Knowji vs Formative
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Knowji and Formative.
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Verdict: Formative wins
Formative scores 4.2/5, edging out Knowji at 1.6/5. K-12 teachers and schools that want live visibility into student thinking during instruction — especially math, science and multilingual classrooms needing varied response types and standards-tagged data.
Knowji Visual vocabulary learning with spaced repetition and AI | Formative Real-time assessment platform for classroom formative evaluation | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 1.6 (1 review) | 4.2 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting Price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best For | Nobody today — the service is discontinued; readers encountering old recommendations should pick Anki, Quizlet or Duolingo instead. | K-12 teachers and schools that want live visibility into student thinking during instruction — especially math, science and multilingual classrooms needing varied response types and standards-tagged data. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | free tiermobile app | free tierteam features |
| Visit Knowji → | Visit Formative → |
Knowji
Pros
- + Methodologically sound design in its lifetime: spaced repetition with visual, auditory and contextual mnemonics per word
- + One-time pack purchases ($3.99–$11.99 historically) instead of subscriptions, per directory records
- + Offline study after initial download, with progress and memorisation-prediction tracking
- + Content organised from elementary to graduate level with SAT/GRE/TOEFL and ESL packs
Cons
- - The company has closed: knowji.com is a parked domain as of 23 October 2026 and the official X account announced the shutdown
- - Orphaned App Store listings remain installable with no backend, no updates and no support
- - No pricing exists to quote — aggregator pages listing current Knowji subscriptions are stale scrapes
- - Coverage was primarily English vocabulary with no conversational practice
- - Learning data cannot be exported or recovered through any vendor channel now that the company is gone
Formative
Pros
- + Live response view shows student work as it is created — in my use this is the strongest mid-lesson intervention workflow in the assessment category
- + Response breadth beats quiz tools: drawing/whiteboard, graphing, equations, image annotation, audio and video responses alongside 20+ item types
- + Real digitisation of old material — upload a PDF or Doc and add response fields to it instead of rebuilding
- + Pricing is concrete and moderate: $249/teacher/year with a genuinely usable Free Teacher plan and a 14-day trial without a credit card (formative.com/plans, at time of writing)
- + District depth is real: standards dashboards, common assessments, Item Bank, Respondus LockDown, and Luna Configuration Studio for district AI guardrails
Cons
- - Collaboration is gated — shared libraries, common assessments and org dashboards require the school tier or above; no family/caregiver access at all
- - AI scoring of complex open-ended work is uneven and needs teacher review (consistent with a 21-teacher AIME 2025 pilot); no plagiarism checking
- - Since February 5, 2026 new monthly subscriptions are gone — individuals must buy annual despite school-year-shaped need; plan names keep changing post-Newsela
- - Video embeds depend on YouTube, which many districts block; a long-running user complaint without a built-in video-hosting alternative
- - Item formats skew to right/wrong answers; richer demonstration of learning needs custom rubric work on top
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Knowji or Formative?▼
Formative scores higher at 4.2/5 vs 1.6/5 for Knowji, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between Knowji and Formative?▼
Knowji: Knowji teaches vocabulary through illustrated word cards and spaced repetition, with apps aimed at school-age learners and test preparation. Formative: Formative is a classroom assessment tool that shows teachers each student's work as they do it, so they can respond during the lesson.
Is Knowji or Formative more affordable?▼
Knowji starts at €0/mo, Formative starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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