Partly. The Mathway app is free to download and gives you answers for free. The detailed step-by-step breakdowns need a paid subscription, which you manage through your App Store account.

Does Mathway show steps for free?

Not in full. Chegg's own App Store notes say you upgrade your subscription to get detailed equation breakdowns. If free steps are what you need, Photomath's free tier includes basic step-by-step explanations.

Generally, yes. It is a long-running app owned by Chegg with a 4.9 App Store rating. As with any camera-based solver, a blurry photo or unclear handwriting can be misread, so check that the problem it read matches the one on your page.

What is the best Mathway alternative?

For free steps, Photomath. For typed problems and college calculus, Symbolab. For explanations on iPhone that are animated and read aloud, MathScans. The right one depends on whether cost, depth or the way you learn matters most to you.

No. MathScans needs a subscription: $9.99 a month with a 3-day free trial, or $4.99 a week. Every feature is included in both plans, and you can cancel any time in Settings.

Can I use MathScans on Android, iPad or a computer?

Not yet. MathScans runs on iPhone with iOS 17 or later. If you need another platform, Mathway, Photomath and Symbolab all have Android apps, and Mathway and Symbolab also work in a web browser.

Comparison, updated October 2026

Looking for a Mathway alternative?

Mathway is a strong app, with a 4.9 rating from about 425,000 App Store reviews. Its free version will give you the answer to almost anything you throw at it.

The catch is the working. The step-by-step explanation, the part that actually helps you learn, needs a subscription. If that is why you are looking around, this page compares Mathway with MathScans as fairly as we can.

Download on theApp Store

A MathScans solution with every step shown and explained

Disclosure: MathScans is our own app.

Every Mathway fact on this page comes from its App Store listing, checked in October 2026. We also cover where Mathway is the better choice, because for some people it is.

MathScans vs Mathway at a glance

	MathScans	Mathway
Free version	None. 3-day trial on the monthly plan	Yes, answers only
Step-by-step working	On every solution	With a subscription
How steps are shown	Typeset, animated and read aloud in 19 languages	Written step breakdowns
Input	Camera scan of print or handwriting	Camera or typed
Subjects	Arithmetic to calculus, statistics and word problems	Basic math to calculus, statistics and physics
Devices	iPhone, iOS 17 or later	iPhone, iPad, Android and web
Data used to track you	None declared	Contact info, identifiers, usage data
Price	$9.99/mo or $4.99/wk	Free answers, steps by subscription
App Store rating	Too new to be rated yet	4.9 from 425K ratings

Mathway details are from its US App Store listing and privacy label in October 2026. Listings change, so check before you subscribe.

Why people look for a Mathway alternative

Read Mathway's App Store reviews and one complaint comes up again and again. You are stuck, you scan the problem, Mathway shows the answer, and then it asks you to upgrade to see how it got there.

Chegg's own release notes say as much: upgrade your subscription to get detailed equation breakdowns. That is a fair business model, but it means the free app is better at checking answers than at teaching.

Other reasons come up less often. Some students want explanations they can listen to, some want a smaller app focused only on math, and some parents read privacy labels before they install anything.

The same problem in both apps

Take a simple equation from a homework sheet: 3x + 9 = 24. In Mathway's free version, you scan it and see the answer, x = 5. The method stays behind the upgrade.

In MathScans, the same scan gives you the full working, shown here. Each step names the operation and then shows the equation after it.

For a one-line equation that can feel like a lot. But it is exactly the habit a teacher is looking for when they ask you to show your working.

On harder problems, like a quadratic that needs factoring or a derivative that needs the chain rule, the gap matters more. That is where an answer on its own stops being much use.

MathScans solution

3x + 9 = 24

1Subtract 9 from both sides3x = 24 − 9
2Simplify the right side3x = 15
3Divide both sides by 3x = 15/3
4Simplify the fractionx = 5

The steps MathScans shows for this equation. Mathway's free version shows the final line only.

What MathScans does differently

Every solution comes with the working

There is no answer-only mode in MathScans. Every solution shows each step as properly typeset math, with a short note on what was done and why.

That explanation is the part you need to repeat the method in a test. So it is the one part we never hold back.

