Introduction
The use of artificial intelligence is transforming the way students learn and the way teachers teach. Two trending AI tools have come into existence in a bid to enable the educators to save time and enhance learning. Developed by the nonprofit Khan Academy, Khanmigo provides AI-based tutoring of students and teaching assistance to educators. Diffit concentrates on making differentiated instructional materials that would fit in various reading levels. Both of the tools have promised to help in the process of teaching, but which one is the best to use? This Khanmigo vs Diffit comparison will help you understand the strengths, weaknesses, and best uses for each platform so you can make an informed decision for your classroom.
Table of Contents
What is Khanmigo?
Khanmigo is a teaching assistant, as well as a tutor, that is an AI developed by the Khan Academy. It was introduced as a pilot program and has been greatly expanded in 2025 to have hundreds of school districts across the United States.
Khanmigo, developed by a non-profit organization, Khan Academy, is considered one of the best AI to use in education and save time on preparation, as well as individual tutoring. The tool is directly connected with the vast library of educational material of the Khan Academy that consists of thousands of videos, practice exercises, and lessons in various subjects.
The online tutor, which is powered by AI, can transform the work of teachers and the learning of students, and is being practiced at the moment in 266 districts. Khanmigo is an app that offers one-on-one tutoring to students with the help of high-level AI that helps students in solving the problem instead of being told what to do.
In 2024, Microsoft collaborated with Khan Academy and offered its cloud services on Azure so that they could scale Khanmigo and make it free to teachers. Such a collaboration has also resulted in a specially designed AI math model named Project “Phi-3” to improve the math tutoring functionality of Khanmigo.
The tool is aimed at assisting students and teachers. To a student, it is a 24/7 tutor that they can consult with their homework and learning difficulties. It can be used by teachers as a teaching assistant which may assist in lesson planning, creation of assignments and give information on student progress.
What is Diffit?
Diffit is an artificially intelligent tool that educators can rely on to retrieve instructional materials that are just right and consequently save a lot of time and allow all learners to access grade-level content. Unlike tools which attempt to do everything in one go, Diffit specializes in differentiation in adapting the content to the various needs of students.
The site enables teachers to add a subject and then grade level and optional educational standards. In several seconds, Diffit creates detailed teaching materials according to various reading levels. These are passages, summaries, key words, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and open ended discussion questions.
Diffit AI will be one of the most interesting lesson customization tools in 2025 because it provides a realistic and user-friendly solution to cater to the needs of individual students without putting a strain on the work of educators. The tool is also useful especially in the different classes where students possess different reading abilities and learning requirements.
Another difference between Diffit and AI tools is that the latter do everything, while Diffit is laser-focused on quality, aligned resources that reflect the real classroom demands, such as standards alignment, referenced sources, and strictly leveled reading passages. Articles, YouTube videos, even supported books can be added by teachers, and Diffit will generate differentiated content based on the content.
The age-appropriate and transparent content of the materials produced by Diffit is on its sources. This openness will assist the teacher to check facts and will make students study on reliable sources.
Feature Comparison
Content Creation and Adaptation
The two tools are good at the creation of the content in varied ways. Khanmigo creates tutoring material and explanations related to the curriculum of Khan Academy. It can generate practice issues, describe concepts in various ways and modify the way things are explained given responses of students.
Diffit is also a specialist in reusing existing materials and modifying them to various levels of reading. Teachers will be able to add any topic or source material and Diffit will make several versions that will be appropriate to students of different ability levels. This can be applied specifically in inclusive classrooms whereby a few students are below grade level readers and the other are above grade level readers.
Diffit is easy to use: all you need to do is type in what you are teaching, choose a grade level, whether to include standards or not, and then hit the generate button to get an immediate set of instructional materials that will suit your students. It is also easy and fast and fits the busy schedule of the teacher who requires materials in haste.
The contents created by Khanmigo are more interactive and conversational. It is not merely producing static texts, it is interacting in two ways with students and it varies its style according to their interpretation.
