a glance
I took the free plan column from each App Store listing, as of Oct 2026. Yes means a free download, and Trial only means the listing says you need a subscription after a free trial. Free doesn't always mean unlimited: one practice app here gives 100 free problems to start and 10 more each week, with unlimited problems on an optional upgrade.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asap Calculus | Shortcut methods | Fast methods for hard problems | Yes |
| CalcRef | Offline formula reference | Looking up formulas and tables offline | Yes |
| Calculus Path | Derivative practice path | Building differentiation fluency | Yes |
| Calculus Solver CalcAI | Photo calculus solver | Checking worked solutions | Trial only |
| Calculus: Learn & Practice | First-year course in one app | Following a whole course in order | Yes |
| Dogl Calculus | Bite-sized practice | Short problem sessions with hints | Yes |
| I Aced Calculus AP Prep | AP flashcards and questions | AP Calculus AB and BC revision | Yes |
| Khan Academy | Free course library | Free lessons with practice and hints | Yes |
| ReCalculus | Formula memoriser | Memorising formulas with quizzes | Yes |
Nine calculus apps to compare
Asap Calculus
Best for: Learners short on time who want shortcuts for hard problems, covering material from a regular college course to AP Calculus.
CalcRef
Best for: AP and college students who want over 100 formulas across 8 topics, six reference tables and flashcard quizzes in one offline app.
Calculus Path
Best for: Differentiation practisers working through 22 structured lessons, from the power rule to implicit differentiation, with fresh question variations and a daily streak.
Calculus Solver CalcAI
Best for: Answer checkers who'd like to photograph a handwritten or printed problem and get detailed steps, from basic derivatives to multivariable calculus.
Calculus: Learn & Practice
Best for: Self-studiers who want a complete first-year course, mixing 108 concept animations, 327 worked examples and 1,215 instantly graded practice problems.
Dogl Calculus
Best for: Busy students who want bite-sized problems written by university lecturers, visual hints that don't give the answer away and no ads.
I Aced Calculus AP Prep
Best for: AP Calculus AB and BC candidates who want 400+ flashcards, 1,200+ practice questions at four difficulty levels and TI-84 calculator tips.
Khan Academy
Best for: Anyone who wants free videos, articles and practice exercises with step-by-step hints, plus downloads for studying offline.
ReCalculus
Best for: Formula learners who need derivatives, integrals and log rules memorised, using cheat sheets and multiple-choice recall quizzes and nothing else.
Formula sheets, practice and solvers do different jobs
Calculus apps split into three groups. Formula apps such as CalcRef and ReCalculus keep the rules in front of you, and one of them says plainly that it does just one thing: help you memorise formulas, with no lessons and no problem solving.
Practice apps such as Dogl Calculus and Calculus Path make you use those rules. The second goes further than marking you wrong: it names the misconception behind each mistake and gives you targeted repair questions on that skill.
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Solvers sit at the far end and hand you the worked answer. A formula sheet tells you the derivative of sin x, but it won't tell you when a question needs the chain rule. That judgement only comes from doing problems.
What a full course app adds
Calculus: Learn & Practice goes beyond drills. Its listing describes spaced review that brings a topic back just before you'd forget it, mistake tracking and mastery per concept, a library of 219 counterexamples and maths history stories such as Zeno's paradoxes and Archimedes' work on π.
I Aced Calculus AP Prep gives you three ways through its flashcards, in order, shuffled or with spaced repetition, plus video explanations for most cards and AI help with extra explanation on practice questions.
Topics an AP Calculus app should cover
The two AP-focused apps here organise their material around the same core topics, which makes a handy checklist when you're comparing any calculus app:
- Limits and continuity
- Derivatives and their applications
- Integrals and their applications
- Parametric, polar and vector functions
- Sequences and series
If an app stops at derivatives, it's built for one part of the course. One practice app here covers differentiation only, which is great for drilling that skill but won't carry you through integrals or series.
Do you make calculus or maths learning apps? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My advice on choosing a calculus app
Use a practice app every day and keep a formula app for quick lookups. If you only ever read formulas or check solver answers, you'll recognise the rules on the page and still get stuck on exam questions that ask you to choose one.
The free starts here are generous, so try a practice app and a full-course app side by side for a week before you decide whether any upgrade is worth it. To keep a long course organised, my list of productivity tools for students can help.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best calculus app?
It depends on the job. Formula apps help you remember rules, practice apps build skill, full-course apps teach in order and solvers show worked answers.
Is there a free calculus app?
Yes. Eight of the nine apps here show a free download on the App Store, as of Oct 2026, and one practice app gives 100 free problems to start plus 10 more each week.
Is there a calculus app for AP Calculus?
Yes. Several apps here are built for AP Calculus, with flashcards, practice questions and formula tables, and one covers both the AB and BC exams.
Can a calculus app solve problems from a photo?
Yes. One solver here reads a photographed handwritten or printed problem and returns detailed steps, though its listing says it needs a subscription after a free trial.