A MathScans solution showing each step as typeset math with a plain-language explanation underneath

Steps you can watch and hear

Press play and the solution walks through one step at a time, highlighting what changes at each stage. You can pause, go back, or change the speed.

Every explanation can also be read aloud in any of 19 languages, using your iPhone's built-in voice. That helps if you learn by listening, or if you study math in a second language.

The MathScans animated tutorial player stepping through an equation to x = 5, with play and voice controls

Built around the camera

Point your iPhone at a printed worksheet or your own handwriting on lined paper, and MathScans reads the problem for you. There is nothing to type and no keyboard of math symbols to learn.

Your solutions stay in a 30-day history, so you can come back to a method the night before a test.

The MathScans camera framing a handwritten equation on lined paper

A note on privacy labels

Every App Store listing carries a privacy label written by the developer. On Mathway's, contact info, identifiers and usage data are listed as data that may be used to track you across other companies' apps and websites.

MathScans declares no data used to track you. It does collect what it needs to run, such as your purchases and the problems you scan, and our privacy policy explains each item. Both labels are public, so you can compare them yourself before installing either app.

Where Mathway is still the better choice

If you only need to check answers, Mathway's free version is hard to beat, and MathScans has no free version at all. You would be paying for explanations you do not need.

Mathway also runs on iPad, Android and the web, while MathScans is iPhone only. If you work on a laptop or a non-Apple phone, that settles it.

Its coverage is wider too, with physics and a built-in graphing calculator. And with 425,000 ratings, it has a track record that a newer app like ours has not had time to build.

Who should switch, and who should stay

Switch to MathScans if

You keep hitting the paywall at the moment you want the steps
You learn better by watching and listening than by reading
You study on an iPhone and want an app that does math and nothing else
You want to understand a method well enough to use it in a test

Stay with Mathway if

You mainly check answers and the free version covers that
You need iPad, Android or a web browser
You need physics or a graphing calculator
You prefer typing problems to scanning them

Other Mathway alternatives worth knowing

MathScans is not the only option. Photomath, owned by Google, includes basic step-by-step explanations in its free version, which makes it the obvious first try if cost is the main issue. Our Photomath alternatives page covers it in more depth.

Symbolab suits typed problems and college calculus, with free basic steps and more detail on a subscription. For all five apps side by side, see our comparison of the best math solver apps.

How to try it before you pay

The fairest test is your own homework. Download MathScans and start the monthly plan, which comes with a 3-day free trial.

Scan three or four problems you are actually stuck on, not the easy ones. Play the walkthrough on at least one, and turn on narration to hear how it sounds.

If the explanations do not help, cancel in your iPhone's Settings at least a day before the trial ends and you will not be charged. If they do help, you have found your Mathway alternative.

Questions about Mathway

Is Mathway free?: Partly. The Mathway app is free to download and gives you answers for free. The detailed step-by-step breakdowns need a paid subscription, which you manage through your App Store account.
Does Mathway show steps for free?: Not in full. Chegg's own App Store notes say you upgrade your subscription to get detailed equation breakdowns. If free steps are what you need, Photomath's free tier includes basic step-by-step explanations.
Is Mathway accurate?: Generally, yes. It is a long-running app owned by Chegg with a 4.9 App Store rating. As with any camera-based solver, a blurry photo or unclear handwriting can be misread, so check that the problem it read matches the one on your page.
What is the best Mathway alternative?: For free steps, Photomath. For typed problems and college calculus, Symbolab. For explanations on iPhone that are animated and read aloud, MathScans. The right one depends on whether cost, depth or the way you learn matters most to you.
Is MathScans free?: No. MathScans needs a subscription: $9.99 a month with a 3-day free trial, or $4.99 a week. Every feature is included in both plans, and you can cancel any time in Settings.
Can I use MathScans on Android, iPad or a computer?: Not yet. MathScans runs on iPhone with iOS 17 or later. If you need another platform, Mathway, Photomath and Symbolab all have Android apps, and Mathway and Symbolab also work in a web browser.

Keep reading

Get the steps, not just the answer.

Try MathScans free for 3 days on the monthly plan. After that it is $9.99 a month or $4.99 a week. Cancel any time in Settings.

Download on theApp Store