Student Interaction and Tutoring
Khanmigo is an expert in communication with students. It offers 24/7 tutoring services, which serves as a tutor on-demand using AI. Students will be able to ask questions, solve problems and get guidelines without the need to wait until their teachers are available.
The AI tutor employs a Socratic approach whereby it poses questions to lead students to the knowledge and not merely to give answers. Such a strategy assists in the development of critical thinking and a better understanding. Students are also able to train dialogues in other languages, argue with historical figures (as part of AI simulations), and get feedback on writing.
Diffit, in contrast, is a tool that mainly targets teachers. Students benefit because the variousiated materials Diffit prepares are presented, but they do not engage directly with the AI. It is not the tool that the students work with but the materials that Diffit generates.
This is one of the main distinctions: Khanmigo is an assistant-tutor and a student tutor, and Diffit is created with the usage of teachers in mind when it comes to drawing materials.
Teacher Support Tools
The two platforms are useful in supporting teachers in different ways. Khanmigo is free to teachers at 0/month and so is accessible to all teachers irrespective of their budget limitations.
Khanmigo assists educators in planning lessons and assignments as well as generating discussion prompts. It can propose methods of teaching, how to introduce complicated topics, and give feedback on the progress of students based on the Khan Academy platform.
Diffit generates student-ready contents which can be digitally assigned to teachers who can then print them within seconds, less work on the part of teachers and a more consistent experience on the part of students. This print and go feature is especially useful in cases where teachers require hard copies within a short time.
Diffit can also be integrated with Google Classroom and other learning management systems, which is why it is not hard to distribute materials to students. The generated content can be tailored to the specific needs of the teacher, reading material can be changed, and questions can be modified to suit them.
Accessibility and Readability
Diffit is the best at accessibility. The tool will automatically generate materials at various levels of reading such that the material will be accessible to English language learners and students with reading difficulties, as well as those who are below grade reading level. This is the in-built differentiation which is the strength of Diffit.
The teachers are able to produce similar material on elementary, middle and high school levels of reading, so that all students could get the same basic ideas irrespective of their reading level. This is priceless towards inclusive education and addressing diverse needs of learning.
Khanmigo is approachable and is user-friendly with dialogue interface. Students that find it difficult to learn through text can pose questions in a natural language and be given a breakdown in a manner that makes sense to them. The AI will use the responses of the students to adjust its vocabulary and the complexity of its explanation.
The two tools accommodate English language learners albeit differently. Diffit would make text versions that are simplified and Khanmigo can be used to explain the concepts till one understands.
Pricing Comparison
A major difference between such tools is in pricing. Khanmigo is also among the cheapest AI tools in education since it is priced at a cost of 4 dollars per month to learners and parents. Notably, it is absolutely free to teachers.
Subscribing to the monthly plan at $4 will be a complete package of all of the features of Khanmigo, the courses it covers and any future additions without any additional charges. This clear pricing makes it accessible to the families to budget and all features are available.
To schools and districts, Khan Academy provides custom pricing and partners with schools and districts to make Khanmigo available to all students of a district at subsidized or no cost.
Diffit is a freemium: The basic features are free. Premium plan begins with approximately 9.99 per month or 99.99 per year per teacher and has more advanced features and increased usage. Individual schools and districts get individual pricing plans.
Free version of Diffit has limited number of generations per month, whereas paid version eliminates them and also has new options like unlimited content generation, priority support and further customization.
Khanmigo offers free access to teachers, and that would be of interest to the financially sensitive teachers. Nevertheless, the free version of Diffit might offer enough features to teachers that do not require frequent differentiation assistance.
User Experience
Ease of Use
Both websites value simplicity, and the interfaces have different purposes. Khanmigo is embedded with the Khan Academy system and it might need a learning curve among the educators who are not used to the structure of the Khan Academy. Nonetheless, conversational interface is intuitive to the students as well as the teachers once one understands the fundamentals.
Diffit is an online platform that helps to accelerate differentiation and provide teachers with a chance to design individualized learning experience. Its interface is simple: type a topic, choose parameters and create materials. Diffit can make teachers productive within minutes of their initial use.
