Elevate Alternatives: Word, Math and Puzzle Apps Compared

Elevate is a language and everyday-math trainer: its listing is about writing more clearly, reading faster, building vocabulary and working out bills and discounts in your head. If you want that same focus without Elevate's plan, MindPal is the closest match, with word and math games and a lifetime option. Lumosity and Peak lean more on memory and attention. If what you actually enjoyed was the daily puzzle habit rather than the vocabulary, a logic game such as Sudoku Royale, Good Sudoku or Nonogram.com costs less or nothing, and needs no subscription at all.

Elevate has been on the App Store since 2014 and is highly rated (see the table below), so leaving it is rarely about quality. The practical reasons to look elsewhere are clearer: the trial turns into a yearly charge, the app wants an account before you play, it is in English only, or the reading and writing drills stop feeling like a game. This page is organised around those reasons.

The App Store facts

From each app's US App Store listing, checked October 26, 2026. Prices and paid items change, so check the listing before you buy.

What Elevate's listing says you pay for

Its subscription terms describe a 7-day free trial and a basic free version, and say you reach the free version by closing the offer screen after you sign up for an account. If you do subscribe, the listing says you are charged a yearly fee that renews automatically. The paid items on its listing are Elevate $39.99, Elevate Premium $39.99, 1 Year With 7-Day Trial $39.99, Elevate Subscription $4.99. Its App Store age rating also notes advertising.

None of that is unusual for a training app. It does mean that the useful question is not "which app is free" but "which part of Elevate did I use, and who sells that part for less".

Word and math content, app by app

The skill most worth matching is the one Elevate is known for: language. Most brain trainers are built around memory and reaction games, and only a few put reading and writing near the center.

If you want the same vocabulary and math work

MindPal

MindPal's listing covers the two things Elevate is best at: word games for vocabulary and writing, and math as one of seven skill areas, alongside memory, attention, flexibility, speed and problem solving. It lists over 40 games and 1,000 levels and a personalized daily workout. Its description names monthly, yearly and lifetime Pro plans, so it is the one trainer here where you can pay once and stop. Its age rating notes advertising.

Lumosity

Lumosity lets you pick games by skill, and math and word games are two of the groups on its listing. The emphasis is wider than Elevate's: speed, memory, attention and flexibility get as much space as language. It starts with a free 10-minute Fit Test, and its personalized program sits behind Lumosity Premium.

If you want the app in another language

Elevate's listing gives English as its only language, and its drills are about English writing and vocabulary, so a non-native speaker gets a different app from the one a native speaker gets. Peak and Impulse list 14 and 25 languages respectively. Peak includes a Language category among its workouts; Impulse focuses on memory, attention, mental math and problem solving, plus IQ and personality tests. Logic puzzles sidestep the question: a sudoku grid or a nonogram reads the same in any language, even where the app menus are in English only.

If you want a daily habit without a subscription

Many people keep a training app for the ritual, not the vocabulary: a few minutes each morning and a streak on the calendar. A good puzzle does that job too, with one difference you should know up front: a puzzle app gives you one kind of thinking, done in depth, where Elevate rotates through dozens of short games.

Sudoku Royale

This is our app. It is classic 9x9 sudoku with no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription, and you can start as a guest with no account. The Daily Challenge gives you one fresh puzzle a day with a streak and a leaderboard, Practice has unlimited puzzles at six levels, and the Dojo runs short timed drills on single techniques, which is the closest thing it has to an Elevate-style exercise. There are no words and no arithmetic in it: sudoku digits are symbols, as is sudoku math or logic? explains. It runs on iPhone and iPad only.

Good Sudoku

Zach Gage's sudoku sells a Full Game Unlock for $4.99 and has three daily puzzle modes that get harder through the week, with global leaderboards. Its hint system points at the technique you need next. We compare it with ours on Sudoku Royale vs Good Sudoku.

Nonogram.com

Picture logic: shade squares from the numbers on each row and column until an image appears. It is free with ads, and its listing sells Nonogram.com No Ads for $14.99 alongside coin packs. It has no words and no arithmetic beyond counting, and a fresh picture at the end of each puzzle.

Where Elevate is still the better pick

• You want to work on writing and reading. No other app here puts punctuation, clear writing and reading speed at the center. MindPal comes closest.
• You like a fixed short workout. Elevate lets you choose between 3 and 5 games a day, and its workout calendar tracks streaks.
• You want weekly reports. Its listing describes weekly performance reports over time; a sudoku app tracks your games, not your vocabulary.

One thing this page will not do is rank the apps on what they do for your mind. The listings make their own claims about that; we compare what they contain and what they charge. For the ad side of the same question, see the brain games without ads page, the sister pages on Lumosity and MindPal, and the full list on sudoku app comparisons. If you just want a daily puzzle with nothing to cancel later, get Sudoku Royale on the App Store.