Photomath
alternatives
Photomath is excellent at one thing: reading handwritten math off paper through a phone camera. The reasons to look elsewhere are all about where your work actually is, and whether math is the only subject you need help with.
Disclosure: Solvecoon is our own product and it is on this list. Checked August 2026.
How we judged them
- Does it work on a laptop, where coursework increasingly lives?
- Does it read math that is rendered in a web app or a PDF?
- Does it go beyond math?
- Are steps free?
- Does it explain the method or only produce it?
The list
Solvecoon
OursBest for: math inside browser tabs and PDFs
Snap a region of your screen rather than photograph paper. Reads rendered math in web apps, PDFs, scans, and legible handwriting, and covers physics, chemistry, biology, coding, and reading as well. Steps are free on every solve.
Watch out: It is not a phone app, so genuine paper homework has to be photographed into a tab first.
Symbolab
Best for: the deepest math engine
Specialised math with topic calculators, photo input, and apps on both mobile and web.
Watch out: Best step-by-step is a Pro feature.
Wolfram Alpha
Best for: computation across technical subjects
Reliable, enormous in scope, and the standard second opinion for a result you doubt.
Watch out: Paid steps, and its input syntax is a real barrier at first.
Desmos
Best for: graphing and intuition
Free, fast, and the clearest way to understand what a function is doing before you manipulate it.
Watch out: Not a solver. It will not write working.
Khan Academy
Best for: the gap under the problem
Free lessons and mastery practice for every school math topic, with prerequisites mapped.
Watch out: Slower than a solver, and it will not answer your specific question.
Questions people ask
- Is there a Photomath for laptops?
- A screenshot solver is the equivalent shape. Solvecoon captures a region of your screen instead of using a camera, which covers PDFs, web apps, and scans.
- Which alternative covers other subjects?
- Solvecoon covers science, coding, and reading as well as math. Symbolab, Desmos, and Photomath are math tools.
- Which is free?
- Desmos and Khan Academy are free. Solvecoon has an ongoing free tier of five solves a day with steps.
- Is a camera or a screenshot better?
- Whichever matches where the work is. Paper favours a camera; anything already on a screen favours a region capture, which is sharper and needs no lighting.
Start with the free one
Solvecoon gives you five solves a day on any page, with the steps included.
Add to Chrome →Free to try — 5 solves every day. No credit card.