Both tools have low set up time. It takes a few minutes before the teachers create the accounts and begin using either of the platforms. Khanmigo must have an account at Khan Academy, whereas Diffit has to simply sign up using email.
Khanmigo conversational interface is natural and engaging to students. They are able to type questions in the same manner they would to a live tutor thus making the technology user-friendly instead of being intimidating.
Platform Integration
Khanmigo is also integrated with an extensive content library provided by Khan Academy so that learners can access all videos, practice activities, and tests by subject. This integration will enable students to seamlessly transition between AI tutoring and conventional resources of the Khan Academy.
Diffit has good integration with Google Classroom, and therefore, teachers in the education suite of Google can easily disseminate materials. The teachers have the opportunity to export their materials in different formats such as PDF, Google Docs, and their learning management systems.
The two tools are effective with the current classroom workflow. Teachers do not need to leave the current systems and implement these AI tools, they only improve their existing practices but not to dismiss them.
Subject Coverage and Curriculum Alignment
The selection of subjects taught by the Khan Academy is vast and covers most of them in Khanmigo. This encompasses elementary to college level mathematics, sciences, history, economics, computer programming, arts and so on. The AI tutor is able to assist in this whole curriculum.
The instrument is consistent with the Common Core standards and other educational frameworks. The alignment is high and consistent due to the fact that it is based on the curriculum of Khan Academy that has been created and improved during the years.
Diffit is topic-neutral, that is, it is able to generate differentiated content on any topic a teacher enters. It is useful in any field of study, whether social studies, science or literature due to this flexibility. Teachers do not have to follow preset curriculum.
Diffit emphasizes the alignment with standards and references, having instructional strategies that are supported with research. Teachers are allowed to choose a particular standard in the creation of content which enables him to have materials that are in accordance with his or her required curriculum.
In case of specialized topics or niche, the flexibility of Diffit can be beneficial. The more integrated and in-depth nature of Khanmigo can be more valuable in the case of core subjects that are well covered by Khan Academy.
Pros and Cons
Khanmigo
Pros:
- Completely free for teachers with no restrictions
- Provides interactive, conversational AI tutoring for students available 24/7
- Integrates with Khan Academy’s comprehensive content library
- Uses Socratic method to develop critical thinking rather than just providing answers
- Very affordable for parents and students at $4 per month with all features included
Cons:
- Requires familiarity with Khan Academy platform for maximum effectiveness
- Student-facing features require paid subscription for families
- Best suited for subjects well-covered by Khan Academy curriculum
- May have less utility for specialized or niche topics not in Khan Academy’s library
Diffit
Pros:
- Laser-focused on differentiation, its core strength
- Creates materials at multiple reading levels instantly
- Works with any topic or source material
- Includes free tier for teachers with limited budgets
- Produces print-ready materials that can be used immediately
- Lists sources and maintains transparency in content generation
Cons:
- Premium features require paid subscription starting at $9.99 per month
- Primarily teacher-facing with no direct student interaction
- Free tier has usage limitations that may be restrictive for some teachers
- Requires teacher effort to distribute and implement generated materials
Use Case Scenarios
When Khanmigo is better
Khanmigo is brilliant in a few instances. In case you teach subjects extensively represented by Khan Academy (math, science, history, economics), there is extensive integration with high-quality curriculum content at Khanmigo. The tool suits best to the teachers when they wish to offer 24/7 homework assistance to the students together with the tutoring services.
Khanmigo will help schools to affordably offer tutoring to students of schools that aim to offer an equitable access to tutoring. The students who require additional practice and clarification outside of class time are particularly well welcomed by the tool.
When you appreciate the Socratic approach and need the students to have problem-solving skills than merely getting answers, the approach to Khanmigo will fit this pedagogical philosophy. The AI does not just give answers, but takes students through reasoning.
Khanmigo is very helpful in the case of teachers who have independent learners that could use AI tutoring on their own. The student has the opportunity to learn on their own speed, assisted by AI.
When Diffit is Better
Diffit excels in different classes where the learners have different levels of reading. Diffit also saves a tremendous amount of time in comparison to creating multiple versions of a piece of content manually, should you be required to deliver the same information to students at different reading levels on a regular basis.
The variousiation capabilities of Diffit will be of great use to teachers who have to deal with English language learners, students with reading problems, or inclusive classes. The tool enables grade-level information to be made available to every student, irrespective of his or her reading level.
Diffit is the more suitable option in educators that are not well covered by Khan Academy, or those who wish to use certain events or articles as well as some special source materials. You do not have to stick to a certain curriculum.
When you require print-ready materials urgently as soon as possible in order to have a physical distribution, Diffit presents. Lesson preparation becomes much easier because differentiated worksheets can be created, customized and printed within minutes.
The educators, who like to have a direct control over teaching materials and use the capabilities of AI to differentiate, will be pleased with the approach provided by Diffit. You develop the learning experience; Diffit does the heavy lifting of developing a variety of versions.
Real User Feedback
Those teachers who teach with the help of Khanmigo love it because of its free of charge and value of tutoring it offers to the students. Students have been reported to do a lot of homework with the support of Khanmigo. The conversational interface is applauded as being natural and helpful, as opposed to being robotic.
According to some educators, Khanmigo is most successful when it is used in classrooms where an educator already has the resources of Khan Academy. New teachers with Khan Academy might find it harder to learn.
The time savings and the quality of differentiated materials is always commended by Diffit users. Teachers state that they spend significantly less time developing various versions of readings and activities. The possibility to put in any subject and get leveled materials in a matter of seconds is often touted as paradigmic.
According to some users, the quality of the materials that Diffit is using is usually high, however, it can be necessary to edit the information and to make it more precise or suitable to the particular classroom setting. The usage limitations of the free tier are criticized by teachers whose usage of the tool would be more regular in case the limitations would be eased.
Both tools get positive response in their responsive development teams and periodic feature enhancement according to the user feedback.
Implementation Tips
Getting Started with Khanmigo
Free account Open a free Khan Academy teacher account, in case you do not have one. Browse the existing content on the platform to know what the resources are. This knowledge will guide you better on how to guide students to use Khanmigo.
Present all of the students with strict rules concerning the usage of Khanmigo. Stress that it is a tutor, not an answer provider and that doing things with instructions develops understanding in a better way than providing quick answers.
Begin with a test group of students prior to the implementation of classes. This will enable you to debug difficulties and come up with best practices in your classroom environment.
In the case of the family, convey the importance of the student subscription and its cost-effectiveness. It costs a pocket friendly sum of $4 per month with great value in homework assistance.
Getting Started with Diffit
Start on the free level to understand how it works and then decide to subscribe to the paid version. Prepare resources of some of the lessons to know the quality of the materials and the customization options.
Begin with content that you already deliver regularly and compare what Diffit has generated with existing work that you had earlier prepared. This will assist you in estimating the quality and the level of editing that you shall require.
Develop a process of rapid preview and editing generated content. Although Diffit has good content, it is still worth it to do a review to get the content and ensure that it is relevant to your context.
Combine Diffit with other tools that you already have, especially Google Classroom when you use it. Early installations of these integrations simplify your work.
Take into account arranging a meeting with the colleagues to exchange Diffit-generated materials and share the subscription fee in a team in case of financial issues.
Alternatives Worth Considering
Although Khanmigo and Diffit are great tools, other AIs educational platforms are also worth mentioning. MagicSchool AI provides more options on AI tools to teachers, such as lesson planning, assignment generation, and assessment generation. It is more detailed, yet general, as compared to Khanmigo and Diffit.
Eduaide.ai offers AI services that can be directly integrated with Google Workspace tools, which is more convenient to some teachers than individual services. It is good at remixing and improving the available materials.
Quizlet has also introduced AI capabilities in the creation of study sets and practice material, which makes it useful in the preparation of review and assessment.
In the case of math in particular, applications such as Mathia and DeltaMath provide AI-driven practice and tutoring with comprehensive expertise in math.
The most effective practice that many teachers should follow is that they should employ several AI tools to fulfill various tasks instead of trying to find the holistic solution to all their tasks. Khanmigo could assist in tutoring students and Diffit would be responsible of differentiation and the other tool will help in creating assessment..
The Verdict: Which Should You Choose?
The response truly lies in your needs, your teaching situation and priorities. Both tools are not equally good because they are good in various ways and have a slightly different purpose..
Choose Khanmigo if:
- You teach subjects well-covered by Khan Academy
- You want to provide 24/7 tutoring support to students
- Budget is a primary concern (free for teachers, very affordable for families)
- You value conversational AI interaction for developing student thinking
- Your school uses or is open to adopting Khan Academy resources
Choose Diffit if:
- Differentiation is your primary challenge
- You have students at widely varying reading levels
- You teach diverse subjects or use varied source materials
- You need print-ready materials quickly
- You prefer maintaining direct control over instructional content while leveraging AI for efficiency
Your teaching style is more focused on keeping direct control over the teaching content and using AI to be efficient.
Complementary usage of the two tools by many teachers can be useful. Diffit might be doing differentiation of readings and activities whereas Khanmigo allows students to be tutored on their homework and concept reinforcement. The tools are used to cover various areas of teaching and learning.
Khanmigo is a risk-free entry point to AI in education, especially to those teachers only starting to find out about AI. You have the opportunity to learn about AI tutoring without spending money and decide whether it suits you.
The targeted functionality of Diffit responds to the specific need of teachers whose main issue is the creation of multiple copies of materials to be handed to various learners. Even the free version offers sufficient generators to teachers to taste the benefit of appreciable time savings.
Conclusion
This Khanmigo vs Diffit comparison reveals two powerful but distinct AI tools for education. Khanmigo is a personalized learning assistant (AI tutor) that is effective as an interactive system, whereas Diffit focuses on differentiated learning content in heterogenous classes. Both tools save time and enhance the learning outcomes among the students though they achieve this differently. You must select what is in line with your particular teaching issues, subject matter and classroom scenario. Think about using both of the tools, what can be your teaching practice strength has a complement in the other? The future of education is to use AI tools in a strategic manner in order to help teachers and students, and both Khanmigo and Diffit are good steps towards this future.
FAQ
Is Khanmigo free for teachers?
Yes, and there are no limitations or hidden expenses, teachers are completely free using Khanmigo. Every aspect comes at no cost to teachers.
Can I use Diffit without a paid subscription?
Yes, Diffit has a free plan that has a restricted number of content generations per month. This gives sufficient functionality and the teachers can use it on a regular basis, but constant users might want to upgrade to eliminate limitations.
Which tool is better for special education students?
Diffit is more suited to the special education setting due to its capability to produce materials at varying reading levels, which make the content readable to students with reading disabilities. Nevertheless, one-on-one tutoring that is offered by Khanmigo can be of good help to some special education students.
Do these tools work offline?
No, neither Khanmigo nor Diffit can connect to the internet because they are based on cloud-based AI processing.
How secure is student data on these platforms?
Both the sites are serious about data security. Khan academy is a nonprofit that has set privacy practices, and Khanmigo adheres to these practices. Diffit has good privacy as well. They both adhere to educational data privacy laws.
Can students use these tools independently?
Khanmigo could be used by independent students as a tutoring tool. It can be used by the students as homework assistance even when they are outside the classroom. Diffit mainly works with teachers, but the products of Diffit are used by students.
Which tool saves teachers more time?
This is based on your major time drain. Diffit is more time-saving in case you spend more time on preparing differentiated materials. In case you are spending your time on answering student queries and supporting them individually, the tutoring option on the Khanmigo saves time by lessening the dependency of the students.
Are these tools suitable for homeschooling?
Yes, they would both be effective in homeschooling. Khanmigo offers tutoring services to homeschooled children and Diffit assists the homeschool parents to develop materials at the level their children require. Both are available to the homeschool families because of lower prices.